makerhacks cross-posted this post in Retro Technology 11 months ago


HP 100LX for DOSCember - My Pocket DOS 5.0 PC

in #retro11 months ago

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Do you remember the days of Autoexec.bat and config.sys fondly?

Ever code in QBasic?

This is my kind of pocket sized IBM XT compatible from Hewlett Packard.

Unlike my Atari Portfolio, these machines still have an active community!

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As well as having the PCMCIA slot for storage, it uses a watch battery to power the clock etc while not in use.

You’ll also notice an IR LED, serial port, and DC jack.
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This version was slightly upgraded over its little brother. There’s also I believe a 200 in the range.

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This guy has 1mb and “high” resolution of 640x200.

Not bad to say it runs on 2x AA batteries or 12v DC.

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The weird thing about the DC is it’s reverse of the usual ground and power arrangement which makes it super easy to accidentally fry.

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Right now I have a 64mb compact flash memory card in my adapter, but it requires a driver to see the full capacity.

So far as well as DOS 5.0 I’ve managed to get Tetris running but unfortunately not Turbo C or any BASIC IDEs :(

I’m definitely going to code a game for it, of course. As well as full text it has CGA graphics!

I’m also told it’s still possible to connect to the Internet, as it comes with a terminal program via infrared or a serial modem …