The history of handheld computers in faces. Part 2
Continuation of the post HISTORY OF POCKET COMPUTERS IN PERSONS. PART 1 .
"Three Bears" come to the market of pocket computers - IBM, HP, AppleComputer
On April 23, 1991, the HP-95LX was introduced.
Figure 1. HP-95LX
HP-95LX, like the AtariPortfolio, was one of the first “real” PDAs, because it was running under the MS operating system DOS3.22, and the package included many pre-installed applications. Among them, a special place was occupied by Lotus 1-2-3. From the “stuffing” of the device, it is worth noting the 16-bit NECV20 processor (analogue to Intel 8088) with a clock frequency of 5.37 MHz. Monochrome display with a resolution of 240 x 128 had a rather impressive size - 4.8 inches. There were PCMCIA and RS - 232 connectors. The size of the ROM was 1 MB, and the RAM - 512 KB.
In 1992, IBM released a device called Simon. Although the brainchild of IBM and refers to communicators rather than handheld computers, I think it is worth mentioning in this post.
Figure 2. IBM Simon
The communicator was running the operating system Zaurus. In addition to the standard mobile phone, Simon also contained a calendar, address book, world time, calculator, address book, e-mail and fax applications, and several games. All IBMSimon control was carried out through the touch screen.
In 1992, Apple’s then-boss John Scully, talking about new developments within the company, introduced the new term personal digital assistant, or simply PDA. This term has become a household name for all subsequent handheld computers, regardless of manufacturer.
In 1993, the MessagePad H1000 handheld computer was introduced.
Figure 3. Apple MessagePad H1000
At the beginning of development, it was planned as a completely redesigned computer with a large screen, a large amount of internal resources and a full-fledged object-oriented graphics core, that is, more like a tablet than a pocket computer.
But closer to the release, the development course was changed and the pocket personal computer had already entered the market. It is often, by the name of the operating system, called Newton.
Among the devices of the Newton series, the MessagePad 120, built on an ARM 610 RISC processor with a clock frequency of 20 MHz and with a 1 MB RAM capacity, costs $ 599, and with 2 MB of RAM - $ 699. The 2 MB model is more preferable. all the more so for the extra $ 100 you get not only additional RAM, but in addition 9 600-bit / s fax modem and a copy of Intuit's PoketQuicken program.
Working from the included four AA batteries, it was possible to perform calculations intermittently for 25 hours.
Figure 4. MessagePad 120 and MessagePad 2000
Do not forget about the MessagePad 2000, which has been completely redesigned compared to its predecessors.
RAM is now 4 MB. The screen resolution has doubled - 480 x 320 against 320 x 240. The processor frequency has increased from 20 to 162 MHz. Unfortunately, with the increase in quality, the price, which now amounted to $ 1,000, also increased.
Figure 5. MessagePad 2000 with Keyboard Connected
Newton's line was produced until 1998, but unfortunately. During these 6 years I have not had commercial success. Among the reasons for low sales, they called a rather high cost, and the size of devices that did not fit in a pocket of trousers or a jacket, and poor handwriting recognition.
The PDA market, the main player of which was Apple, began to fade. Only the appearance, shortly before the closure of the Newton line, the new Palm Pilot device, saved and breathed new life into the PDA.
Palm is at the helm
I think anyone who is at least a little interested in mobile techs has heard about Palm. The name of these PDAs has become a household name and has firmly got into the associative series with the terms PDA and handheld.
Palms began their ascent in 1996, when devices called Pilot entered the market. These were the PalmPilot 1000 and PalmPilot 5000, whose RAM, respectively, was 128 KB and 512 KB. PalmPilot 1000 was equipped with a MC68328 DragonBall processor with a clock frequency of 16 MHz. All this wealth was controlled by the Palm OS.
Figure 6. Palm 1000
The main feature of such devices was that all actions in these PDAs could be performed with a few touches of the stylus on the touch screen. In addition, the system was quite undemanding of resources, in contrast to the competing Windows CE. The limit of the clock frequency of 100 MHz, they overcame only in 2002 with the release of Palm Zire 21.
