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#51
A few devices, all of which were replaced by the N900.



Asus Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee PC (running Lubuntu 12.04, since not enough storage space to upgrade in place to newer LTS). 3 USB ports, mini Bluetooth dongle. Real Ethernet jack. Space for a modem and telephone jack. VGA output. Lousy webcam. 3 cell battery pack with poor life. Still used if I need something portable and screen size is more important than resolution.

Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 (last seen running Open Zaurus Linux). It's 2003, do you know where your docking station is? No Bluetooth, no built-in Wifi. No camera -- you could strap one on the back. I never considered that. IRDA port, CF and SD slots. 47-key keyboard revealed by sliding down the button panel. Never was as good a PDA as the Visor, so it never really replaced it. Proprietary docking connector, but standard-ish barrel jack to charge in a pinch. Flip-down screen protector.

CF Wifi card for Zaurus (WEP only ). Also had PCMCIA adapter for use in laptops.

Casio 64KB Digital Diary. What does anyone need more than 64K for? Mini phone jack for data cable connected straight through to TX, RX and data ground on PC RS-232C port. Third button cell battery backed up the volatile memory while changing main batteries. Expansion card slot that I never used.

Handspring Visor Prism (color!). Dock that baby, don't let battery run down or volatile memory goes "poof!" Was its downfall. Connector broke: no charge, no sync. Saved what I needed most with IRDA output to K550i and from phone to PC with Bluetooth. Stylus holds the pin to press the reset button and the screwdriver to open the case. Runs Handy Shopper, best shopping list manager ever! Still use that on N900 with GarnetVM. Visor calendar had sunset and sunrise calculator for anytime, anywhere. Official, nautical, astronomical and something else. Never found equivalent of that anywhere.

Sony Ericsson K550i Cyber-shot. Micro memory stick slot. 4GB card installed. Still powers up. Nice 2MP camera that starts automagically when lens cover is opened. Takes nice enough pictures to have printed and hang on the walls -- especially closeups. No one's realized they aren't actual art. They even called it "art" on the evening news! Hear that, Jonathan Jones? Neat convex rectangular mirror next to lens to frame what we didn't call "selfies" back then. IRDA and Bluetooth. Proprietary all-in-one charge/headphone/sync connector.

Toshiba gigabeat F40 MP3 player (running Rockbox, status unknown). Didn't use this nearly as much as I thought I would. Docking cradle, of course. We're gonna need a bigger desk. Proprietary connector for that cradle, but a mini USB jack, standard headphone jack and relatively common barrel connector for charging as well.

Last edited by robthebold; 2015-12-02 at 18:32. Reason: Better formatting with better keyboard
 

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Posts: 1,038 | Thanked: 3,980 times | Joined on Nov 2010 @ USA
#52
A few more early devices. Calculators I inherited from my Dad.



An HP LED display classic, the model 45, a non-programmable scientific calculator. It had multiple memory locations and a rechargeable battery. All the usual scientific functions. Came with a huge blow-molded plastic case worthy of a staple gun and a pleather holster with belt loop, just like the slide rules it replaced.

TI "Business Card", a 1980s mini model. Amortization calculations and boring stuff like that.

Also an interesting Casio folding fx-411. The Casio could compute in hex (including logic operations), degrees/minutes/seconds and fractions. The solar cell made it a poor choice in dark examination halls -- I had one almost exactly like it and made that mistake once.

Last edited by robthebold; 2015-12-02 at 21:29. Reason: OMG, I called a TI an HP!
 

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#53
My 2 HPs.



The HP-15c is a classic, of course. Same size but more fully functioned than the 11c but more pocketable and affordable than the 41 series, just with more limited programmability. Instead of wasting keys assigned to metric system conversions, the backplate was printed with the formulas to ten significant figures.

And the Saturn-based HP-28S. Glad I hesitated in getting the 28C, since the S model increased the memory from 2K to a much more usable 32K. Plenty of room even for a basic program that played my college fight song. And I finally understood the logarithmic periodicity of the equitempered chromatic scale after that exercise. Tons of unit conversions. Named memory locations. Graphing. Online help with functions. Easy-to-read complex numbers and arrays. IR port was output only, and the only thing I ever used it for was to print a program on a friend's matching printer for archival purposes. As if thermal register tape is a viable archive material.

Last edited by robthebold; 2015-12-02 at 21:28.
 

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#54
Other stuff:



A couple more things killed by the smartphone in general, not just my beloved N900:

A cheap pocket-sized solid state camcorder/camera/MP3 player and a pocket (cargo pocket, maybe) sized personal digital photo displayer. You don't see these things around anymore.

Plus something still useful: an N800. Still works, makes a nice streaming audio player. Used to use it when travelling instead of hauling a computer. Two SD card slots made uploading photos taken with a digital camera a cinch.

And finally something that was never all that great: My wife's old HP WinCE phone. It was pretty crashy, which was its main flaw. Poor reception was another. And locking up all the time. My wife got good at opening the back and removing and reinserting the battery one-handed. Screen orientation changed with keyboard opening/closing rather than an accelerometer. Was a necessary evil, since at the time the only mobile OSs that supported the medical applications my wife's hospital and clinic used were PalmOS, Blackberry and WinCE. Although the iPhone had been out a while, it was not supported yet. New PalmOS devices weren't available anymore to replace the dead one, and Blackberrys were rather too pricey. Storage could be expanded with a micro SD and the telescoping stylus looked much cooler than it was.

Last edited by robthebold; 2015-12-02 at 21:13.
 

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#55
Anyone with a timeline or collection of devices. Photo required.
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Do something for the climate today! Anything!

I don't trust poeple without a Nokia n900...
 

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