July 4, 2007

Today, I will be posting a different kind of blog entry. There will be a few topics I wish to discuss. Think of it as a look back on the technology we lost. Yes, while we are moving forward all the time. I do believe that there is technology that either didn't catch on, or just faded away. Lets take a step back in time.
There is one PDA you have probably never heard of, the Psion. The Psion was a small keyboard equipped PDA that ran on AA batteries. The first models were very basic and looked like a calculator. The next set of models were greyscale screen clamshells. These had touch sensitive screens and ran on 2 AA batteries. Some were expandable, some not. Some lacked a backlight also. These make the perfect PDA for writers on the go.
The Psion used an operating system called EPOC, which later became known as Symbian. They had great built in software and there was even a Linux port for them. The screen resolution was a wide 640 by 240 Half VGA or HVGA screen. This made using the built in programs nice as they could display more data then other PDAs on the market at this time.
The Psion was eventually made color with the debut of Series 7. These still ran the EPOC operating system. They had a full VGA screen, or 640 by 480. The Netbook series was similar. The Psion Teklogix Netbook Pro is the only one to run on Windows CE. The only one not to have a keyboard is the Psion Netpad. The Netpad uses a HVGA screen.
Next, we have the Handheld PC. These PDAs run on Windows CE also. There rapidly changed from the basic concept to the more powerful models soon after. The Handheld PC was a very loose platform. Some of the basic requirements were run windows CE, have a resolution of 480 by 240 or more, and include a keyboard, compact flash slot, PC card slot, infrared data port,and serial, or usb connectivity. Not every company followed these guidelines though. There is at least one without a keyboard.
Most early Handheld PC models had a small, tiny keyed keyboard. Most of these also had a small screen. These used SH3 and Sh3 CPU's. Some of the next models started to have a real keyboard and color screens were coming into common usage. Newer models that came next used a MIPS CPU. The third generations used ARM CPU. The operating system resembles Windows 95 and on. Newer models contained features like USB host, which was only on a select few models, and MP3 playback. There are even programs for playing movies.
There are common screen problems however. The DSTN color screens were very slow to refresh, had ghosting problems, are are impossible to be seen outside. While some DID have a TFT display, DSTN was more common. Another common problem with these are that the PC card slots are not CardBus. This means that while it is possible to find a WiFi card for them, it is very hard. There is a built in modem for most models.
While they are not common to still see in use, there are people like me who still use them. The built in software, for the most part, is good enough for most usage. There are still programs for them, but unless you own one of the ARM models, its not easy to get.
These are very easy to use for writing since they contain a keyboard. They are also very good for using as a internet device. They can also be useful as a PDA if you don't mind a big unit. These can be very good units if you can find one.
Next, we have the Sony Clie line. There is an accent over the e but I do not feel like using it. The Clie was a very nice line of Palm OS PDAs with various designs. Some were tablets, some were clamshells. They were more expensive then other PDAs at the time. They had a memory stick slot on all models and a few had compact flash card slots. They were used for WiFi first and Sony later opened up the slot to memory.
The best models were the clamshell series. The NZ90 was one of the most expensive models. It contained a 2MP (megapixel) camera. The only models with WiFi were the TH55, TJ35/TJ37, and UX50. Of these, only the UX was a clamshell. It was a wide screen landscape display. The TH55 was the only tablet model with the HVGA 320 by 480 screen. The other models were all 320 by 320.
Sony helped make the PDA market what it is today. Thanks to Sony, we have 320 by 320 and 320 by 480 high resolution screens. Sony also helped make music playback standard. There were few Clie's that lacked the music playback option. While these were popular, they cost too much for the average user.
Sony often had a thumboard on there PDAs. A thumboard is a small keyboard that you type with only your thumbs. These were on all clamshell series and on the TG50. The TG50 was the only tablet model with a keyboard.
Next, we have the Linux based PDA. Sharp had a line called the Zaraus. These were similar to the UX series of Clie's. They started off as a tablet with a slider keyboard. They changed to the now familiar clamshell. These started off with a QVGA 240 by 320 screen. The clamshell models changed to VGA.
None of these models had WiFi. They did have both compact flash and SD card slots though. This made it easy to add WiFi to them. They ran on a version of Linux. They started including a hard drive, in a compact flash form factor, inside the unit. This allowed you to be able to add WiFi to it via the still open compact flash slot.
All of these have been since discontinued. Sad, they were very nice. I am glad that I have my NEC MobilePro 780 still. I would love to get a better model though. The 780 is quite old but is still a useful device.
The rest of this blog entry is going to be a little bit rant.
One thing that annoys me is all these different memory card types. I think we need to get rid of a lot of these. Like Micro SD cards. I think that these are too small. Small cards are a good thing, but these are too small. The smallness of them makes them very easy to lose to me. I say we stop now before we go even smaller. lets focus on adding more storage to teh devices themselves instead of making smaller memory cards.
Well, the ThinkPad T20 didn't come yet. I am hoping to get it tomorrow. I have been thinking of what I will be doing with it. My plans are to get the RAM maxed out at 512MB. I will be installing Ubuntu on it. This will be used in the car a lot due to the one feature I think all laptops need. A light that is on the top of the screen that shines down on the keyboard. Also the TrackPoint is very helpful.