Among the whole park of palm trees I will highlight a few interesting, in my opinion, models. Let's start with the Palm III. The year of his birth is 1998, immediately after the release it cost about 400 dollars. Unlike its predecessors, the PalmPilot, it could display as many as four shades of gray, and also had an inverse backlight.
Figure 7. Palm III
Initially, it was equipped with 2 MB of RAM. But there were upgrades up to 8 MB. Attempts to increase the memory to 16 MB were unsuccessful due to restrictions on working with 12 MB of address space.
For communication with the outside world in the device were IrDA and COM - port. Using the plug-in adapter PalmConnect, a connection to the USB handheld connector was implemented.
Powered by Palm III, carried out from two AAA batteries.
The next device causing my interest is the Palm m100.
Neither the processor (Motorola Dragonball EZ (MC68EZ328) 16 MHz) nor the RAM in this model received any changes compared to its predecessor.
But the screen is now able to display up to 16 shades of gray, and the weight has decreased to 125 g, compared with 170 in the Palm III.
Figure 8. Appearance of the Palm m100
Two AAA batteries provided up to 2 months of work, and the presence of a COM port allowed for direct data export to Microsoft Word and Excel, as well as Chapura PocketMirror (connection to Microsoft Outlook) and AvantGo (Web Channel Manager).
It was impossible to overlook one of the entry-level models - the Palm m130.
Among the main features of this handheld is to highlight the presence in the budget model not just a color display, but a display made according to the STN technology, which supports the display of up to 65536 colors. Information is quite distinguishable even outside in sunny weather. Unfortunately, the resolution has not changed compared to the older models and is still the same 160x160 pixels.
The presence of such a good screen leaves its mark on the power consumption. AAA batteries, had to be replaced by more capacious lithium - polymer batteries. According to the manufacturer, the life of these batteries is 2 years. One charge is enough for a week of normal operation (about an hour per day). A full charge takes about two hours.
Figure 9. Palm m130 with dock
The presence of the Motorola DragonBall VZ33 processor with a frequency of 33 MHz, deprived the user of the ability to upgrade to a newer version of Palm OS 5.0, since it only worked on ARM processors.
The amount of internal memory was 8 MB, which could be expanded using MMC / SD cards.
When buying a device, you received not only the PDA itself, but also a docking station with a USB connection.
The last representative of the glorious family of Palm, which I want to tell you, is the Zire 72.
Figure 10. Zire 72s
It was released in 2004. It was one of the first devices of the company, which had a built-in camera with a resolution of 1.2 megapixels. In addition to the camera, the device boasts 32 MB of RAM, an Intel PXA270 processor with a frequency of 312 MHz, an already familiar users slot for SD - cards and Bluetooth. The screen resolution was 320x320 pixels.
As an operating system, the device was installed PalmOS 5.2.8.
In spite of this hardware richness, the palm software capabilities left much to be desired, compared to the rapidly developing system from one little-known company Microsoft. The stupid licensing agreement with Kodak, which has rights to the core of the system, did not allow Palm to disclose to third-party developers the API for creating background tasks at the kernel level. So multitasking in the system was idle and was used only when playing background music.
“While the range of Microsoft's operating system capabilities was expanding, PalmOS was all in one place. For a long time, Palm OS 6 Cobalt was expected to be released, in which developers were going to fix most of the problems inherent in the previous version, including real multitasking, a redesigned graphical interface, support for high-resolution screens, etc., were planned. This version of the system was ready in 2004 and later, an updated version number 6.1 was released, but for some unknown reason, no serial device running Palm OS 6 Cobalt was released. ”
With the departure from the PDA market on PalmOS, the world of handheld computers actually ceased to exist, giving way to smartphones and communicators.
But sometimes the CCP still slip into the market, even though they are called differently. These include devices such as iPod Touch and Galaxy S Wi-Fi.
Figure 11. Ipod Touch 5 and Galaxy S Wi-Fi
I hope you were interested in this small excursion into the past. I take this opportunity to congratulate all readers on the New Year. Good luck, health and creative success in 2013.
