25 May
1998
25 May
'98
1:36 p.m.
On Tue, 26 May 1998, Tony Duell wrote:
What the HX20 lacked was a built-in text editor (yes,
they were available
_later_). The only programs in the HX20 (I have several) were BASIC and a
machine code monitor. You couldn't turn it on and start typing.
Owning and using both, I find the M100 much more useful in the real
world. It's got a better keyboard, a much larger display (40*8 as against
20*4) and more useful built-in programs. The only thing the HX20 has is
the built-in printer (the cassette unit is an option on the HX20). And
that's not that useful.
I find the M100 more usable as well, but in terms of "breakthroughs", I
can't think of anything the M100 did that the HX-20 didn't do first: form
factor, LCD, ROM apps, expandibility, battery power. The HX-20 was pretty
pioneering, unless there were a bunch of Japanese-only machines that did
the same thing and I simply don't know about them. (The M100, BTW, was
made by Kyocera, but I think both Tandy and Bill "so sue me" Gates had
input into the design).
-- Doug