dan@Apple.COM (Dan Allen) (04/24/91)
The May 1991 issue of PC Computing has a 3-4 page article about the HP-95LX, with a distant photo of the machine. It appears to not be touchtypeable, but it looks pretty slick anyway. It is nice and compact and runs for 2-3 MONTHS on 2 AA batteries. It appears that an AC adapter is a $15 option. The 95LX has Lotus 1-2-3, Lotus Metro, and the HP-19B in ROM, among other things. It looks like it REQUIRES a separate connectivity pack in order to move other DOS programs over from a PC ($99). The RAM cards (128KB and 512KB) are like floppy disks, albeit rather expensive. Availability looks like early May, according to EduCalc. My order is already placed, sight unseen. I post more when I get it. Dan Allen Apple Computer
frank@grep.co.uk (Frank Wales) (04/25/91)
In article <51907@apple.Apple.COM> dan@Apple.COM (Dan Allen) writes: >The May 1991 issue of PC Computing has a 3-4 page article about the >HP-95LX, with a distant photo of the machine. It appears to not be >touchtypeable, but it looks pretty slick anyway. It is nice and compact >and runs for 2-3 MONTHS on 2 AA batteries. It appears that an AC >adapter is a $15 option. It definitely isn't touch-typeable unless you have the hands of a four-year old child. It is a very slick-looking piece of kit. A reasonable feel for its dimensions can be got by turning a 28 on its side and imagining the lower half of the case 50% thicker than it is. HP are sufficiently reluctant about its word-processing abilities that they played them down at the UK launch of the 95 on Tuesday, in favour of calling it a "business decision support tool." A journalist from the UK magazine Personal Computer World reports that the new Poqet ROM card of WordPerfect works in it, so there seems to be a potential to steal much of the effort which has gone into that machine immediately, modulo any problems with virtual versus real screen size and CGA graphics. The machine is claimed to run at two-and-a-half times the speed of a PC-XT, and uses a custom Intel chip to replace all the circuitry of an XT except the processor, which is an NEC V20. Sixty hours is the official battery life estimate; I assume this applies to alkaline cells rather than rechargeable or cheap batteries. The unit has a separate button cell which maintains the contents of memory while the main batteries are being changed. >The 95LX has Lotus 1-2-3, Lotus Metro, and the HP-19B in ROM, among >other things. Neither HP nor Lotus, who co-hosted the launch, mentioned the names 'Metro' or 'HP 19B' once, that I can remember. They did discuss in detail the various features of the software beyond 1-2-3 and the "full-featured HP financial calculator", as it was referred to. It's more than a 19B, because it uses the whole display for interaction -- it also has the 19BII's choice of RPN or algebraic logic, but with RPN documented in Appendix D of the hefty User's Manual; the same appendix refers the interested reader who wants to learn more about RPN to order an out-of-print book from EduCalc! RPN is obviously a major selling point... One cute feature is the ability to call on HP Solve from 1-2-3. Another is that each of the seven principal built-in applications (Notepad, Schedules, 123, Phone list, Calculator, um, Harpo and Dopey) has a special key to switch instantly to that application, preserving any other pending applications where they are at the time. In normal use the User need never see the DOS prompt, which must be a good thing. >It looks like it REQUIRES a separate connectivity pack in >order to move other DOS programs over from a PC ($99). The pack contains a neat utility for exchanging information between the 95 and a PC; it shows a split screen of files, one side the files on the PC and the other the files on the 95. You just select the files to transfer from the menu, and they appear on the other side when the transfer is done. No messing with configuration options or speeds or other random details. The cable which comes with the pack bears a remarkable resemblance to the RS-232 cable for a certain other HP calculator product. I/R exchange between two 95s works much like that between two 48s, except that the range is supposedly six feet rather than six inches; obviously engineers and students work closer together than business decision makers. A future feature touted at the launch was the planned peripheral, developed by Motorola, which allows the 95 to act on text paging messages received in the field. With a cellular phone attachment, one could have pocket e-mail. (Dowty offer this service in the UK already, but not as part of a personal computer.) It will be interesting to compare the success of this machine with the previous HP/Lotus offspring, the HP-110 (a.k.a. Portable), whose original version also had a limited screen size and 1-2-3 and DOS in ROM. Having imagined many useful abilites of the machine, a review of it in today's Guardian newspaper brings one down to earth by pointing out the impact this machine may have on the efficacy of insurance salesmen. -- Frank Wales, Grep Limited, [frank@grep.co.uk<->uunet!grep!frank] Kirkfields Business Centre, Kirk Lane, LEEDS, UK, LS19 7LX. (+44) 532 500303
