Evolution of the Portable Computer

Table 1.2 shows the common part numbers for the configurable options available for the Portable PC.

Table 1.2. IBM Portable PC Model Configurations

The disk drive used in the Portable PC was a half-height drive, the same unit specified for use in the IBM PCjr, a short-lived consumer-oriented desktop. When the Portable PC was introduced, the PCjr was the only other IBM sold with the same half-height drive.

Table 1.3 lists and summarizes the three main luggable PC systems.

Table 1.3. Notable Luggable Systems

Lunchboxes

The next major category of portable computer was considerably smaller in size, but still large by today's standards. In size and shape, these computers resembled small briefcases or the lunchboxes that children once brought to school, ergo the category name.

The design of lunchbox computers was quite simple. One side of the lunchbox was taken up by a display. The keyboard module could be attached over the screen, protecting both it and the keyboard during travel.

To accomplish this relatively small size, lunchbox designers took advantage of a new technology that was just becoming available: flat-panel displays, such as high-contrast gas-plasma displays and electroluminescent panels. These panels were considerably smaller than the CRT displays on the luggable systems. They also had very high contrast. The downside, however, of these early flat-panel displays was their cost. Lunchbox computers equipped with these screens were incredibly expensive, in some cases carrying a price tag close to $20,000. That would be equivalent to at least $25,000 “$30,000 in today's dollars.

Another cost of these early flat-panel displays was their power requirements. The electrical appetite of these screens was so great that few if any of these systems could survive on battery power alone. Instead, they required a nearby AC outlet. The development of an affordable battery- powered portable PC would have to wait until large, low-power, high-resolution LCD displays could be efficiently produced.

As limiting as the AC power cord was, the availability of this plentiful power had a positive benefit. This ample electrical supply coupled with the fairly large size of these systems made it easier for designers to incorporate the latest and most powerful computer components available. Instead of being required to wait for a low-power CMOS version of the Intel 80386 processor to become available, or for a super-thin hard drive to be ready, designers could use essentially the same components that were being incorporated into high-end desktops. The performance difference between desktops and lunchboxes was practically nil. It would be several years before a similar parity would occur between desktops and laptops.

The large size of the lunchbox computers provided one additional advantage that has never been fully realized in subsequent generations of advanced laptops and notebook computers. Like the luggable computers, the lunchboxes had a desktop-style expansion bus. Because of this, upgrading or customizing a lunchbox was almost as easy as it was on a desktop. If your application required a special AT-style expansion card, the lunchbox was your portable of choice. Laptop manufacturers try to emulate this capability by providing docking stations with one or more desktop-style expansion bus slots. But these docking stations are not portable at all.

Two of the most notable of the lunchbox computers were the P70 and P75 from IBM. Both of these systems were portable variations of IBM's PS/2 Model 70 desktop introduced in 1987. Because good-quality LCD screens were not yet available, these portables used orange-and-black gas-plasma displays.

Both the P70 and P75 were quite large, being more like briefcases than lunchboxes. Inside, their high-power components were a match for any desktop. Table 1.4 contains a list of the specifications for both systems.

Table 1.4. Details on IBM's "Lunchbox" Portables: the P70 and P75

A number of other companies, including Compaq, offered lunchbox computers for several years. As the much smaller laptops became more powerful, however, the need for lunchbox systems waned. Nevertheless, these portables are still on the market, being prized for both their expansion capabilities and their ruggedness.

One example of a current lunchbox is the FlexPAC P4 ruggedized portable from Dolch Computer Systems (see Figure 1.7).

This lunchbox weighs no less than 23 pounds and measures 16x11x9.8 inches in size. Inside there is room not only for a 14.1-inch screen, a Pentium 4 processor, a 40GB hard drive, a floppy drive, a CD-ROM drive, and 2GB of memory, but also for six desktop-style PCI slots, one of which doubles as an ISA slot.

Laptops

Luggable and lunchbox computers were certainly powerful, but anyone who has carried one of these devices has probably yearned for something considerably lighter. That something was the laptop ”a PC-compatible laptop.

The IBM PC Convertible

The first true laptop as we know it appeared in the form of the IBM PC Convertible, which was introduced in April 1986 (see Figure 1.8). This system used a clamshell design, in which the screen folds over the keyboard when the system is being moved. That classic design is still used by almost all portables today.

