PocketDos - website is going to shut down :(

Sad news - one of the last 'essentials' is almost gone! The website PocketDos.com is going to shutdown in the not too distant future and so also probably the purchase/update license option. They told me when I spoke to them about if it's still possible to purchase a license (this question was asked in the subreddit r/OldHandhelds/).
Also asked if they may release PocketDos for free but because companies (UsedHandhelds.com?) are still buying licenses for reselling that would not be fair to them. But maybe (big maybe) if these companies are not interesting anymore they might release the source code!

They fixed the images yesterday on their website (asked them also about this) so that's nice





Edited by frisser 2019-07-05 8:14 AM

Argh!

Does anyone have a contact email for them? I can't see any means to contact them on their website. Perhaps we can help in some way, or perhaps they'll exemptionware it.

Can you get your Reddit colleagues to start making some noise too?

pocketdos@pocketdos.com

Would be nice if you could talk about them about make this exemptionware.

I also indicated that I wanted to pay the costs for hosting and domain name. But I have not yet received a response. I don't think this is the problem.

Edited by frisser 2019-07-05 10:54 AM

Thanks, I have dropped them an email asking if there was any assistance we can offer, and making them aware of the Exemptionware license. I will report back if I hear anything.

It is going to put UsedHandhelds in a bit of a bind with the Resources CD if their closure does take their licensing system offline.

I think that UsedHandhelds is of of the companies they talk about that still purchase licenses. They also said that if those companies are willing to pay a once of perpetual license fee to allow them to reselling PocketDos that it would not be fair to release the source code or make the product for free. That is understandable. If they don't want to pay that then the source code will be released.

I'm curious if the current owner (http://www.mediator-software.com) is also the original developer.
I read something about that in an old thread: https://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=16959&st...

The site is also hosted by mediator software (Pocket Dos is a URL frame forwarding): http://www.mediator-software.com/pocketdos/

Edited by frisser 2019-07-05 11:35 AM

PocketDos reacted on the Reddit post:

https://reddit.com/r/OldHandhelds/comments/c8zef6/pocketdos_get_it_w...

I've not had a response, so I assume the matter closed; until after 2020 anyway.

Anyone know how to contact the PocketDOS folks? I recently purchased the UsedHandhelds.com Handheld PC Software & Resource CD, primarily wanting TextMaker and PocketDOS. However, when I followed the instructions to register PocketDOS, the linked-to PocketDOS page stated:

Registering PocketDOS purchased through Pocket PC & SmartPhone magazine's "The Great Handheld PC Software Package" promotion.

This promotion is currently unavailable. Please try again at another time. To register PocketDOS, visit this page.

The "visit this page" link goes to a page for buying PocketDOS... which I thought I had already done.

Link: http://www.pocketdos.com/ppcmag_hpc.htm

I've looked around on the website for a way to contact them, but couldn't find anything. I'm guessing I'm out of luck, which is a bummer.

(When I let UsedHandhelds know about this, the response I got was "It is probably like you said." )

Have you tried the email address higher up this thread?

Nope. I'd read this thread through a couple of weeks ago and managed to forget there was an email address in one of the replies when I posted. Doh!

I'll give that a shot, thanks. I just wish they had it on their website...

The pocketdos@pocketdos.com email address still works. And I have confirmed the UsedHandhelds deal for PocketDOS is no longer valid. However, you can still buy the software from PocketDOS (for ~$28 with FreeDOS).

From: PocketDOS [mailto:pocketdos@pocketdos.com]
Sent: Friday, November 22, 2019 3:06 AM
Subject: Re: Usedhandhelds.com promotion

On 2019/11/21 10:59 PM, idunno3 wrote:
> I'm just wondering if the promotion will ever happen again, allowing me to register the software, or if it is permanently dead.


That promotion has been dead for well over 10 years. It's not coming back, ever.
You can purchase the software via the website.
--
PocketDOS - Adds DOS compatibility to your Pocket Computer.

hmmm, UsedHandhelds should update their site then!

What is PocketDos? A toy? Could you please provide examples, what practical things can you do with this emulator? It is so slow, especially on old devices...

The original point of it was to emulate the HP 90, 100 and 200LX, but it was later used for just about any DOS build. If you had an old LOB app or a HP LX app, it served a purpose, else beyond XT emulation the CPU speeds involved were under powered - you could get some games going but the screen size was a problem on HVGA devices.

Those of us who grew up in an PC DOS and then later MS DOS world probably appreciate PocketDOS more so than those of today. Especially when you consider that there was a plethora of applications written that ran under a variety of BASIC interpreters.

I loved GWBasic back then. The ability to code in basic and then compile that into a stand alone application without the need to have the BASIC in the computer's ROM.

While there was a speed issue as C:Amie refers too, some things ran fine under the emulator, especially if they were text based apps or even ANSI based. Graphics…not so good…

Also for those of us with larger screens, i.e. Intermec 6651, Mobilepro 880, Psion Netbook Pro… well we enjoyed full VGA compatibility.

Personally, I remember using PocketDOS predominantly with a variety of ham radio applications originally written for DOS computers.