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

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

#111

Post by criddell »

msh wrote: post #18
tobiasbischoff wrote: post #5

I will never understand why we do not have this kind of device anymore. A small computer, running linux, proper keyboard, integrated LTE - it would be a messaging and writing dream. Back in the days i developed custom software for the Revo, the SDK was a dream to work with as well.

You can still have it. You can order one at https://store.planetcom.co.uk Comes preinstalled with android, but you can load linux on them instead if you so wish.

What's the battery life like? Every time I've looked for a modern Psion or TRS-80 Model 100, battery life is measured in hours instead of weeks which is a real bummer. With 30 years of improvements, a pair of AA batteries should be enough for months of daily use.

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

#112

Post by Semaphor »

rtontic wrote: post #103
stavros wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

Alas, my imagination is also text-based (aphantasia).

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

#113

Post by sauruk »

westcort wrote: post #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.

Theres a c compiler?? Can you share a link?

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

#114

Post by sauruk »

zokier wrote: post #81
pydry wrote: 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/

Just tried a gemini from them this month, and the software support is awful. Highly recommend against

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

#115

Post by semiprime »

predictsoft wrote: post #43

I have gone through several Psion 5's over the last few years. They all broke eventually - mainly the screen (ribbon cable). Because I couldn't justify spending yet another £60 for a Psion 5 which soon breaks down, I run Epoc Agenda now on my Windows PC on an EPOC emulator, and it's great for keeping track of events.

I'm currently writing an agenda app inspired by the Psion 3a/5 Agendas - because they were the best calendar apps I ever used.

Github: https://github.com/semiprime/pygenda Demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvQqFmlZ6nM

If you liked the S5 agenda, I'd appreciate any feedback you could give. (Video shows it on a Gemini, but I also run it on my Linux Laptop. Running on Windows is probably possible, but I haven't tried it, so you'd need to do some fiddling - in particular installing GTK3).

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

#116

Post by ubermonkey »

I dabbled in handhelds in that era, and always wanted a Psion but never got around to it.

The main issues in that era for me were that they devices were dead ends for data. At the time, the main competitor for something like this was a paper planner, of course, which are ALSO dead ends, so it was a reasonable approach.

Newton happened, though, and initially -- and people forget this -- it came with the Newton Desktop, which gave you access to your data on Windows. It synced! This was huge!

And then, for reasons I've never understood, Apple dropped the Newton Desktop with the rev to NewtOS 2.0, which was really really great otherwise. Unfortunately easy desktop sync turned out to be a killer app in this space, because Palm came to market with that as their foundation and ruled the whole market for quite a while.

I loved the Newton -- and if you've never touched one, you don't actually know how useful they were; it was really pretty amazing -- but the sync was what pushed me to Palm, where I stayed until the 2000s.

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

#117

Post by tivert »

stavros wrote: post #50
oliwarner wrote: post #49

Lots of focus on the hardware here but its form factor still exists in niches. What has vanished, is our ability to do general-purpose computing at ~8MHz. Consider the computers you had in the 90s. Windows 3.11 and Office ran on a 286 but I sit here with 12 cores at ~4Ghz just to post this crumby comment. We are spoilt. It really makes me yearn to do more with less.

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?

> 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?

Obviously a lot more. The OP said the thing could run in two AAs for a month.

Nowadays, almost nothing can last a month on one charge/set of batteries. The only thing I can think of that might pass is a Kindle, due to the trick where it's literally shut down almost all the time.

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

#118

Post by ubermonkey »

tobiasbischoff wrote: post #5

I will never understand why we do not have this kind of device anymore. A small computer, running linux, proper keyboard, integrated LTE - it would be a messaging and writing dream. Back in the days i developed custom software for the Revo, the SDK was a dream to work with as well.

I have the tech-fetish desire for such a thing, but at the same time I realize that my iPad plus its keyboard case is a far more usable thing. It's bigger, but the size pays for itself with the screen.

I guess if you're not interested in a thing unless it runs Linux, that's not a useful option for you, but for me and my purposes it's excellent.

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

#119

Post by stavros »

tivert wrote: post #117
stavros wrote: 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?

> 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? Obviously a lot more. The OP said the thing could run in two AAs for a month . Nowadays, almost nothing can last a month on one charge/set of batteries. The only thing I can think of that might pass is a Kindle, due to the trick where it's literally shut down almost all the time.

I have a ton of devices that would disagree with you. If you run the Psion software on modern hardware, it'll run for two months.

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

#120

Post by rwl4 »

mysterydip wrote: post #104
afandian wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've got the GPD Win 2 and it really would be the perfect little computer if it had HP 100LX style calculator keys. I know people disagree with me on this, but it's the one style of tiny keyboard that I have been able to achieve a relatively fast typing speed with.
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