Ahead of their time
Habrazhiteli have already noticed that I am very partial to all rare, old and just exotic pieces of iron. This is the case. Therefore, I will continue to talk about things that have long disappeared, which left some imprint in the history of IT.
In the late 90s the final format of the wearable device has not yet been formed, but all the main classes have already been formed. Specific models could be quite unsuccessful, and this greatly influenced the success of a whole class of devices. PDAs in the modern sense of the word were represented by Palma and Palm-sized PC based on Windows CE. A couple of years later, PocketPC hatched from PsPC with differences mainly in the interface - it finally moved away from the desktop roots and sharpened the stylus as the only input device. Tablet-like Apple Newton already left the stage mainly because of inadequate prices and an indefinite number of tasks that they could solve. Netbooks were called Handheld PCs and were based on a special edition of Windows CE, which was partially compatible with Pocket PC software. No, it turned out badly because of the underdevelopment and high cost of the network infrastructure. Another reason for confusion and vacillation is uncertainty with a single processor architecture. Desktops survived this stage in the 80s. It is now almost everywhere ARM, and in those years ARM was in the pockets of users of different versions, MIPS, SH3. Software for Windows CE required recompilation, but it is clear that few people bothered.
A week ago, I finally found something in my paws that perfectly fits into this category. This is not a netbook, but a keyboard PDA Nec MobilePro 790. It was released sometime in 2001, at the end of its era. His counterparts for giblets went into the series as much in 1999.
NEC in those years produced three models with almost the same filling: MobilePro 770, 780 and 790.
What is inside 770:
')
Differences between models: the 780 has a 168 MHz processor, the 790 has an additional port for additional 16 MB of RAM and 16 MB of built-in flash memory, only 14 of which are available. Also the 790 has another OS - Windows for Handheld PC 2000. Extinct now a mutant on the core of CE 3.0, created specifically for keyboard PDAs - the word "netbook" was not yet there. In parallel, the MobilePro 800 and 880 were produced with the same giblets, but with a 800x600 screen with a diagonal of 9.4 ". And, and there were also two USB ports.
General form. From a distance, it looks like a subnout with a very wide screen. It is seen that worn life, but in general it looks quite acceptable and not very similar to a guest from the past millennium.
On the right, the PCMCIA port with a shutter and a card ejection button is most striking. There can live wifi, wired network card or some kind of flash drive through the adapter. Other options are vanishingly rare. On the right is a modem socket and a lace hole. The photo with a cord did not do in order to avoid mental injury to readers. The result is a desire to rummage in the catalog of medieval edged weapons crushing action. Under the screen should be a stylus.
On the left - all sorts of exits and entrances. From left to right: power, VGA, COM, unused bay.
Connectors are non-standard, but if desired, the corresponding cable can be found
In front you can see a little additional memory cover, a CF card end, a 2.5 mm mono audio output and a microphone and battery and missed notification indicators.
Below is a laptop like a laptop. Of the interesting things except the foldable button to extract the card.
Get to the point. Right below the screen scroll. It's just a joystick, there is no free rotation. In embedded programs it works as it should.
Under the hood. Bottom ROM, on top of the RAM. Despite the past 12 years of decommissioning, the modules are quite accessible on ebay.
Desktop. Almost the whole ideology of user interaction came from the desktop, except that there are no window titles, a cursor, and everything related to the right mouse button. In general, nothing special, from the strange - the labels are launched by double clicking. Very atypical for the CCP, but apparently in those years it was so accepted.
Total Commander. Under this platform of software the cat wept, but there is something. There are some system folders in the left tab, the CF card borrowed from the camera on the right.
Excel
Word. By functionality rather Wordpad
Notepad text-drawing
Keyboard to scale. At the same time and the power supply. It is a little more charging from Nokia and a form that is very atypical for our day. Typing is inconvenient. because the strange size of the keys and the differences in the layout in the details, such as the location of a comma.
At the local forum, we managed to buy a Wi-Fi network card of the required standard - 16-bit PCMCIA. Visually different from the usual 32-bit lack of a metallic gold screen near the connector. Oddly enough, under it there is a native brand driver. Nicely.
The key to start. Missed driver installation, there is nothing interesting
Network configuration screen is suspiciously familiar. There is practically no support for the equipment out of the box - everything that is known on the screen, with the last two drivers set by hand for the existing card.
If you shove a card into the slot, it starts searching for a network. Finds the way almost instantly, and the sensitivity level. If not enough, you can connect an external antenna. In general, Prism cards were very fond of ward drivers for a lot of not quite typical features for today. Compatible only with WEP encryption, I had to reconfigure the router.
