Introduction
This page is to give you a few thoughts about choosing a palmtop
to link to an Acorn RISC OS machine. Many people have no need to do that,
but others would like to be able to work on documents while away from home,
consult spreadsheets, modify Web pages, and use a database of contacts.
Depending on how you chose to do it, these files can often be shared with
the relevant RISC OS application, but there are others (e.g. project
planning, dedicated bank account tracking software, electronic diaries) that
would be hard to link to the desktop machine. They are perhaps better kept
on the palmtop and only used there. Even if you don't need to have a
computer you can put in your pocket, you might want to reconcile your bank
statement while the kids are playing games or doing their homework on the
desktop machine.
In all those circumstances, a palmtop machine will be a boon,
and if it can easily exchange files with the desktop one, you can start a
job on one and finish it on the other. That's certainly one reason why I
first bought such a machine, and that use has increased considerably with my
work for Archive and the setting up of this Web site.
So what are the options? Well the situation has changed a
little over the last few months, and one development in particular may be
especially relevant.
Recent Changes
The eMate is an interesting machine, taken up by Xemplar last
year as an education portable. It is more of a laptop in size, but is based
on the Newton technology developed by Apple, and powered by an ARM CPU.
Xemplar have been advertising it as a school machine, and have commissioned
RISC OS connectivity software to make it more Acorn-friendly. That software
has now been released by Avie Electronics.
However on February 27th, Apple announced
that they will discontinue further development of the Newton OS and all
products based on it. That includes the eMate as well as the Newton itself.
They will be replaced with products based on the Mac OS, which are expected
to be available next year. Apple say they will supply large orders for both
ranges until the end of March, and support existing users.
Xemplar have said that they will
continue to supply machines "for the foreseeable future", and will
support them and the development of the RISC OS file transfer software.
What Does It All Mean?
The significance of all this is that there are now very few
palmtop machines with easy connectivity to RISC OS (I'm ignoring machines
where the only route is via a comms application). The only ones I'm aware of
that are in current production are:
Of course, the anticipated appearance of a RISC OS portable (as opposed to a palmtop) machine may have a bearing on all this, but we'll have to wait and see.
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