5 ms·

Handheld PC Community Forums

74 points by walterbell 10mo ago

tetrisgm 10mo ago
Certainly very old school. Side note: this makes me wish the windows handhelds had a phone form factor and 5g
vladde 10mo ago
> There are 169 guests currently online and -1 members (168 users in total). haha this made me chuckle
- roughly 10mo ago
  Old joke: A pair of mathematicians are sitting in a park chatting. There’s a snack shack near by, and while they’re talking, three people walk into the building. Some time later, four people walk out, and another couple walks in. A bit after that, two more people walk out. One of the mathematicians notices this and comments to the other, “you know, if one more person walks into that building, it’ll be empty.”
MarcelOlsz 10mo ago
I should fire up my HP Jornada and join this forum from it.
- als0 10mo ago
  It was a great little device.
  - MarcelOlsz 10mo ago
    It truly was. It just felt good. The UI brings me such positive nostalgia. I was obsessed playing solitaire on that thing.
bluescrn 10mo ago
I think I've still got a Compaq iPaq in my collection of obsolete gadgets, but last time I tried it the battery wouldn't hold a charge at all. More disappointingly, other gadgets of a similar era - such as a Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox and a GP32 handheld are suffering from flash memory losing it's contents (the firmware), bricking the devices :(
deleted 10mo ago
[deleted]
carolosf 10mo ago
This brings back memories. I used to write software for these things before iOS and Android took over. https://fantasticbytes.com/products/launchmanager https://fantasticbytes.com/products/launchmanager I even wrote a disassembler for them http://blog.carolos.za.net/2007/03/charmed-disassembler-beta-02-for-pocket.html?m=1 http://blog.carolos.za.net/2007/03/charmed-disassembler-beta...
- NetMageSCW 10mo ago
  I did as well (scw.us still has a page) but I called them Pocket PCs back then.
g947o 10mo ago
When I saw "handheld PC" I thought it refers to Steam Deck and alike. Only until I saw "Windows CE" along with the UI did I realize what devices this forum is actually about P.S. of course I also confused "HPC" in the domain with "high performance computing"
- NetMageSCW 10mo ago
  Initially I thought it referred to the Japanese (Casio/Sharp/Panasonic) single line calculator/coomputer bridges I have a collection of and the Radio Shack/Tandy versions that came out (I have every one from RS).
deafpolygon 10mo ago
do tablets count as handheld PCs nowadays?
- rchaud 10mo ago
  I wouldn't imagine so. It is a different device category targeted at a different kind of user. They're entertainment devices first and foremost, where as the "handheld PC" category targeted business customers, some of whom could write their own programs for it, without needing a "developer license" or to publish through an "app store".
- justsomehnguy 10mo ago
  At 10" and 12"? More like twohandheld. I had Acer W4-821 and I think this (along with the Dell counterpart) was the last 8" on the market, at least available in the retail. It was compact enough to go into a jacket pocket and had a full blown OS, I even run CentOS virtual machine on it for testing small things while on the go. Today the only option for less than 10" are Android tablets and they are far from a PC.
  - walterbell 10mo ago
    Google Pixels can run a Debian VM with optional external keyboard or display.
    - justsomehnguy 10mo ago
      I would sooner scratch my left ear with my right hand than do this.
      - walterbell 10mo ago
        Comparable to WSL2, including virtualized graphics, available as foldable Pixel handheld with optional external peripherals and standard Debian packages, i.e. supports all three of: phone, handheld and desktop use cases.
  - 10mo ago
throw-the-towel 10mo ago
Still don't understand people's dislike for Windows Mobile, I liked it a lot.
- wkat4242 10mo ago
  It was good for mini PC like devices. Like the HP Jornada. It was just windows but mini. Which made total sense for the Jornada which was just a PC but mini. It totally deeply horribly sucked for phone-like devices. I used to have one from work. HTC Touch Pro 2. It had a glossy horrifically slow overlay that made things even worse but either way it was a UX nightmare. Even on my Dell Axim it wasn't great though not terribly bad either. For the time it was ok, and I read some books on it and played some games with the likes of ScummVM. But as a phone you use every day brrr. The later windows phone solved a lot of issues and it was very well liked, Microsoft just didn't give it enough time to actually take off. Some people still pine for it today.
  - mattkevan 10mo ago
    Love how Microsoft decided that a desktop UI was the right approach for a handheld OS. Then when the iPhone showed that it wasn’t, they overcorrected and put a tablet UI on their desktop OS. Geniuses.
    - wkat4242 10mo ago
      Yes. Windows 8 was completely ridiculous. And the worst part was they doubled down for about a year. At that point businesses started stopping upgrade plans and they had to cave in with 8.1. For some reason they thought the tablet would be the next major computing form factor rather than the niche it has become and they were afraid losing it all to Apple. Kinda can imagine that but I never understood why the desktop had to suffer for it.
- numpad0 10mo ago
  The UI wasn't doing multitasking correctly. The [X] button was [_] button for no good reason, and users tended to leave bunch of apps burning battery not knowing how to close them(e.g. through a third party quick task switcher-killer). The OS kernel wasn't so stable relative to anything else at that time including embedded Linux, had 32MB/process hard RAM limit that ruled out WebKit, and also the scheduler was badly designed that the UI frequently stuttered or locked up. The UI also did not utilize GPU for general UI rendering(common at the time; made an obsolete idea by Apple), tasking CPU and its bus for everything. The device I had came with a stylus shaped like a handstrap charm that doubled as the reset button pick. Isn't that inexcusable by modern standards? Everything back then did have a recessed reset button hole, but not everything came with a carry-on tool to poke it. The WM device I had did. Which I didn't use as lifting and reseating the battery was faster.
erelong 10mo ago
Thought this was gonna be about ultra mobile PCs (UMPCs) in general
nytesky 10mo ago
brings back memories. ive had a digital organizer/pocket computer since high school in the 90s. casio databank with an alphabetical (not querty) keyboard, Psions where I worked a summer job while travling, Palm, Handspring, Sony Clie, and finally into iPhones — though I do really miss keyboards and terminals.
- nytesky 10mo ago
  oh and of course my Windows CE handheld pc.
rpdillon 10mo ago
Browsing this from a CM5 powered Hackberry Pi - a device not on-topic despite being a handheld deck - the problem is I'm running Linux, and these discussions seem more retro-focused on WinCE. Fewer forums for modern HPC than I'd like. Should probably host one.
stevefan1999 10mo ago
Do anyone have any recommendations on "slabtops", i.e computers with a C64 form factor but also a small screen embedded on the keyboard, so I can use it as a scientific computer rather than a laptop
- The_SamminAter 10mo ago
  There’s this[0] one that seems pretty approachable, I’ve been considering making it [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46265015 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46265015

