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Cool Handheld Computer Design From 1983

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stingraze Page Icon Posted 2018-08-30 12:37 AM
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The other day, I was looking through auction, and found a neat book called "Handheld Computer & Data Communication" published in 1983 in Japanese.

I thought the cover of this book was really neat, especially the "PORTABLE MAINFRAME POMME-1" illustration.
You can see it's really portraying the future.

I think they imagined a world that you can carry around mainframes, which indeed became true with smartphones, of course comparing them to the supercomputer / mainframes of the past.

Just a bit of history direct from Japan.

Edited by stingraze 2018-08-30 12:39 AM




(handheld-computer.jpg)



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ArchiMark Page Icon Posted 2018-08-30 2:15 AM
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Thanks for sharing this!

I will take one of those apples....

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stingraze Page Icon Posted 2018-08-30 5:46 AM
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Glad you liked it. The book itself is more about BASIC programs and interfacing it via parallel and serial port to PC / Pocket Computer / Calculator.
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ArchiMark Page Icon Posted 2018-08-30 5:53 AM
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OK, now you are getting me really excited....

when you mention parallel and serial ports....

Those were the days....


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C:Amie Page Icon Posted 2018-08-30 8:26 AM
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Keep it PG13 please
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ArchiMark Page Icon Posted 2018-08-30 2:01 PM
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stingraze Page Icon Posted 2018-08-30 2:57 PM
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Hmm.... ArchiMark, we weren't discussing anything inappropriate, were we? lol

The content of the book is interesting, it explains about how to make the baud with sine ways, how to calculate it etc.
Also, there was a photo of the parallel port tester.

The most interesting thing was a photo of the imagined Handheld Computer. The only thing that is quite different from now is that it has a small printer embedded inside the body on the left side, where a floppy disk drive might have been around 1998.

Edited by stingraze 2018-08-30 2:59 PM
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ArchiMark Page Icon Posted 2018-08-30 3:25 PM
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I didn't think so, stingraze......

Sounds like interesting book....

Small printer.....assume it would print out paper roll like on calculators.
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stingraze Page Icon Posted 2018-08-31 2:25 AM
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Yes, for modern usecase, the printer is maybe for billing from PDA or POS.
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ArchiMark Page Icon Posted 2018-08-31 2:53 AM
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Yes, and not to get too excited, but does the book refer to dot-matrix printers?

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stingraze Page Icon Posted 2018-08-31 1:40 PM
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Haha, close... it has a photo of an acoustic coupler. Pretty neat. It was before my time though.
I like to look up those classical technologies once in a while and try to use them if I can in the modern world...
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ArchiMark Page Icon Posted 2018-08-31 1:46 PM
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Unfortunately, I am old enough to remember, have seen and/or used these 'classical technologies'.......

First computer I bought was the Amiga with color display!....back around '88.....

Those were the days....when it all seemed so new and exciting...and you wondered what would be released next....

In general, much more boring today in that regard.....

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stingraze Page Icon Posted 2018-08-31 1:54 PM
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Yes, I understand what you mean.

Everyone's looking for the next iPhone or a Nexus.
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stingraze Page Icon Posted 2018-09-02 11:51 AM
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After talking on this thread, I found a parallel port connector I bought at Akizuki Denshi (in Akihabara, Tokyo Japan) several years ago. Here's a pic of it with my trusty Sigmarion 3.

Been meaning to make something with that.
Maybe some communication adapter just when in case I connect to legacy devices.


Edited by stingraze 2018-09-02 11:54 AM




(parallel-port-sig3.jpg)



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ArchiMark Page Icon Posted 2018-09-02 6:58 PM
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Nice....

A few years ago, I gave away a box full of old connectors like that, various cables, etc, to a computer recycling center....

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