A History of Pocket Computers 1980-2000 Roland J. Saam, Life Senior Member IEEE 149 Gloucester Road London SW7 4TH, U.K. [email protected] Abstract - Pocket computers are a category of writing software to help them automate complex or personal computer. A complete computer system in a repetitive tasks. small battery powered package that slips in your pocket, In professions and business applications, it has all the elements needed for writing and running procedures, pricing, policies, or technical skills that programs. They are reliable, affordable and useable by were programmed into a pocket computer could be persons with minimum knowledge. Applications benefit carried anywhere, and distributed to associates for from quick, on-the-spot data gathering, validation, ‘customer facing’ negotiations. analysis. Learning to program was simple and easy with the manuals supplied with them. Programs developed for “point-of-use” applications were an important market. The benefits of small scale, portability and low-cost meant that pocket computers Keywords - miniature computer system, learning could be economically distributed by organisations to programming BASIC SHARP CASIO H-P Panasonic Canon their employees working anywhere. The value to the “pocket computers”, point-of-use, organisation was the assurance that the input data was verified, the calculations were correct, and the options, procedures, policies that had been . I. INTRODUCTION programmed were stepped through correctly. The Pocket Computer is a battery-powered . II. THE ROAD TO POCKET COMPUTERS hand-held computer system. Small in size, lightweight, Computation has been necessary for a long time to durable, reliable, and low-cost ($100-200.) It was help the individual and to help the enterprise. designed as a complete system with immediate access Machines to help the individual at the point of use: to its programs, data, and functions. typewriters, slide rules, mechanical comptometers, Pocket Computers are a category of computing electric and electronic calculators. In large history that seems little covered by museums and organisations systems were needed for recording publications about computers. They are important transactions, gathering data, manufacture, control and administration. At first, human computers and clerical because their designers put together devices with 1 every development about building computers known workforces were organised to do this . Then tabulating at the time: low power CMOS and NMOS chips and machines. An advertisement in 1951 for the IBM 604 LCD displays, high quality miniature tactile keyboards electronic calculating punched card machine pictured and tiny input-output interfaces. Pocket computers had with an engineer holding a slide rule, promised that it everything in a handy unit. Simple. Low-cost. Ideal for could “speed through thousands of intricate small scale computer systems development. computations so quickly that on many complex problems it’s like having 150 extra engineers”. Pocket computers were first marketed worldwide by the SHARP Corporation of Japan in 1980, who Pocket computers have a unique character - they engineered many kinds over the next twenty years. were all battery powered, they were engineered as a They were bought for several reasons, during the same complete computer system, a mainframe computer in time as “personal” computers also came into popular miniature. They differed from “personal computers” use and pocket calculators became commonplace. and “programmable calculators” which came at the same time. Who bought them? Why were they better A pocket computer is ready to use instantly when for some uses? How did they develop over twenty switched ON. It has all the familiar alphabetic and years. Why are they no longer manufactured?. numeric keys, a display with large bit-mapped characters which are easy to read. Power from A. Calculating numbers - portable calculators at a coin-size cell batteries gave operating time typically price. 150-300 hours, which gave several years useage. Electronic desktop calculators in the early 1960's Memory for programs, for data, for reserved functions used discrete components -transistors and diodes, was retained in the computer and immediately magnetic core or acoustic delay memory soldered onto available. A built-in connector to attach accessories - printer, cassette recorder interface, level converter cable - made it easy to exchange data and to enlarge 1 memory capacity. Clear instructions to write programs David Allen Grier, When Computers Were Human, together with libraries of sample programs helped ISBN9780691133829, Princeton Univ. Press, 2007. Before Palm Pilots and iPods, PCs and laptops, the term "computer" referred to the even non-technical persons gain