Hmmmm. Handheld PCs and word processing – one of my great loves. I’m going to add a bit to what I’ve already said and take you is directions you might not have thought about. All of what I’m about to say is drawn from personal and professional experience over the past 40 years or so.
First of all, I have no experience constructing devices that allow H/PCs to connect to the modern internet to either get email or check web sites. If you do, more power to you, and I’ll be first in line to buy one so I get get email again on my MobilePro 700.
I’ve used pretty much everything since the original Radio Shack 100, including Psions
(3 and 5 series
), HP
(95, 100 and 200LX
), Dana and Palms
(lots of them including the great TRGpro
), Newtons
(120, 130 and 2100
) and just about every WinCE H/PCs ever made. They all have both good and bad points.
First off, the keyboard is everything. You don’t want to type a novel on an HP 200LX with a chicklet keyboard or even a Psion 5mx with it’s pretty decent keyboard
(I know someone who wrote a couple of novels on a 5mx and ended up with a bad case of carpal tunnel syndrome
). Secondly, at least in my case, getting work off the machine for editing was also critical.
So, lets look at some machines...
First off is the Tandy series
(100, 102, 200 and WP2
). Their keyboards are great. Don’t dismiss them because of their limited RAM. There was an active user group
(I have not been a member for a very long time, but they may still be around, try Googling them
) and they’ve produced some add-ons that can bump up the RAM and allow the use of SD cards to get your work off the machine. In particular, I once owned a WP2 that came with a cable and software that allowed flawless syncing with my Mac SE. It was a beautiful setup that transfered the WP2’s text output to WriteNow 2.2 on the Mac. It was one of the greatest writing/editing setups I’ve ever used. However, I think you might be out of luck for email – I don’t remember every getting on the internet with a Tandy for email. I only received email through a BBS that we had at work.
Next up are Psions. They make great machines and the 5mx has a beautiful keyboard. Unfortunately, the 5 series has one fatal flaw – the ribbon cable that runs under the hinge. I’ve had more repairs to ribbon cables than I can count. There used to be a company not far from where I live that repaired them – but he retired long ago. I never found typing on the keyboard to be a problem, but I also have never written a novel on one – your mileage may vary. I also had problems getting articles off the 5 series. I never found the snyching software to be that great and when I transfered stories via CF card, I always had to reformat the card in the Psion. I have no idea why that happened but it did turn me off from using them.
I also used Newtons for a very long time. The best was the 2100. Incredible screen, fantastic battery life, a great add-on keyboard and the software was also great. It made for a fantastic, portable writing machine. In the early days, getting text off the machine wasn’t really a problem, but became increasingly frustrating due to Mac and Windows OS upgrades. Using cards to take text off also didn’t work, due to the proprietary nature of the Newton file system. At some point, either, late last century or early in this one, I stopped using them and switched to WinCE. There is still a very active Newton Users Group going on via email with a few web sites dedicated to Newtons. I believe you can also still do email through one or two of the sites directly on your Newton. I also believe that software have improved in the last decade or so and you may be able to transfer your files from a Newton to a desktop, but don’t quote me on that.
AlphaSmart Dana, the Palms and TRGpro. I’ve also used a good number of Palms and settled on the TRGpro as the best of them. It’s what the Palm III should have been, with an actual file system and the ability to use CF cards. Using WordSmithPro and a utility called CF2Doc, which works on the TRGpro to change Palm Doc format to text, and a Palm folding keyboard you have one very powerful and small word processor. Unfortunately I never found a way to connect to the internet other than through the Palm modem. There’s not too many landline connections around these days. The Dana is like a very large Palm with an amazing, full-size keyboard. There are also other AlphaSmart products like the Neo, which people swear by for word processing, but I’ve never owned one.
That brings me to Windows CE.
I’ve written about some greyscale WinCE H/PCs and AA betteries here:
https://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=16157&st...
I switched to WinCE sometime before the end of the last century and they’ve served me well. As you’ve found with your z50, with a decent keyboard, they make great machines for undistracted writing.
I have a couple of favourites: the Sharp Mobilon HC-4100. Nice screen, runs on AA batteries and they keyboard, although a chicklet type, isn’t too bad. You won’t want to write a novel on it, but for a pocket-sized, jotting down notes machine, it’s pretty darn good. The Casio PA-2400U-CF is the next on my list. I love the screen on this one – everything is so much bigger. It runs on AA batteries and I have external iBIZ keyboards which have a very nice feel. The MobilePro 700 is my all-time favourite. It runs on 2 AA batteries, the screen isn’t all that great indoors, but outdoors it’s amazing. The keyboard is probably the best part of the machine – it’s very comfortable to type on. The 32 megs of RAM also doesn’t hurt. I also use the CF card to transfer files to a desktop. In short, it’s probably the best portable word processor I’ve ever used. Also, it’s younger brothers - the 770, 780 and 790 have colour screens, great keyboards and can run for a couple of hours on accessory AA battery packs. Running on AA batteries is important to me as I tend to use them in out-of-the-way places, camping, etc. Still no email though, unfortunately.
So, that brings me to today. Do I still use a MobilePro 700, Casio PA-2400U-CF or TRGpro. Yes, sometimes. Especially camping, etc. Mostly, though, I’ve switched from Windows/Mac to Linux for my desktop and a Chromebook for my laptop. Most of what I do these days is photography oriented and access to web sites is mandatory for me.
I hope this helps...
Rick
Edited by Richard Plume 2021-02-03 10:31 PM