Tag: pda

Packard Bell DB128 personal organiser

Another personal organiser / PDA from 1992. The Packard Bell DB128. Does it work? Is it just needing new batteries? Who knows? Let’s have a look.

What the listing stated:

The Vintage Packard Bell DB128 Deluxe PDA Personal Organiser from 1992 is a charming piece of retro computing history. Manufactured by Packard Bell in China, this personal organiser is a single unit that serves as a reminder of the technology of the early 90s. With its vintage appeal, this item is ideal for collectors of vintage computing devices or those who appreciate the nostalgia of older electronics. The Packard Bell DB128 Deluxe PDA is a unique and rare find for those curious about the evolution of personal digital assistants. Needs new batteries at the very least. For repair or spares only

EBay

Packed Bell DB128 personal organiser

I love these postings on the selling sites, no actual real description of the state and condition of the unit you are purchasing, only a potted history of the item with the standard EBay get out excuse of “For repairs or spares only” I know, I can hear you saying, “ Well don’t buy it then – fool” and I agree with you wholeheartedly, I am a fool and I’ve brought it. But, it only cost me £3:30GBP so I’m happy with that, a good price for a bit of retro tech from 1992.

There is a good chance that this unit does only need some power, wouldn’t that be good? However it wouldn’t make very good copy on a site that looks at fixing other peoples castoffs, but I can happily go with the odd quick fix once in a while.

I love these old PDA devices from the 90s, and lots of people do, I guess some of us are still stuck in a period where technology was so wonderfully new and interestingly different. Whereas today everything is pretty much the same and controlled by a few massive organisations, when back in the 90s there were lots of different companies for you to choose your wears from.

I’ve certainly worked on a few on this site, just check the links on the home page to see what I have worked with.

If you are interested in the 90s PDA technology, may I suggest you look at this guys YouTube site. His name is Hugh and his channel is called Handheld Computing and he is a very interesting chap, and the technology is superb. Give him a visit.

Ok. Let’s read a little bit more about this unit:

The Packard Bell DB128 (also known as the DB-128 or DB 1280 IR) is a vintage handheld personal organiser released in 1992. Also known as the Oregon Scientific DB-388P. It was designed as a compact digital databank to store contacts, manage schedules, and perform basic calculations. 

Technical Specifications

The device features the following hardware details:

  • Memory: 128 KB total memory, with a user-available area of 131,070 bytes.
  • Display: An 8-line by 32-character dot-matrix screen.
  • Power: Operates on two or three CR-2025 or CR2032 button cell batteries, often with an additional battery for memory backup.
  • Physical Dimensions: Approximately 15.8 x 8.2 x 2.3 cm, weighing about 252g.
  • Connectivity: Data can be synchronised with a PC via a serial cable or infrared (IR) LEDs. 

Core Functions

The DB128 includes several built-in applications for daily organisation: 

  • Phone Book: Stores multiple contact categories including names, fax, mobile, and email addresses.
  • Scheduler: Features a calendar and appointment system with start/end times and audible or silent alarms.
  • Utility Tools: Includes a 12-digit calculator, home and world clocks, currency/metric converters, and a memo/expense tracker.
  • Security: Offers a password protection feature for sensitive data. 

Google

I just have to wait for its arrival now and I’m looking forward to that, I won’t speculate anymore about what might be, I best just wait for its arrival to carry out a suitable assessment.

Assessment:

It’s arrived and good god, it looks as if it’s been stored in a vacuum cleaner bag 🤦‍♂️ it’s utterly filthy, funny how none of the original photos showed this isn’t it? I don’t believe this is the same unit as was in the original posting.

If I’d have taken this into the house with the wife present, i think she’d have murdered me, or at least severely injured me one way or another… So that is why you will see that these pictures were taken at the kitchen sink, the first thing this unit received was a clean with a cloth and warm water. After that it’s had a good polish and it is now nice and clean. Now it can come further into the house, into my domain!

Before and after over the kitchen sink

Now the unit is tidy, everything is as it should be, and the screen is in a good condition barring a few minor age related scuffs. It’s dead, and that’s to be expected, I’m just hoping there are no major surprises awaiting me when I get the back off to have a check inside.

Three screws later and the back is off. All three batteries are still in place, all very dead but fortunately there is no corrosion or battery leakage. All that is visible is some age related tarnishing of the battery enclosure, this however has no effect on the board or electronics and will tidy up with a little brush over with some relevant cleaning solution.

