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27 years later and the Psion 3a is still wonderful (2020)

mcgst.com

101–110 of 289 posts

Re: 27 years later and the Psion 3a is still wonderful (2020)

#101

How long until there's a commercial product that has a built in LLM? Some device that is like a personal encyclopedia that you can ask about anything?

You could download wikipedia to even the cheapest of today’s devices. Forget the LLM and just add search.

Re: 27 years later and the Psion 3a is still wonderful (2020)

#102

This brings back happy memories. I was lucky enough to have the precursor, an Acorn Pocket Book, as part of my school curriculum. I lost it a few years ago in a move but I can still remember the the distinctive "device" smell (probably the case material). I yearned for the additional memory of the Psion 2. I would write lengthy stories that would fill up the memory. No off-device storage. I'd have to delete entries o…

Thank you for sharing this lovely memory.

I've recently gotten into birding as an adult, and have heard that in some parts of the world basic bird identification is part of the curriculum (e.g. the Netherlands). If you don't mind me asking, what country/region did you go to school in? Was this the initiative of one teacher, or something more standardized?

Re: 27 years later and the Psion 3a is still wonderful (2020)

#103
post #83
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better ask, how many things you could do per watt now , if software had that era's leanness?

Well, UX is a spectrum. You can do things instantly on a very old machine if you don't mind using a cli. If what you want to do is a game, you can't get Cyberpunk, but you can get Pacman.

Oh, but what if you had a text based implementation of cyberpunk? Where your imagination is the GPU (the best one there is)

Re: 27 years later and the Psion 3a is still wonderful (2020)

#104
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ive looked for a 5mx form factor in the form of a phone and not been able to find it.

Did you find the Gemini PDA and friends? It's very very similar.

Wish I had heard about these before getting my GPD Win2. Looks much closer to what I wanted but didn't know was still an option.

Re: 27 years later and the Psion 3a is still wonderful (2020)

#105
I had a Psion 5, an amazing device. It had the same apps as the 3, if I remember correctly. The keyboard was astoundingly good. The keys, if larger, would make an excellent normal keyboard.

What I really loved about the 5 was that it could run Java. I think it never got past JDK 1.0.2, or maybe 1.1. But it was clunky to use. I wrote a little shell for it, which provided basic functionality, including much simpler compiling and execution of java code. (http://geophile.com/jshell. It should still run, except that it relies on an obsolete parser.)

Re: 27 years later and the Psion 3a is still wonderful (2020)

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There do exist things like the Gemini and the Astro Slide, which I've always looked at as a potential replacement, but they always seem to just miss the mark. The closest I've come to the same sort of experience was the Nokia N900, which was remarkable in a lot of ways.

I'm still waiting for delivery on the Astro Slide after ordering it over a year ago. As it was on IndieGogo, I can't even get my money back. Probably best to avoid Planet Computers - they lie about availability and delivery dates.

My contribution for Astro Slide is dated Oct. 2020. They've locked my contribution, so I consider it money burnt. While I was still naively waiting for it to come, I held on to my Gemini PDA for so long, even after its battery had bulged to the point that the back panel covering it had dislodged. After all the troubles it had caused me, I decided to give it up and get a normal smartphone instead. Life has been much better since then.

Re: 27 years later and the Psion 3a is still wonderful (2020)

#107
post #81
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ive looked for a 5mx form factor in the form of a phone and not been able to find it.

Planet Computers? https://www.www3.planetcom.co.uk/

One day I will find an excuse to get one of these; they induce a heavy sense of nostalgia but I just don’t know what I’d do with it

Re: 27 years later and the Psion 3a is still wonderful (2020)

#108
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that looking at it from a MHz standpoint is a red herring. How many things can you do per watt now, than you could per watt then?

And power consumption is a —among other things— a function of transistor size and process. A lot has changed in 30 years, but our methods of programming these things has veered towards incredible wastefulness.

But demand for software has also grown a lot in that period. If we trained software engineers and demanded quality to the same standards, we would not be able to meet demand.

Those standards were also set by the limitations of hardware, not because people had the will to do better back then.

Re: 27 years later and the Psion 3a is still wonderful (2020)

#109
Certain classic computers powered by “AA” batteries are amazing to use today. I have an Alphasmart Dana set up for my children to play chess, do word procession, and learn to program in C. It is much better than dealing with the potential hazards of a modern device.

Re: 27 years later and the Psion 3a is still wonderful (2020)

#110
post #81
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ive looked for a 5mx form factor in the form of a phone and not been able to find it.

Planet Computers? https://www.www3.planetcom.co.uk/

I highly recommend against anything from these guys. The software situation was dreadful, they pumped out new nearly-identical hardware too quick without fixing gemini issues. Seems like a cash grab. My Gemini PDA sits in my closet, I consider it near-useless with its electrically buggy keyboard and old android/ubuntu images.

The PinePhone with its keyboard addon should fix most if not all issues the Gemini PDA had, but it looked so similar I still couldn't bring myself to get the keyboard for it. Plus I don't like the layout at all.

MNT Pocket Reform seems very promising (but expensive). Good layout and reprogrammable keyboard. Not stuck on an old Android version.

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