powers@uklirb.informatik.uni-kl.de (David Powers AG Siekmann) (07/30/90)
mec@cbnewsj.att.com (michael.e.connick) writes: >In article <7741@pbhyf.PacBell.COM> lfog@PacBell.COM (Lee Fogel) writes: >> Does anyone have any information/experience with a new >> *truly* portable laptop called the Poqet PC? It looks like >> the next step in portable PC's. Here's a quote from the >> brochure: >> >> "The Poqet PC is a full-fledged MS-DOS PC. It has 512K of RAM >> and 640K of ROM... It has a full-function keybard and an >> 80-character by 25-line display. And it can run up to 100 >> [yes, one-hundred] hours on just two AA alkaline batteries... >> it's about the size of a videocassette. And it weighs around >> a pound." >I don't want to start sounding like a salesman for Atari, but the >Portfolio offers most of what the Poquet offers for a whole lot less. It >contains a clone of MS-DOS 2.11 in ROM and will run "very well-behaved" >MS-DOS programs. Its full-function keyboard is superb, offering >relatively long-travel keys and an optional keyclick. Its 40-character >by 8-line display is very readable and can optionally be setup as a >moving window over an 80X25 virtual screen. The Portfolio runs for 4 to >6 weeks (with HEAVY usage) on 3 AA batteries. It's virtually the same >size as the Poquet and weighs just under a pound. I first heard about the POQUET about two years ago, and have been trying to buy one (unsuccessfully) ever since, in virtually every country except Japan. For the first year or two I understand it was only being marketed in Japan. This year I have seen exemplars on display in the UK and have seen advertizing for it in Germany. But I still can't even get a price. Earlier in the year I still couldn't get it in the US. I have tried tracking it down through the Fujitsu link as well, but their sales offices seem to be ignorantof it. All information about availability and experience is thus most welcome. I first heard about the PORTFOLIO around two years ago two, and saw one at a show in Australia. I eventually found them on sale in Germany last year (German keyboard) and bought one in the UK at the beginning of this year. It is light and small (but can still be more than you want in your pocket). The built in software I find quite useful, but the peripherals are far to expensive. I also have a 256K disk-card and a parallel interface card. The latter purchase may have been a mistake as it can only be used for file transfer to another PC - and when I am OS (as I am most of the time at the moment) I don't have easy access to one. The former is essential, as carrying it around with you can be a shocking experience for a PC. Running for trains, bumping into doors, etc. Also the drain even when it is not being used is not inconsiderable, and I have found, even just two days after last using it, that the batteries have gone flat without giving me any warning. In one case I lost the files (two days after buying the disk card!!), and in the other, they came back. I have now loaded it with NICADS (and I have the power adapter for when I am using it with the parallel interface). As far as I can see, the specifications are very similar between the two machines in terms of weight and battery life, but the ATARI has some very nice builtin software - and that's about it. Advantages of the POQUET seem to include a better keyboard (square typewriter like keys - I can touch type on the PORTFOLIO, but I had problems getting used to the recessing of the keyboard - it is a bit hard to hit the spacebar with a flat thumb because of the ridge in front of the keyboard). Although ATARI advertise MSDOS2.11, all the shops I asked said it was fully IBM compatible - which I didn't believe, although I haven't yet tried bringing over PC software. So another advantage of the POQUET, I do believe, is solid IBM compatibility. Another is the full size screen (not that I find the small PORTFOLIO screen that much of a problem). The big advantages of the POQUET is the full 512K or 640K of memory - if they do run OS and applications from ROM like the PORTFOLIO. Another reason for having the disk on the portfolio is that the RAMDISK otherwise takes up most of your availabe memory. I want to be able to run my own programs. In 128K that is just about feasible. Once you knock out half of that or more for a RAMDISK though ... The standard interfaces are an advantage of the POQUET, and the missing interfaces are a hidden cost of the PORTFOLIO - and a hidden weight, although the extra weight can be in your main luggage. I guess I have been a portable freak from the start. My first PC (of the 80*8? MS-DOS family) was the first laptop (before the name was coined - it was actually one of the first portables, the DULMONT MAGNUM - later KOOKABURRA). I wanted smaller and went for an EPSOM MX20(?), a move from 5 kilos to 5 pounds, RAMDISK with separate memory/disk expansion box back to cassete storage, from 80186 back to an 8-bit non-MS-DOS environment). One pound is much more like it. I'm waiting for one ounce (watch size?). Assuming, once I get a chance to play with it, that the POQUET does live up to its advertizing, I fully intend to trade-in the PORTFOLIO for one, despite the price difference. (Trade-in literally only if I get back more than it is worth as a back up machines. Multiple portables are quite useful for giving to secretaries, use by other family members, leaving in different offices, ... I expect that the POQUET will be able to act as a PC host for the PORTFOLIO actually!) David Powers (powers@informatik.uni-kl.de)
jim@baroque.Stanford.EDU (James Helman) (07/31/90)
> I first heard about the POQUET about two years ago, and have been trying > to buy one (unsuccessfully) ever since, in virtually every country except > Japan. For the first year or two I understand it was only being marketed > in Japan. This year I have seen exemplars on display in the UK and have > seen advertizing for it in Germany. But I still can't even get a price. > Earlier in the year I still couldn't get it in the US. I have tried > tracking it down through the Fujitsu link as well, but their sales > offices seem to be ignorantof it. All information about availability and > experience is thus most welcome. Poqet PC's have been available here in California since mid-March (when I bought one from Connecting Point in Palo Alto). The disk drives were delayed but made it to dealers early this month. Standard packages are also beginning to come out on ROM cards (e.g. Lotus 123, AlphaWorks, ACT!). I hadn't heard they were available in Japan first. As far as I know these were pretty close to FCS. One of the major problems with the Poqet will go away when they start shipping inexpensive ROM card burners for ROMming your favorite PC packages. The selection of commercially available ROMmed software is still limited, and using 512K RAM cards at $500 a pop for this was prohibitively expensive (Note: In the Poqet the RAM/ROM cards are the functional equivalent of floppy disks). Jim Helman Department of Applied Physics 6 Trillium Lane Stanford University San Carlos, CA 94070 (jim@KAOS.stanford.edu) (415) 723-9127