Atari Portfolio - The $400 Palmtop PC from 1989
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Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
Mark
Interesting notes about its software compatibility. What I read about it at the time was that it was file-compatible with DOS programs, but it was not DOS software-compatible. You're saying it could run a few, very basic DOS titles. Given the specs you talked about, I can see why.
I never owned one of these, but thanks for clearing up that detail.
I watched T2, and yes, it was cool seeing John Conner hack an ATM with one of these. :) The only reason I knew it was a Portfolio was I'd read about that scene in the Atari press. If you look at the shot, it's difficult to see the Atari logo in it. As I remember, the only reason it was in the movie was Atari got it in as product placement. Obviously, they didn't pay enough, because you only get a split-second shot of Atari's logo.
I used to read about Atari doing product placement in the 1990s in various kinds of entertainment. I'd look for it, but it was always like this. -I- could tell there was an Atari computer in the shot, but most other people would completely miss it, because most of what you could see in the shot was the screen, or the keyboard. If you blinked, you'd miss the Atari name or logo. I used to wonder why Atari bothered with this. Nobody but fans like me saw anything in it.
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Interesting notes about its software compatibility. What I read about it at the time was that it was file-compatible with DOS programs, but it was not DOS software-compatible. You're saying it could run a few, very basic DOS titles. Given the specs you talked about, I can see why.
I never owned one of these, but thanks for clearing up that detail.
I watched T2, and yes, it was cool seeing John Conner hack an ATM with one of these. :) The only reason I knew it was a Portfolio was I'd read about that scene in the Atari press. If you look at the shot, it's difficult to see the Atari logo in it. As I remember, the only reason it was in the movie was Atari got it in as product placement. Obviously, they didn't pay enough, because you only get a split-second shot of Atari's logo.
I used to read about Atari doing product placement in the 1990s in various kinds of entertainment. I'd look for it, but it was always like this. -I- could tell there was an Atari computer in the shot, but most other people would completely miss it, because most of what you could see in the shot was the screen, or the keyboard. If you blinked, you'd miss the Atari name or logo. I used to wonder why Atari bothered with this. Nobody but fans like me saw anything in it.
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Brandon
That's too funny, I never expected anything BUT synths to use those old memory cards. I have a few for my Korg M1 - 3rd party ones have gotten kinda hard to come by these days despite how many M1s are still out there. The few cards I do have yield some very useful patches - good for a synth that only holds 100 programs and combis on board. The cards could hold 4400 or 7000 sequencer events respectively depending on how you formatted them, which would run out in a hurry. No wonder MIDI sequencing on PCs became so popular. The first time I ever saw MIDI in action was in the early 90s on my piano teachers setup - an M1, Ensoniq EPS sampler and an Atari ST.
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That's too funny, I never expected anything BUT synths to use those old memory cards. I have a few for my Korg M1 - 3rd party ones have gotten kinda hard to come by these days despite how many M1s are still out there. The few cards I do have yield some very useful patches - good for a synth that only holds 100 programs and combis on board. The cards could hold 4400 or 7000 sequencer events respectively depending on how you formatted them, which would run out in a hurry. No wonder MIDI sequencing on PCs became so popular. The first time I ever saw MIDI in action was in the early 90s on my piano teachers setup - an M1, Ensoniq EPS sampler and an Atari ST.
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Andrew
Neil Gaiman: -I still have, and still (once in a blue moon) use, the Atari Portfolio he talked me into buying about 11 years ago. It runs on a cut-down DOS 2. 1 -- I wrote MURDER MYSTERIES on it and THE GOLDFISH POOL & OTHER STORIES and more episodes of Sandman than I can count -- and I'd use it more except I feel faintly ashamed of being seen using such antedeluvian technology when in the company of all the cool geek people I know. -
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Neil Gaiman: -I still have, and still (once in a blue moon) use, the Atari Portfolio he talked me into buying about 11 years ago. It runs on a cut-down DOS 2. 1 -- I wrote MURDER MYSTERIES on it and THE GOLDFISH POOL & OTHER STORIES and more episodes of Sandman than I can count -- and I'd use it more except I feel faintly ashamed of being seen using such antedeluvian technology when in the company of all the cool geek people I know. -
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G.
