Re: [Poqetpc] Sales of Poqet PC?

[Sven Utcke <utcke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hallo all,

> > Yup, agreed with you that the HP200LX is more powerful (it has
> > lots of software build-in plus lots of memories 4MB RAM) its very
> > light and uses 2 AA batteries for a long time, plus its small. But
> > I guess its also a problem, due to the size, the keyboard is very
> > hard to touch type( more of thumb typing).

Indeed.  The hp200lx is my main-unit now (essentially replaced a
palm), but while it is great for many things, and the battery-life is
unsurpassed, it is essentially useless for real typing...

> > Guess, I'm looking for a small but yet touch typable unit. I had
> > the psion 5mx too. Very powerful with larger keyboard and uses AA
> > batteries, the keyboard is a little stiff though..  But again, it
> > failed due to the screen.  Again the ribbon wire issue. Sigh...

For the 5mx at least replacement ribbons are available, which are
supposed to be much sturdier (just google a bit, I've even seen them
on ebay).  What gets me about the psions are CF interoperability
problems between the psion and virtually any other os (chkdsk will not
give the desired --- nor correct --- result on CFs used in psions) and
the total lack of synchronising software (unless you want to
synchonize with older versions of Windows software, of course),
otherwise I would name my Ericsson mc218 (essentially a 5mx with
better mail and web software) the ultimate compromise between
portability and useability (although it is pain that batteries can not
be recharged inside the unit...).

> If long filename and the size is not an important factor, then I recommend
> the old Omnibook 300 (4 AA batteries.)  OB530 is the same subnotebook size
> but can install Windows95 no problem.  Omnibooks are larger than Poqet so
> touch typing is great with its quality keyboard.

Personally I found the Poqet plus mostly quite useable as far as touch
typing goes, at least on par with the Sharp 3k, and only surpassed by
the Olivetti Quaderno (the ridiculous looking keyboard actually works
extremely well!).  If you liked the Poqet, then I would probably go
for a Poqet Plus, even though battery life is limited (about 5-8 hours
per charge), and it uses nonstandard batteries.  And it can use at
least some CF cards...

I got mine from CalDigital for US$99, so it might be possible to
bargain a bit...

> I have a question to anyone on the list: If a legacy unit (286, 386,
> Gateway Handbook, specifically) has a spinning hard drive, is it
> possible to replace the hard drive with a PCMCIA card?  I would like
> to do this simply to convert them as a solid state machine if
> possible, and if so, some pointers, please.

You can replace any disk with an ATA-interface with a CF-card and an
adapter, just ask at your local radio shack / computer store (also
regularly sold on ebay).  So the only remaining question is: is this
an ATA-drive you are looking at?  In any 386 it probably is, in most
8086 it probably isn't (Quadernos again being prime examples).

Sven
-- 
 _  __                     The Cognitive Systems Group
| |/ /___  __ _ ___                                       University of Hamburg
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          |___/ http://kogs-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~utcke
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