Re: the worst PDA of all time

Retrograde <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sun, 23 Aug 2026 06:49:24 -0000 (UTC)
> Lawrence D’Oliveiro <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> > Notice, though, how Microsoft’s FUD power has weakened each time it
> > has wielded it: it destroyed Go, was only partially successful against
> > Palm, failed against Linux, and was completely humiliated over
> > Android.
> > 
> > Nowadays I think it has learned to keep its carnivorousness on a leash
> > over new products like the Steam Deck.
> > 
> > Bonus fun fact: did you know Windows XP was designed from the ground
> > up to support tablets with a pen interface? From his Comdex 2001
> > keynote
> 
> I remember tablet technology at the time was pretty awful, basically a
> WinXP laptop folded back on itself, with too much weight, lousy pen
> interfaces, and all the hardware issues WinXP was known for, like
> unreliable suspend/restore, and the things had spinning rust hard
> drives in them.  Lousy experience, no wonder nobody wanted crappy
> hardware with crappy software welded onto it.

I have one of those - a Toshiba Portege M200 from 2004.  I really should dig
it out and reinstall Windows XP Tablet Edition.  I used it until 2013
running Debian (towards the end on an SSD, once I'd found a compatible PATA
to SATA adapter).  32-bit Centrino CPU and up to 2GB of RAM, with a very
nice (for the time) 1400x1050 display.

I didn't make as much use of the tablet features as I thought I would - at
3kg it was too heavy to hold as a tablet, and it turns out what you want to
do with tablets is pick them up, not rest them flat on a desk.  Windows'
handwriting recognition and dictation wasn't great.  The Wacom EMR digitiser
was pretty nice though.

I've been thinking it might be handy to resurrect as a writing surface... 
but I don't need a writing surface.  It also could be useful for running old
car diagnostic software as it's pretty solid, but I already set up an old
Macbook for that.  The battery health may not be great, but it's just 18650s
so should be easy to re-cell.

Theo