Slashdot Mirror

The first series of the REX was made by Franklin. They had no data entry capability. A friend of mine used one religiously -- he would just make notes on paper, type them into his laptop and sync his REX. Great as an address book, but not much else.

Xircom bought the technology (which was apparently licensed from Citizen all along -- the REX 6000 can run applications developed for some identical Citizen models only sold in Asia). The REX 6000 is fantastic -- it lasts forever on two little watch batteries, has a little stylus for adding new information, fits in a pocket (pcmcia card form factor), syncs with a laptop or a cradle, and can sync with pretty much anything. I sync mine to my Yahoo calendar/address book.

Sadly, Intel bought Xircom and discontinued the REX series. Looks like Citizen has kept on developing the technology.

I still use my REX every day. Anything bigger than a pocket calendar seems like a step backwards for me. You can't take notes on it, but that's what paper is for. The REX 6000 is still user supported. There's even a user-developed SDK if you want to write your own applets. It holds a surprising amount of stuff -- which isn't surprising, since it's just text.

Sometimes backlit colour MHz more power more power doesn't really gain you anything.

The REX6000 did have a touch screen, and does accept data input (it's not incredibly easy to do, but it's not terribly hard either).

I just took mine to a local LUG yesterday, and it was described as "elegant" and "practical". The PCMCIA form factor really makes it great for folks on the go (plug it into the laptop to sync, take it and run to the meeting).

I can throw the REX in my pocket and go... it's only a PCMCIA card, so it takes up less room than my cell phone.

Additionally, the REX had better resolution than this looks to from the picture.

Too bad Intel stopped making them when they bought Xircom... just imagine how they might have progressed in the last 2-to-3 years.

remember the REX pmcmia sized pda from back in '98 or so ?, had only 256kb memory but had basic pda functions/contact mem/phonebook/calc etc, (made by rex or franklin and was sold in those gadget mags) one side was a b&w screen with a simple nav if i recall it was only 100$ then, the cool bit was you could just put in a standard laptop without any adaptors and sync it

certainly not a new concept, just no one has ever pulled it off properly (probably because battery technology hasnt evolved anywhere significant)

The REX 6000 was a similarly sized PDA that came out shortly after the Palm Pilot. I recall it had the serious limitation that you couldn't input data on it, but it was very tiny.

This one seems a little more powerful, and can probably do data input.

The Rex.

Seems quite nice though.

I'd much rather have a small cell phone and an even smaller PDA. Granted, I only use my PDA to store contact information as well as a couple one-time-passwords, but the setup works very well for me.

And, (call me paranoid, but) do you really feel comfortable handing over your most holy information to a stranger? It's one thing if someone asks to borrow your phone in the event of an emergency, but do you really want to hand-over your PDA at the same time? I like to keep important information close to me at all times.

There is so much prior art in this that I can't see them winning.

In the mid 80's I had a Radio Shack pocket computer that could be used to store important information, programmed in BASIC with various applications, and more. It was about the same size as a palm height and depth, but was just a bit longer. It also only had one or two line LCD display.

Then in 1990/1991 there was the Casio B.O.S.S. and the Sharp OZ-9500 (and lower models) data organizers. These were much more like Palms in that they had multiple applications that could be run. The Sharp had cards that could be slid in to give extra functionality. Plus, both had "secret" or "private" storage areas for information you didn't want displayed unless you entered a password. My wife had the Casio while I had the Sharp.

The closest PDA to have something like e-pass describes is the Rex. It appears to have been first made in 1997.

Around the same time was the Motorola clip-on PDA for the StarTac.

The reason I bring up the later models is patent protection. Did e-pass target them to get them to license that e-pass patent? If not, why not? Because the Rex was actually closer to what the e-pass patent describes.

I can't imagine (well actually, I can, this is the American legal system we're talking about) they are going to prevail. From what I've seen, their patent is fairly specific. And, at the very least, any patent they have for a "small" general computing device would seem to violate somebody else's patent for a general computing device. Let's hope the judge is smart enough to use real legal reasons to throw this out in round 2.

like the Xircom rex family, but unfortunately they ar not available anymore afaik. www.rex6000.com : Says something about (maybe) the first credit card sized pda, he bought it 7 years ago, the page was last updated October 2001. I also remember that i had a Casio watch with a phonebook, and it was smaller then a credit card :-) i guess it was 1986 ... Secure storage? well, is a PIN code enough for this? I guess not ...

Whatever happened to making PDA's smaller?

One of the best form factors I have ever seen for a PDA was found in the Rex.

This was my question, too. I use the Rex 6000, and its touchscreen is a big saving grace in the usability department.

Meanwhile I'll stick with my old but smaller Handspring.

Not everyone needs a 206MHz Strong Arm. Some of us simple organizer folk are content with a 4.3MHz 8-bit Z80.