On the other hand, there is nothing this does that I couldn’t do trivially on my existing laptop via emulation, with longer battery life, easier data transfer, and less electronic junk.
According to the creator of the BIOS used in this novelty device, they use a pirate copy; the creators violated the gpl and just changed out the copyright and license info: https://twitter.com/SergeKise/status/1658354752143642624
You’d think it would be enough for a piece of code that will never get linked to anything else to be open source anyway but then, …
The difference is, Executor all was commercial released code which is now open source, while Mace is closed. But it maybe worth trying to contact them and ask…?
As I understand it, the primary target for this is running the 68K version of AROS on the raspberry pi, but it’s also a possible target for the open source EMUTOS project. Myself I’d like to see the open source version of the QL operating system, SMSQ/E, running on it is well.
My apologies for the poor typing… I have a broken arm and I’m dictating this.
I remember HP selling similar devices in the early ’90s, though I think those screens were 16 shades of grey (or possibly green).
The NEC V30 was an 8086 clone that ended up in a lot of places. The first machine I had one was an Amstrad PC but they also ended up in the Psion Series 3x and a variety of other similar form-factor devices. Some of the later chips in that line were effectively early SoCs, with DRAM controllers, serial and parallel port controllers, and so on. I’m curious what this actually uses: genuine Intel 8088s are really hard to find now.
The HP 200LX (and 95LX/100LX) has an NEC V30 in it and it likely to be what you are thinking of : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_200LX 4 shades of grey, not 16, but it is a green-ish LCD, which is CGA compatible.
I have one as I managed to get it few years ago pretty cheaply, and I’m genuinely amazed at what it can do in such a small package, and which runs off two AA batteries with instant suspend/on. The PDA software is pretty amazing too, so I can see why people really wanted these things at the time, but they were incredibly expensive!
That’s the one. I never owned one, but I played with one in John Lewis (of all places) and it looked really fun. The Psion Series 3 also lasted two weeks of heavy use (allegedly 30 days) on a pair of alkaline AAs. I must have got mine around 1994, when the mother of a rich friend replaced hers with a 3a and sold it off (comparatively) cheaply. It must have been a bit after the HP launched because I probably wouldn’t have been so excited to see them in the shop if I’d already owned a palmtop (though I had a lot of CGA-compatible DOS games back then).
On the one hand, I want this and it would be fun.
On the other hand, there is nothing this does that I couldn’t do trivially on my existing laptop via emulation, with longer battery life, easier data transfer, and less electronic junk.
I want to have a reason to want this.
I think that’s the general idea. $200 for what this is, is insane. You’re better off using old laptops from ebay.
According to the creator of the BIOS used in this novelty device, they use a pirate copy; the creators violated the gpl and just changed out the copyright and license info: https://twitter.com/SergeKise/status/1658354752143642624
You’d think it would be enough for a piece of code that will never get linked to anything else to be open source anyway but then, …
maybe i’m cynical, but it’s hard for me to look at a product like this & not imagine it sitting in a landfill in ~2 years
I have zero nostalgia for the DOS era, I have to say. Now, build something that clones a Mac II, and then we’ll talk.
I’ve got 68020 support mostly done, but no color yet. “ROM” wasn’t built in a day, you know. ;-)
https://www.v68k.org/advanced-mac-substitute/
Wow!
Reminds me a little bit of Ardi Executor:
https://www.macintoshrepository.org/25615-ardi-executor
This ran MacOS apps on Windows without running MacOS itself. Source was released at some point:
https://github.com/ctm/executor
HN threw up another parallel project:
https://mace.software/
The difference is, Executor all was commercial released code which is now open source, while Mace is closed. But it maybe worth trying to contact them and ask…?
👀
I have a lot of nostalgia for EGA and early VGA games but that nostalgia is adequately satisfied by DOSBox.
It’s not exactly a clone of a Mac 2, but there is a bare metal, just-in-time compiled, runtime for 68000 code on the raspberry pi:
https://github.com/michalsc/Emu68
As I understand it, the primary target for this is running the 68K version of AROS on the raspberry pi, but it’s also a possible target for the open source EMUTOS project. Myself I’d like to see the open source version of the QL operating system, SMSQ/E, running on it is well.
My apologies for the poor typing… I have a broken arm and I’m dictating this.
Nice bit of digital junk there. I’ll stick with my M1 Air that’ll last me 6+ years thanks.
I remember HP selling similar devices in the early ’90s, though I think those screens were 16 shades of grey (or possibly green).
The NEC V30 was an 8086 clone that ended up in a lot of places. The first machine I had one was an Amstrad PC but they also ended up in the Psion Series 3x and a variety of other similar form-factor devices. Some of the later chips in that line were effectively early SoCs, with DRAM controllers, serial and parallel port controllers, and so on. I’m curious what this actually uses: genuine Intel 8088s are really hard to find now.
The HP 200LX (and 95LX/100LX) has an NEC V30 in it and it likely to be what you are thinking of : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_200LX 4 shades of grey, not 16, but it is a green-ish LCD, which is CGA compatible.
I have one as I managed to get it few years ago pretty cheaply, and I’m genuinely amazed at what it can do in such a small package, and which runs off two AA batteries with instant suspend/on. The PDA software is pretty amazing too, so I can see why people really wanted these things at the time, but they were incredibly expensive!
That’s the one. I never owned one, but I played with one in John Lewis (of all places) and it looked really fun. The Psion Series 3 also lasted two weeks of heavy use (allegedly 30 days) on a pair of alkaline AAs. I must have got mine around 1994, when the mother of a rich friend replaced hers with a 3a and sold it off (comparatively) cheaply. It must have been a bit after the HP launched because I probably wouldn’t have been so excited to see them in the shop if I’d already owned a palmtop (though I had a lot of CGA-compatible DOS games back then).