New (To Me) Toy To Play With

[granz]

As some of you have seen (https://zappbots.altervista.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=458&sid=4d0e11164425bc57e3f20ddc37b367a7,) I do like MS-DOS. In fact, I've said, many times, that I think MS-DOS (and its various clones, etc.) is the ultimate in Personal Computer Operating Systems. Now, I do differentiate between Personal Computers, and the modern Information Appliances - those are not PCs. A Personal Computer answers to ONE owner, and that owner is the absolute controller of the computer. The owner should not have to beg the OS to do something, or write a device driver to access some memory, or a port. As the owner, I should be able to do anything that I want with my computer.

Now I do understand that (as Uncle Ben said,) "With great power comes great responsibility," (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_great_power_comes_great_responsibility.) It's just that I don't want my computer doing what Microsoft, or Apple or my Linux provider wants. [/RANT]

So, anyway I now have a new toy coming in:

(This is the actual computer that I bought.)

It is a Hewlett-Packard 200LX Handheld PC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_200LX.

This is an 80186-compatable MS-DOS 5.0 handheld computer. It has 2MB of RAM (I will be upgrading this to 4, or 16, MB). Also, I have a 128MB CF card with a WiFi card built-in. I also have a huge collection of MS-DOS software that I used to do development work back in the 1990s, and have started getting programs together to put on the CF card for when I receive my new toy (should be on this Monday.)

[JKnightandKARR]

cool

[Chris Savage]

I do like MS-DOS. In fact, I've said, many times, that I think MS-DOS (and its various clones, etc.) is the ultimate in Personal Computer Operating Systems.

I miss the old days of DOS, when you had to set the IRQ and DMA channel and other settings on your I/O cards. You had SO much control over your hardware and software in those days. Things were simpler then.

A Personal Computer answers to ONE owner, and that owner is the absolute controller of the computer. The owner should not have to beg the OS to do something, or write a device driver to access some memory, or a port. As the owner, I should be able to do anything that I want with my computer.

Amen, brother!

Now I do understand that (as Uncle Ben said,) "With great power comes great responsibility," It's just that I don't want my computer doing what Microsoft, or Apple or my Linux provider wants.

Lately whenever there's a cumulative update to Windows 10, it tries to get me to use M$ Edge for my browser, sign into my computer using a M$ account, backup to OneDrive...NO TO ALL!

This is an 80186-compatable MS-DOS 5.0 handheld computer. It has 2MB of RAM (I will be upgrading this to 4, or 16, MB).

I know it's been a long time since I used DOS, but I don't recall more than 2MB ever being useful for anything in DOS. My early PCs came with a whopping 256KB and were upgraded to 640KB or later when CD-ROM drives came out, the 640KB systems were upgraded to 1MB so the drivers could be loaded into high memory.

[zappman]

Some light reading on this topic 
Users Guide

[granz]

I know it's been a long time since I used DOS, but I don't recall more than 2MB ever being useful for anything in DOS. My early PCs came with a whopping 256KB and were upgraded to 640KB or later when CD-ROM drives came out, the 640KB systems were upgraded to 1MB so the drivers could be loaded into high memory.

Yeah, my first PC system had 512K of RAM, and two 360K 5.25" floppies.

But by the time MS-DOS 5.x (maybe earlier) came out, they could use more than 640K. There were two ways: first EMM allowed some use for drivers, and some TSRs, but the other way to use memory above 1MB was to turn it into a RAM Disk. This is the standard way that the 200LX handled the extra memory, but it could also use EMM.

[granz]

Some light reading on this topic 
Users Guide

Yeah, I have that one, plus the Connectivity Kit (for serial comms,) and the Dev kit. Lots of fun reading.

[granz]

It arrived yesterday.





I'm excited - this thing is fun. When it came, it had the CR2032 memory backup battery installed (surprised,) but no AA cells (expected.) I put two regular AA cells (will replace them with NiMH cells that can be recharged inside the computer) into the handheld. When I turned it on, it beeped and gave the "BKUP BATTERY LOW" warning in the first photo (the top line on the screen.) I found out that while the warning was on (it would show up for several seconds and then go away for several seconds) I could not type anything. Fortunately, after several minutes, the warnings stopped - apparently the coin cell got charged up enough (although, it does not seem to be rechargeable,) or it got tired of complaining. 