74 points by walterbell 10mo ago

tetrisgm 10mo ago

Certainly very old school. Side note: this makes me wish the windows handhelds had a phone form factor and 5g

vladde 10mo ago

> There are 169 guests currently online and -1 members (168 users in total). haha this made me chuckle

roughly 10mo ago
Old joke: A pair of mathematicians are sitting in a park chatting. There’s a snack shack near by, and while they’re talking, three people walk into the building. Some time later, four people walk out, and another couple walks in. A bit after that, two more people walk out. One of the mathematicians notices this and comments to the other, “you know, if one more person walks into that building, it’ll be empty.”

MarcelOlsz 10mo ago

I should fire up my HP Jornada and join this forum from it.

als0 10mo ago
It was a great little device.
- MarcelOlsz 10mo ago
  It truly was. It just felt good. The UI brings me such positive nostalgia. I was obsessed playing solitaire on that thing.

bluescrn 10mo ago

I think I've still got a Compaq iPaq in my collection of obsolete gadgets, but last time I tried it the battery wouldn't hold a charge at all. More disappointingly, other gadgets of a similar era - such as a Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox and a GP32 handheld are suffering from flash memory losing it's contents (the firmware), bricking the devices :(

deleted 10mo ago

[deleted]

carolosf 10mo ago

This brings back memories. I used to write software for these things before iOS and Android took over. https://fantasticbytes.com/products/launchmanager https://fantasticbytes.com/products/launchmanager I even wrote a disassembler for them http://blog.carolos.za.net/2007/03/charmed-disassembler-beta-02-for-pocket.html?m=1 http://blog.carolos.za.net/2007/03/charmed-disassembler-beta...

