February 13, 2013 at 14:35Ahead of their time
Habrazhiteli already noticed that I am very partial to any rare, old and just exotic pieces of iron. It is so indeed. Therefore, I will continue to talk about long-gone things that left some kind of imprint in the history of IT.
In the late 90s, the final format of the wearable device was not yet formed, but all the main classes have already been formed. Specific models could be very unsuccessful, and this greatly influenced the success of a whole class of devices. PDAs in the modern sense of the word were introduced by Palms and Palm-sized PCs based on Windows CE. After a couple of years, PocketPC hatched from PsPC with differences mainly in the interface - it finally moved away from desktop roots and sharpened onto the stylus as the only input device. The tablet-like Apple Newton has already left the stage mainly due to inadequate prices and an indefinite range of tasks that they could solve. The 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 due to the underdevelopment and high cost of the network infrastructure. Another reason for the confusion and vacillations is the uncertainty with a single processor architecture. Desktops survived this stage back in the 80s. It is now almost everywhere ARM, and in those years in the pockets of users were ARM different versions, MIPS, SH3. Software for Windows CE required recompilation, but it is clear that few people bothered with this.
A week ago, I finally fell into my hands something that fits perfectly into this category. This is not a netbook, but a Nec MobilePro 790 keyboard PDA. It was released sometime in 2001, at the end of its era. Its offal counterparts went into a series already in 1999.
NEC in those years produced three models with almost the same filling: MobilePro 770, 780 and 790.
What's inside the 770:
Differences between models: the 780 has a 168 MHz processor, the 790 has a port for additional 16 MB of RAM and a built-in flash memory of 16 MB, of which only 14 are available. Also, the 790 has a different OS - Windows for Handheld PC 2000. Extinct now a CE 3.0 core mutant created specifically for keyboard PDAs - the word “netbook” did not exist then. In parallel, MobilePro 800 and 880 were released with the same giblets, but with a 800x600 screen with a diagonal of 9.4 ". And, there were also two USB ports.
General form. From a distance it looks like a subnote with a very wide screen. It can be seen that it is worn out by life, but on the whole it looks quite acceptable and does not really look like a guest from the last millennium.
On the right, the PCMCIA port with a shutter and a card bailout button catches the eye. There can live a wifi, a wired network card or some kind of flash drive through an adapter. Other options are disappearingly rare. On the right is the modem socket and a hole for the cord. I didn’t take a photo with a lace in order to avoid mental injuries among readers. The result causes a desire to rummage through the catalog of medieval edged weapons of crushing action. There should be a stylus under the screen.
On the left are all sorts of exits and entrances. From left to right: power, VGA, COM, unused bay.
The connectors are non-standard, but if desired, you can find the appropriate cable
The front cover of the compartment for additional memory is slightly visible, the end of the CF card, 2.5 mm mono audio output and a microphone and indicators of the battery and missed notifications.
Below - a laptop like a laptop. Of the interesting things, perhaps a folding button to extract the card.
Get to the point. Scroll to the right under the screen. It's just a joystick, there is no free rotation. In embedded programs it works as it should.
Under the hood. Bottom ROM, top RAM. Despite the past 12 years since being discontinued, the modules are readily available on ebay.
Desktop. Almost the entire ideology of user interaction came from the desktop, except that there are no window titles, cursor, and everything connected with the right mouse button. In general, nothing special, from the strange - shortcuts are launched by double-clicking. Very atypical for the CCP, but apparently in those years it was so accepted.
Total Commander. Under this software platform, the cat cried, but there is something. On the left tab are some system folders, on the right is a CF card borrowed by the camera.
Excel
Word. In terms of functionality, it is rather Wordpad
Notepad text-and-drawing
Keyboard to scale. At the same time, and the power supply. He is slightly more charged from Nokia and a form that is very atypical for our days. Typing is inconvenient. because the strange size of the keys and the differences in the layout in the little things, such as the location of the comma.
At a local forum, we managed to buy a Wi-Fi network card of the required standard - 16-bit PCMCIA. Visually differs from conventional 32-bit ones by the absence of a metallic golden screen near the connector. Oddly enough, there is a native proprietary driver for it. Nicely.
The key to start. I missed the driver installation, there’s nothing interesting.
The network configuration screen is suspiciously familiar. There is practically no support for equipment out of the box - everything that is known on the screen is displayed on the screen, and I put the last two drivers with my hands for the existing card.
