I've been thinking of how to give back to this generous community. The easiest and cheapest way is perhaps to write something. So I took the plunge and created my very first blog on the world wild web!
The blog is all about my gadgets and hobbies. HPCs are what I want to write about most first, just as an excuse to congratulate myself on acquiring a Sigmarion III and a Sharp Netwalker this week!
https://solochampion.blogspot.com/
TL: DR: I cooked up my very subjective scoring system to help myself understand more about my new old devices. Here is the excerpt if you don't want to see my rants all over the place...
MY FOUR DARK HORSEMEN
Here are my four major contestants at the moment:
HP Jornada 720 (2000)
Alphasmart Dana (2002)
Sigmarion III (2004)
Sharp Netwalker PC-Z1 (2009)
Technical specifications at a glance
Why I count them in
(in short
): fine physical touch typing keyboard, small footprint, instant-on, respectable battery life
(see my further notes
), excellent design and ruggedness
(despite their age
), tweakability, and curiously, no 24/7
(forced
) connectivity.
Not my concerns: uber builtin connectivity
(all happily lacking one way or another
), and high raw power
(CPU speed, amount of RAM, internal storage
).
My scoring system
I have given scores to these four machines in five categories: Portability, Battery, Screen, Applications, Keyboard.
These scores are rather unconventional and are based on the following personal criteria.
(1
) Portability: How easy and convenient it is to carry it around in pockets or in small bags/cases.
(2
) Battery: Not original capacity ratings. Rather, this has to do with after replacing the battery cells. All these devices were made more than 10 years ago
(J720 was 20!
) and so the original battery packs are almost certainly dead. Fortunately it is not that difficult to replace the cells
(more on this in my later posts
) and the new capacities can become far superior than the factory values.
(3
) Screen: How comfortable it is to the eyes of those who type regularly and frequently on the devices.
(4
) Applications
(Tweakability
): Again this does not only concern the stock operating systems
(all have been depreciated
), but are more about the possibilities of installing upgraded or alternate systems, especially Unix or Linux ports.
(5
) Keyboard: How groovy for one to touch type on the builtin keyboard.
All four machines are of excellent and durable build quality.
All are instant-on.
All except for Dana are in clamshell form.
And the results are ...
Full score = 25
Jornada 720: 23
Alphasmart Dana: 21
Sigmarion III: 20
Netwalker PC-Z1: 18
In a nutshell, my biggest love still goes to the Jornada 720
(with a 728 board
).
English is not my native language and it's just very amateurish writing. So pardon my inapt expressions and lack of professional knowledge about your buddies.
Edited by hpcboy 2020-10-01 3:15 PM