Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!bionet!arisia!roo!chapman From: chapman@parc.xerox.com (Brent Chapman) Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops Subject: Re: Casio BOSS questions Message-ID: <217@roo.UUCP> Date: 22 Feb 90 21:45:09 GMT References: <1124@madnix.UUCP> Sender: news@parc.xerox.com Lines: 35 In article gobbel@parc.xerox.com (Randy Gobbel) writes: >Don't know about the "B.O.S.S.", but the Sharp Wizard has cut&paste editing >(you can also cut and paste between applications), all the other features of >the B.O.S.S. (modulo the narrower, but taller, screen and the #$&%@ >non-qwerty keyboard), and in general a much more intuitive user interface. >I've heard that user programming for the Wizard is in the works. As someone who has both of these things (a Wizard given to me for Christmas, and a Casio SF-7500 that I picked for myself a month later), I definitely prefer the Casio, for a number of reasons: - It's much smaller. I don't wear shirts with pockets (my way of avoiding the nerd "pocket protector" stereotype :-), but the BOSS fits just fine in my front pants pocket, without trying to me do bodily harm when I sit down. - The keyboard is much nicer. First, it's QWERTY; granted, I can't touch-type on it (my hands are far too large), but I can do fairly well with two fingers (or two thumbs, if I'm holding it in my hands) because I don't have to hunt for the damn keys. I imagine that I could eventually get used to the layout on the Wizard, but why? - I prefer the wider display on the Casio. - The Wizard is almost impossible to use effectively without setting it down on a table or something; I can easily hold the Casio in both hands and type with my thumbs. If a more powerful, more featureful, DOS-compatible (this is a feature?) unit of similar size comes out in a year or two, so what? The Casio cost less than $200; if it has a useful life of a year or two, I'll be quite satisfied. -Brent