NetMageSCW 10mo ago
I did as well (scw.us still has a page) but I called them Pocket PCs back then.

g947o 10mo ago

When I saw "handheld PC" I thought it refers to Steam Deck and alike. Only until I saw "Windows CE" along with the UI did I realize what devices this forum is actually about P.S. of course I also confused "HPC" in the domain with "high performance computing"

NetMageSCW 10mo ago
Initially I thought it referred to the Japanese (Casio/Sharp/Panasonic) single line calculator/coomputer bridges I have a collection of and the Radio Shack/Tandy versions that came out (I have every one from RS).

deafpolygon 10mo ago

do tablets count as handheld PCs nowadays?

rchaud 10mo ago
I wouldn't imagine so. It is a different device category targeted at a different kind of user. They're entertainment devices first and foremost, where as the "handheld PC" category targeted business customers, some of whom could write their own programs for it, without needing a "developer license" or to publish through an "app store".
justsomehnguy 10mo ago
At 10" and 12"? More like twohandheld. I had Acer W4-821 and I think this (along with the Dell counterpart) was the last 8" on the market, at least available in the retail. It was compact enough to go into a jacket pocket and had a full blown OS, I even run CentOS virtual machine on it for testing small things while on the go. Today the only option for less than 10" are Android tablets and they are far from a PC.
- walterbell 10mo ago
  Google Pixels can run a Debian VM with optional external keyboard or display.
  - justsomehnguy 10mo ago
    I would sooner scratch my left ear with my right hand than do this.
    - walterbell 10mo ago
      Comparable to WSL2, including virtualized graphics, available as foldable Pixel handheld with optional external peripherals and standard Debian packages, i.e. supports all three of: phone, handheld and desktop use cases.
- 10mo ago

throw-the-towel 10mo ago

Still don't understand people's dislike for Windows Mobile, I liked it a lot.

wkat4242 10mo ago
It was good for mini PC like devices. Like the HP Jornada. It was just windows but mini. Which made total sense for the Jornada which was just a PC but mini. It totally deeply horribly sucked for phone-like devices. I used to have one from work. HTC Touch Pro 2. It had a glossy horrifically slow overlay that made things even worse but either way it was a UX nightmare. Even on my Dell Axim it wasn't great though not terribly bad either. For the time it was ok, and I read some books on it and played some games with the likes of ScummVM. But as a phone you use every day brrr. The later windows phone solved a lot of issues and it was very well liked, Microsoft just didn't give it enough time to actually take off. Some people still pine for it today.
- mattkevan 10mo ago
  Love how Microsoft decided that a desktop UI was the right approach for a handheld OS. Then when the iPhone showed that it wasn’t, they overcorrected and put a tablet UI on their desktop OS. Geniuses.
  - wkat4242 10mo ago
    Yes. Windows 8 was completely ridiculous. And the worst part was they doubled down for about a year. At that point businesses started stopping upgrade plans and they had to cave in with 8.1. For some reason they thought the tablet would be the next major computing form factor rather than the niche it has become and they were afraid losing it all to Apple. Kinda can imagine that but I never understood why the desktop had to suffer for it.
numpad0 10mo ago
The UI wasn't doing multitasking correctly. The [X] button was [_] button for no good reason, and users tended to leave bunch of apps burning battery not knowing how to close them(e.g. through a third party quick task switcher-killer). The OS kernel wasn't so stable relative to anything else at that time including embedded Linux, had 32MB/process hard RAM limit that ruled out WebKit, and also the scheduler was badly designed that the UI frequently stuttered or locked up. The UI also did not utilize GPU for general UI rendering(common at the time; made an obsolete idea by Apple), tasking CPU and its bus for everything. The device I had came with a stylus shaped like a handstrap charm that doubled as the reset button pick. Isn't that inexcusable by modern standards? Everything back then did have a recessed reset button hole, but not everything came with a carry-on tool to poke it. The WM device I had did. Which I didn't use as lifting and reseating the battery was faster.

erelong 10mo ago

Thought this was gonna be about ultra mobile PCs (UMPCs) in general

nytesky 10mo ago

brings back memories. ive had a digital organizer/pocket computer since high school in the 90s. casio databank with an alphabetical (not querty) keyboard, Psions where I worked a summer job while travling, Palm, Handspring, Sony Clie, and finally into iPhones — though I do really miss keyboards and terminals.

nytesky 10mo ago
oh and of course my Windows CE handheld pc.

rpdillon 10mo ago

Browsing this from a CM5 powered Hackberry Pi - a device not on-topic despite being a handheld deck - the problem is I'm running Linux, and these discussions seem more retro-focused on WinCE. Fewer forums for modern HPC than I'd like. Should probably host one.

stevefan1999 10mo ago

Do anyone have any recommendations on "slabtops", i.e computers with a C64 form factor but also a small screen embedded on the keyboard, so I can use it as a scientific computer rather than a laptop

The_SamminAter 10mo ago
There’s this[0] one that seems pretty approachable, I’ve been considering making it [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46265015 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46265015