feustel@netcom.COM (David Feustel) (04/27/91)
I would like to see the 95 come out in a super 48sx version with 48sx key labels, etc. I would almost upgrade right now. -- David Feustel, 1930 Curdes Ave, Fort Wayne, IN 46805, (219) 482-9631 EMAIL: netcom.com
rrd@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Ray Depew) (05/01/91)
In comp.sys.handhelds, dan@Apple.COM (Dan Allen) writes: > (Re: HP-95LX) ... It appears to not be > touchtypeable, but it looks pretty slick anyway.... I think the manual(s?) says something like "you can't touch-type on this machine", but I may be mistaken. In any case, I have caught myself unconsciously touch-typing on it, until something upsets its balance and it falls over. A lead plate in the bottom of it would make it easier to touch type on, but with other undesirable consequences. > ... It looks like it REQUIRES a separate connectivity pack in > order to move other DOS programs over from a PC ($99). I don't think it's required, as the built-in Kermit and Xmodem are pretty robust and easy to use. It just makes things easier. (I don't speak for HP here, mind you...) Enjoy. Ray
anthony@convex.csd.uwm.edu (Anthony J Stieber) (05/11/91)
In article <1460013@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM> cook@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM (Steve Cook) writes: >What if...? The 95 or its successor had a simple plug-in port for a >"standard" keyboard which locked out the built-in keyboard. I'm assuming Well, there are several laptops with such a port. With an external keyboard and display, you can just fold up the laptop and put it in a corner. There already are full sized keyboards with standard RS-232 serial ports instead of the special keyboard serial ports used on most MS-DOS boxes. With the right driver one of these could be plugged into an HP-95LX. It would be pretty nifty to have a setup like this. It's interesting how in the past few years how I/O hardware has begun to dominate physically and economically the rest of a system. Personally, I don't have a problem with small keyboards. I've found I can type surprisingly well on the non-qwerty keyboard on my Psion Organiser. The qwerty keyboard on the Atari Portfolio was tolerable for the hour or so that I played with it, although the spacebar was a problem. Of course, keyboard preferance is another one of those personal issues. -- <-:(= Anthony Stieber anthony@csd4.csd.uwm.edu uwm!uwmcsd4!anthony Psion Mailing List subscriber submissions psion ----------\ the (human) moderator psion-owner -------+--@csd4.csd.uwm.edu subscriptions and file requests psion-request ----/
conrad@popvax.uucp (M20400@c.nobili) (05/12/91)
In article <12063@uwm.edu> anthony@convex.csd.uwm.edu (Anthony J Stieber) writes: >Personally, I don't have a problem with small keyboards. I've found I >can type surprisingly well on the non-qwerty keyboard on my Psion >Organiser. The qwerty keyboard on the Atari Portfolio was tolerable >for the hour or so that I played with it, although the spacebar was a >problem. Of course, keyboard preferance is another one of those >personal issues. I agree. I never had any problem with the "alphabetical" keyboards either. And remember that some of us don't use QWERTY keyboards on our desktop computers either! Dvorak keyboards are much superior (IMnvHO)! Many of you people spend so much time debating the ergonomics and feel and keys and ... of keyboards that it amazes me that often a much more important issue is ignored. Many of you spend as much time talking about keyboards as you probably spend trying to type on your QWERTY dinosaurs ;-) ! (Actually, I am convinced, from the amount of HORRENDOUS typos that I see in this group, that many of you read and post news from your calculators and palmtops ;-) !) (Oh, I hope I don't offend any of you for whom English is not your native language, or those of you who do only have small keyboards or screens for posting.... I am sure I would fare MUCH worse under those conditions! I was just making an observation. Besides, I seem to have an error-correcting brain....) The real solution for very small (handheld) computers would seem to me to be chording keyboards. I think I remember having heard something about a (Brit?) (no offense meant -- I was near the end of the line) handheld with one? Does anyone know if this is true or just a figment of my fevered mind? Are there any standards for chording keyboards? Anyone know why the manufacturers have basically ignored this idea? (OK, so the