Case off
Battery cover removed

With these little database units you were always supposed to change the two main batteries and get them in place before even considering removal of the single back up battery. This was purely to ensure that saved data was not erased from the memory bank, however as all these batteries are dead, it’s no real issue here. The backup battery is protected with a single screw that needs to be removed to allow access. This unit was able to transmit and receive data using infrared technology. If you look at the picture above with the case off, on the left and the right of the chassis you will see a white diode component, these are the infrared transmitter and receiver parts of the data transfer circuit.

Clean battery contacts
Batteries very dead

The batteries needed within this unit are CR2025 mini cell batteries, I currently only have CR2032 batteries, they look the same but just what is the difference? Thanks for asking, i will now explain.

  • The letter “C” refers to the batteries chemical compound, “Lithium” or to be absolutely precise “Lithium Manganese Dioxide”.
  • The letter “R” refers to the battery shape, in this case its “Round”.
  • The numbers “20” refer to its diameter in millimetres in this case “20mm”.
  • The numbers “25 or 32” refer to the “Height or Thickness” of the battery in millimetres “2.5 or 3.2”

And there endeth the lesson for today. So, in all aspects the batteries are exactly the same, 3 volts, but there is just a slight variation of 7/10 of a mm in thickness. In some cases this is not an issue where there might be that slight bit of space for you to use an alternative cell, however in the case where tolerances are tight such as in watch mechanisms, that tiny difference in size may not allow you to reassemble the backplate to the watch. I hope that clears up the difference between the two coin cell letter and number allocations.

I can use CR2032 batteries in this unit as there is the space. I have some CR2025 batteries on order, so I will comply with the original standard when they arrive. But for the purpose of testing further, the CR2032 batteries will suffice.

Repair:

What repair, to be honest it’s been more of a clean, I’ve cleaned the inside circuit board with some IPA and a brush and cleaned all the crevices with a pick and finished off the outer case with a good coat of antiseptic cleaner and polish. I have inserted the three required batteries and switched the unit on.

All working, all features functional

Not a great deal more I can say. It’s clean, in fact it’s very clean, and fully functional.

Result:

It’s 34 years old, it’s been discarded, put aside for disposal, given one last chance in its chequered life and I purchased it for £3:30GBP. It’s now revitalised, cleaned inside and out and been given a new lease of life. One of those very simple clean and repairs that anyone can do. And another item is saved from landfill.

When turned off
When turned on

This will now be added to my ever growing collection of old PDA equipment from the 90s, a collection that is starting to grow at quite a considerable rate. I have a few more little projects similar to this in the pipeline, quite similar to this one but requiring quite a bit more attention. Please keep passing by to keep up to date with these “mini” projects.

Once again, thank you for passing by, it is always very much appreciated.

Sharp OZ-7000 Wizard

The Sharp OZ-7000, Amongst one of the first electronic organisers and precursor the PDA. Needs repair. Or does it?

What the listing stated:

Not working. I have replaced the two batteries and cannot get it to work. I have not touched the memory battery. See picture for actual item. Case is a bit sticky unfortunately with age.

EBay

First of all, what is it?

The Sharp OZ-7000 Electronic organiser / Calculator

The Sharp Wizard series, introduced by the Sharp Corporation in 1989, was among the first electronic organizers and a precursor to personal digital assistants (PDAs). The debut model, the OZ-7000 (known as the IQ-7000 in Europe), combined organizer functions with an IC Card expansion system, allowing users to install software and memory cards. Over time, Sharp refined the series with larger displays, increased memory, and enhanced features, such as infrared communications port for wireless data transfer, touch-sensitive displays, and clamshell designs.

The out-of-the-box functionality of the OZ-7000/IQ-7000 included a memo pad, a telephone pad, calendar and scheduling with alarms and repeating events, multi-time zone clocks, and a calculator, thus covering all the basic functions found in PDAs since. The keyboard was not QWERTY, although later models, starting with OZ/IQ-8000, changed the orientation of the screen and keyboard layout.