... and after a few seconds we are online. True, I had to suffer badly because of some incomprehensible conflict with the DHCP server, but it somehow resolved itself. We'll write off the Chinese router and antique equipment.
We can synchronize over the network. This is a separate vile story, because ActiveSync - horror, flying on the wings of the night. To create a network connection for synchronization, you must first synchronize via cable or IR. I had to buy more and infrared. In 2013, this turned out to be a very non-trivial task.
It seems that the synchronization is successful
Local Outluk. As I understand it, it works only through synchronization with the desktop through ActiveSync, it is not able to send-receive mail directly from the PDA.
IRC client. Specifically, this one is very poor, which the author does not even try to hide. He enters the server and shows something, but there are only hieroglyphs in the channel. Although there are specific encoding settings on the server side
Pocket IE 4.01. Another horror. Firstly, it does not know any standards, secondly, it does not know how to scale the page and removes a significant proportion of 240 pixels of height with its interface. But in general, Web 1.0 era sites from the end of the 90s should be tolerant
Some other browser, but the engine is the same. You can turn off some panels and use tabs, but in general, nothing new
It is clear what site. The text is visible, but no more
Google somehow works. Although for example ya.ru does not show the only picture - it is in png. The logo seems almost monochrome, but it is a camera cost. The screen is still colored, albeit with an eerie bit of color and inertia
Keyboard handhelds have become extinct - that's where the road is. At that time, for desktop systems that were completely exhausted, there was not so compact and low-burning iron. Mobile operating systems such as Windows CE have not yet filled their niche and were of little use for work. Palm-type superportables have been and flourished, but it's still a little bit different. There was no mobile data transfer, and the fact that it was worth so much that it was possible to drive a laptop by car and not bother with strange and inconvenient devices. But in ten years the next incarnation in the form of netbooks went on excellent. But that's another story.
In the late 90s the final format of the wearable device has not yet been formed, but all the main classes have already been formed. Specific models could be quite unsuccessful, and this greatly influenced the success of a whole class of devices. PDAs in the modern sense of the word were represented by Palma and Palm-sized PC based on Windows CE. A couple of years later, PocketPC hatched from PsPC with differences mainly in the interface - it finally moved away from the desktop roots and sharpened the stylus as the only input device. Tablet-like Apple Newton already left the stage mainly because of inadequate prices and an indefinite number of tasks that they could solve. Netbooks were called Handheld PCs and were based on a special edition of Windows CE, which was partially compatible with Pocket PC software. No, it turned out badly because of the underdevelopment and high cost of the network infrastructure. Another reason for confusion and vacillation is uncertainty with a single processor architecture. Desktops survived this stage in the 80s. It is now almost everywhere ARM, and in those years ARM was in the pockets of users of different versions, MIPS, SH3. Software for Windows CE required recompilation, but it is clear that few people bothered.
A week ago, I finally found something in my paws that perfectly fits into this category. This is not a netbook, but a keyboard PDA Nec MobilePro 790. It was released sometime in 2001, at the end of its era. His counterparts for giblets went into the series as much in 1999.
Iron
NEC in those years produced three models with almost the same filling: MobilePro 770, 780 and 790.
What is inside 770:
- Processor: NEC VR4121 131 MHz. Architecture - MIPS
- RAM: 32 MB.
- ROM: 24 MB. Only for reading.
- Expansion: two whole slots. Compact Flash and PCMCIA Type II. Only 16-bit cards are supported. CF volume is unclear, but 4 GB works.
- Power: external power supply, main battery 7.2 V and 1500 mAh, clock battery
- Screen: 8.1 ", 640x240, 16-bit color, touch. There is a stylus, but it's quite comfortable with a finger. Passive matrix typical for that era. There is a VGA output that supports resolutions up to 800x600
- Keyboard: 78 keys. The pitch is 17.5 mm. Separately rendered brightness buttons and a scroller.
- Sound: 2.5mm mono output and microphone
- Communication with the outside world: COM, modem 56k, infrared port
- Operating system: Windows CE 2.11
- Size: 245x131x29 mm, 770 g
')
Differences between models: the 780 has a 168 MHz processor, the 790 has an additional port for additional 16 MB of RAM and 16 MB of built-in flash memory, only 14 of which are available. Also the 790 has another OS - Windows for Handheld PC 2000. Extinct now a mutant on the core of CE 3.0, created specifically for keyboard PDAs - the word "netbook" was not yet there. In parallel, the MobilePro 800 and 880 were produced with the same giblets, but with a 800x600 screen with a diagonal of 9.4 ". And, and there were also two USB ports.