In most other aspects, however, the Convertible was much different from current laptops. Its LCD display was not backlit and had a very flat aspect ratio. Data storage was supplied, not by a hard drive, but by dual 3.5-inch floppy drives. At this point, hard drives were still much too large and too power-hungry to fit into a battery-powered portable. The advent of the Convertible was, in fact, the first time IBM had used 3.5-inch floppies instead of the larger 5.25-inch versions on the older XT and AT desktops.

Inside the Convertible was an Intel 80C88 processor, a low-power CMOS version of the same processor used in the original IBM PC five years earlier. Its clock speed also was the same 4.77MHz as on that earlier system. Memory ranged from 256KB to 512KB, a typical amount for computers of that era.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the Convertible was its weight. This prototype "laptop" tipped the scales at almost 13 pounds.

Of course, in the many years since the debut of the Convertible, laptops have undergone countless changes, becoming dramatically slimmer, lighter, faster, and less expensive. In fact, in its own time, the Convertible never gained respect in the marketplace. It is significant in two respects, however: The first is that the Convertible was the first IBM PC system supplied with 3.5-inch floppy drives. The second is that it marked IBM's entry into the laptop portable system market, a market where IBM now has tremendous success with its ThinkPad systems.

The PC Convertible was available in two models. The Model 2 had a CMOS 80C88 4.77MHz microprocessor, 64KB of ROM, 256KB of static RAM, an 80-columnx25-line detachable liquid crystal display (LCD), two 3.5-inch floppy disk drives, a 78-key keyboard, an AC adapter, and a battery pack. Also included were software programs called Application Selector, SystemApps, Tools, Exploring the IBM PC Convertible, and Diagnostics. The Model 22 was the same basic computer as the Model 2 but with the diagnostics software only. You could expand either system to 512KB of RAM by using 128KB RAM memory cards, and you could include an internal 1200bps modem in the system unit. With aftermarket memory expansion, these computers could reach 640KB.

Although the unit was painfully slow at 4.77MHz, one notable feature was the use of static memory chips for the system's RAM. Static RAM does not require the refresh signal that normal dynamic RAM (DRAM) requires, which would normally require about 7% of the processor's time in a standard PC or XT system. This means that the Convertible was about 7% faster than an IBM PC or XT, even though they all operated at the same clock speed of 4.77MHz. Because of the increased reliability of the static RAM (compared to DRAM) used in the Convertible, as well as the desire to minimize power consumption, none of the RAM in the Convertible was parity checked. Of course, many users remarked that the best feature of static RAM was its instant-resume capability. Because this type of memory retains its contents even when the system is off, it does not need any time to restore its contents from a disk drive when the user turns the Convertible back on.

At the back of each system unit was an extendable bus interface. This 72-pin connector enabled you to attach the following options to the base unit: a printer, a serial or parallel adapter, and a CRT display adapter. Each feature was powered from the system unit. The CRT display adapter operated only when the system was powered from a standard AC adapter. An optional external CRT display or a television set attached through the CRT display adapter required a separate AC power source.

Each system unit included a detachable LCD. When the computer was being used on a desk, the LCD screen could be replaced by an external monitor. When the LCD was latched in the closed position, it formed a cover for the keyboard and floppy disk drives. Because the LCD was attached with a quick-disconnect connector, you could remove it easily to place the 5140 system unit below an optional IBM 5144 PC Convertible monochrome or IBM 5145 PC Convertible color monitor.

During the life of the Convertible, IBM offered three different LCD displays. The first display was a standard LCD, which suffered from problems with contrast and readability. Due to complaints, IBM then changed the LCD to a super-twisted-type LCD display, which had much greater contrast. Finally, in the third LCD, IBM added a fluorescent backlight to the super-twisted LCD display, which not only offered greater contrast but also made the unit usable in low-light situations.

