Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds Path: utzoo!lsuc!jimomura From: jimomura@lsuc.on.ca (Jim Omura) Subject: Re: A bunch of Portfolio notes... Organization: Consultant, Toronto Date: Thu, 20 Jun 1991 19:03:20 GMT Message-ID: <1991Jun20.190320.8089@lsuc.on.ca> Keywords: AtariUser, Portfolio References: <1991Jun20.001203.24928@rick.cs.ubc.ca> In article <1991Jun20.001203.24928@rick.cs.ubc.ca> b3300876@rick.cs.ubc.ca (george chow) writes: ... >Megabyte Computers in Texas will now upgrade the Portfolio to 512K of internal >memory. The modification must be done at their site and includes a six month >warranty on the Portfolio. The cost is $350, or new Portfolio units with the >upgrade already installed are available for sale. For more information call, >(817)589-2950. > >The Portfolio Chronicles >Bigger Isn't Everything > >In a interview done in Germany by PD Journal, Alwin Stumph indicated that Atari >is not as interested in expanding the Portfolio as it had been. The Managing Now that was interesting because I thought I'd heard that the Portfolio was expandable back when it was first introduced. So from the above 2 notes I guess that Atari never expanded Portfolios beyond 128K RAM? >Alwin says that Atari is planning to enter the notebook computer arena by >producing a notbook version of the Atari ST, called the ST-BOOK. The price >spread betwen a built-up Portfolio and a base ST-BOOK would be too small. >What does this mean for Portfolio users? Perhaps we shouldn't expect a Portfolio >II soon, despite rumors that it is already in production. But Atari and a number Well, I'd guess that a "Portfolio II" would still fit into the current scheme of things. I have no information about such a machine, but from my current messing around, and in light of the HP-95LX I could see them bringing out something. I think what might be a sellable product would be 320 * 100 pixels of display, an "industry standard" memory card slot in place of the current slot, a slightly revised keyboard and at least 258K RAM standard with the expansion up to 1 Meg., but with the current 60 pin expansion buss. That would be usable to "bridge the gap" between the current Portfolio and some future machine that might take off in a new "form factor" direction. Especially a 320 pixel wide display. That would be a neat trick to play on HP. It's only a few more pixels than the HP-95LX as far as I can tell (nobody has counted them for me, but I'd guess they are using 240 * 128), but there are some nifty tricks you can use by having special fonts for 64 character and 80 character lines. A 64 character line would be readable enough for spreadsheets and an 80 character line could be used for "text format previewing". I wouldn't advertise the 80 character line font as being "readable" but in fact it can be read. We used to use a font of this pixel range on the original Radio Shack Color Computer for "previewing" and I found that I could get used to it enough to read the text. But the 64 character line font would be the *real* surprise. Such a font would be quite usable for spreadsheets. So for a display that would cost about the same as the HP to make you could have greater functionality. I could see HP executives pulling out their hair on that point. >is planning to release the Power BASIC compiler, and Hyperlist, an outliner. Hmm. I thought these were supposed to have been available by now? >XoteriX (81 8-888-7390) is developing a 512K RAM expansion unit, as well as a The mockup they showed in Atari Explorer was an external unit. >The Portfolio contains 256K of application code, burned into unchangeable ROM >chips. That is quite a large piece of sofware, and unfortunately, it does have a >few bugs. There's no easy way to upgrade the ROM chip-you'd have to replace the >entire machine. So, Atari has released an UPDATE program to fix these buts. This >fix, in conjunction with a few hints and tips, should keep your Portfolio up and >running. Ick. That was something I was just about to look into. Literally look into -- I was about to take apart my Portfolio and see what the guts were like. Sounds like a surface mounted ROM, or worse. . . . -- Jim Omura, 2A King George's Drive, Toronto, (416) 652-3880 lsuc!jimomura Byte Information eXchange: jimomura