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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!

11 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. Programmable Calculators ? by karvind · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would include them as well in the list.

  2. Definition of portable by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think the military definition of portable is if two people can move it.

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    1. Re:Definition of portable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I thought the military definition of portable was whether or not it had handles on it. If you want something heavy carried, just weld some handles on.

  3. 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

  4. 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.
  5. Nerds? by AdityaG · · Score: 5, Funny

    Pioneering nerds may not have had Starbucks tables to occupy with their PowerBooks for hours on end

    Nerds? Starbucks and powerbooks don't remind me of nerds. They remind me of metrosexuals.

  6. 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.

  7. Shoddy reporting a.k.a get your timelines straight by crumbz · · Score: 5, Informative

    And i quote from the article, "ThinkPads were red hot, but IBM was still a corporate brand for corporate users. College kids and aspiring hackers wanted portables, too: They bought the Apple PowerBook. Apple had just come off one of the worst beatings in computer history: The Newton had bombed miserably, and the 16-pound Macintosh Portable (see "The Worst Notebooks of All Time") was a laughingstock of computing."

    Considering that the Newton wasn't released until 1993, it seems difficult to believe that it preceded the Powerbook 100. Mobile PC needs an editor who can fact check.

  8. Orange?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    That there color's called "amber", son. ;-)

  9. Oh man, Osborne CP/M .. by torpor · · Score: 5, Funny

    .. I remember those hot, sweaty days, at the back of the typing class, me and the fold-up newly-donated Osborne sitting together, watching the sweaty backs of all the schoolgirls in class adjusting their bra-straps .. hooh boy .. I was 15, the only guy in the class of 30, and I selected the class because of the Osbourne straight up, without even thinking, ignoring the other 'none of my friends are gonna take it' factor completely, honest. My first day of class, when I realized it was just me and pretty much every hot chick in my year, *plus* the Osbourne sitting there for me to hack on, every afternoon ..

    I was only allowed to touch 'the wordprocessor' because I'd already mastered the drills and homekeys of every other typewriter in the class (Typing A, Senior High School) .. highest accuracy, highest rate, document writing, etc. The Osbourne was 'special', because it wasn't really typewriter-standard keys, or so the teacher said, bless her .. but it wasn't long until it was just me n' Wordstar, totally horny for each other, watching sweet teenage girls of my year doing their typing drills on crappy old hard-core typewriters, in the desert sun, paper, ink and sweat. In uniform.

    Good times, good times ...

    I'd love to have an Osborne around, but alas the oldest computer I ever owned that I still have is a lowly Oric-1, whose treasured spot in a box in the attic at home is right next to the "Local Boy Wins in State Typing Championship" newspaper article, cheesy photo and all ..

    --
    ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
  10. Parents answering those difficult questions by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 5, Funny

    "well, you see, son, daddy has a computer. And mommy has a data center."

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.