The PC Convertible system unit had these standard features:

• Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) 80C88 4.77MHz microprocessor

• Two 32KB CMOS ROMs containing these items:

  • POST (Power On Self Test) of system components

  • BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) support

  • BASIC language interpreter

• 256KB CMOS static RAM (expandable to 512KB)

• Two 3.5-inch 720KB (formatted) floppy drives

• An 80-columnx25-line detachable LCD panel (graphics modes: 640x200 resolution and 320x200 resolution)

• LCD controller

• 16KB RAM display buffer

• 8KB LCD font RAM

• Adapter for optional printer (Model #4010)

• Professional keyboard (78 keys)

• AC adapter

• Battery pack

The system-unit options (along with their model numbers) for the PC Convertible included the following:

• 128KB static RAM memory card (#4005)

• Printer (#4010)

• Serial/parallel adapter (#4015)

• CRT display adapter (#4020)

• Internal modem (#4025)

• Printer cable (#4055)

• Battery charger (#4060)

• Automobile power adapter (#4065)

The following two optional external CRT monitors were available for the PC Convertible:

• IBM 5144 PC Convertible Monochrome Display Model 1

• IBM 5145 PC Convertible Color Display Model 1

PC Convertible Specifications and Highlights

Table 1.5 lists some technical specifications for the IBM 5140 PC Convertible system. The weights of the unit and options are listed because weight is an important consideration when you carry a laptop system.

Table 1.5. Details on IBM's PC Convertible Laptop

To operate the IBM 5140 PC Convertible properly, you had to have PC DOS version 3.2 or later. Previous DOS versions were not supported because they did not support the 3.5-inch 720KB floppy drive.

PC Convertible Models and Features

This section covers the options and special features available for the PC Convertible. Several kinds of options were available, from additional memory to external display adapters, serial/parallel ports, modems, and even printers.

Memory Cards

A 128KB or 256KB memory card could be used to expand the base memory in the system unit. You could add two of these cards, for a system-unit total of 640KB with one 256KB card and one 128KB card.

Optional Printer

A special printer was available that attached to the back of the system unit or to an optional printer-attachment cable for adjacent printer operation (see Figure 1.9). The printer's intelligent , microprocessor-based, 40cps (characters per second), non-impact dot-matrix design made it capable of low-power operation. The printer drew power from and was controlled by the system unit. Standard ASCII 96-character, upper- and lowercase character sets were printed with a high-resolution, 24-element print head. A mode for graphics capability was also provided. You could achieve near-letter-quality printing by using either a thermal transfer ribbon on smooth paper or no ribbon on heat-sensitive thermal paper.

A special printer cable was available that was 22 inches (0.6 meters ) long with a custom 72-pin connector attached to each end. With this cable, you could operate the Convertible printer when it was detached from the system unit and placed in a position offering better ease of use and visibility.

Serial/Parallel Adapter

A serial/parallel adapter could be attached to the back of the system unit, the optional printer, or one of the other feature modules attached to the back of the system unit. The adapter provided an RS-232C asynchronous serial communications interface and a parallel printer interface, both compatible with the IBM Personal Computer asynchronous communications adapter and the IBM Personal Computer parallel printer adapter.

CRT Display Adapter

The CRT display adapter was available for attachment to the back of the system unit, the printer, or another feature module attached to the back of the system unit. This adapter enabled you to connect a separate CRT display to the system, such as the PC Convertible monochrome display or PC Convertible color display. By using optional connectors or cables, you could also use the CRT display adapter to attach a standard Color Graphics Adapter (CGA) monitor. In addition, because a composite video output connector was also included, you could even use a standard television set.

Internal Modems

IBM offered two different internal modems for the Convertible. Both ran Bell 212A (1200bps) and Bell 103A (300bps) protocols. The modems came as a complete assembly, consisting of two cards connected by a cable. The entire assembly was installed inside the system unit. The original first design of the modem was made for IBM by Novation, and it did not follow the Hayes standard for commands and protocols. This rendered the modem largely incompatible with popular software designed to use the Hayes command set. Later, IBM changed the modem to one that was fully Hayes compatible; this resolved the problems with software. IBM never introduced a modem faster than 1200bps for the Convertible. Fortunately, you could operate a standard external modem through the serial port, although you would lose the convenience of having it built in.

Battery Charger/Auto Power Adapter

The battery charger was a 110-volt input device that charged the system's internal batteries. It did not provide sufficient power output, however, for the system to operate while the batteries were being charged. An available automobile power adapter plugged into the cigarette-lighter outlet in a vehicle with a 12-volt, negative-ground electrical system. You could use the system while the adapter also charged the Convertible's battery.

Optional Displays

The 5144 PC Convertible monochrome display was an external 9-inch (measured diagonally) composite video CRT display that attached to the system unit through the CRT display adapter. It came with a display stand, an AC power cord, and a signal cable that connected the 5144 to the CRT display adapter. This display differs from ”and was not compatible with ”the older IBM monochrome display that was available for the original IBM PC desktop system. The older display connected only to the IBM monochrome adapter card, whereas this optional monochrome display for the Convertible worked with a CGA-style adapter. This display was functionally equivalent to the CRT display used in the luggable IBM Portable PC.

