PB145B Posted March 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2019 (edited) Snapped this pic. The first and the last; USRobotics Pilot and Palm TX. Definitly my favorite mobile OS of all time (yes, even compared to all modern ones). It’s funny how not-obsolete Palm OS 5 still feels. I’d love to see a modern incarnation of it. IMO the layout wouldn’t even need any changes. It’s a very good looking, easy to navigate OS. Edit: *Technically* there are the Palm Pre and Pixi, but those are webOS devices. The TX was the last of the true Palms. Edited March 24, 2019 by PB145B Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EvieSigma Posted March 24, 2019 Report Share Posted March 24, 2019 2 hours ago, PB145B said: Most of them were never updated. I’ve only ever seen a handful of IIIs that were. I have two original IIIs and I like them a lot. Both still have OS 3.0. They’ll run most of my favorite programs just fine. If you want to run much newer software, I’d just get something newer. Palms are super cheap on eBay. Would be nice to have one that was, you know, in color. And the PDA itself having a color shell would be neat too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bibilit Posted March 25, 2019 Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 Quote but I still haven't found a use for it. Found yourself Galaxian or any game, Palm had literally thousand of applications available. I should have almost 20 units around, from the first Pilot to the Tungsten (IIRC) some even had cameras included. The best looking, in my opinion, are the V and Vx range. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted March 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 6 hours ago, bibilit said: Found yourself Galaxian or any game, Palm had literally thousand of applications available. I should have almost 20 units around, from the first Pilot to the Tungsten (IIRC) some even had cameras included. The best looking, in my opinion, are the V and Vx range. Yep, tons of software to choose from on these. I just checked and I have around 42 Palms. All kinds of different ones. As far as looks goes, I don’t have one favorite, there’s a lot of them that I really like. The V/Vxes are good looking though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bibilit Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 had a look at mines yesterday evening, some forgotten, have some Sony Clié also (using Palm Os) and a Symbol SPT1500 (barcode scanner) except for two of them (which were bought new) all of thew were around the 1 to 3 € price tag (all are still working great today) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted March 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 6 hours ago, bibilit said: had a look at mines yesterday evening, some forgotten, have some Sony Clié also (using Palm Os) and a Symbol SPT1500 (barcode scanner) except for two of them (which were bought new) all of thew were around the 1 to 3 € price tag (all are still working great today) The Cliés are awesome! I’ve got a few of those. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bibilit Posted March 27, 2019 Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 Quote The Cliés are awesome! I’ve got a few of those. I agree with that, probably better in some respect that the Palm itself. Should have 3 of them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted March 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 6 hours ago, bibilit said: I agree with that, probably better in some respect that the Palm itself. Should have 3 of them. Yes, the Cliés were very featured-packed. They are also pretty cool looking too! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted April 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 (edited) My latest find; a prototype Compaq LTE 386s/20! I still think I’m dreaming Here it is is next to me regular LTE 386s/20 (on the right). Notice the gray embossings and different screen bezel. Going to try and get the screen issue sorted out eventually. See my thread on the Vintage Computer Forum about it here: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?69128-My-best-find-ever Edited April 1, 2019 by PB145B Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EvieSigma Posted April 1, 2019 Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 Wow, what a score! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted April 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 (edited) 12 minutes ago, EvieSigma said: Wow, what a score! Thanks! I’m definitely honored to own this piece of Compaq history! I should also mention that this machine came from Huston, Texas! Exactly where Compaq’s headquarters used to be located! Edited April 1, 2019 by PB145B Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Retro Rider Posted April 2, 2019 Report Share Posted April 2, 2019 Holy cr*p! dang. Thats a really good find. