HP Compatible

The HP 200LX is a personal digital assistant introduced by Hewlett-Packard in 1994. It was one of very few palmtops ever developed that was, with some exceptions, 100% MS-DOS compatible. more...

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Input was entered via a very small QWERTY-keyboard with a numeric keypad, enclosed in a clamshell-style case, about 25% of the size of a standard notebook computer. The palmtop runs about 30 to 40 hours on two size AA alkaline or Ni-Cd cells and can charge batteries via a 12V DC wall adapter.

The 200LX has an Intel 80186 central processing unit which runs at ~ 7.91 megahertz (which could be upgraded or overclocked to up to 15.8 MHz) and 2 or 4MB of memory, of which 640KB is RAM and the rest can be used towards EMS or memory-based storage space. Aftermarket updates can enhance the memory chips to up to 64MB, which frees up the PCMCIA slot for modem or ethernet card use (Silicom and Accton 2212/2216 supported). Being IBM PC/XT compatible and running MS-DOS 5.0 from ROM, the HP 200LX could run virtually any program that would run on a full-size PC compatible computer as long as the code was written for the Intel 8086, 8088 or 80186 CPU. It could also run programs written for the 80286 CPU, provided they did not require protected memory. It also has a 16-bit PCMCIA Type II expansion slot that supports 5V at 150mA maximum, a SIR compatible infrared port, and a full serial port (but with proprietary mini connector for space constraint reasons).

The built-in software suite runs from ROM and includes Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet, calendar, phone book, terminal, Lotus cc:Mail and a capable business calculator (among other titles). With a large compactflash storage card and a serial mouse, even Microsoft Windows 3.0 can be run on the palmtop, although that is not practical. The 640x200 resolution CGA compatible 4-shade greyscale LCD screen has no backlight and the pixels are tiny (the space bar can be used a zoom switch). A complicated EL technology backlight installation is available from a 3rd party since 2004, but good eyesight is still required to use the tiny palmtop effectively without resorting to using its 2x and 4x zoom modes.

The HP 100LX (Project Cougar) was a direct predecessor of the 200LX, almost the same, but with 1MB memory and earlier built-in software versions. It was based on the still earlier HP 95LX, which had an Intel 8086 CPU and could not be considered truly PC-compatible because of its quarter-VGA resolution LCD screen.

The HP 1000CX was an economy version of the 200LX but without any built-in software, except the MS-DOS 5.0 operating system in ROM. It was in widespread use among e.g. Coca-Cola warehouse managers, who loaded their own logistic software onto the machine. It had a black clamshell, while the 200LX used a dark green casing.

The HP 700LX was an interesting project of the HP calculator branch in Singapore, essentially a 200LX redesigned to piggyback a Nokia 2110 GSM mobile phone for wireless mobility. The 200LX motherboard was factory-hacked to support a second PCMCIA slot for the Nokia Data Card. Owing to the relatively large size of the Nokia phone, the 700LX had a large, pebble-shaped casing, no longer a palmtop, but a handheld and a heavy one with the phone attached. The production of HP 700LX ceased soon, as the Nokia 2110 was rendered obsolete with the fast evolution of smaller, nicer and faster GMS phone.

Read more at Wikipedia.org