The 5145 PC Convertible color display was a 13-inch external CRT color monitor that attached to the system unit through the CRT display adapter. It came with a display stand, an AC power cord, a signal cable that connected the 5145 to the CRT display adapter, and a speaker for external audio output. This monitor was a low-cost unit compatible with the standard IBM color CGA display for desktop PCs.

Table 1.6 shows the part numbers of the IBM Convertible system units.

Table 1.6. IBM PC Convertible Part Numbers

The Toshiba T1000

Just a year after the appearance of the IBM PC Convertible, another seminal laptop appeared, the Toshiba T1000 (see Figure 1.10). This new system was similar in many respects to the Convertible: it had the same processor, the same amount of memory, and the same floppy-based data-storage drives. But its one difference was a huge one: At approximately 6 pounds it was only half the weight of the Convertible.

Table 1.7 compares the core features of the three early laptops covered here. The Compaq SLT/286 is covered in the next section.

Table 1.7. Comparing the Early Laptops

The Compaq SLT/286

Although IBM and Toshiba had already introduced groundbreaking laptops, the computer world was waiting for another shoe to drop. The leading manufacturer of portable computers was still Compaq. As late at 1988, it was still selling its large, bulky luggable and lunchbox computers. Everyone was waiting to see how Compaq would address the burgeoning laptop market. That same year the company satisfied this curiosity by introducing the Compaq SLT/286 (see Figure 1.11).

Compaq's entry into the laptop market was no lightweight system. It weighed 14 pounds. Even its AC adapter was heavy, weighing almost 2 pounds and often given the nickname brick . The SLT's depth (front to back) was only 8.5 inches, similar to many of the smallest notebooks of today's generation. But its width of 13.5 inches was quite large, and its thickness of over 4 inches was huge. A stack of four of today's thin notebooks would take up less space than this early laptop.

Although bulky and heavy by today's standards, the Compaq SLT/286 featured several innovations. Unlike previous laptops, it eschewed the dated Intel 8088 processor, which had been used seven years previously in the original IBM PC, and used instead the faster 80286 chip. Instead of two floppy drives, there was only one plus a 20MB hard drive (with 40MB available as an option).

This laptop also featured a new graphics adapter. It used VGA graphics, which had been introduced on the IBM PS/2 desktops a year earlier. VGA featured a resolution of 640x480. Along with the better graphics, the SLT had a better screen. Unlike the flattened screens of the PC Convertible and the Toshiba T1000, the Compaq screen had an aspect ratio that was more typical of desktop monitors. Its size was also notable, being all of 10 inches, measured diagonally.

Compaq's use of faster processors, hard drives, and better graphics has been imitated by generations of subsequent laptops. In fact, in its general design, the SLT was much closer in appearance to today's notebooks than any previous laptop (refer to Tables 1.8 and the following bulleted list). One design feature of the Compaq SLT, however, was indeed innovative, but never copied . The SLT was so large, with a thickness of 4.1 inches, that it could accommodate a detachable keyboard. So although the SLT was probably too heavy to be placed on top of one's lap, the detachable keyboard was quite comfortable in that position.

Table 1.8. Details of the Compaq SLT/286 Laptop (from www.davidhales.net)

There were two standard models of the Compaq SLT/286 available: the Model 20, with a 20MB hard drive, and the Model 40, with a 40MB hard drive. Both models had a number of standard features, including the following:

• 12MHz 80C286 microprocessor

• 640KB of memory

• 3.5-inch 1.44MB floppy drive

• VGA-resolution backlit monochrome LCD

• Removable keyboard

• Full-sized keys

• NiCad battery

• AC adapter

• Real-time clock/calendar

• External VGA connector

• Parallel connector

• Serial connector

• Keyboard connector

• External storage option connector

• One-year warranty

The following options were available for the Compaq SLT/286:

• 12MHz 80C287 coprocessor

• 1MB memory board

• 4MB memory board

• 40MB hard drive

• External storage module for use with:

