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Back in mid 1998 I was tossing up between the IBM Thinkpad 110 and the Libretto 100CT. The Thinkpad 110 was released in 1995, so it was a bit old but they were cheap in 1998. 486SX-33, internal harddisk, PCMCIA ports and an inbuilt modem caused journalists to love it. Similar size to a large pack of cigarettes. http://www.basterfield.com/pc110/brochures.htm But I went for the newer Libretto and used it for many years on overseas trips. Pentium 133, internal hard disk, SVGA, sound. Similar size to a paperback book. The only downside was the collection of accessories I had to take with me - external CD reader, charger, mouse, modem card, ethernet card, CF adapter, etc. Both could take Windows 95. I've also used 286 class DOS based portables similar in size to the current netbooks. I used it on overseas trips with both a development environment (vi, Borland C and a cross compiler) for EFT terminals and also various bank environment simulators so I could demonstrate EFT terminals to our prospective clients completely in a self contained environment. In a single briefcase I had a complete travelling kit for going to any client, demonstrating and even customising our products.

I am using a laptop as a desktop replacement. It's not working out for me with the non-standard keyboard, hitting the touch-pad when I type, etc.

Thinkpad! Gorgeous keyboards, sanely laid out. The trackpoint is a winner. You can disable the touchpad in BIOS if you're unlucky enough to have one. I actively prefer my Thinkpads to desktop machines and use them as such. Sadly they don't do a jacket pocket sized one (though I believe they did once upon a time).

Better link:
http://www.basterfield.com/pc110/pc110idx.htm

Remember this bad boy?
The IBM ThinkPad PC110!
http://www.basterfield.com/pc110/history.htm

Bow down to your one and true Master, fellow nerds
The PC110 was, and until this M$ thingee comes out, is the smallest laptop ever made.
Now, they go for insane amounts of money on ebay. As a 486, she goes for more cash than the pentium Librettos do
I'm a huge palmtop fan (HPLX/Amity/Libretto/etc), and if this new thing is priced right, I'd be interested... but it'll probably suck :/

Yet more proof that anything anyone has ever done, IBM did first

About all I can say about Linux is that so far, it won't work because it doesn't like the PCMCIA hard drive. I used a DOS-based distro that loads via LoadLin to avoid the LILO issues, and the kernel loads, then times out while trying to access hdc1 (why is it hdc1 instead of hda1? Weird.) I bought and tried 3 different brands and sizes of hard drives too, so it's probably not because of a specific PCMCIA implementation. And I tried several different vintages of kernels. And I tried the "old disk-only driver" for IDE. Was going to start asking around on the kernel-dev list since I've asked everywhere else I can think of and haven't gotten a satisfactory answer; but haven't gotten around to it.

I have Windows for Pen (based on 3.1) on my Dauphin DTR-1, and I'm loathe to actually use that, but I bet it'd work. Drivers for the pen are available... I saw that somewhere.

Others have suggested GeoWorks, that old competitor to Windows that died miserably... except they got bought and it's now part of a package called New Deal Office. There's some stuff here.

Gem would also be interesting.

• GlobalMonitor 730T page - these guys sold me my 730T on ebay, they sell quite a few, and they have been helpful in setting up a means to exchange info among their customers. But they still haven't posted my comments yet.
• Dan's IBM ThinkPad 730 pages - this is a link that I found on the GlobalMonitor page
• What the heck, I think it's time I started a page but there's no info there yet...

Ever heard of the IBM PC110? Alan Cox uses a pair of them for kernel development on the road.

It's been done before.

:)

Try http://www.basterfield.com/pc110/pc11 0idx.htm for more information. It's a 486sx33, but hey, IT'S BEEN DONE BEFORE! :)