Psion SIBO - PDAs that do not even need to be emulated

Among the Psion PDAs there are five models that do not even need to be emulated, since they work on NEC V30 processors compatible with 8086, hence the name of the SIBO PDA - sixteen bit organizer or sixteen bit operating system. Still in these processors there is a compatibility mode with 8080, which for these reasons is not used in these PDAs. At one time, Psion released proprietary, but freely distributed (provided there is no modification) tools for launching the EPOC16 OS used in these PDAs on top of any DOS-compatible operating system. Nowadays, DOSBOX will do, but it will already be an emulation.

Links to the download pages of archives with these programs are provided at the bottom of the original page of this article. Well, download an example archivewith a shell from the Siena model and try to run it.

The archive takes 868 kB, create the ~ / simulator folder, unpack the archive there and get:

$ ls
DPMI16BI.OVL  EPOC.RMI      licence.txt  RTM.EXE
EPOC.DLL      HHSERVER.PAR  readme.txt   siemul.exe

Run DOSBOX and type:

mount m: ~/simulator
m:
siemul

In native DOS, the same is done with the SUBST command. It is important that the disc is named exactly M: It

works, the icons of the first four programs are placed on the screen:



Mouse? Which mouse? Use the keys to go to the page with the icons of the remaining four programs:



Return to DOS at any time by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Esc. But let's not rush. The readme.txt file contains the correspondence of the keys on the PC keyboard to the keys of Psion:

F1 is System, F2 Data, ..., F8 Sheet, F9 Menu, F10 Help, F12 Diamond
F11 simulates the machine being switched off then on (only has any
effect when a password is set).
Alt is the Psion key.
You can use the Insert key as an alternative to Shift-System.

We will run the applications in order. Exit from any - Insert. Let's start with Data, type something:



Word:



Agenda:



Time:



World, pay attention to the old telephone code 095:



Calc:



Sheet:



Program:



In any program, using the F9 key, you can start the menu, moving around it is the same as in DOS- programs without a mouse, exit the menu - Esc: The



F10 key launches context-sensitive help, such as that in DOS programs on Turbo Vision:



Let's look at some help item:



Shells from other Psiones of the SIBO series are launched in approximately the same way, for example , Workabout ( archive ):



Shells from some PDAs, in addition to the M: drive, require A: and B: drives, which in physical DOS are physical drives or are assigned with the SUBST command, and in DOSBOX they are connected with the mount command. And all readers now have five virtual vintage PDAs of relatively rare models.

SIBOs are not the only PDAs on NEC V30 processors. They are also used in most Casio Pocket Viewer models - also very interesting and distinctive handhelds. But that's another story.