18 May
2011
18 May
'11
10:56 a.m.
> I don't know how common they are over there,
but the Tandy model 100
> and 200 computers would fit the bill. They're small, and run on AA
They are fairly ocmmon in the UK. They were offically osld over here
(ahtough the M100 was somewhat different to the US on in tha the internal
modem was rmeoved, and the main PCB is thus rather different).
batteries. The
LCD's are pretty decent (compared to others of the
era), and they have built in BASIC as well as a simple word processor
and termianl program. They have RS232. They also have a nice well
made keyboard. The two machines are pretty much the same - but the
200 has a bigger screen and looks more like a laptop, the 100 doesn't
have a hinged lid, since the screen is smaller and fits above the
keyboard.
There's also the NEC PC-8201 and PC-8300. These were all built by
Kyocera. Olivetti also sold at least one machine built on that design,
but I don't know the model number(s).
These are all larger than a Z88, though. I think the "no larger than
a Z88" requirement will make this pretty much impossible. The Z88 is
pretty tiny.
It rules out a couplke of machines I would have used, namely the HP110
and Portable+/ The latter can have a 'ROM Drawer' fitted which acts like
a read-only disk drive, so you can have an editor an a (small)
programming language in there. I think the Hp110 has some kind of editor
and BASIC in ROM.
Ther;es also the HP75C (or D) and HP71B machines. They are much smaller
than a Z88,. The former has the better keybaord for typing on, but the
latter is much the nicer machine to use, particualrlyt if you add a Forth
ROM (BASIC Is stnadard). They only have 1-line LCDs though. They do run
on batteries (a special NiC pack fo the HP75, 4 AAA cells for the HP71).
The onyl porobkem is the PC connetivity. The HP75 has HPIL as standard,
it's an option module for the HP71. And there is an HPIL to RS232
interface. Problem is, that unit -- at least the HP one (HP82164) will
not run on battieres. It runs off an 8V AC adapter, and it has to be AC
becuase there's a step-up transformer inside the interface to get the
RS232 votlages which runs directly off the AC input. Yes, I do have the
service manual...
Very small, but useable (readable LCD, tiny,m but usable keyboard, runs
off a couple of AA cells anf has an RS232 port) are the older HP
palmtops, HP95LX, HP100LX, HP200LX. They have an editor, terminmal
emulator (with kermit and Xmodem) etc in ROM. But no programming language
(unless you vcould Lotus 1-2-3 macros :-)). But I am pretty sure there
are versions of BASIC or Forth that you could load onto said machines.
-tony