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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)

#271

Post by lproven »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #30
vmfunction wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would beg to differ. Many people would love to a e-ink display (no color needed). It is better on the eye, and saves battery, and you can read it in the sunlight. It is not good for watching video, but I'm sure I'm not the only who don't like watching moving pictures on small screens. Most ppl just want to read and send text.

But it's just not how most people work. If you want to do something useful a MacBook Air, Windows eqv, or even just a Chromebook is hugely more productive. The keyboard is full sized, the screen is bigger, it's fast enough for Office (etc) and browsing, it has more memory, and it's not all that much heavier. If you just want to read and send text, any phone will do. And it won't have the annoying slow update on e-ink…

> The Psions were nice toys, but not a lot more than that.

Absolutely the reverse of my own experience.

I used an Organizer II LZ32, a Series 3, 3A, 5, and finally 5MX.

The 5, for instance, paid for itself in creating work the same weekend I bought it -- work that I sold on Monday.

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

#272

Post by lproven »

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…

> an Acorn Pocket Book

A rebadged Psion Series 3.

https://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/Computers/Pocket...

256 kB RAM.

Psion 3:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_3#Psion_Series_3

Important note: the pic at the top of the Wikipedia article shows the later, improved 3A with a much bigger screen.

> the additional memory of the Psion 2

I do not understand this. The APB was a Psion (Series) 3. The Psion 2 (Organizer II) was an older, smaller device.

The S3 and APB take memory cards: 2 slots onboard, for Psion SSDs (NOT the modern usage of the term "SSD". See:

https://pulster.de/Psion-Solid-State-Disk-SSD-memory-cards

The Psion 3A had more memory. The 3C more still, and the 3MX more still.

When you say "Psion 2" do you mean Acorn Pocket Book 2?

http://superdecade.blogspot.com/2017/12/acorn-pocket-book-ii...

That was a rebadged 3A, so with from 256kB to 1MB RAM as stock.

Psion did a 2MB model, but Acorn didn't.

As an owner of a 3 and 3A, the 3A was the usable version. The 3's screen was too small, and its storage meagre (but expandable, and I did.)

The 3A was 2x the speed, a much bigger screen with better contrast (but no backlight) and versions with up to 2MB were available, which for this class of machine was a vast amount of storage you'd never fill. Thing 2TB for comparison now, plus 2 drive bays for more if you need it. A laptop with 6TB? That is plenty for almost anyone.

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

#273

Post by lproven »

triggercut wrote: post #224
garethsprice wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...)

Wow! I stand corrected. I was led to believe that Acorn went bust and sold to Psion. I thought it went Acorn Pocket Book 1, Acorn Pocket Book II, Psion 3. Live and learn. Thanks! :-)

Good heavens no.

Psion did the software bundled with the Sinclair 16K/48K ZX Spectrum that was bundled at launch. It also wrote the bundled apps for the Sinclair QL.

Then it did its own line of pocket computers: the Organizer, the unsuccessful MC solid-state laptops, which it then miniaturised into the very successful Series 3, 3A, 3C and 3MX.

Acorn licensed these and sold them with changed software in the ROM, with an schools/educational focus instead of PDA functions.

Psion followed on with the Psion 5, using Acorn's ARM processors and a whole new OS, EPOC32.

That evolved into Symbian and powered the 1st mass-market smartphones. It's now FOSS.

Acorn made it big because it designed the first mass-market RISC chip, the ARM.

Acorn spin-off Arm is alive and well and the Arm chips are the most widely-used CPUs in the world, with about 10x-100x as many sold every year as all x86 put together.

Psion, sadly, is no more.

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

#274

Post by lproven »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #34
unwind wrote: post #19

I realized I had no idea what actual platform these were (I'm old enough to remember longing for one of these but never had one back in the day). It's powered by the NEV V20 [1] processor, which is a 16-bit chip that is code and pin compatible with the more famous Intel 8088. The NEC chip was launched in March of 1984 which is interesting given that the Psion 3a came in 1991. It feels like today launching a product b…

The operating system was called SIBO, which rather unimaginatively stood for SIixteen Bit Operating system. It is a direct ancestor of EPOC, which in turn was later renamed to "Symbian", as made popular on many Nokia devices.

