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What the hell is this thing?
What the hell is this thing? :: 1 > 2
Davnes007
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The one who keeps all of your secrets!Okay, so I saw this thing at a thrift store, and couldn't resist buying it.
I know it looks like a Palm type of device....duh.
It won't get past the stylus calibration screen(s), so I can't go into any of the menus, or anything, to find out what it's called.
So, what the hell is this thing?
Help me OT.com...you're my only hope.
J.EDIT: This thing doesn't say Palm on it anywhere. In fact, it doesn't have ANY brand name on it. And, it's very cheap looking.
Star Wars Episode XXX: Erica Strikes Back
If you want Nice....go to France.
SilverWook
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I am ready for the trials!Looks like an old Personal Digital Assistant to me.
Davnes007
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The one who keeps all of your secrets!It's close, but sadly it's not gonna be that easy. ;)
I did a quick edit of my OP to add a tiny bit of info.
Star Wars Episode XXX: Erica Strikes Back
If you want Nice....go to France.
SilverWook
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I am ready for the trials!It might just be a simple electronic organizer. The 90's were littered with such gadgets that aped the look and feel of more expensive gadgets.
No clues inside the battery compartment?
TV's Frink
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Ointment FlyDavnes007 said:
What the hell is this thing?
That's what she said.
Davnes007
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The one who keeps all of your secrets!SilverWook said:
...
No clues inside the battery compartment?
Nope....although there is a 'lock' for the battery cover, oddly enough.
Star Wars Episode XXX: Erica Strikes Back
If you want Nice....go to France.
doubleofive
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Chief Architect of Cynical MoralityIt's probably just a cheap PDA. I don't think we'll ever know.
Star Wars Revisited Wordpress / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter
Cinetropolis - My new movie blog home
Where to hear me online
SilverWook
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I am ready for the trials!
Bingowings
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Magister Pontifex MaximusIt's obviously a cheap "generic" Palm Pilot knock-off (there were hundreds like all those 'Fauxlofaxes').
You might get a clue if you can open the thing up and have a look at the chips but I doubt it.
With a bit of luck it's a direct clone of a major name brand device in which case it would mimic all the PIM functions of it doubtlessly documented antecedent.
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- Anál nathrach,
- orth’ bháis’s bethad,
- do chél dénmha
Leonardo
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Joliet JakeAsk Stuart Ashen (@ashens), he might know.
... And they had 'The Empire Strikes Back', the fifth of the four Star Wars films. He is fucking with us numerically, isn't he! "Children, count up to ten." "Four, five, six, one, two, three, ten". No, it goes, four, five, six, one, two, three… No, it goes: four, five, six. One... Two and three have not been made." "Two and three have not been made! What should they be?" "What should they be? We do not know. All we know is that there will be a big floppy character in it that goes, squawk squawk squawk... who needs a punch up the bracket!"
TV's Frink
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Ointment FlyI think it's a leftie "smartphone."
The Aluminum Falcon
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Slayer of DeaditesOh what a blast from the past! I used to have one of those...don't remember what happened to it. Like other people have been saying, it's a PDA: simple, quaint, and ultimately useless with the advent of smart phones.
CP3S
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"friggin midgit devil teddy bear"I thought the OP was a joke at first, then I realized it was serious, and now I am crying.
One of the coolest pieces of technology I owned when I was a preteen was my electronic organizer. It was awesome, like having my very own computer that fit in my pocket. I could type up short paragraphs in it and save them. Or use it as a calculator. Years later I upgraded to one with an indiglo screen. I think my first one was a Royal DM75. All my friends were really jealous, and I felt extremely sophisticated with this thing in my back pocket everywhere I went. It was basically a glorified calculator with all the capabilities of a digital watch, and with the ability to store a limited number of text memos. I used to store dirty words in mine, and felt pretty cool about it. It featured a password lock too, so no worries of prying eyes reading my secret profanity laced memos to myself.
Later the things came with dictionaries built into them, and you could play simple word games (like hangman) on them.
The one pictured above was what they started to look like right before they went extinct, mimicking the look of the then popular, and much more technologically advanced, PDAs.
SilverWook
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I am ready for the trials!This could be fun. Post a picture of a now obscure gadget, or a forerunner to something that's commonplace now...
I picked up one of these at an electronics store that was closing in the mid 90's. It was unfortunately dead, so I never found a way to make the screen flash "Don't Panic!".
FanFiltration
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Everything is a psyop!I was a child of the 1970's, so here are some of my earliest gadgets
The Little Professor is a backwards calculator designed for children ages 5 to 9. Instead of providing the answer to a mathematical expression entered by the user, it generates unsolved expressions and prompts the user for the answer
Merlin (sometimes known as Merlin, the Electronic Wizard) was a handheld electronic game first made by Parker Brothers in 1978. Merlin is notable as one of the earliest and most popular handheld games, selling over 5 million units during its initial run, as well as one of the most long-lived, remaining popular throughout the 1980s.