If you put the card in the slot, then it will begin to search for the network. It finds the way almost instantly, and the sensitivity is level. If not enough, then you can connect an external antenna. In general, Prism cards were very popular among the drivers for a lot of features that are not quite typical for today. Compatibility only with WEP encryption, I had to reconfigure the router.
... and after a few seconds we are online. True, I had to suffer a lot due to some strange conflict with the DHCP server, but it somehow resolved itself. We write to the Chinese router and antique equipment.
We can synchronize over the network. This is a separate vile story, because ActiveSync is a horror flying on the wings of the night. To create a network connection for synchronization, you must first synchronize via cable or IR. I also had to buy an infrared port. In 2013, this turned out to be a very non-trivial task.
It seems that the synchronization is successful
Local Outlook. As I understand it, it works only through synchronization with the desktop via ActiveSync, it does not know how to send-receive mail directly from the PDA.
IRC client. Specifically, this is very wretched, which the author does not even try to hide. He goes to 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, and secondly, it does not know how to scale the page and eats up a noticeable fraction of 240 pixels of height with its interface. But in general, sites from the era of Web 1.0 from the late 90s should be tolerant.
Some other browser, but the engine is the same. You can disable part of the panels and use tabs, but in general there is nothing new.
It’s clear which site. The text is visible, but no more than that,
Google somehow works. Although, for example, ya.ru does not show a single picture - it is in png. The logo seems almost monochrome, but this is the cost of the camera. The screen is still color, albeit with a terrible bit depth and inertia
Keyboard PDAs are extinct - there they are and the way. At that time, there was no such compact and low-consuming iron for desktop systems that were fully developed. Mobile operating systems such as Windows CE have not yet filled their niche and were unsuitable for work. The superportable type of PalmOS has been and flourished, but it's still a little bit wrong. There was no mobile data transfer, and the fact that it was so expensive that it was possible to carry a laptop on a car and not bother with strange and inconvenient devices. But after a dozen years, the next incarnation in the form of netbooks went very well. But this is a completely different story.
In the late 90s, the final format of the wearable device was not yet formed, but all the main classes have already been formed. Specific models could be very unsuccessful, and this greatly influenced the success of a whole class of devices. PDAs in the modern sense of the word were introduced by Palms and Palm-sized PCs based on Windows CE. After a couple of years, PocketPC hatched from PsPC with differences mainly in the interface - it finally moved away from desktop roots and sharpened onto the stylus as the only input device. The tablet-like Apple Newton has already left the stage mainly due to inadequate prices and an indefinite range of tasks that they could solve. The 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 due to the underdevelopment and high cost of the network infrastructure. Another reason for the confusion and vacillations is the uncertainty with a single processor architecture. Desktops survived this stage back in the 80s. It is now almost everywhere ARM, and in those years in the pockets of users were ARM different versions, MIPS, SH3. Software for Windows CE required recompilation, but it is clear that few people bothered with this.
A week ago, I finally fell into my hands something that fits perfectly into this category. This is not a netbook, but a Nec MobilePro 790 keyboard PDA. It was released sometime in 2001, at the end of its era. Its offal counterparts went into a series already in 1999.
Iron
NEC in those years produced three models with almost the same filling: MobilePro 770, 780 and 790.
What's inside the 770:
- Processor: NEC VR4121 131 MHz. Architecture - MIPS
- RAM: 32 Mb.
- ROM: 24 Mb. Only for reading.
- Extension: as many as two slots. Compact Flash and PCMCIA Type II. Only 16-bit cards are supported. In terms of CF volume, it is unclear, but 4 GB works.
- Power supply: external power supply, main battery 7.2 V and 1500 mAh, battery for watches
- Screen: 8.1 ", 640x240, 16-bit color, touch. There is a stylus, but the finger is quite comfortable. Passive matrix, typical for that era. There is a VGA output, supports resolution up to 800x600
- Keyboard: 78 keys. Pitch 17.5 mm. Separately rendered brightness buttons and scroller.
- Sound: 2.5 mm mono output and microphone
- Communication with the outside world: COM, 56k modem, 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 a port for additional 16 MB of RAM and a built-in flash memory of 16 MB, of which only 14 are available. Also, the 790 has a different OS - Windows for Handheld PC 2000. Extinct now a CE 3.0 core mutant created specifically for keyboard PDAs - the word “netbook” did not exist then. In parallel, MobilePro 800 and 880 were released with the same giblets, but with a 800x600 screen with a diagonal of 9.4 ". And, there were also two USB ports.