I checked after posting and I was partly wrong! Sorry!

The Psion Series 3 range -- 3, 3A, 3C and 3MX -- ran SIBO, later renamed EPOC, later renamed EPOC16, a multitasking GUI OS written for 8086.

SIBO = SIxteen Bit Organizer. Not OS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Organiser#Subsequent_han...

The Psion 5 range ran the later and largely unrelated EPOC32, a native ARM OS written in C++ which later became Symbian.

But SIBO did not become Symbian. EPOC 5, later EPOS32, did.

There was even more renaming than I realised.

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

#275

Post by lproven »

afandian wrote: post #244
opan wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

I could have written your comment! Though I sold mine. I followed pocket reform closely but the thickness of it, combined with the price, put me off. It’s not the same class of device as Psion, Gemini, or the UMPCs.

Just for balance:

I have a Gemini. I love it and still use it. The keyboard remains world-class, best of breed in any pocket-sized device. The OS is dated but still works fine and connectivity to Dropbox, gDrive, OneDrive etc. is very handy and mostly missing from desktop Linux.

As a pocketable laptop replacement it is unequalled, for this writer.

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

#276

Post by lproven »

petesergeant wrote: post #107
zokier wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It's a superb portable writing tool, as was the Psion 5 in its day. The keyboard is better than anything available on any tablet or pocketable device in the world in any market. It's that good. No Surface or iPad addon comes even close; it is an order of magnitude better than any mainstream vendor's offering.

I found it almost useless as a phone or tablet, though. But I have several of those so I don't care.

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

#277

Post by lproven »

dotBen wrote: post #204
jw1224 wrote: post #37

Psion 3c was what got me into programming! My grandfather gave me his old one when I was a kid. To an 11-year-old, a spreadsheet, world clock, and address book gets old pretty fast :) But the in-built OPL [1] language provided unlimited possibilities. You can see the icon for it in one of the screenshots. I remember printing off a copy of the 300-page language manual I found online (breaking dad’s printer in the proc…

This little comment thread made me smile! Psion 3 (no letter) was my first PDA when I was about 12 and then I upgraded to a Psion 3c. After graduating from BASIC on my father's Acorn A3000 and A5000 my first apps on my own computing device were OPL shareware. It's where I got my love of what would become open source for me. I also did work experience at the Psion Factory when I was 15 because I grew up nearby (yes, t…

I visited there a few times to get my touch-key strip repaired. It was a 5min cycle ride from where I lived when I first moved to London.

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

#278

Post by lproven »

theodric wrote: post #245
regularfry wrote: post #28

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 have a Gemini. The keyboard - you know, the main selling point - as often as not just goes 'thud' when you try to press a key rather than depressing and registering. The software was abandoned in a half-assed state after one revision. They strung me along for a good 6 months on shipping the USB-C hub and case post-Gemini delivery until I finally told them I was willing to give up on one of the two if they'd just se…

I still have my Gemini and use it regularly. Its keyboard is not merely fine but as good as money can buy from any vendor in the 21st century.

This, for example, was entirely written on my Gemini:

https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/05/rust_kernel_pull_requ...

My Planet hub is in frequent use and, for example, was used in the creation of all 3 of these articles:

https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/10/thinkpad_x1c_g10_linu...

https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/21/lenovo_thinkpad_x13s_...

https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/23/lenovo_thinkpad_z13/

None would have happened without it, in fact.

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

#279

Post by lproven »

geophile wrote: post #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 com…

You do not remember correctly, I'm afraid.

The 5 ran a whole new OS with all new apps. No backwards compatibility whatsoever.

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

#280

Post by lproven »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #198
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 bet some people still use them. I used my Psion 5mx as my primary organizer until only a few years ago, and I still kind of miss it. It still works, but lacking any kind of connectivity except for infrared, it's increasingly difficult to justify in today's world.

For amusement value only -- a modern user:

https://srslyriskybiz.substack.com/p/putins-chef-cooks-up-in...

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