familiarity with people who did scientific calculations by hand. circuit boards. Discrete components were later computer system, the SHARP PC-1211 was marketed replaced by integrated circuit (IC) packages - many worldwide. Figure 1 illustrate its size. The PC-1211 transistors etched onto a single chip. slides into the CE-122 printer cassette interface In 1967 Texas Instruments applied for a patent for accessory. It is a slim and lightweight computer with one line 24 character dot-matrix liquid crystal display. a hand-held battery powered calculator. The consumer With high quality construction, metal case, tactile electronics company, SHARP Corporation was also a feedback keys, it is very durable. For less than one leader in calculator and personal computer research E 1. hundred dollars, a complete portable system 170 and development. They made the first portable grams including batteries which gave an operating battery powered calculators -Sharp EL-8M, November time about 300 hours. 1970, “The smallest electronic calculator in the world”. Hewlett-Packard was well known in the desktop The BASIC interpreter programming language is mains-powered calculator market when, in 1972, they built into the CPU so that it is instantly available. marketed the Model HP-35 shirt pocket sized calculator Writing programs, editing, and debugging them in a with advanced mathematical functions as a step-by-step way is made very easy by single replacement for the engineer’s slide rule. At $395. it keystrokes. The Sharp BASIC interpreter is a carefully cost fifty times as much as the slide rule! engineered “structured BASIC” with many features E 4. B. Personal Computers become a reality not found elsewhere. Computer-on-a-chip “microprocessors” were E. Several Manufacturers made Pocket Computers introduced to the market by several manufacturers: SHARP had a worldwide consumer electronics 1974 Intel 8080; 1975 Motorola 6800. Hobbyists saw the business and was able to introduce pocket computers potential to sell kits for home assembly and soon a with some success in many markets around the world. wide variety of ‘home’ computers appeared on the They were not the only makers. Other Japanese market.2 Apple II (1977, $1,300.), Sinclair ($150.), manufacturers, notably Casio, Nippon Electric (NEC), Commodore VIC-20 ($300.), etc. To make them Canon, Toshiba entered the market. A list of a few is function, the user had to buy peripherals (data monitor presented in the Appendix. Some were licensed from or television adapter) and connect them. The low-cost the Japanese makers and marketed under different “personal” computer became a reality. names. C. The “Portable Office” -first battery powered To meet customer’s special requirements SHARP portable personal computer. Corporation introduced many variations. By 1980 there were many examples of mains III. THE MARKET FOR POCKET COMPUTERS powered personal computers that squeezed everything Around 1980 people around the world were curious into a self-contained heavy, “luggable” unit- Kaypro, about computers and often encountered them at work. Osborne, Compaq to name a few. The idea of a laptop Mini-computers became affordable for businesses, was born. Probably the first complete portable word processor machines began to replace office “laptop” computer system that fit into a briefcase was electric typewriters. Data communications that were designed in 1982 by an engineer from Sharp computer done with telex and teleprinter could be done by development group, Mr. Sadakatsu Hashimoto. The microcomputers dialing up on telephone with modems Sharp PC-5000, an A4/Letter size unit 5kg. including or acoustic couplers. battery, 8-line LCD display, MS-DOS, fast N-MOS 8088 chip, “bubble” memory cartridges, optional built-in Very few schools could afford their own computer. printer and optional built-in telephone/modem.E 2. It But their value in the classroom was recognized for was commercially marketed worldwide in 1983 as “The teaching and for training pupils to use them in their Portable Office”, complete with software for less than future careers. $2,000. The British magazine “Which Computer?”, In the job market computer skills were in demand. May 1984, article The Portable Micro compared it to the As more people understood the possibilities, a large GRID PC which cost twice as much and needed mains market grew for “home” and “personal” models. power.E 3. Pocket computers had a unique but small market D. The first battery powered hand-held where portability, ease of use, and reliable operation computer system were appreciated. In 1980 the first hand-held battery powered A. Pocket computers for learning to write a program. In Japan, secondary schools and technical colleges 2 Michael Holley experienced the hobby,