answer to that last one is probably the same as the answer to the question about why so many of you use QWERTY....) Personally, I am waiting for cortical jacks at the base of the skull.... ;-) >-- ><-:(= Anthony Stieber anthony@csd4.csd.uwm.edu >uwm!uwmcsd4!anthony > Psion Mailing List >subscriber submissions psion ----------\ the (human) >moderator psion-owner -------+--@csd4.csd.uwm.edu >subscriptions and file requests psion-request ----/ P.S.: ' , . P Y F G C R L / = A O E U I D H T N S - <--- Read my home row and weep! ; Q J K X B M W V Z You can do it in software easily. You can find stuff for both DOS and Mac OS on good ftp archives and (presumably) BBSes. Try it! You'll like it! (Oh, I guess you should also be able to make a new termcap for UNIX (I always log in from a PC or Mac though)....) (And I think you can do it on VM/CMS with the SET INPUT and SET OUTPUT commands, although I never finished investigating this method....) +---- C o n r a d C . N o b i l i ----+ | | | Harvard University | Internet: conrad@harvarda.harvard.edu | | Office for Info. Tech. | conrad@popvax.harvard.edu | | Information Services | BITNET: CONRAD AT HARVARDA | | Technical & User Services | CONRAD AT HARVSPHB | | 1730 Cambridge Street | voice: (617) 495-8554 | +---- Cambridge, MA 02138 | fax: (617) 495-0715 ----+
frechett@spot.Colorado.EDU (-=Runaway Daemon=-) (05/13/91)
In article <6747@husc6.harvard.edu> conrad@popvax.uucp (M20400@c.nobili) writes: P.S.: ' , . P Y F G C R L / = > A O E U I D H T N S - <--- Read my home row and weep! > ; Q J K X B M W V Z > >You can do it in software easily. You can find stuff for both DOS and Mac OS >on good ftp archives and (presumably) BBSes. Try it! You'll like it! (Oh, I >guess you should also be able to make a new termcap for UNIX (I always log in >from a PC or Mac though)....) (And I think you can do it on VM/CMS with the >SET INPUT and SET OUTPUT commands, although I never finished investigating this >method....) I just thought I would remark on this.. I know that the dvorak keyboard is fine and swell.. I would much rather have learned on dvorak just as I would much rather have learned metric to begin with. But be careful where you throw your remarks.. I have access to over 150 machines on campus here and 99% of them are UNIX. None of them have dvorak keyboards, all of them, I need to be able to type on easily, and emulating dvorak on all UNIX machines is not neccessarily possible. Changing the termcap would not really be a viable option either as many of these accounts (namely operator) are shared. And you wonder why everyone hasnt run out and switched over to dvorak.... .;) Granted, we make mistakes on the good ol qwerty keyboards but they get the job done. (Trivia note.. the qwerty keyboard was made with the word "typewriter" hidden in the top row intentionally ;) ian -=Runaway Daemon=- (UNIXOPS University of Colorado at Boulder)
cpetterb@glacier.sim.es.com (Cary Petterborg) (05/15/91)
In article <1460013@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM> cook@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM (Steve Cook) writes: > What if...? The 95 or its successor had a simple plug-in port for a > "standard" keyboard which locked out the built-in keyboard. I'm assuming > this feature doesn't already exist (I haven't seen a 95 yet). Airlines > could provide these standard keyboards for passengers like they now do > with headsets (a United Airlines/HP partnership?). Owners could keep a > standard keyboard at home, work, etc. or just carry it separately. I > think a plug-in keyboard feature would make the palmtop more somewhat > more useable (and desireable). I saw a keyboard at SIGCHI that was a one-handed keyboard. It worked pretty well, and was about one third the size of a standard keyboard. I thought this would be a great alternative to the keyboards that are on palmtop computers, especially because you can't always put the palmtop anywhere but in the palm of one of your hands. Since the size was much smaller but the keys were large, it made for easy manipulation by larger hands. The way that is was designed was to map the right handed keys to the same fingers on the left hand. Your brain kind of maps the same fingers to the other hand. It was supposed to allow right hand "mousing" with left hand typing, giving great input bandwidth. Anybody else see it? What did you think? To carry this another step, could a keyboard be created which would allow two handed input with opposite hands on the same keys (at different times)? Comments? Cary -- _______________ Cary Petterborg (801)582-5847 x6446 Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. Simulation Division SLC, UT 84108 UUCP: ...!uunet!sim.es.com!cpetterb *NET: cpetterb@glacier.sim.es.com _______________ "A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others." -Wizard of Oz