HP11C emulators?

[Joel Koltner]

Me, too. However, I have accepted the fact that in reality such devices
don't exist. Over 15 years ago I had a Wang 8086 laptop...
Why on earth nobody pours that into an ASIC, I don't know...

For one thing, I suspect you never had...

-- A web browser.
-- A PDF reader
-- Wireless networking
-- Street Atlas USA/MS Streets & Trips or similar with a street-level map of
the entire country (including all the Wal*Marts and Dunkin Donuts) linked to
a Bluetooth GPS receiver

....and plenty of other everyday "necessities" that people with laptops
expect today.

I think a Nokia N800 with one of those small Apple bluetooth keyboards very
much would meet all the hardware needs you have, but unfortunately there's
probably some software that you'd want to use that doesn't exist for it.
Plus the screen is probably a little small for, e.g., CAD work...

---Joel

 

[Joerg]

For one thing, I suspect you never had...

-- A web browser.

There are DOS browsers. My Compaq 486 ran Mosaic, IMHO the most stable
browser there ever was.

-- A PDF reader

That would be a problem, although the Compaq had it.

-- Wireless networking

Not a technical problem, can be done. But of course not at today's
speed. For some reason all my business files back then fit onto a 3-1/2"
floppy each month. Now a 670MB CD ain't enough. Bloat?

-- Street Atlas USA/MS Streets & Trips or similar with a street-level map of
the entire country (including all the Wal*Marts and Dunkin Donuts) linked to
a Bluetooth GPS receiver

I am very comfortable with the good old map ;-)

...and plenty of other everyday "necessities" that people with laptops
expect today.

Or what we think is necessary ...

I think a Nokia N800 with one of those small Apple bluetooth keyboards very
much would meet all the hardware needs you have, but unfortunately there's
probably some software that you'd want to use that doesn't exist for it.

SW-incompatibility is what makes that approach de-facto useless for most
engineers.

Plus the screen is probably a little small for, e.g., CAD work...

That's the point. A PDA screen would be what I'd consider the bare
minimum. However, those things don't run Windows-SW and IMHO that is
what caused them to never reach any popularity to write home about.

 

[Joel Koltner]

SW-incompatibility is what makes that approach de-facto useless for most
engineers.

Yep... this is why Windows will continue to be a major force in the desktop OS
market; it's largely self-perpetuating now!

(It's also a little ironic when you consider that hard-core engineering
software was, at one time, almost entirely UNIX-bsaed...)

There are significant economic factors in play here, though -- you probably
paid far more for your 486 and 8086 Wang than you would for a decent laptop
today. When memory and MHz are the next best thing to free, it's no surprise
that bloatware is the order of the day.

However, those things don't run Windows-SW and IMHO that is what caused them
to never reach any popularity to write home about.

PDAs are quite popular with business people since the basic calendar/contact
manager/bit of web browsing/etc. needs have been quite well met by existing
software... but I agree that for engineering there's very little available
(although, as mentioned in another thread, scientific calculators seem
abundant... ).

Happy new year!

---Joel

 

[Joerg]

Yep... this is why Windows will continue to be a major force in the desktop OS
market; it's largely self-perpetuating now!

Market forces at work. Some good, some not so good.

(It's also a little ironic when you consider that hard-core engineering
software was, at one time, almost entirely UNIX-bsaed...)

That was right after the era when engineers had the time to write their
own Fortran programs. No more.

There are significant economic factors in play here, though -- you probably
paid far more for your 486 and 8086 Wang than you would for a decent laptop
today. When memory and MHz are the next best thing to free, it's no surprise
that bloatware is the order of the day.

Actually, no. I paid about $800 for the Wang and about $1200 for the
Compaq. Ok, my 386 desktop cost me north of $7k.

Memory and MHz may be cheap. But what good does that do when the useful
battery life is a paltry 2hrs versus 5-6hrs in the good old days? And
back then it was all low capacity NiCd. Imagine what these machines
could have done with LiIon.

Also, other than fluff I don't see that much productivity increase.
Basically I am doing the same stuff with computers that I did in the
early 90's except that it's now all rendered in hi-res and color and
quits to render half way through a flight.

PDAs are quite popular with business people since the basic calendar/contact
manager/bit of web browsing/etc. needs have been quite well met by existing
software... but I agree that for engineering there's very little available
(although, as mentioned in another thread, scientific calculators seem
abundant... ).

If they had not gone down the road of the boutique OS their market share
and shareholder values would be much larger today. But it's water under
the bridge. The PDA had it's day and the world has moved on. I actually
caught myself last month not buying a product because it was PDA-based.
Subconsciously it felt "old".

Happy new year!

Same to you and your wife!