"Three Bears" come to the market of pocket computers - IBM, HP, AppleComputer
On April 23, 1991, the HP-95LX was introduced.
Figure 1. HP-95LX
HP-95LX, like the AtariPortfolio, was one of the first “real” PDAs, because it was running under the MS operating system DOS3.22, and the package included many pre-installed applications. Among them, a special place was occupied by Lotus 1-2-3. From the “stuffing” of the device, it is worth noting the 16-bit NECV20 processor (analogue to Intel 8088) with a clock frequency of 5.37 MHz. Monochrome display with a resolution of 240 x 128 had a rather impressive size - 4.8 inches. There were PCMCIA and RS - 232 connectors. The size of the ROM was 1 MB, and the RAM - 512 KB.
In 1992, IBM released a device called Simon. Although the brainchild of IBM and refers to communicators rather than handheld computers, I think it is worth mentioning in this post.
Figure 2. IBM Simon
The communicator was running the operating system Zaurus. In addition to the standard mobile phone, Simon also contained a calendar, address book, world time, calculator, address book, e-mail and fax applications, and several games. All IBMSimon control was carried out through the touch screen.
In 1992, Apple’s then-boss John Scully, talking about new developments within the company, introduced the new term personal digital assistant, or simply PDA. This term has become a household name for all subsequent handheld computers, regardless of manufacturer.
In 1993, the MessagePad H1000 handheld computer was introduced.
Figure 3. Apple MessagePad H1000
At the beginning of development, it was planned as a completely redesigned computer with a large screen, a large amount of internal resources and a full-fledged object-oriented graphics core, that is, more like a tablet than a pocket computer.
But closer to the release, the development course was changed and the pocket personal computer had already entered the market. It is often, by the name of the operating system, called Newton.
Among the devices of the Newton series, the MessagePad 120, built on an ARM 610 RISC processor with a clock frequency of 20 MHz and with a 1 MB RAM capacity, costs $ 599, and with 2 MB of RAM - $ 699. The 2 MB model is more preferable. all the more so for the extra $ 100 you get not only additional RAM, but in addition 9 600-bit / s fax modem and a copy of Intuit's PoketQuicken program.
Working from the included four AA batteries, it was possible to perform calculations intermittently for 25 hours.
Figure 4. MessagePad 120 and MessagePad 2000
Do not forget about the MessagePad 2000, which has been completely redesigned compared to its predecessors.
RAM is now 4 MB. The screen resolution has doubled - 480 x 320 against 320 x 240. The processor frequency has increased from 20 to 162 MHz. Unfortunately, with the increase in quality, the price, which now amounted to $ 1,000, also increased.
Figure 5. MessagePad 2000 with Keyboard Connected
Newton's line was produced until 1998, but unfortunately. During these 6 years I have not had commercial success. Among the reasons for low sales, they called a rather high cost, and the size of devices that did not fit in a pocket of trousers or a jacket, and poor handwriting recognition.
The PDA market, the main player of which was Apple, began to fade. Only the appearance, shortly before the closure of the Newton line, the new Palm Pilot device, saved and breathed new life into the PDA.
Palm is at the helm
I think anyone who is at least a little interested in mobile techs has heard about Palm. The name of these PDAs has become a household name and has firmly got into the associative series with the terms PDA and handheld.
Palms began their ascent in 1996, when devices called Pilot entered the market. These were the PalmPilot 1000 and PalmPilot 5000, whose RAM, respectively, was 128 KB and 512 KB. PalmPilot 1000 was equipped with a MC68328 DragonBall processor with a clock frequency of 16 MHz. All this wealth was controlled by the Palm OS.
Figure 6. Palm 1000
The main feature of such devices was that all actions in these PDAs could be performed with a few touches of the stylus on the touch screen. In addition, the system was quite undemanding of resources, in contrast to the competing Windows CE. The limit of the clock frequency of 100 MHz, they overcame only in 2002 with the release of Palm Zire 21.
