[Blink]

---

Just look at it!


I chose between this, and other problematic palmtops, and this was the best one.
It's the HP 95LX, with an 80186 compatible CPU, and 1MB of RAM.
I can't get rid of MS-DOS (sadly, because I wanted to make a custom OS from scratch for it), but I can use DOS as a 'bootloader' for another OS. (no stable ones have been found yet though :/) ( might make a DOS shell with simulated multitasking or something)

I wanna see if I can get it connected to an ESP8266 hooked up to it for WiFi.

Unless I regain sanity before tomorrow   , then I'm buying it tomorrow.

I'll post updates later.

Side-note: Anyone know if I can upgrade it to MS-DOS 4.0?

[Bish0pQ]

This seems fun to play around with. If they're not too expensive I might pick one up. I like the design & portability.

[Blink]

This seems fun to play around with. If they're not too expensive I might pick one up. I like the design & portability.

This one is $50... With shipping it's $65.
Most of the other MS-DOS are about $140.
There's a bunch of Windows CE ones, but they use the SuperH architecture, and I don't want to have to go searching everywhere to find the instruction set, and then learn the instruction set. (80186 is a subset of x86).

There's a few modern ones that run Windows XP, Vista, or 7. (The SONY VAIO UX for example)

[Blink]

Mini-update: The NEC MobilePro 780 is also an option. It's newer, and has a MIPS-compatible processor.
The only problem is that there is like no documentation on MIPS bootloaders, and they seem to differ per device, so if I wanna run my own OS, I need to find a bootloader or figure out how to make one. (DOS I can take... But Windows CE?)

I also would need to learn MIPS ASM, but I can do that.

I'm gonna need help deciding here... (Leaning towards the 95LX, but the inability to boot my own OS is annoying.)

[BurritoBeans]

On the topic of a DOS upgrade, while a DOS 4.0 upgrade would be possible with a ROM replacement - your little Palmtop is just running a fancy 80C88 for a CPU and everything else is fairly standard - there may be some custom bits needed (I'm assuming the graphics at the very least) as 3.22 is a specific version for the 95LX, making the job a bit harder.

DOS 4.0 is a bit of a Windows Vista. It's a memory hog - On average it will take about 300K, so you're lucky you're getting a 1M RAM version of the 95LX as the stock 512K would leave you with little to work with program-wise - and has compatibility issues with many programs unless you get 4.01 as they changed how it works a good bit. The idea of multitasking was nice, but I get the idea that they were just trying to work ideas from OS/2 into DOS as it really only works well on a proper workstation for the time that it was put out. Overall, it's probably the least popular version of DOS anyways and it's completely understandable why.

I would say that if you want to work out upgrading DOS, see if you can upgrade to 5.0 with a little bit of work on making graphics display properly (It will assume you're using a Quarter-CGA MDA* card anyways) and any other bits. I say 5.0 as it just works a lot better compared to all the past versions with minimal issues, or stick with the base 3.22 designed for the machine because you know it will just work.

[Pikami]

Mini-update: The NEC MobilePro 780 is also an option.  It's newer, and has a MIPS-compatible processor.
The only problem is that there is like no documentation on MIPS bootloaders, and they seem to differ per device, so if I wanna run my own OS, I need to find a bootloader or figure out how to make one. (DOS I can take... But Windows CE?)

I also would need to learn MIPS ASM, but I can do that.

If you plan on doing it on MIPS I recommend looking at the U-Boot boot loader, it's a bootloader that works on MIPS and a couple of others

[Blink]

I'm gonna find my wallet and get the 95LX now... (Unless anybody has a better option)

EDIT: FFS... I lost my wallet.
EDIT 2: Yeah, I'm fucked.

[Shin]

I mean, not to shabby. It looks interesting and unique. Not too pricey.
Overall, 7/10.

[Blink]

Wallet is gone.

I can't buy until I find it.

[mothered]

This one is $50... With shipping it's $65.

That Is an excellent bargain. Given Its size, It even has a numeric keypad.

Now you're tempting me to purchase one. I've just spent close to 9k om my Predators, so 65$ Isn't going to break my budget.