The OZ-7000 was about 6.3 inches (163 mm) tall, 3.7 inches (94 mm) wide closed, 7.25 inches (184 mm) open, and 0.85 inches (21.5 mm) thick closed, making it much larger than later PDAs. It featured a serial port (proprietary connector) to attach to a Windows PC or Macintosh or another OZ-7xxx/OZ-8xxx device, an optional thermal printer port and a cassette tape backup. The OZ-7000/IQ-7000 model featured 32 kilobytes of internal memory and a 96 x 64 dot (8 lines x 16 characters or 4 lines x 12 characters) black and white LCD with controllable contrast but without a back light. A major advertised feature of the model was the IC Cards expansion slot for accessory cards developed by Sharp.

Wikipedia

A bit of a break from the mountain of photographic equipment I have been dealing with lately, I thought I’d take a bit of a detour and have a look at some prehistoric PDA gear, as I have also done in the past, as you will no doubt be aware of, if you have ever read any of my posts on Psion organisers.

From what I can gather, this one is a little beaten up and battle scarred, and quite simply does not work. I’ve paid the princely sum of £8:54GBP after i managed to knock the seller down by a few pounds. I just now have to await its arrival before we can carry out a thorough assessment.

Assessment:

Its here, everything is as it should be apart from the base being a bit loose in one corner where the clip inside has broken, however that’s not an issue and can probably be repaired.

The broken clip

The exterior is a little sticky but again, this is just one of those 1989 rubber enhanced products where the vulcanised rubber coating has started to degrade. A post I previously published shows how I deal with these 80’s degrading rubber issues: Sticky, Rubber camera grips

Front case
Rear case
Both sides of the case are sticky and require cleaning

The unit has three batteries, under the rear shell. These are two CR2032 and one C1616 coin cell, with the C1616 being the units memory battery. These batteries will need to be tested as this unit does not start up, the whole unit is dead. The previous owner has stated that they have changed the two main batteries but not the memory battery, testing them will tell.

The three batteries

Beyond that, all catches, buttons and switches seem to be performing as expected, no cracks or major damage to the external shell, or screen area. Naturally there are signs of usage as you would expect on an item that is now 36 years old, light signs of age related wear and tear, nothing of concern that is detrimental to its operation.

Repair:

I’m leaving the broken clip on the rear shell as it is, it’s not visibly exposing anything of the interior and to be honest needs quite a bit of force to show the gap, it’s not a problem and not necessarily requiring a repair. In normal handling it is not even noticeable, so it will remain as it is.

The main fault, and I apologise in advance, as it was not really a fault, was a misunderstanding of the unit’s operation by the previous owner. When you take the back off and change the batteries, you have to operate a switch so as to not interrupt the backup of the system.

Battery backup switch there is a “B” and a “A” setting

There are two modes and these are explained below. This switch is located inside the battery compartment and is used when replacing the main batteries to prevent data loss.

  • B stands for Backup, a setting used during the battery replacement process. The device relies on a small, separate backup battery (often a C1616 coin cell) to maintain memory while the main batteries are removed, provided the switch is in this position.
  • A stands for Active (or simply the normal operational position), which is the standard setting for everyday use once new batteries have been installed. 

To replace the main batteries safely and avoid losing your data, you must follow a specific procedure that involves setting this switch to “B”, changing the main batteries, and then switching it back to “A” after the new batteries are inserted. 

The issue here was that the batteries had been changed and the switch was put into the correct “Backup” mode. However the previous owner had not placed the switch back into the ”Active” mode when the batteries were changed and the back of the shell was put back in place. Hence the unit would not work as in theory the batteries were locked out of use. On opening the shell up, this was the first thing I looked at, and when the switch was put into the correct position the unit sprung into life once the “On” button was pushed.

When the switch was set, power applied and the unit reset to 1989

When the unit was turned on it then reset to 1989, I was able to change the times and date, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the date range on this unit covered the years 1901-2099. Considering this unit was released 11 years prior to the Y2K bug of 2000, it showed some advanced thinking in the implementation of these units.

Happily updated to the current date and year

One of the issues with this particular unit is that there is no backlight on the display, the display is black and white and the only change that can be made is to the contrast. Back lights eventually arrived with later models. So use of these units was pretty much limited to daylight hours, or whilst under a light source of some kind, that said the display is very good and has a good contrast range.

The unit with an example function card installed
In use in the carpark at work

The last thing I have done is clean with some IPA to remove the years of gunk and I think this was quite successful

The IPA certainly lifted some dirt

After this I have finished off with a nice polish with some car cockpit cleaner. It’s finished this repair off just nicely.

