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Hello?

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2017 9:36 pm
by Floopy
Hello, I thought I would register because I like plamtops, I like DOS and I sadly don't have any palmtops.
Is this forum still alive? Anyway I just wanted to introduce myself a little. :D

Re: Hello?

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 2:52 pm
by Kyodai
Hi there and welcome to the forums.

Lately we didn't really have many new members, so not really many active topics here, but feel free to revive any that interest you. :)

I'd recommend you a palmtop, but i guess it kinda depends a bit what you wanna do with them and where your focus is.

The HP Palmtops - namely the 100LX and 200LX are usually always available on ebay. Their pros are: Light, small, good battery life, good software, pretty compatible with most PCMCIA/CF combinations and cards. Cons: Terrible keyboard, no parallel port, just 1 PCMCIA port, serial port needs obscure proprietary adaptor, plastic hinges tend to break easily.

Still if you can live with that then the HP palmtops are pretty good.

If you're looking for something special then let me know, i have loads of spares and sometimes already thought like "Hmmm, maybe i don't need 3 of this model"...

Re: Hello?

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 4:44 pm
by Floopy
I do like the HP 100LX and 200's, but the price tag is a bit hefty (at least for me). I've been looking for a good deal on an HP 95lx because they are cheaper, but the prices only seem to go up (they use to sell for about 25$ a little back ago, if only I had known). I'm considering some other palmtops though, I like the Poqet but they are hard to come by, and I don't know what would fit my budget and needs.
It be most useful at taking notes and doing calculations. I know a phone can do that, but I don't like phones (because of no keyboards), and they don't have a great battery life.
I have a Tandy 1400, but then I might as well bring my laptop.

And after all who doesn't like DOS. :D

Re: Hello?

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 4:53 pm
by Floopy
I also don't mind doing repairs (as long as their is no glue involved), but people prefer throwing their palmtops away instead of selling for parts.

Re: Hello?

Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:36 am
by Kyodai
Personally I don't like the 95LX because of the lack of CGA, so no games at all and even most appz refuse to work with it. And like the other HP models they suffer from the chiclet keyboard which imho is one of the worst for typing. So for very short notes like a few words they are okay, but don't expect to write a book with that keyboard.

The Poqet - like most DOS palmtops is pretty rare.

If budget is a problem and you really don't mind not having CGA then maybe a solution would be the Atari Portfolio - it's usually not that expensive and often you can still grab one on ebay for like 30-40 Dollars.

Re: Hello?

Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 5:27 pm
by Floopy
I know I sound picky when I say this, but the price is killing me. They seem to go for about 100+ on Ebay right now, I've been scavenging thrift stores for months without success I only find big tech such as my Commodores and Microsoft mouse. I'm currently watching some broken machines online, but I don't seem to be the only one doing so

Re: Hello?

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 1:43 pm
by Kyodai
If you look at the completed listings in ebay for atari portfolio then you can see they usually went for something like 30-50 USD.

Pretty much same goes for the 95LX - you definitely missed loads of "Buy it now" offers that were somewhere around 35 USD.

For the 100LX the cheapest ones went for something like 60 USD - which is a really fair price for a good machine imho...

The 200LX usually sells for like 150 USD, but you can see there were also a few bargains around that sold much cheaper.


In the end you'll either need a big wallet or loads of patience. I suggest you use ebays function to save a search, then you get an e-mail when something new pops up. With some luck you can buy a cheap machine.

Re: Hello?

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 1:54 pm
by Floopy
Thanks I'll keep looking, I think I'm just bad at finding things. :oops:

Re: Hello?

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 3:47 pm
by Kyodai
Ah it just takes patience - just never give up. :)

There are some palmtops i had been looking for since like a decade and then suddenly i was lucky. :lol:

And then there are some that i just never saw in the wild or missed them. :(

Finding palmtop bargains

Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 5:28 pm
by striegel
As a hint, there are other auction sites besides eBay. Since their traffic is usually not as high, you can come across relatively unsophisticated sellers. The same is true of your local Craigs List. If you keep monitoring for the things that interest you the most you could stumble across one.

My best finds have been tossed into a lot with other devices, such as calculators and PDA's (like Palm Pilots). I acquired a mint-condition 2MB HP 200LX from a Goodwill auction for less than $90 because it came with three miscellaneous devices.

Good deals are still out there but you must be persistent.

Search for the maker's name instead of the models (e.g. HP and Hewlett Packard instead of 100LX). Try terms that others might assign, such as PDA, PIM, palmtop, organizer, and even calculator.

Look at the photos, especially with mixed lots. The subjects and descriptions won't always mention the thing you want, but if you see it there, go for it.

Alan