Had one of those when I was in my early teens. I spent endless hours programming text adventures in Basic, and created pixel graphics. I remember how expensive the 64K card was here in Austria. my only birthday present: -) Later I got a serial interface as well to connect it to my 486. However, I learned DOS commands on this device and a lot more about interfaces, data transfer and programming. Thanks Atari Portfolio: -)
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Had one of those when I was in my early teens. I spent endless hours programming text adventures in Basic, and created pixel graphics. I remember how expensive the 64K card was here in Austria. my only birthday present: -) Later I got a serial interface as well to connect it to my 486. However, I learned DOS commands on this device and a lot more about interfaces, data transfer and programming. Thanks Atari Portfolio: -)
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IvorySoul696
That Mortal Kombat VHS tape is hilarious as that's the only one left in existence at my place! I actually had to explain physical movies to my 5 year old last night as he found the shelf of Blu-Rays and thought they were games. I then showed him that VHS tape and he didn't get it. Sadly, I don't have a VCR anymore. I never owned one after moving out of my parent's place as I'm not a big movie person.
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That Mortal Kombat VHS tape is hilarious as that's the only one left in existence at my place! I actually had to explain physical movies to my 5 year old last night as he found the shelf of Blu-Rays and thought they were games. I then showed him that VHS tape and he didn't get it. Sadly, I don't have a VCR anymore. I never owned one after moving out of my parent's place as I'm not a big movie person.
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Nicholas
I remember when John Connor used it to hack the ATM in Terminator 2, I thought -that's the coolest little computer I've ever seen! Where can I get one? - I had no idea they were even a real device until years later (obviously the gimmick he used to hack the ATM was a prop. How could Atari have been that incompetent at marketing (by then at least under the Tramiels?
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I remember when John Connor used it to hack the ATM in Terminator 2, I thought -that's the coolest little computer I've ever seen! Where can I get one? - I had no idea they were even a real device until years later (obviously the gimmick he used to hack the ATM was a prop. How could Atari have been that incompetent at marketing (by then at least under the Tramiels?
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Valley
On my old PSION 5 I used to play lots of text based adventure games, it was very cool, I could also send texts from it to my Nokia phone and I had a few beers bought for me by sending ringtones and custom front screens to Nokia phones to people I met in pubs, I even designed a few for my friends back in the day, it used the IR port to send data to my old Nokia 7110
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On my old PSION 5 I used to play lots of text based adventure games, it was very cool, I could also send texts from it to my Nokia phone and I had a few beers bought for me by sending ringtones and custom front screens to Nokia phones to people I met in pubs, I even designed a few for my friends back in the day, it used the IR port to send data to my old Nokia 7110
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Test
This is legit dope as hell, if I was my age at the time I would 100% save up for this thing. It's an honest to God computer in the palm of your hand, that would be amazing to have for the on-the-go word processor utility alone. I buy one right now but, I'm sadly broke as hell; -;
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This is legit dope as hell, if I was my age at the time I would 100% save up for this thing. It's an honest to God computer in the palm of your hand, that would be amazing to have for the on-the-go word processor utility alone. I buy one right now but, I'm sadly broke as hell; -;
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Matt
Love that nostalgic boot chime at 6: 06 -
Edit: I'm also incredibly disappointed that scrolling through the comments, I can't find a single joke about it being -maxed out- with 640K of memory, considering the famous Bill Gates quote about nobody ever needing more than that.
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Love that nostalgic boot chime at 6: 06 -
Edit: I'm also incredibly disappointed that scrolling through the comments, I can't find a single joke about it being -maxed out- with 640K of memory, considering the famous Bill Gates quote about nobody ever needing more than that.
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lazygamereviews
This reminds me of the last episode in Season 2 of Black Books. Fran uses a palmtop to book their flights, and according to IMDB it's a Psion one, but no indication of the model.
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This reminds me of the last episode in Season 2 of Black Books. Fran uses a palmtop to book their flights, and according to IMDB it's a Psion one, but no indication of the model.
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