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted April 2, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2019 1 hour ago, Retro Rider said: Holy cr*p! dang. Thats a really good find. Thanks! Definitely happy to have it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted April 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2019 Here’s what I found inside: Notice that the hard drive says “CPQ-EVAL” (Compaq Evaluation) on it. See my Vintage Computer Forum thread for more details: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?69146-Documenting-repairing-the-Prototype-Compaq-LTE-386s-20 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted April 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2019 (edited) I got another prototype LTE 386s/20 from the same person! Turns out he was on the original design team! This is one is a slightly newer proto: Notice how how someone wrote “modified” in the lower case. Couldn't save the hard drive unfortunately. The gasket melted, which got on the platter and ate through some of the magnetic coating : Shame too, because I didn’t power it on until I cleaned it, so the heads never drug through the goop, meaning had the coating not been eaten through, it would have probably worked fine once the platter was cleaned (gentle rubbing with a dry microfiber cloth works really well for cleaning these old hard drive platters). Edited April 11, 2019 by PB145B Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted May 7, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2019 After wanting one of these for years, I finally got one: It’s a Kaypro II! This is the first CP/M machine I have ever owned. Sorry I haven’t had any Mac conquests in a while, but don’t worry, I haven’t lost any interest in Macs, just haven’t found anything spectacular lately Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EvieSigma Posted May 8, 2019 Report Share Posted May 8, 2019 Wow, your Kaypro works! Mine is still faulty, haven't nailed down what chip is keeping it from booting yet. Where did you get it? Someone had one of those for sale at VCF East. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted May 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2019 (edited) 5 minutes ago, EvieSigma said: Wow, your Kaypro works! Mine is still faulty, haven't nailed down what chip is keeping it from booting yet. Where did you get it? Someone had one of those for sale at VCF East. Hope you can get yours working! I got this one off of eBay for $60 plus shipping. I absolutely love it. Might be the best $60 I ever spent Edit: I did discover that one of the connecters on the power supply is almost completely unsoldered! It completely died on me about 10 minutes ago, and taking it apart and and pushing it back in to place has restored functionality, but I’m going to pull the PSU out tonight and resolder that connector. Edited May 8, 2019 by PB145B Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted June 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2019 I acquired these two Osborne 1s recently: The one in the first pic is an early, tan-case model, and the second one is a later model “1A”. While the Osborne 1 wasn’t the “first ever portable computer” like so many people think, it was the first fully-featured and commercially successful portable computer, which is pretty damn cool. The Osborne 1 was actually released several months before the IBM PC was. Isn’t that 5-inch monitor just adorable? It’s an incredibly sharp little display. You can also see that the older one has a black & white monitor, while the newer one is green. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted June 6, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2020 Found another SE, which I have made a thread about here: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CC_333 Posted June 18, 2020 Report Share Posted June 18, 2020 On 6/9/2019 at 7:11 AM, PB145B said: I acquired these two Osborne 1s recently: I have a couple of these myself! I got one at the VCF West in 2017, and another similar one sometime during 2018. I have yet to try them to see if they work, but they look nice enough cosmetically. c Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted June 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2020 14 hours ago, CC_333 said: I have a couple of these myself! I got one at the VCF West in 2017, and another similar one sometime during 2018. I have yet to try them to see if they work, but they look nice enough cosmetically. c Cool! Be sure to remove the big filter capacitor in the power supply, as it’ll rupture if you don’t! This happened on one of mine. You don’t even have to replace it. It’ll work just fine without it installed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IlikeTech Posted June 18, 2020 Report Share Posted June 18, 2020 I hope you mean the line filter. Do not remove the DC filter, bad things will happen. I think you mean the Paper RIFA-Style caps like in the AC side of things. Macs have similar caps that also happen to go pop. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted June 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2020 9 hours ago, IlikeTech said: I think you mean the Paper RIFA-Style caps like in the AC side of things. Yes, there is one big RIFA in there (the Osborne 1) that’ll rupture if it’s not removed. Makes a good bit of smoke and a really interesting smell... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PB145B Posted July 1, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2020 Just got this in. Good old M0130 400k drive, made in 1985! Was sold as parts because it “does not accept a disk,” and boy were they right! The entire mechanism was ceased, worse than I have ever seen on any other drive, but it’s working great now after about an hour of work. Makes the coolest sound! The glowing red lights in the drive are really neat too. There is something else on the way for this that should be here later today. It’s something I have wanted for a very long time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.