Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

mcgst.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 289 posts

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

#151

Post by oever »

regularfry wrote: post #28
atdrummond wrote: post #2

I loved my Psions. I truly miss having a smaller form factor computer. If I could possibly an iPhone with an attached physical keyboard, I’m certain that I could do a huge amount of work that I presently do with my laptop. (I know I can get an external keyboard but there’s something far more useful and satisfying about a properly integrated device.)

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.

The Nokia N950, which only made to a development edition, was much better. Unfortunately, mine met with a watery end.

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

#152

Post by garethsprice »

triggercut wrote: post #91

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…

The Acorn was a rebadged Psion 3 rather than a precursor. I remember as I lusted after the Psions on display in Boots as a (dorky) child, and was ecstatic when our school piloted the Acorns.

(Psion and Acorn, two more examples of how the UK is capable of developing world-leading tech but not at successfully marketing it...)

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

#153

Post by nazgulsenpai »

rebolek wrote: post #146
zozbot234 wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What has vanished, is our ability to do general-purpose computing at ~8MHz. ahem https://xkcd.com/768/

I know there's XKCD for everything but I wonder if there should be.

Considering how "on the nose" this one is, I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.

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

#154

Post by bayindirh »

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.

This is why I use previous generation Raspberry Pis and low end SBCs like OrangePi Zeros. Doing things in a constrained environment is fun and rewarding. Being able to run a full-fledged server with 512MB or less RAM is a great exercise and very enlightening to see what's possible.

When one can able to run code on these systems fast, it runs fast everywhere. Running with razor thin free space makes you prevent all memory leaks, and reduce temporary variables to save that space.

Doing great things with today's hardware is still possible, but laziness, "We needed this yesterday, I don't care about its efficiency, hardware is cheap anyway" mindset is killing things fast.

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

#155

Post by stavros »

rebolek wrote: post #150
stavros wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except the lighter nowadays is a flamethrower. You can get a lighter that needs gas every month, or a flamethrower that needs gas every two minutes, but complaining that the flamethrower needs much more gas than the lighter is silly.

The problem is there are only flamethrowers now and no lighters.

I'm fairly sure you can still boy dumb phones that last a week+ though.

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

#156

Post by Jun8 »

So, motivated by this article, I checked eBay, expecting to burn $20-30 to get one and found that these sell for around $100 (thank god, didn’t buy another device to add to my pile).

My question is: who buys these at that price and for what purpose? Collecting old devices? Using them? I don’t think buying these have the allure of retro computing, eg buying a Sinclair Spectrum.

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

#157

Post by nazgulsenpai »

samstave wrote: post #139
londons_explore wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I occasionally fire up Windows 95 in a VM and marvel at how fast it is. Sometimes I use it for actual tasks, although it is hard to find things Windows 95 is useful for nowadays. My copy has office 97 installed, and I use that for some spreadsheety tasks. I really like being able to click anything and know I won't see a loading spinner.

Gosh windows 95 was great - especially the ability to navigate the OS from the keyboard alone - At one point I knew W95 so well I could literally navigate the OS by hand without a screen. An aquaintance at one point changed all the graphics settings to black - so ever screen, menu, text etc was black and you couldnt see anything. I was able to help her by using just the keyboard to navigate to settings and restore de…

As fond of memories as I have of the time I used Windows 95 and how much I learned from using it as a pre-teen, I mostly remember my maintenance schedule of reinstalling by the entire OS about once every month or so when it broke. I guess that jumpstarted my lifelong career/hobby of computer fuckery.

My first PDA was a Casio too, I don't remember which exact model but it was a Pocket Viewer and it was great. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_Viewer

My "true" PDA was an Audiovox Maestro I got used off of eBay. I even got a compact flash modem adapter so I could dial-up using it. I was shocked to see almost 10 years later when I got my first smart phone, a T-Mobile Dash 3G, that the OS had barely changed since the Audiovox Maestro back then!

Not sure there's a point to any of this except my own anecdotal trip down memory lane :)

Edit: autocorrect fail

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

#158

Post by mysterydip »

rwl4 wrote: post #120
mysterydip wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I like the form factor. There's a couple quirks with the screen and some apps/games but I can work around those. The real thing that keeps me from using it more is the heat/fan noise.

I can't use it anywhere quiet because of the whizzing sound it generates even just at idle, let alone when I do something. With games on the go it's not a problem, but any kind of productivity work like editing code isn't possible.

I saw there were some mods for cooling but I don't believe they're available anymore. Best I've been able to do is under-volt it to lower CPU performance, but that only gets me so far. I'm open to suggestions, though!

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

#159

Post by discordianfish »

sufehmi wrote: post #54
msh wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Don't Mine is now have its hinge broken. Also its battery is almost dead, have emailed Planet asking for replacement (and how much) - and have been ignored for WEEKS. Looking at online forums, some have been ignored for MONTHS. Keyboard feels very sloppy. And some of them must be pressed very hard - while others register multiple clicks even when touched very lightly. Forget about the camera - it sucks so bad compare…

I can second that. Had the Gemini. Never used it much because everything was awkward about it, from the lack of software/firmware to the keyboard until two years later the battery expanded and was bending the case. Not only refused planetcomputers to replace it for free, the only option they gave me was paying £125.00 and sending it in. I've asked if they can send me a replacement battery so I can do it myself but they refused, pointing out safety issues with mailing a battery - while asking me to send the Gemini with the swollen battery to them.

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

#160

Post by akaitea »

Jun8 wrote: post #156

So, motivated by this article, I checked eBay, expecting to burn $20-30 to get one and found that these sell for around $100 (thank god, didn’t buy another device to add to my pile). My question is: who buys these at that price and for what purpose? Collecting old devices? Using them? I don’t think buying these have the allure of retro computing, eg buying a Sinclair Spectrum.

I have a few PDAs of this type, bought ultra cheap at flea markets and such, Casio Cassiopeia 4MB A-11, Psion Series 5, Ericsson MC12... bought for under $5 each so those eBay prices are nuts... they all work and they all serve absolutely no purpose, but when you're a ~hoarder~ collector you can't help yourself.
Post reply on HN