Result:

Here we have a nicely presented, clean and fully working example of a nice little bit of personal computing history.

Has come up lovely
Front fascia
Rear fascia
Looking gorgeous

So. With these older items, it’s sometimes good to just have an awareness of how these old timers operate. Get an instruction manual, study how it works, it can make the difference between selling it as damaged, when in fact there really was nothing really wrong with it. The seller could have sold this for 3 or 4 times the value that I purchased it for, but I’m not worried about that, as far as I’m concerned I got myself a bargain and to be honest, that doesn’t happen that often.

It’s a win win situation as far as I’m concerned, I win as I now have a lovely example of pre PDA technology, and it’s a small win for the environment as another piece of “Waste” has been saved from landfill.

Thanks for passing. Thanks for being there. Always appreciated 🙏

Formatting the Psion II Datapack

The Psion II range was well ahead of its time when it came to saving data on its machines, however there was an element of strangeness in its design and usability.

You have to realise we are talking early eighties technology and to be totally honest it was the infancy of computing, or hand held computing to be precise. There are three drives on this range of handhelds, they are A:, B: and C:

A: is the internal memory of the unit and it is RAM memory and ranges from 8KB in the CM model, to 16KB in the XP model right through to 32 or 64KB in the LZ/LZ64 models.

Datapaks on a Psion II unit

B: and C: drives are found on the rear of the unit. Into these slots you can place memory modules that are the equivalent of disk drives you’d find on a computer, however they are pretty much early solid state in design as they have no moving parts. These modules can come in sizes between 8-128Kb in size. B: is always the top slot closer to the screen, C: is the bottom slot closer to the battery compartment.

Types of memory

Rampaks are as it says on the label – Ram based plug in memory modules. When you store something in the units internal memory or on a Rampak, and then you later erase it, it really is erased in its entirety and space on the unit or Rampak is freed up, ready to be used again. Rampaks will have their own small “Coin” type battery as part of the module, this allows the unit to allow the constant input and deletion cycles. They use very little power and are probably the best medium for writing programs.

Datapaks are a different beast. They are known as EPROM (Erasable Programmable read only memory) Erasing a record is comparable to crossing out a piece of work written on paper, it has now been deleted but will always remain on the paper, just crossed out. It’s exactly the same on the Datapak. Hence in time the memory space will dwindle due to the deleted files that remain still occupying dead space. The benefit of the Datapak is that they are more secure and are not affected at all when battery power runs low.

With a Datapak there will come a time when the available memory space remaining is insufficient for what you are trying to achieve. At this point you need to format the drive and this is a particular problem if you don’t have the access to equipment to carry out this task. Here’s why…. They need exposure to Ultraviolet light to erase the memory.

Mk2 version of a Datapak formatter

You need one of these, a Datapak, Ultraviolet formatter. Quite a rare beast to be honest, there’s not many on sale at the moment, specific to the Psion. However there are other systems available for EPROMs used in other branches of electronics. The Datapak has to have its label removed to expose the crystal glass below on the EPROM in preparation for being placed inside the formatter. In theory it is just like an oven that exposes the EPROM for around 30 Minutes, the door is closed prior to formatting to keep the light source from damaging the users vision, as the light is in the UV wavelength spectrum likely to cause some quite serious damage or long term conditions.

Here you can see a Datapak that i have taken the lid off of. On the circuit board you can see a piece of crystal glass with a silicon die below, this is the component that will need approx 30 mins of Ultraviolet exposure to format its contents.

The crystal that the UV light needs focusing on

The formatting process

Erasure of the EPROM begins to occur with wavelengths shorter than 400nm. Exposure to sunlight for one week or to Fluorescent indoor lighting for three years could cause erasure, this is why the Datapak has a label covering the crystal portion of the EPROM. The recommended procedure is to expose the EPROM to a UV light source at a wavelength at or close to 253.7nm that usually achieves the format process within 20-30 minutes, with the lamp at a distance from the glass lens of around 2.5cm.

Then how do I achieve a format of a Datapak without this equipment?

There was always the option of trying a standard UV bulb or torch. However the UV wavelength on these items for public safety is usually in the 395nm wavelength spectrum. There really is very little available to the general public that is as strong as the bulbs required in the 253nm range to complete this task, as they are a serious danger to health if you are exposed to it for any length of time. This then was not an option i was able to pursue.