What's outside
General form. From a distance, it looks like a subnout with a very wide screen. It is seen that worn life, but in general it looks quite acceptable and not very similar to a guest from the past millennium.
On the right, the PCMCIA port with a shutter and a card ejection button is most striking. There can live wifi, wired network card or some kind of flash drive through the adapter. Other options are vanishingly rare. On the right is a modem socket and a lace hole. The photo with a cord did not do in order to avoid mental injury to readers. The result is a desire to rummage in the catalog of medieval edged weapons crushing action. Under the screen should be a stylus.
On the left - all sorts of exits and entrances. From left to right: power, VGA, COM, unused bay.
Connectors are non-standard, but if desired, the corresponding cable can be found
In front you can see a little additional memory cover, a CF card end, a 2.5 mm mono audio output and a microphone and battery and missed notification indicators.
Below is a laptop like a laptop. Of the interesting things except the foldable button to extract the card.
Get to the point. Right below the screen scroll. It's just a joystick, there is no free rotation. In embedded programs it works as it should.
Under the hood. Bottom ROM, on top of the RAM. Despite the past 12 years of decommissioning, the modules are quite accessible on ebay.
Offline
Desktop. Almost the whole ideology of user interaction came from the desktop, except that there are no window titles, a cursor, and everything related to the right mouse button. In general, nothing special, from the strange - the labels are launched by double clicking. Very atypical for the CCP, but apparently in those years it was so accepted.
Total Commander. Under this platform of software the cat wept, but there is something. There are some system folders in the left tab, the CF card borrowed from the camera on the right.
Excel
Word. By functionality rather Wordpad
Notepad text-drawing
Keyboard to scale. At the same time and the power supply. It is a little more charging from Nokia and a form that is very atypical for our day. Typing is inconvenient. because the strange size of the keys and the differences in the layout in the details, such as the location of a comma.
Online
At the local forum, we managed to buy a Wi-Fi network card of the required standard - 16-bit PCMCIA. Visually different from the usual 32-bit lack of a metallic gold screen near the connector. Oddly enough, under it there is a native brand driver. Nicely.
The key to start. Missed driver installation, there is nothing interesting
Network configuration screen is suspiciously familiar. There is practically no support for the equipment out of the box - everything that is known on the screen, with the last two drivers set by hand for the existing card.
If you shove a card into the slot, it starts searching for a network. Finds the way almost instantly, and the sensitivity level. If not enough, you can connect an external antenna. In general, Prism cards were very fond of ward drivers for a lot of not quite typical features for today. Compatible only with WEP encryption, I had to reconfigure the router.
... and after a few seconds we are online. True, I had to suffer badly because of some incomprehensible conflict with the DHCP server, but it somehow resolved itself. We'll write off the Chinese router and antique equipment.
We can synchronize over the network. This is a separate vile story, because ActiveSync - horror, flying on the wings of the night. To create a network connection for synchronization, you must first synchronize via cable or IR. I had to buy more and infrared. In 2013, this turned out to be a very non-trivial task.
It seems that the synchronization is successful
Local Outluk. As I understand it, it works only through synchronization with the desktop through ActiveSync, it is not able to send-receive mail directly from the PDA.
IRC client. Specifically, this one is very poor, which the author does not even try to hide. He enters the server and shows something, but there are only hieroglyphs in the channel. Although there are specific encoding settings on the server side
Pocket IE 4.01. Another horror. Firstly, it does not know any standards, secondly, it does not know how to scale the page and removes a significant proportion of 240 pixels of height with its interface. But in general, Web 1.0 era sites from the end of the 90s should be tolerant
Some other browser, but the engine is the same. You can turn off some panels and use tabs, but in general, nothing new
It is clear what site. The text is visible, but no more
Google somehow works. Although for example ya.ru does not show the only picture - it is in png. The logo seems almost monochrome, but it is a camera cost. The screen is still colored, albeit with an eerie bit of color and inertia
findings
Keyboard handhelds have become extinct - that's where the road is. At that time, for desktop systems that were completely exhausted, there was not so compact and low-burning iron. Mobile operating systems such as Windows CE have not yet filled their niche and were of little use for work. Palm-type superportables have been and flourished, but it's still a little bit different. There was no mobile data transfer, and the fact that it was worth so much that it was possible to drive a laptop by car and not bother with strange and inconvenient devices. But in ten years the next incarnation in the form of netbooks went on excellent. But that's another story.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/163973/
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