Subj : Palm PDAs
To   : All
From : poindexter FORTRAN
Date : Mon Mar 27 2023 12:42:00

I just watched a documentary about Handspring called "Springboard: the
secret history of the first real smartphone".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9_Vh9h3Ohw

I remembered back to the mid '90s when PDAs took off. I worked in a
company that wrote Mac software, and Newtons were common. We'd even set
up a localtalk network so the Newtons could print to our LaserWriters.

Then, oddly enough, US Robotics, makers of the modem we all wanted as
sysops, came out with the original Palm Pilot PDA. It didn't take long
for us to ditch Newtons and their sketchy handwriting recognition to
writing in Graffiti, the stylized alphabet the Palm OS could read.

I was so into Palms that I noticed myself writing letters and numbers on
paper in Graffiti.

The Palm was like having a curated internet with you, before we all had
the internet. I'd use a program called PocketMirror to synchronize
Outlook to my Palm, and kept email, tech notes, contacts, calendar items
and tasks synced to my Palm PDA. Avantgo worked like an RSS reader,
letting me capture web sites to read when I was offline, and there was
an ebook format that worked pretty well.

All this worked on a device that ran on AAA batteries and came with at
most 8 megabytes of storage.

What amazed me in thinking about the mid '90s was how many Palm
accessories there were! I had a work acquaintance who had a website just
for reviews of stylii and cases. I must have had a half-dozen cases for
mine, multi-color stylus pens, and a "black nail" stylus, a heavy metal
stylus resembling a nail with a teflon tip.

One weird accessory I had was the Pocketmail modem. It was a modem with
an acoustic coupler, see http://www.dansdata.com/pocketmail.htm for a
full write-up.

You'd get a @pocketmail.com email address, call a toll-free number and
press a button on the modem. You'd then press the modem/Palm device up
against the telephone handset and it'd transfer email. It worked pretty
well, up to a point, but the service disappeared without a trace.

Later, I had a Metricom packet modem and could browse web sites and send
emails, but not much more. I upgraded from a USR model to a Palm III
with added memory, then a Palm V. A little later, the Treo came out and
added phone and data capabilities - but, by that time, a device called a
Blackberry came along and I jumped ship.

To me, the Pilot filled a niche when I was commuting on public transit
and I was working away from my desk - but it wasn't long before bringing
the internet with you became an option.




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