"I stay in debt because I pattern myself after America. When America pays her bills, I'm gonna pay mine!" - Dick Gregory
Bingowings
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Magister Pontifex MaximusI still have my Merlin.
I also still have one of these:
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- Anál nathrach,
- orth’ bháis’s bethad,
- do chél dénmha
SilverWook
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I am ready for the trials!IIRC, Merlin has turned up in more than a couple low budget SF films as a prop. I have one that was bought for me in South America with Portuguese text on the buttons. There is a smaller modern update of Merlin I've seen in the past few years.
I still have this little beauty stashed away somewhere. Primitive by today's standards but pretty challenging to play. I think some of the sounds it made were used in one of the Rebel Assault games as an inside joke.
TV's Frink
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Ointment FlyI had a little professor.
Davnes007
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The one who keeps all of your secrets!Oh?.........Did you use some enhancement pills to make him bigger?
Star Wars Episode XXX: Erica Strikes Back
If you want Nice....go to France.
Davnes007
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The one who keeps all of your secrets!FanFiltration said:
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Merlin (sometimes known as Merlin, the Electronic Wizard) was a handheld electronic game first made by Parker Brothers in 1978. Merlin is notable as one of the earliest and most popular handheld games, selling over 5 million units during its initial run, as well as one of the most long-lived, remaining popular throughout the 1980s.
And, don't forget it's sequel: "Merlin The 10th Quest"
Star Wars Episode XXX: Erica Strikes Back
If you want Nice....go to France.
FanFiltration
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Everything is a psyop!Davnes007 said:
FanFiltration said:
...
Merlin (sometimes known as Merlin, the Electronic Wizard) was a handheld electronic game first made by Parker Brothers in 1978. Merlin is notable as one of the earliest and most popular handheld games, selling over 5 million units during its initial run, as well as one of the most long-lived, remaining popular throughout the 1980s.
And, don't forget it's sequel: "Merlin The 10th Quest"
I've never seen that! It's after my time.
"I stay in debt because I pattern myself after America. When America pays her bills, I'm gonna pay mine!" - Dick Gregory
SilverWook
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I am ready for the trials!You guys ought to find this site interesting.
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/
I once had one of these.
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Entex/AV.html
Was totally floored to find out it was pretty rare. (I paid less than twenty bucks for it at a Sears Surplus store in the 80's.) Unfortunately, I had to sell it to pay some bills a decade ago.
FanFiltration
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Everything is a psyop!SilverWook said:
I once had one of these.
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Entex/AV.html
Was totally floored to find out it was pretty rare. (I paid less than twenty bucks for it at a Sears Surplus store in the 80's.) Unfortunately, I had to sell it to pay some bills a decade ago.
That is a way kewl toy!
"I stay in debt because I pattern myself after America. When America pays her bills, I'm gonna pay mine!" - Dick Gregory
Davnes007
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The one who keeps all of your secrets!Okay. Time to show another thrift store find.
The only things printed on it are "PRESS", "LOCK", "OPEN", and "MADE IN HONG KONG". The round part on the bottom (The part that says "PRESS") can be turned to lock/open so that the cord can be wrapped around, and tucked away in the base. There's a little black button on top of the handle, and a large rectangular red button on the base.
I have no idea who made it, or what it's called....besides being a 'joystick'.
Star Wars Episode XXX: Erica Strikes Back
If you want Nice....go to France.
CP3S
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"friggin midgit devil teddy bear"Remembering archaic technology...
Back in high school a buddy (foreign exchange student) and I went to an electronics store. My friend asked the sales floor guy there about mini-disc players, and the guy, trying to be helpful, told him not to even bother with mini-disc and to go with an mp3 player instead. This was a few years before the ipod came along, mp3 players were a new thing and what would be considered a cheapo mp3 player today was quite expensive then. My friend argued with the electronics store guys that mini-discs are clearly going to be the successor to the CD and that mp3's will never take off beyond use by pirates (this was even before Napster sold out), and also that mini-discs were better because they never skip. The guy looked at him funny and said, "Mp3's are all digital, there are no moving parts, it would be impossible for them to skip."
They went back and forth for a while. Kind of a funny conversation to reflect back on now. Pfft, mini-disc players...
With the rampant anti-piracy awareness campaigns going on around this time, I once got grounded for having mp3's, apparently my computer was making a lot of noise so my mom went in to check it out, saw a weird program running on the screen, made out the word "mp3" along with artist and song names, noticed a stack of borrowed CD's on top of the CPU, and somehow figured out that I was ripping CD's into mp3's. There went a perfectly good week of my social life. Mp3 almost did used to be a dirty word associated with delinquent youths who stole music. It was almost like I got caught with drugs, I remember my mother in a hurt and disappointed voice saying something like, "I sure hope you wouldn't be okay with going into a store and stealing CD's."
What the hell is this thing?