Author Topic: Pocket pc w/ RS232 serial port  (Read 3755 times)

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Offline Keoni29

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Pocket pc w/ RS232 serial port
« on: May 05, 2013, 08:01:14 am »
At a fleamarket I bought this little handheld computer called the Psion Series 5. It has backlit 16 level grayscale lcd with resistive touchscreen and a nice little keyboard. The reason why I bought it was that it has an RS232 port and pre-installed terminal emulation software. There is even a code editor on it.
The device is open to modifying the OS. Nothing is locked down as far as I know. I know people managed to install a linux distro on it. Mine still runs an early version of Symbian called EPOC 32 OS.

I think the pocket pc communities have scattered across the web, but recent projects involving the raspberry PI may blow new life into the pocket computer scene. If you know where I can find a pocket computer community on the internet let me know!

Original post: http://8times8.host56.com/?p=166

Hardware specs of the Psion Series 5:
Display:
- Widescreen backlit 16 level grayscale resistive touchscreen
Internal memory:
- ROM 6MB storing OS
- RAM 4/8MB (mine has 8)
Media:
- Compact flash
CPU:
- 32bit ARM 710 core 18.4MHz
Sound:
- Loudspeaker
- Microphone
Power:
- 2x AA batteries
- cr2030 ram backup battery
- mains adapter 6V
I/O:
- 53 key querty membrane keyboard
- Touchscreen
- IR port
- RS232 Serial port
« Last Edit: May 05, 2013, 08:02:05 am by Keoni29 »
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Offline TIfanx1999

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Re: Pocket pc w/ RS232 serial port
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2013, 01:01:24 pm »
That's a neat looking little device you picked up there. :) I've been looking at some older pocket pcs myself, but I haven't bought anything yet.

Offline Keoni29

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Re: Pocket pc w/ RS232 serial port
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2013, 01:05:04 pm »
Thank you. It is a 32bit machine, so it's quite powerful despite it only running at 18Mhz. Back in the days people made games for it that you could buy. There are still some demo versions of those floating around as share/freeware. I might write an atari2600 emulator for it once I get the hang of programming for the EPOC32 OS.
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Offline Spyro543

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Re: Pocket pc w/ RS232 serial port
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2013, 01:06:31 pm »
I was just reading about this computer on Wikipedia a few days ago. It looks really nice! I'm thinking of getting a CC-40 myself.

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Pocket pc w/ RS232 serial port
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2013, 07:08:03 pm »
COol machine. :D

I wonder what kind of games there are for it...
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Offline Keoni29

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Re: Pocket pc w/ RS232 serial port
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2013, 05:53:43 am »
All sorts of games ranging from text adventures to racing games. I have a commodore 64 emulator installed on it :D
You can even hook it up to the internet with a modem that still has an rs232 port or via your PC.
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