  • 5.25-inch 1.2MB floppy drive

  • 5.25-inch 360KB floppy drive

  • 60MB tape drive with compression

• 60MB tape cartridge

• 2400-bps internal modem

• CD-ROM drive adapter

• Serial interface board

• Video Graphics color monitor

• Video Graphics monochrome monitor

• Advanced Graphics 1024 board

• Advanced Graphics memory board

• Advanced Graphics color monitor

• Desktop expansion base

• Enhanced keyboard

• External numeric keypad

• Extra battery

• External battery charger

• Automobile adapter

• AC adapter

• Carrying case

• OS/2 Standard Version 1.2, as published by Compaq

• MS-DOS Version 4, as published by Compaq

• Compaq SLT/286 Technical Reference Guide

• Video Graphics System Technical Reference Guide

• Advanced Graphics System Technical Reference Guide

Portable Design Innovators and Landmarks

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there appeared a small number of laptops that were particularly innovative. Some of these models have influenced the design of several succeeding generations of portables.

The NEC UltraLite

Around 1988, NEC introduced a groundbreaking computer called the UltraLite. This clamshell-style portable had no hard drive and not even any floppies. Instead, data was stored on a memory drive. Its greatest strength was its portability. It weighed no more than 4 pounds and its footprint was about the size of a piece of paper, 8.5 by 11 inches. Indeed, in its closed position, this computer was no larger than the thick computer magazines that published reviews of it. In fact, some people thought it looked remarkably like a paper notebook and christened it a notebook computer. Thus began the era of the notebook, a device that to this day still dominates the portable computer market ”and, increasingly so, the entire personal computer industry.

Note that the dominance of the notebook computer did not come about overnight. The NEC designers had achieved the svelte profile of the UltraLite by jettisoning the hard drive, a compromise most users would not accept. Thus, until the sizes of hard drives diminished to the point where they could easily fit into the notebook form factor, laptops continued to enjoy a welcoming audience. For example, in 1990, two years after the introduction of the notebook computer, users continued to pay as much as $6,000 for laptops that were 3 inches thick and weighed 15 pounds. Eventually, however, when functional notebooks appeared with capacious hard drives and easy-to-read screens, the market for the larger laptops disappeared.

In addition to launching a new product category, the NEC UltraLite was notable for another reason. To provide storage options for this super-slim system, NEC designed a docking station, with a good assortment of storage device options and external connectors. Being the first with such a device, NEC trademarked the name Docking Station . In the years since, most other notebook manufacturers have offered docking stations for their notebooks, but never under that exact name.

The Apple PowerBook 100

Apple Computer did not sit idly by while the PC-compatible manufacturers were having fun with portables. The company introduced two mobile versions of its Macintosh ”one a luggable model and the other a bulky laptop, but both attracted little attention. Then, on its third attempt in late 1991, Apple finally got it right and introduced the PowerBook 100 (see Figure 1.12). Of course, this new notebook was by no means PC compatible, but as with many aspects of the Mac, it would have a huge influence on portable PCs.

The most striking aspect of the PowerBook was its solution to the problem of what to do with the mouse ”a vital feature required by the new graphical operating systems. Apple's designers simply moved the keyboard forward, thereby providing both a comfortable rest for the wrists of the user and a convenient place for a small trackball . This simple-but- brilliant concept of a pointing device in the center of a wristrest is now a standard feature of almost all notebooks.

At press time, Apple was still manufacturing new versions of the PowerBook, making it the oldest brand in the portable computer market. More important, the company was still equipping its portables with bold innovations that are sure to be copied by other manufacturers. For example, recently Apple was the first computer manufacturer to equip all its systems with wireless LAN antennas so that they could more easily take advantage of this important technology.

The ThinkPad 700

After the PowerBook, the second oldest brand in the portable computer industry came into existence in 1992, just a year later. IBM's first ThinkPad was a pen-based tablet system(see Figure 1.13). Recognizing a good brand name when they saw it, the folks at IBM also applied the name to a slick new notebook computer that came out a few months after the tablet. Like Apple, IBM had made a number of forays into the portable market, yet despite the technological innovation evidenced by the Convertible PC, the company had not had a flyaway success in this area. That all was to change with the ThinkPad 700.

This sleek device with its trendy charcoal black exterior weighed 6.5 pounds, comfortably within the strict definition of the notebook category yet still able to pack a 160MB hard drive. This system was available with both a monochrome (700) and color (700C) screen. The list price for the color system was $4,350. Table 1.9 lists the system's specifications.

