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Hardware Review: Poqet PC

Terry Yager

Veteran Member
Joined
May 1, 2003
Messages
8,763
Location
Saginaw, MI, USA 48601
What packs the full power of the top business computers into a 1-lb. package
you can hold in the palm of your hand? The Poqet, that's what! With it's
small-but-highly-usable keyboard, and it's very readable reflective LCD
display, this small hand-held computer has all the power it needs to give the
big boys a run for thier money. Featuring a 16-bit 80C88 processor running at
8MHz, and a full 640Kb of RAM, this baby can run most of the software
written for the IBM-PC & XT, including Lotus 1-2-3, and WordPerfect. (I'm
not so sure about FlightSim tho). The Poqut should be able to handle
anything that uses MDA or CGA graphics on it's switchable display. Built-in
software includes a ROM-based MS-DOS 3.3, and a suite of programs such as a
calendar, text processor, calculator, & communications programs. Other
software was available on Type I PCMCIA memory cards, which, besides a 22Kb
RAMdisk and the 640Kb ROM drive, are this computer's main form of mass
storage. An optional 1.44Mb 3.5" floppy drive was also available, but these
are very hard to find these days (L@@K!!! RARE!!!!!). This machine can run
for months of normal use on just a couple of off-the-shelf AA alkeline
batteries which are available anywhere. No provision has been made to power
it from the mains tho, but you'll probably never need to anyways. It doesn't
have any "normal" I/O ports, but does feature an expansion connector on the
back from which a number of options may be hung, including serial cables
(straight & null-modem), paralell cable, and the aforementioned
battery-powered floppy drive. One of the nicest things about this computer
is that a later, upgraded version is still available, for around $150.00.
The newer version is called the Poqet Plus, and features an on-demand
backlight for the screen, and the ability to address larger SRAM PC-cards.
Do a google search on "Poqet PC", and you should be able to track down the
Poqet Home Page, where you can buy a brand-spanking-new one for yourself. I
haven't had this computer for very long, but I already find it an
indispensible companion to my desktop & laptop computers. I recomend it
highly to anyone interested in collecting and/or using vintage computer
hardware.

--T
 
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Another very similar notebook Computer is the Sharp PC3000 (and PC3500) with I meg or 2 meg PSram and 128k Sram. It weighs 1.1 lbs and is 8.8" x 4.4" x 1". An 80C88A processor runs at 5 mhz/10 mhz. It has an excellent KB for it's size and takes 3 AA batteries/AC adaptor and a lithium battery for the configuration set-up. and back-up while changing
batteries. It has 128k OTP-ROM for IPL, BIOS and power-on check, and 1mb Mask-ROM for MS-DOS 3.3, application software and other utilities. The built-in Apps include an clock with alarm, calculator, address book, a scheduler, To Do, editor, laplink, diagnostic, file manager, and a spreadsheet. The 2 S-Ram PCMCIA type 1 card ports serve as A and B drives.
It's drawbacks are proprietory serial and parallel ports with hard to find adaptors. Similarly there is an expansion bus with proprietory connector for a Floppy disk drive. The IC cards are expensive altho some people
are using the ports with a compact-flash ic adapter. It's also possible to
replace the serial and paralell sockets with standard sockets alth it takes some work. It also eats up batteries. Otherwise, a great little unit.

Hard to find and they go for around $300 when they come up on EPay.
The Poquet Plus is likely a better deal.
L.
 
According to the webpage below, the Poqet PC Plus is still available for $99.00 - 159.00, depending on how many memory cards you purchase along with it. ($59.00 each for 2Mb cards, not a bad price). The Type-I PCMCIA cards can be written to by a more modern computer with Type-II or -III PCMCIA slots. (I know mine can be written to from several of my laptops). So, even though I have the optional floppy drive and the PQLINK null-modem cable, neither one is absolutly necessary for getting your programs into the Poqet, they just make it more convenient.

Check here for California Digital's page:

http://www.cadigital.com/poqetpc.htm

For just a couple hundred buck$, you can have a real nice Poqet set-up. And yes, it does come with GW-BASIC in ROM, or at least mine does (MS-DOS v. 3.3). The newer Poqet Plus comes with DOS 5.0 instead.

--T
 
JUST SEEN THIS ON EBAY
THE POQET PC PQ0182 DATING FROM THE 1980's VGC + EXTRAS

Item number: 170294922262
 
The HP 200LX is also a nice alternative, but the keys are smaller of course.. How big is the size of the Poqet compared to the HP palmtops ?
 
Poqet PC is quite larger, but the keyboard is actually usable.

However, the 200LX/1000CX can be used with even 512MB CF cards, and can run on NiCD/NiMH AA's, with a built-in charger to boot!

T
 
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