I now have a few options available to me if i wish to get these Datapaks formatted.

Purchase a cheap Chinese manufactured unit with a European plug. They seem to work and do the job, however you will be lucky if you get a couple of uses from it.

Trawl EBay. As i write there are two working ones including this MK2 version listed at a reasonable asking price that have a lot of people watching them, so I expect the price to rise accordingly as it gets towards the close of the auction.

EBay spares or repair. There is one unit, a Mk1 version that has a buy now price and it seems to have been hanging about in someone’s junk box for a few years and could possibly need repair. This is a tempting option however if the UV light inside is damaged then i have to look for a suitable replacement, and to be honest there are not a lot of compatible low pressure mercury discharge tubes of these sizes available now. You may have to look for suitable alternatives and I’m not sure i want all that messing around. Do i take the risk and go for one that may need repair? A guy called Dave Curran has combined this drive with one of the Chinese low cost options to create this hybrid eraser: Eprom eraser/upgrade

Get someone else to do it. There is this option and a service is available on line that allows you to send your Datapaks off for someone else to format for you. But do you want to entrust data to a third party? For me it’s not really a problem as none of my units have any of my data on them, but it is something to take into consideration. Whilst I’m searching for a suitable unit this may be a route i consider.

So these are my options. I’ve an idea what I’m going to explore, so im just going to take a little time to look into it all.

My decision

EBay spares and repair – seeing that this is a site where i like to purchase and repair items, i have gone for this option and purchased a used and typically untested Mk1 Psion Datapak formatter from EBay. I have had some good dialogue with the seller and i am confident that this unit can be made good with only a small amount of intervention. The UV tube inside is potentially 40yrs old now, i’ve secured it at a very reasonable price as i got in there and was able to complete the deal relatively quickly.

My plan is to get this unit opened, check its mechanical and electrical stability, get it cleaned, reassembled and then Pat tested. Only then can i look at attempting a full format on it for the first time. And for that i will put together another post incorporating the repair of the unit and the formatting of the Datapak.

Here is my restoration of this unit: Psion datapak formatter

Thanks for passing by.

Morse code on a Psion organiser

I did my Morse test back in 2003 just after I passed my City and Guilds 765 RAE exam in Amateur radio. It wasn’t a compulsory requirement as it was in the States at that time, but I chose to go with it. I wasn’t the fastest in the world but I enjoyed using it to be able to partake in my favourite part of the hobby, low power QRP operations.

As morse uses such a small bandwidth, distant operations using very low power below 5 watts are very achievable. Wspr transmissions operate in even smaller power ranges, however that’s a whole different story.

So what’s the Psion organiser got to do with Morse?

When you set out trying to master Morse you look at loads of techniques and ways to make your journey that much easier. There are Morse trainers, there are even Morse decoders and encoders that basically allow you to “Cheat”, but what’s the point of that as you’re not going to learn anything that way.

The Morse Datapak
Psion Organiser II LZ

I used a technique called the visual mode technique that allows you to learn Morse by associating the dots and dashes with the actual shape of the letter and number. It works well when translating to paper, however Morse is a sound mode and it is better to use sound association, that will always work the best. I have this on a book mark to this day, as well as having it as screensaver at work. It worked for me. That’s where the Psion also had a part to play in my education.

Visual mode technique

I have a pre loaded data pack that runs perfectly on this old 1980’s machine. I used a very similar program back in the day, but not this actual one (See pictures above). The program and files are extracted and copied from the Interair Airnav pack and i have uploaded a small video below to show it whilst working.

“Peace”

With this program every digit you press on the keyboard is repeated back to you in Morse code. It’s a fantastic way to keep yourself on the ball. There are a few minor errors but the numbers and letters are pretty much spot on. It’s a great way to learn the shape of a word by sounds, and that’s a big part of Morse code, where you use phonics or the sound and shape of a string of dots and dashes to learn particular words or formations of groups of words. I’m probably making it sound more difficult than it actually is, and I apologise for that as it really doesn’t have to be. Each person finds their favourite way to learn, and this worked just fine for me all the way back in the early 2000’s about 22 years ago.

Have a great day and peace to you all or should that be :

.- -././.-/-.-./. (Check above) 👆