What's outside
General form. From a distance it looks like a subnote with a very wide screen. It can be seen that it is worn out by life, but on the whole it looks quite acceptable and does not really look like a guest from the last millennium.
On the right, the PCMCIA port with a shutter and a card bailout button catches the eye. There can live a wifi, a wired network card or some kind of flash drive through an adapter. Other options are disappearingly rare. On the right is the modem socket and a hole for the cord. I didn’t take a photo with a lace in order to avoid mental injuries among readers. The result causes a desire to rummage through the catalog of medieval edged weapons of crushing action. There should be a stylus under the screen.
On the left are all sorts of exits and entrances. From left to right: power, VGA, COM, unused bay.
The connectors are non-standard, but if desired, you can find the appropriate cable
The front cover of the compartment for additional memory is slightly visible, the end of the CF card, 2.5 mm mono audio output and a microphone and indicators of the battery and missed notifications.
Below - a laptop like a laptop. Of the interesting things, perhaps a folding button to extract the card.
Get to the point. Scroll to the right under the screen. It's just a joystick, there is no free rotation. In embedded programs it works as it should.
Under the hood. Bottom ROM, top RAM. Despite the past 12 years since being discontinued, the modules are readily available on ebay.
Offline
Desktop. Almost the entire ideology of user interaction came from the desktop, except that there are no window titles, cursor, and everything connected with the right mouse button. In general, nothing special, from the strange - shortcuts are launched by double-clicking. Very atypical for the CCP, but apparently in those years it was so accepted.
Total Commander. Under this software platform, the cat cried, but there is something. On the left tab are some system folders, on the right is a CF card borrowed by the camera.
Excel
Word. In terms of functionality, it is rather Wordpad
Notepad text-and-drawing
Keyboard to scale. At the same time, and the power supply. He is slightly more charged from Nokia and a form that is very atypical for our days. Typing is inconvenient. because the strange size of the keys and the differences in the layout in the little things, such as the location of the comma.
Online
At a local forum, we managed to buy a Wi-Fi network card of the required standard - 16-bit PCMCIA. Visually differs from conventional 32-bit ones by the absence of a metallic golden screen near the connector. Oddly enough, there is a native proprietary driver for it. Nicely.
The key to start. I missed the driver installation, there’s nothing interesting.
The network configuration screen is suspiciously familiar. There is practically no support for equipment out of the box - everything that is known on the screen is displayed on the screen, and I put the last two drivers with my hands for the existing card.
If you put the card in the slot, then it will begin to search for the network. It finds the way almost instantly, and the sensitivity is level. If not enough, then you can connect an external antenna. In general, Prism cards were very popular among the drivers for a lot of features that are not quite typical for today. Compatibility only with WEP encryption, I had to reconfigure the router.
... and after a few seconds we are online. True, I had to suffer a lot due to some strange conflict with the DHCP server, but it somehow resolved itself. We write to the Chinese router and antique equipment.
We can synchronize over the network. This is a separate vile story, because ActiveSync is a horror flying on the wings of the night. To create a network connection for synchronization, you must first synchronize via cable or IR. I also had to buy an infrared port. In 2013, this turned out to be a very non-trivial task.
It seems that the synchronization is successful
Local Outlook. As I understand it, it works only through synchronization with the desktop via ActiveSync, it does not know how to send-receive mail directly from the PDA.
IRC client. Specifically, this is very wretched, which the author does not even try to hide. He goes to 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, and secondly, it does not know how to scale the page and eats up a noticeable fraction of 240 pixels of height with its interface. But in general, sites from the era of Web 1.0 from the late 90s should be tolerant.
Some other browser, but the engine is the same. You can disable part of the panels and use tabs, but in general there is nothing new.
It’s clear which site. The text is visible, but no more than that,
Google somehow works. Although, for example, ya.ru does not show a single picture - it is in png. The logo seems almost monochrome, but this is the cost of the camera. The screen is still color, albeit with a terrible bit depth and inertia
conclusions
Keyboard PDAs are extinct - there they are and the way. At that time, there was no such compact and low-consuming iron for desktop systems that were fully developed. Mobile operating systems such as Windows CE have not yet filled their niche and were unsuitable for work. The superportable type of PalmOS has been and flourished, but it's still a little bit wrong. There was no mobile data transfer, and the fact that it was so expensive that it was possible to carry a laptop on a car and not bother with strange and inconvenient devices. But after a dozen years, the next incarnation in the form of netbooks went very well. But this is a completely different story.