Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!clarkson!MLPVM2.vnet.ibm.com!GRAFF Message-Id: <9105171932.AA20970@grape.ecs.clarkson.edu> Date: Fri, 17 May 91 12:07:01 PDT From: "Michael Graff" Subject: Re: HP95LX - some thoughts Reply-To: graff@mlpvm2.vnet.ibm.com Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds SPGJAF@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU (Joseph A. Faracchio) writes > But ... I'm confused. It takes only 1 Ram/Rom card and you can > only get 512K max on it. And you can't do 640K Dos and 384K for > data/prog. The card is used 'like a floppy' meaning data is saved? > (Like the Wizard where you can walk around with any number of > 32/64/128K cards 'like floppy disks'.) If keept at 512K/512K > makeup can the card be pulled out without losing data? If it can > work with a 2 meg card why isn't one offered? The RAM cards have a lithium battery to retain their data. The 512K max DOS memory isn't as bad as it sounds since the built in programs run directly from ROM, taking no DOS space for themselves. 2M RAM cards simply aren't available yet. I'm sure they'll be offered when they exist. They'll be expensive. > Is there no password capability? I'd like to lock out people from > some/all the data for security reasons. (if I leave it unattended > etc) This one point would keep me from buying it or recommending > it. Any thing I could leave / misplace and have compromised must > be password capable or else. I really like the Wizard for this > capability. According to talk on the HP forum on CompuServe, there is a password feature for the system. It can work automatically (enter password every time you turn it on) or manually (lock the system by turning it off with Alt+Off). > The screen management. Ideally I envision a situation where there > is an 80x25 display buffer always present and if my application > doesn't know any better it can write to this 80x25 buffer and I can > use special meta-keys (unknown to the application) to page > left-right/up-down to see the whole screen. Is that the way it > works? Yes. You can scroll it manually or have it track the cursor. > The descriptions talks about 'rewriting' an application to > understand the HP95LX screen setup - Yuk! I doubt I'll be able to > get my favorite (mom and pop) software from going out of their way > just for me. This is definitely a hardware need and a device > driver in config.sys won't do it (and a real drawback.) The advantage of rewriting software is to save you from the tedium of scrolling the 40x16 window over an 80x25 screen. It's not required if you can live with the scrolling. > Can any non-graphical software work right out of the box? I'm > asking in fact: is it true XT-compatible or more like the > PortFolio : an MS-Dos lookable. I want to run my own comm prog and > Mansfield Software's Personal Rexx (300K). If I overcome the space > limitations (512/512) will they work?? From what I've heard, any DOS program that works with a monochrome display and can fit in the available memory should work. It has real MS-DOS 3.22 and a V20 (8088-compatible) processor. People are reporting that it runs basically everything they've tried. For that matter, the Atari Portfolio really is DOS-compatible, it just has stricter limitations (128K memory, 128K "disk"). > So basically what I'm saying is: I like my Wizard. I work within > its limitations. If you give me a replacement for it that is > "XT-compatible" then it better be. NOW, I want to run my limited > XT applications 'on the go' with the 95LX. If I can't, then why > bother? Why go to the trouble of making it XT/MS-Dos/8088 > compatible if I can't transfer the (non-graphical) utilities on my > XT desktop to the 95LX? Its like putting a really sporty car frame > over a VW-bug chasis. Its interesting and looks racy but if I > can't 'race it' then I'm not interested. I think it'll do what you want, but there are, after all, going to be limitations (the smaller screen, the limited memory and "disk" space, the tiny keyboard). The key phrase is "work within its limitations". If you can accept those limitations, you'll be happy. ...Michael