Getting a Psion 5 palmtop from 1997 online via PPP (and a Raspberry Pi)

Getting a Psion 5 palmtop from 1997 online via PPP (and a Raspberry Pi)(kianryan.co.uk)

107 points by gelstudios 3 years ago | 26 comments

gelstudios 3 years ago |

In a time where every constraint was extremely limiting (batteries, storage, cpu / SoCs, IO, displays) there were many interesting approaches to hardware and software designs for ultraportable computing.

Almost very PDA in the market had a fairly distinct OS -- or at least custom "spins", not unlike android today with manufacturer customizations.

I owned (and loved) several palm OS based devices, but I always looked at the folding "tiny laptop" form factor of the Psion series (and the Zaurus) with major nerd envy.

causi 3 years ago | |

but I always looked at the folding "tiny laptop" form factor of the Psion series (and the Zaurus) with major nerd envy.

Personally I think the refusal to move past passive-matrix 640x240 screens seriously impaired them. Even as late as 2005, NEC was marketing thousand-dollar MobilePro palmtops with the same dogshit DSTN LCD from 1998's Jornada 680.

bombcar 3 years ago | |

The one I had and loved was the HP Palmtop - tuning the "obscure OS" known as MS-DOS 5.0

You could beef them out pretty strong

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_200LX

TaylorAlexander 3 years ago |

I had a Psion Revo [1] in high school and I wish I still knew where it was! I suspect it might be among some things maybe in my moms garage, or perhaps it was lost in so many moves. But it would be a super fun little vintage computer to play with. The Revo had IRDA for infrared wireless serial, which would be fun to use with a raspberry pi. They’re for sale on eBay but not cheap enough for a cute curiosity.

[1] Wikipedia tells me it’s a “light version” of the computer in TFA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Revo

doublesocket 3 years ago | |

Remember being sat in the pub circa 2000 and using my Psion Revo connected via my Nokia 7110's IR link to clear some disk space on a server and avoid having to return to the office.

lelag 3 years ago | | |

I have a similar memory circa 2000 using all the exact same hardware. I remember getting online on the train, while precariously balancing the phone and Revo on my knee so that the IR link would stay aligned. Symbian OS did not have any IRC client at the time and I wanted to give a shoutout to my friends, so I had to connect to the IRC server with a regular telnet client, issuing IRC protocol commands manually to join a channel and write a message along the line of "Hey guys, you will never guess where I am". Good times.

I still have my Revo in a drawer though. As of five years ago, it was still able to power on. I found the form factor of this device to be great. It was light, energy efficient, actually pocketable and could actually be used for serious productivity in a way that modern phones cannot: I was touch typing all my courses on it with no issues. It sad how Psion / Symbian failed to thrive in the early 2000s.

TaylorAlexander 3 years ago | | |

Ahh that is so cool! I never had a cell phone with a data connection and I was not so in to computers back then but I appreciate hearing how it was used by others back in the day.

snvzz 3 years ago |

Psion 5 is one of these devices w/o a true successor despite decades.

I am sure can do better with current tech, but instead we get features we don't need such as backlit screens, bloated OSs and way less battery life despite higher latencies and bigger batteries.

Just like calculators, which hit peak with TI89/92/v200.

zozbot234 3 years ago | |

I don't think you need a backlit screen these days, though? E-paper screens in smaller form factors are cheaply and widely available, commonly used for electronic price tags and such, and they could easily be used on a foldable PDA/cyberdeck type device.

bartread 3 years ago | | |

I don't have experience of more recent E-paper displays but I regularly use a Kindle Paperwhite that's a few years old. It's absolulely great, but the screen refresh when you turn a page is really slow. That's fine for the use case of being an ebook reader, not so fine for a computer though - typing, for example, would be intolerable. If that could be fixed/improved enough then, I agree, E-paper displays could be great because they're incredibly clear, and very easy on the eyes.

snvzz 3 years ago | | |

>I don't think you need a backlit screen these days, though?

We didn't need it back then. Why would we need it now?

If anything, I'd expect current tech to give better contrast and readability than psion 5 series, at lower power, with higher resolution, while still running passive lit.

jw1224 3 years ago |

The Psion Series 3c was my introduction to programming. My grandfather gave me his old one when I was a kid, and after discovering OPL [1] I was hooked. Now I’ve been making a living from coding for 15 years :) Great devices, happy memories.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Programming_Language

helf 3 years ago |

Oh man. I loved my psions. I had a Netbook that I used for a long time (even dual booted to Debian Linux on it when I needed something epoc didn’t offer). Was charging one night and a storm hit and… fried it :(

I had several psion 5 and 5mx units. Loved them.

gluecode 3 years ago |

I'd a Psion 5 Mx and loved it. It had one of the best small keyboards. It's folding mechanics was superbly engineered.

rqtwteye 3 years ago | |

Agreed! I had one too and you could do real work on it like spreadsheets and documents. I feel it worked better than current phones and tablets.

Lutzb 3 years ago | | |

I just wish the screen had a little more contrast. Besides that, the productivity was awesome.

Later I switched to a Nokia 9210 Communicator (Nokia Series 80), basically a Psion 5 with networking and phone integration and a nice screen.

My living-the-future-moment was in the early 2000s sitting in car on the phone, then opening the phone, automatically switching to speakerphone and loading a spreadsheet to check some data. Later I emailed the sheet to a colleague and send the sheet as a fax from the phone to a customer. All from a single device.

danmur 3 years ago |

I have one of the Ericsson-branded ones of these (MC218), such a great device. It still works too. I had an Ericsson phone (the little flip one) and the little IR modem that plugged into the bottom of the phone. Data was so prohibitively expense I don't think I ever used it.

rickdeckard 3 years ago | |

The phone was possibly a Ericsson T28 (very slim with spring-open flip) or a T10/T18 (quite a bit thicker, with a manual flip).

Even without using data, managing phone book and SMS via the pocket computer was a quite satisfying experience. I used to read and write emails with it, one of the first compact mobile office setups back then...

2Gkashmiri 3 years ago |

I don't get it. "Https for security" because "http is unsecure" sure but does EVERYTHING need to be secure? Like sure its fine but what if something isn't? What's the point of httpsing Wikipedia?

Forgive my ignorance but my ISP does DPI so any website on their blocklist is not permitted and I can't do anything about it so https or http doesn't matter.

Again, I am not talking about e2ee or SSL for payments or stuff but "surfing". If there are tech like DPI, whats the point of pretending " security"? From ISP that is.

shakna 3 years ago | |

There are a number of ISPs that inject adverts into HTTP pages.

There has been a number of viruses and malware, distributed by ad networks.

HTTPS provides basic protection for the user, from their ISP.

franga2000 3 years ago | | |

Not saying we shouldn't use HTTPS, but if your ISP is injecting ads and malware into your internet traffic, the real solution would be to sue/legislate them out of existence.

closetohome 3 years ago |

I mean come on, "Psidecar"