[granz]

Well, I got to Walmart, and purchased a set of NiMH AA-cells with charger, and a new CR2032 cell (actually two.) The NiMH cells are on the charger now, and I will replace all of the cells in a little while. From then on, I will swap out the AA NiMH cells every week, and plug in the Handheld for a few hours to top off the new battery.

[JKnightandKARR]

Looks interesting

[granz]

Well, the new batteries are installed (is that correct? The AA-cells make up one battery, but the CR2032 is only one cell, not a battery.  Oh well...) Interestingly, the CR2032 that was in it when I received it was inserted with the positive (+) side up, when the Quick Start Guide says to insert it with positive down. Maybe the "BKUP BATTERY LOW" warning would not have popped up if I had flipped the CR2032. Thankfully, it did not seem to have done any damage; nice older Hewlett-Packard design work.

Now this thing should keep the stuff that I put in.

Next thing is to get my 128MB Compact Flash card, with built-in WiFi, loaded up with the software that I want, and then get the WiFi working.

[granz]

Well, yesterday, I got together several MS-DOS programs for the 200LX, and put them onto a 128MB CF card (pretty big for back then - 1995.) This SanDisk card also has a WiFi adapter built-in. Back when I first got this, it was for a Jornada 520 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Jornada#Jornada_520_series) Pocket PC, and I used the WiFi to access my network. It was pretty cool, and I hope to find DOS drivers for the 200LX for it.

This is the software that I have:

• 4DOS (DOS COMMAND.COM  enhancement - used this ALL the time at my old work site - Database Application Developer)
• ACT (Contact Manager)
• BASCOM (BASIC Compiler)
• BIBLE
• BTLChess (Battle Chess for DOS)
• Corncob (Flight Simulator - usable on minimal XT systems)
• D-DRIVE (Utilities that I used to keep on my RAM (D:) drive at work)
• EDIT (FreeDOS editor - uses standard keys like CTRL-C for copy, etc.)
• SimCity
• SYS (Utilities that I used to use at work - supposed to be binaries, but often got mixed in with C:\UTILS.)
• Telix322 (Comm terminal)
• Turbobas (Borland's BASIC compiler)
• UTILS (Utilities that I used to use at work - supposed to be BATs, but often got mixed in with C:\SYST.)
• XT-Gold (File Manager)

Plus the following installation files folders to install programs configured specifically for my 200LX:

• BATTERY (Battery management for 200LX)
• FoxInst (FoxPro 2.5 Database Management System)
• FT-GOLD (FormTool Gold for creating forms for printing)
• ORE-TRL (Oregon Trail)
• PCW415A (PC Write 4.15A - the word processor/text editor that I used at work)
• SideKick (Borland SideKick TSR for Pop-Up programming aids)
• Superkey (Borland SuperKey for stuffing the keyboard buffer to automatically "type" after loading a program)
• TurboCPP (Borland Turbo C ++)
• WORD6 (Microsoft Word 6 for MS-DOS - WYSIWYG in DOS!)

This is all in addition to the MS-DOS 5.0 that is in ROM, and the built-in programs: Lotus 1-2-3 Release 2.4 spreadsheet, a calendar, a phone book, a terminal, Lotus cc:Mail and a scientific/business calculator (among other applications). On the CF card that I received with the computer was a copy of Stacker (STAC Electronics disk doubler.) This was another indispensable programs from when I used DOS all the time. I'm not sure that I will install Stacker, since I have the 128MB card, but then again Parkinson's Law of Data applies ("Data expands to fill the space available for storage") so maybe I will need Stacker.

In addition to this, I am thinking of sending the computer off to have the RAM expanded to 4, or 16, megabytes. This will be added to the 2 MB that I already have, and would be used for more RAM Disk space.

Then, today, I ordered Software Carousel (for task switching MS-DOS sessions) pre-configured for my HP 200LX, and also an RS-232 serial cable. The 200LX provides a serial port, but it is a 2X5 male header connector (at 2mm, rather than the more standard 2.54MM.) I could have made one (and probably will for other things,) but it will be easier to just use one that I ordered.