Recently, I took receipt of what I’m considering to be the summer’s new gadget purpose. I purchased an IBM WorkPad from one of my friends on the Internet, and intend to use it not only for a few projects (I wouldn’t mind writing a few pieces of executable code for it) but as a productive machine for notes, writing, and remotely accessing other systems with SSH and/or with RDP.
The system, from one of my friends on the Internet, was about $75, and so far seems to be one of the better investments I’ve made in mobile computing technology. It’s a really interesting cross-section of “old,” “usable,” and “incredibly low-powered.” It has a 130MHz MIPS processor and a total of 48 megabytes of memory — up to sixteen of which can be used to store documents and applications. Fortunately, for storage (and for connectivity with newer computer systems) it also has a compact flash slot, and a pcmcia slot (for which I currently have an ethernet card and a wifi card.)
It’s rounded out with a full, very usable keyboard and large and very viewable (although low-resolution) LCD display. Add to that a fairly conventional looking file manager, and the fact that it can multi-task by having a number of applications running each with more than one document open, and you create a mobile productivity powerhouse. I am fairly well-aware that there are indeed some limits to the system in terms of the overall amount I can do at once, or even ultimately the amount of things I can store on any given storage card, or the size of a storage card I can use. However, I’m not running up against those limits right now, so we’ll just presume that they don’t exist yet. I’m using it a bit more heavily right now than I expect I would during most times if I were (for example) to take it to a class with me, just because I’m out and about with it and don’t have anything else (anything with a data connection) with me at the moment.
With new system backup batteries (just a pair of AAAs), it’s a fantastic performer. The prodigious battery life, coupled with the extreme portability and computer-like usability mean it’s something I’m likely to keep around a long time. All of the applications on it run in full-screen, which is odd, but ultimately usable. With a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels, I suppose I should not have expected too much to be windowable.
A modern version of this, if it were awesome enough to exist, would probably be loaded with Windows Mobile 6.5 (Or CE 5 that it’s based on, or the newer CE6) and Office Mobile 2010, and be sold in the body of a netbook, except annoyingly skinnier, so that they could sell it with a smaller battery. My ideal modern version of this machine is almost exactly the same, save for the gargantuan (preferrably multiple) batteries, snapdragon processor, 512mb of memory, and maybe a higher display resolution — at least 800×480. It wouldn’t be too difficult to make the case for the HTC HD2 being what I’d like, but I still feel like there’s something else.
It does turn out there are indeed modern devices with Windows CE on them. However, the focus these days is on running RDP clients, on devices like the Hewlett Packard “thin clients” that are actual Celeron M machines with like a gig of ram and a one, two or four gig solid state drive and otherwise a full laptop body, much like my full-sized ThinkPad T400. There are also 7-inch netbooks with slow ARM processors and Windows CE on them. This particular class of device is closer to the Z50 in size and function but I don’t think they have very much potential in the “usability” or “good keyboard” departments. The Z50′s display is very small, but the entire thing is very usable in that it’s in the body of a ten or eleven-inch laptop, which means that the keyboard is very, very usable, and the battery is quite large for a device of its power consumption.
In terms of taking it anywhere, the Z50 definitely wins compared with most of my other computers. It’s smaller than even the miniscule X24, has excellent battery life (probably better than the T400 at this point) and powers on and off instantly when the lid is opened and closed. When it is not connected to a network, it also powers off intermittently to save power, and just as when the lid is opened, there’s a suspend/resume button inside that similarly can bring the device alive instantly.
Although I haven’t actually tested most of what I intend to do with it yet, I expect the Z50 to hold up fairly well in situations such as in-class note taking, out-and-about novel writing, and just serving as an organizer when I am at my desk.
Getting information in and out of the device is something I have yet to completely perfect. It works very well with the CF card, and I can haul around a USB CF reader fairly easily. Networking is a bit of an issue, just because it’s such an old platform. I have an ethernet card that does work with it, however the browser is woefully outdated, and it looks like connecting to a file server might not be practical either. (Although I haven’t yet had the opportunity to investigate the file transfer issue.) I can invest time and effort into using tacgnol as an intermediary, with ActiveSync and infrared data transfer, and I could even consider getting the serial cable and appropriate USB adapter or a USB infrared interface for the T400, however the question then is how worthwhile it is when I can consider the thing to be an island except for the CF card.
I’ll figure it out eventually though, as I’d absolutely love to have my calendars, contacts and maybe even e-mails available on this thing. For now, it’s a really cool writing device and as I get time and the desire to do more things in the way of fun projects with it, I’ll look at running linux or NetBSD on it, as such an endeavor promises to transform a very interesting piece of mobile computing technology, into an even more interesting piece of mobile computing technology — with UNIX.