Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Path: utzoo!lsuc!jimomura
From: jimomura@lsuc.on.ca (Jim Omura)
Subject: Re: A bunch of Portfolio notes...
Organization: Consultant, Toronto
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 1991 19:03:20 GMT
Message-ID: <1991Jun20.190320.8089@lsuc.on.ca>
Keywords: AtariUser, Portfolio
References: <1991Jun20.001203.24928@rick.cs.ubc.ca>

In article <1991Jun20.001203.24928@rick.cs.ubc.ca> b3300876@rick.cs.ubc.ca (george chow) writes:

...

>Megabyte Computers in Texas will now upgrade the Portfolio to 512K of internal
>memory. The modification must be done at their site and includes a six month
>warranty on the Portfolio. The cost is $350, or new Portfolio units with the
>upgrade already installed are available for sale. For more information call,
>(817)589-2950.
>
>The Portfolio Chronicles
>Bigger Isn't Everything
>
>In a interview done in Germany by PD Journal, Alwin Stumph indicated that Atari
>is not as interested in expanding the Portfolio as it had been. The Managing

     Now that was interesting because I thought I'd heard that
the Portfolio was expandable back when it was first introduced.
So from the above 2 notes I guess that Atari never expanded
Portfolios beyond 128K RAM?

>Alwin says that Atari is planning to enter the notebook computer arena by
>producing a notbook version of the Atari ST, called the ST-BOOK. The price
>spread betwen a built-up Portfolio and a base ST-BOOK would be too small.
>What does this mean for Portfolio users? Perhaps we shouldn't expect a Portfolio
>II soon, despite rumors that it is already in production. But Atari and a number

     Well, I'd guess that a "Portfolio II" would still fit into
the current scheme of things.  I have no information about such
a machine, but from my current messing around, and in light of
the HP-95LX I could see them bringing out something.  I think
what might be a sellable product would be 320 * 100 pixels of
display, an "industry standard" memory card slot in place of the
current slot, a slightly revised keyboard and at least 258K RAM
standard with the expansion up to 1 Meg., but with the current
60 pin expansion buss.  That would be usable to "bridge the gap"
between the current Portfolio and some future machine that
might take off in a new "form factor" direction.  Especially
a 320 pixel wide display.  That would be a neat trick to play
on HP.  It's only a few more pixels than the HP-95LX as far
as I can tell (nobody has counted them for me, but I'd guess they
are using 240 * 128), but there are some nifty tricks you can
use by having special fonts for 64 character and 80 character lines.
A 64 character line would be readable enough for spreadsheets and
an 80 character line could be used for "text format previewing".
I wouldn't advertise the 80 character line font as being "readable"
but in fact it can be read.  We used to use a font of this pixel
range on the original Radio Shack Color Computer for "previewing"
and I found that I could get used to it enough to read the text.
But the 64 character line font would be the *real* surprise.  Such
a font would be quite usable for spreadsheets.

     So for a display that would cost about the same as the HP to
make you could have greater functionality.  I could see HP executives
pulling out their hair on that point.

>is planning to release the Power BASIC compiler, and Hyperlist, an outliner.

     Hmm.  I thought these were supposed to have been available by now?

>XoteriX (81  8-888-7390) is developing a 512K RAM expansion unit, as well as a

     The mockup they showed in Atari Explorer was an external unit.

>The Portfolio contains 256K of application code, burned into unchangeable ROM
>chips. That is quite a large piece of sofware, and unfortunately, it does have a
>few bugs. There's no easy way to upgrade the ROM chip-you'd have to replace the
>entire machine. So, Atari has released an UPDATE program to fix these buts. This
>fix, in conjunction with a few hints and tips, should keep your Portfolio up and
>running.

     Ick.  That was something I was just about to look into.  Literally
look into -- I was about to take apart my Portfolio and see what the
guts were like.  Sounds like a surface mounted ROM, or worse. . . .
-- 
Jim Omura, 2A King George's Drive, Toronto, (416) 652-3880
lsuc!jimomura
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