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A History of Portable Computing

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the changing-definitions-of-portability dept.

PCM2 writes "MobilePC magazine is running an exhaustive history of portable computers, going all the way from the IBM Portable 5100 to last year's OQO. Do you remember the three-pound Epson HX-20 from 1982 that boasted a 50-hour battery life? Or that the first color portable came from Commodore? Interesting stuff." They have the compaq luggable I learned BASIC on in middle school in the 80s. 28lbs of power baby!

6 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. No TRS-80's? by glen604 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What about the Model 100/102/200? Those were some pretty good computers, and iirc sold quite well.

    or at least it was my first laptop, and I have many fond memories of downloading games off of a bbs on a 300bps modem

  2. OQO? by cvdwl · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Can someone review one of these? After all the hype, they've sort-of disappeared now that they're out there. Is it world-shaking and under produced (Apple), or kludged, unreliable and annoying?

    Extra points if you post from the OQO.

    --
    ... grumble, grumble, grumble, mutter, mutter, Millenium... Hand... Shrimp, I tol' 'em, I tol' 'em.
  3. And as ever, Apple creates the current paradigm... by tabkey12 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Look here at the PowerBook 100.

    I think every laptop I have ever owned is basically a very similar variant of that simple design! Way to go Apple.

    --
    Get a free iPod Nano 4GB!
  4. Ahhh, Compaq. by mopslik · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They have the compaq luggable I learned BASIC on in middle school in the 80s.

    I remember being a wee kid, and doing some simple programming on an 80s Compaq behemoth as well. I had a floppy disk (5 1/4", of course) that held roughly 20-30 games on it. Nothing like launching up Frogger and staring at the miniscule 6"x6" green-monochrome screen for hours. I'm surprised I don't wear glasses today.

    Anyhow, imagine my surprise when I took a job a few years back, and noticed that we are using said Compaq as a status/communications monitor in one of our test machines.

    Good times.

  5. Old Home-Built Handheld by druske · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Here's an 1802 based handheld computer from 25 years ago, complete with specs and schematics.

  6. IBM 5100 - A Time Travelers Favorite by NitsujTPU · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The IBM 5100 is the fav' of time travelers!

    Visit, http://www.johntitor.com/ to see why!

    That said, the reason he states is The 5100 has the ability to easily translate between the old IBM code, APL, BASIC and (with a few tweaks in 1975) UNIX.

    This makes little sense to me, it can translate between 2 languages and an operating system? Perhaps this is a hoax *grin* Still, hundreds have read this guys postings, and he has been the topic of coast2coast more than once. The inconsistencies in his story lead little credence to his claims, as for Art Bell's show, that's for you to decide.