Author Archives: cosi

Amstrad NC100: new horse in the stable

Posted on 6.10.2011 by cosi

A few days ago I was given a wonderful birthday gift. NC100 is an A4-sheet-sized (exactly!) portable computer, intended for word processing. With its comfortable, full-sized keyboard and built-in Protext word processor (real word processor, which visualises formatting, justifies the … Continue reading →

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CompactFlash and the Lost Clusters

Posted on 17.09.2011 by cosi

I experienced it twice. The PC suddenly refuses to write to Psion’s CF and shows turd in filenames. First time I was scared to death – I was afraid that all my data are lost, but when I inserted the … Continue reading →

Posted in Psion (EPOC) | 2 Comments

Software for Atari Portfolio

Posted on 8.09.2011 by cosi

Thanks to its popularity back then, Portfolio experienced a flood of software for virtually all applications. However, when the hype had gone down, most of the dedicated websites started to disappear and some FTP archives have become inaccessible. Nowadays, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Atari Portfolio | 9 Comments

What is a vintage palmtop good for?

Posted on 25.08.2011 by cosi

“Don’t be kidding”, you say. A vintage palmtop is an ideal toy, a collector’s item, a nostalgic artifact. It’s also great for digging in its guts – say Atari Portfolio owners with electronic skills – just like ZX Spectrum. Ok, … Continue reading →

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Psion in the Shell

Posted on 13.08.2011 by cosi

Writing about programming tools for the Psion I mentioned about running the scripts from the shell. It sounds natural for someone who lives in the world of a prompt and a flashing cursor, but (un)fortunately Psion’s philosophy denies the existence … Continue reading →

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Glucholazy Atari Party 2011

Posted on 2.08.2011 by cosi

Last weekend the well-known demoscene party was held in Głuchołazy, Poland. Though it’s traditionally associated with “big” Atari systems like XL/XE, ST and Falcon, I think it’s worth mentioning, that a new Portfolio initiative was born this year. We already … Continue reading →

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Psionic programming, part 2

Posted on 24.07.2011 by cosi

Go to part 1 First steps So you want to write programs. Ok, here are the first steps you should follow: 1. Sit down, take a deep breath and think, what kind of software you’d like to create. Should it … Continue reading →

Posted in programming, Psion (EPOC), Psion (SIBO), Psion Organiser | 2 Comments

Programming graphics on Portfolio, part 2

Posted on 16.07.2011 by cosi

Go to part 1 Portfolio’s display is controlled by a Hitachi HD61830 chip. As I previously said, this makes it incompatible with the PC and more difficult to program. However, the only way to use dynamic graphics in your programs … Continue reading →

Posted in Atari Portfolio, programming | 4 Comments

Psionic programming, part 1

Posted on 9.07.2011 by cosi

From Organiser to Series 5: Programming tools It’s not so far from the truth, that Psion Company has set the standards for many modern portable computers. Their sophisticated, sometimes revolutionary solutions pioneered the development of palmtops. Unfortunately, one of the … Continue reading →

Posted in programming, Psion (EPOC), Psion (SIBO), Psion Organiser | 4 Comments

Programming graphics on Portfolio, part 1

Posted on 3.07.2011 by cosi

One of Atari Portfolio’s weak points is the graphics. Not only has Portfolio very modest graphics capabilites (what can be understood), but also is hardly compatible with PCs. I think this is why there were so few games written for … Continue reading →

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