Table 1.9. Details of the IBM ThinkPad 700 and 700C (from www.ibm.com)

As with the PowerBook 100, one of the ThinkPad's most notable innovations had to do with its pointing device. IBM steered clear of the PowerBook's wristrest and instead developed an ingenious pointing stick that looked like a pencil eraser stuck in the middle of the keyboard. As was the case with the PowerBook, the pointing stick enabled users to move the system's mouse cursor without moving their hands from the keyboard.

Except for some minor changes, the general design of notebook computers has remained similar to that of this system, the first of the ThinkPads and the most prominent of the early notebooks. Figure 1.14 shows the internal design in detail. See Table 1.10 for descriptions of the components.

Table 1.10. Internal Components of the IBM ThinkPad 700 and 700C. The Diagram Numbers Refer to the Diagram in Figure 1.14 (from www.ibm.com).

This innovative notebook helped IBM to establish ThinkPad as one of the most recognized brands in the business. To date, the company claims that over 15 million ThinkPads have been sold and that a ThinkPad was even selected for the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

A Subnotebook by Any Other Name

The evolution of notebooks has followed an interesting path . As the internal components of notebooks continued to shrink in size, of course, so did the size of notebooks themselves .

Eventually, the sizes of certain notebooks shrunk to a weight of less than 3 pounds, and a new category was born ”the subnotebook. But a small size meant a small keyboard and screen, which further meant that the subnotebook could be difficult to use. Despite some initial excitement for these systems, they failed to attract a significant following, and the category was soon abandoned .

The question arose: At long last, had portable computers become so small that some of them were too small ? The answer of course was "No." In the past few years, a number of new 3-pound notebooks have appeared. But, to avoid links with a previous failed category, they are no longer called subnotebooks . Now they are called ultralights .

The HP 95LX

In April 1991, HP introduced one of the first and probably the most popular handheld computer. The HP 95LX handheld computer was about the size of a videocassette, weighing just 11 oz. and measuring 6.3x3.4x1 inches. The screen could display only 16 lines of 40 characters each, about a third of a typical computer screen. Like many small systems, the screen was not backlit and was therefore hard to read in certain lighting conditions.

Inside the 95LX was the equivalent of the original IBM PC. The processor was an Intel 8088, complemented by 512KB of memory that was continually powered by the device's AA batteries. These batteries could power the device for several months. Included in the computer's ROM chips was the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet and the MS-DOS 2.2 operating system. This computer may also have been the first to use infrared for communications with other devices. The list price was $699.

The HP 95LX was not alone on the market. It competed with the Poquet PC and the Atari Portfolio, both of which weighed more. The Poquet, for example, tipped the scales at 1 pound. The 95LX was quite popular and even spawned its own magazine. HP continued to sell the 95LX and its successors for a few years. But, as graphics-based operating systems such as Windows became increasingly popular, the need for a DOS-based portable declined.

The Toshiba Libretto

According to many industry observers, the best example of a handheld computer was the Toshiba Libretto, which was introduced in 1997. The Libretto weighed just under 2 pounds and had a form factor that was about the same as a VHS video cassette. Yet despite the small size, the Libretto was a full-function Windows-based notebook. It featured a built-in hard disk, TFT color screens ranging in size from 6.1 to 7.1 inches, and a tiny keyboard with an integral pointing stick. Although the position of the pointing stick (to the side of the screen) seemed unusual, it made more sense when you actually held the system in your hands and found that the pointing stick was right under one of your thumbs.

In external appearance, the Libretto was similar to many of the Windows CE handhelds available around the same time. But unlike the Windows CE handhelds, the Libretto ran a full version of Windows 95 and was compatible with thousands of programs designed for that operating system. Details on the specifications of the various Libretto systems can be found in Table 1.11.

Table 1.11. Details of Various Models of the Toshiba Libretto Handheld Computer (Data from www.silverace.com/libretto)

Although a great achievement in miniaturization, the Libretto may have been too successful in its quest for compactness. Chief among complaints about the system was a concern about the tiny keys on the keyboard. For whatever reason, most handheld computers ”whether based on Windows 95 or Windows CE ”disappeared from the U.S. market a few years after their introduction.