Among the whole park of palm trees I will highlight a few interesting, in my opinion, models. Let's start with the Palm III. The year of his birth is 1998, immediately after the release it cost about 400 dollars. Unlike its predecessors, the PalmPilot, it could display as many as four shades of gray, and also had an inverse backlight.
Figure 7. Palm III
Initially, it was equipped with 2 MB of RAM. But there were upgrades up to 8 MB. Attempts to increase the memory to 16 MB were unsuccessful due to restrictions on working with 12 MB of address space.
For communication with the outside world in the device were IrDA and COM - port. Using the plug-in adapter PalmConnect, a connection to the USB handheld connector was implemented.
Powered by Palm III, carried out from two AAA batteries.
The next device causing my interest is the Palm m100.
Neither the processor (Motorola Dragonball EZ (MC68EZ328) 16 MHz) nor the RAM in this model received any changes compared to its predecessor.
But the screen is now able to display up to 16 shades of gray, and the weight has decreased to 125 g, compared with 170 in the Palm III.
Figure 8. Appearance of the Palm m100
Two AAA batteries provided up to 2 months of work, and the presence of a COM port allowed for direct data export to Microsoft Word and Excel, as well as Chapura PocketMirror (connection to Microsoft Outlook) and AvantGo (Web Channel Manager).
It was impossible to overlook one of the entry-level models - the Palm m130.
Among the main features of this handheld is to highlight the presence in the budget model not just a color display, but a display made according to the STN technology, which supports the display of up to 65536 colors. Information is quite distinguishable even outside in sunny weather. Unfortunately, the resolution has not changed compared to the older models and is still the same 160x160 pixels.
The presence of such a good screen leaves its mark on the power consumption. AAA batteries, had to be replaced by more capacious lithium - polymer batteries. According to the manufacturer, the life of these batteries is 2 years. One charge is enough for a week of normal operation (about an hour per day). A full charge takes about two hours.
Figure 9. Palm m130 with dock
The presence of the Motorola DragonBall VZ33 processor with a frequency of 33 MHz, deprived the user of the ability to upgrade to a newer version of Palm OS 5.0, since it only worked on ARM processors.
The amount of internal memory was 8 MB, which could be expanded using MMC / SD cards.
When buying a device, you received not only the PDA itself, but also a docking station with a USB connection.
The last representative of the glorious family of Palm, which I want to tell you, is the Zire 72.
Figure 10. Zire 72s
It was released in 2004. It was one of the first devices of the company, which had a built-in camera with a resolution of 1.2 megapixels. In addition to the camera, the device boasts 32 MB of RAM, an Intel PXA270 processor with a frequency of 312 MHz, an already familiar users slot for SD - cards and Bluetooth. The screen resolution was 320x320 pixels.
As an operating system, the device was installed PalmOS 5.2.8.
In spite of this hardware richness, the palm software capabilities left much to be desired, compared to the rapidly developing system from one little-known company Microsoft. The stupid licensing agreement with Kodak, which has rights to the core of the system, did not allow Palm to disclose to third-party developers the API for creating background tasks at the kernel level. So multitasking in the system was idle and was used only when playing background music.
“While the range of Microsoft's operating system capabilities was expanding, PalmOS was all in one place. For a long time, Palm OS 6 Cobalt was expected to be released, in which developers were going to fix most of the problems inherent in the previous version, including real multitasking, a redesigned graphical interface, support for high-resolution screens, etc., were planned. This version of the system was ready in 2004 and later, an updated version number 6.1 was released, but for some unknown reason, no serial device running Palm OS 6 Cobalt was released. ”
With the departure from the PDA market on PalmOS, the world of handheld computers actually ceased to exist, giving way to smartphones and communicators.
But sometimes the CCP still slip into the market, even though they are called differently. These include devices such as iPod Touch and Galaxy S Wi-Fi.
Figure 11. Ipod Touch 5 and Galaxy S Wi-Fi
I hope you were interested in this small excursion into the past. I take this opportunity to congratulate all readers on the New Year. Good luck, health and creative success in 2013.
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/164469/
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