Even though the Libretto has not been available in the U.S. for several years, Toshiba still sells Librettos in Japan, including versions with English-language operating systems. One of the latest versions is the L5 (see Figure 1.15). This unit is approximately the same size as the original Libretto, but with enhanced components. For example, the L5 features a 10-inch screen with a wide-screen resolution of 1280x600. The screen is backed up by an ATI Mobility Radeon-M graphics accelerator with 8MB of video memory.

Figure 1.15. The Toshiba Libretto L5, the latest version of the Libretto handheld computer. (Photo from www.toshiba.com.)

Inside the latest Libretto is a power-saving Transmeta Crusoe 5800 running at 800MHz, complemented with 256MB of DDR memory and a 20GB hard disk. Instead of a pointing stick being placed to the right of the screen, it is now in the middle of the keyboard in a manner similar to many Toshiba notebooks.

On the outside, the system has a Japanese keyboard and an assortment of connectors, including two USB ports, an RJ-45 LAN port, a VGA connector, and a Type II PCMCIA PC Card slot. The price is $1,650.

Personal Recollections of the Portable Revolution

Writing this chapter has brought back several memories. Because of their many advantages, I've used nothing but portables as my main systems since the early 80s. In fact, I have used portable systems even before there were PCs. In the pre-PC days, I used one of the original Osbornes (with its weird 52-character-wide display), as well as the KayPro II, 4, and 10 luggables. As mentioned earlier, these were sewing machine “sized portables that ran CP/M, the most popular operating system before Microsoft's MS-DOS existed.

My first DOS portable was the original Compaq sewing machine “sized portable. From there I graduated to an IBM Portable PC (also sewing machine sized). I much enjoyed the IBM Portable, which was a fantastic machine, contrary to the press it received at the time. The great thing about the IBM Portable was that it used the same motherboard as the IBM XT, and it was very upgradable. I installed a 100MB (CDC Wren III 5.25-inch half-height) SCSI hard drive in early 1987, along with a 12MHz 286 processor, a Token Ring network card, an AST SixPack multifunction card, and a number of other devices. I had that thing weighing up to 45 pounds and lugged it over half a million miles of air travel! I'm a sort of speed-walker and hate to slow down for anything. To maximize my throughput when cruising from one airport gate to another, I had perfected a method of "bowling" my briefcase and slinging the computer that allowed me to walk high-speed through an airport terminal. I'd start by carrying my 25-pound briefcase in one arm, and my 45-pound computer in the other. When the weight of the computer became too much for the one arm to bear, I had a system for transferring the briefcase and computer between arms without so much as breaking stride. I would start by sliding my briefcase along the floor about 10 feet in front of me in a bowling motion, then I would heave the 45-pound computer from one hand to the other, and finally snatch up the briefcase with the free hand as I caught up with it along the floor. All of this was done without missing a stride or even slowing down. As you might imagine, switching arms several times was necessary with a 45-pound computer and a long walk through the terminal. I still have two of the old IBM Portables, one of which my wife owned when we got married.

After the IBM Portable I then moved on to a succession of briefcase- or lunchbox-sized portables. Even though laptops and some notebooks were then becoming available, I had to use these larger AC-powered systems because I needed a system with desktop power, performance, and especially storage. Two of these lunchbox systems were the IBM PS/2 P70 (running an Intel 80386) and P75 (equipped with a 486 CPU) in 1989 and 1991. Both of these systems used plasma screens. Into these systems I installed a 320MB SCSI hard drive and then a 1.2GB SCSI hard drive (the largest hard disks available at the time). A 486DX-33 processor was originally soldered into the motherboard of the P75. Nevertheless, in 1992 I removed it and soldered a 486DX2-66 in as an upgrade. That was quite a gamble at the time because a replacement motherboard (actually more of a CPU daughter card) was $6,000! It is interesting to note that the P75 I used had an original list price of $18,890! ”making it perhaps the most expensive PC ever sold.

When laptops appeared, I kept a close eye on them. I remember playing with the original GRiD Compass and the Toshiba 3100, for example. Because of my need for a portable system with desktop power and storage, however, the laptops of the 1980s and early 1990s simply couldn't do the job. In 1995 things changed. With the appearance of the mobile Pentium chip and the advent of truly high-capacity 2.5-inch drives, laptop and notebook systems finally reached parity with desktop systems in power and storage. Finally, I was able to graduate to these smaller systems, which I have been using ever since.

I still have strong memories of carrying my 45-pound behemoth, so you can see why even a supposedly "heavy" 10-pound notebook doesn't even make me flinch!