MobHappy’s Russell Buckley has a wonderful post that points to a presentation from 2000 that forecasts the future of mobility. Some of the technology:

• Wireless headset? Check.
• Pocket MP3 player? Check.
• Digital camera with built-in modem? Close.
• Glasses for watching DVD movies? Not quite yet – though on the way – we saw one at CTIA last April.

Slides from a presentation given by O2 – just a mere eight years ago — also show a mock-up of a mobile worker [done tongue in cheek but still pretty spot on] and how users will be using mobile devices.

Our museum is chock full of mobile devices that look like they’re from two decades ago but in reality are only a few years old. Years from now I suppose my toddler will get a nice chuckle at the expense of my iPhone [“You had to use your finger to move text?”].

Any guesses on where the mobile space will be in 2016?

We found this television program on Veoh and had to share it here. Here is an episode from 1984 of the show Computer Chronicles devoted to portable computers:

Computer Chronicles was produced for public television by KCSM at the College of San Mateo.

The evolution of portable computing as told through advertising.

1983

1986

1988

1989

2006

2008

The XO-1, previously known as the $100 Laptop or Children’s Machine, is an inexpensive laptop computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world, to provide them with access to knowledge, and opportunities to “explore, experiment and express themselves” (constructionist learning). The laptop is developed by the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) social welfare organization, and manufactured by the Taiwanese computer company, Quanta Computer.

The laptops can be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child. Pricing is currently set to start at US$188 and the goal is to reach the $100 mark in 2008. Approximately 500 developer boards (Alpha-1) were distributed in mid-2006; 875 working prototypes (Beta 1) were delivered in late 2006; 2400 Beta-2 machines were distributed at the end of February 2007; full-scale production started November 6, 2007. Quanta Computer, the project’s contract manufacturer, said in February 2007 that it had confirmed orders for one million units. They indicated they could ship 5 million to 10 million units this year because seven nations have committed to buy the XO-1 for their schoolchildren: Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Thailand, and Uruguay. Quanta plans to offer machines very similar to the XO machine on the open market.

The rugged, low-power computers contain flash memory instead of a hard drive and use Linux as their operating system. Mobile ad-hoc networking is used to allow many machines to share Internet access from one connection.

The OLPC project had stated that a consumer version of the XO laptop is not planned. However, the project has established the laptopgiving.org website for outright donations and for a “Give 1 Get 1″ offer valid (but only to the United States, its territories, and Canadian addresses) from November 12, 2007 until December 31, 2007. It has been rumored that they are planning to put a modified version of Windows XP into their newer laptops.

Specifications

• Manufacturer: Quanta Computer
• Connectivity: 802.11b/g /s wireless LAN
• 3 USB 2.0 ports
• MMC/SD card slot
• Media: 1 GB flash memory
• Operating system: Linux (with Microsoft version planned)
• Built-in still/video camera (640×480; 30 FPS)
• Power: NiMH or LiFePO4 battery removable pack
• CPU: AMD Geode LX700@0.8 W + 5536
• Memory: 256 MB DRAM
• Display: dual-mode 19.1 cm/7.5″ diagonal TFT LCD 1200×900
• Dimensions: 242 mm × 228 mm × 32 mm
• Weight: LiFeP battery: 3.2 pounds; NiMH battery: 3.5 pounds

References

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLPC_XO-1
• www.laptop.org/laptop/

Ask people familiar with telecommunications history and they’ll tell you that the first text message sent from a mobile phone was sent in 1993. But MuMoH has a phone that sent text messages more than 75 years before that!

The Kellogg Switchboard Supply Company field phone, model 1917 (and we’ve also seen model EE 3) provided American soldiers in WWI a portable telephone and telegraph communications in a single box. Cased in wood and carried by a leather shoulder strap, the battery powered phone could be carried into trenches or to base camps to provide communications. The phone also has a hand crank generator called a magneto for an additional power source.

US infantry soldiers would deploy a twisted pair of wires from one location to another. After the wires were connected to a field phone on each end, information about enemy strength and location of enemy forces, ranging information for artillery and other communications were possible. Telegraph codes could be sent as far as 20 miles away, and voice communications would travel a somewhat shorter distance. Soon battlefields across Europe were strewn with wires.

References:

• www.museumofcommunications.org
• www.telcomhistory.org/index.shtml
• www.landships.freeservers.com/new_pages/ewarfare_in_ww1.htm

Introduced on April 3, 1986, the IBM PC Convertible was IBM’s first laptop computer and was also the first IBM computer to utilize the increasingly common 3.5 inch floppy disk drive. Like modern laptops, it featured power management and the ability to run from batteries.

Weighing in at 13 pounds (5,8 kg), the PC Convertible was based on the Intel 80c88 CPU (a CMOS version of the Intel 8088) running at 4.77 MHz, 256K of RAM (expandable to 512K and later 640K) and featured dual 720K 3.5″ floppy drives, a monochrome CGA-compatible LCD screen and a proprietary snap-on expansion system.

The PC Convertible was priced at $2,000 for a standard configuration. An internal modem could be added for an additional $450. Snap-on expansion adapters could be added , such as a serial/parallel adapter for $195 and CRT display adapter (640 X 200) for $350.

All of these adapters “convert” the Convertible into a more useful machine, but with all of them installed, the system grows an extra 7 inches in length and the weight increases from 12 pounds to 20 pounds, making it rather long and unwieldy.

Introduced into a marketplace that included faster Intel 80286 CPU-based portable computers, many that sold for approximately half the PC Convertible’s $2,000 price tag and others that featured hard drives, the computer sold very poorly. In reviews the PC Convertible’s screen, keyboard and proprietary expansion system were also widely criticized.

Still, with its power management, battery power pack and folding design, the PC Convertible helping establish many of the important features for portable computing that exist today.

Specifications

• Introduced in April 1986
• $2000 with 256K RAM
• RAM expandable to 512K originally, and later 640k
• Intel 80C88 CPU (CMOS version of Intel’s 8088)
• Monochrome LCD display, CGA resolution, able to add external monitor
• IBM PC-DOS with custom icon-oriented shell interface
• Dual 720K 3.5″ floppy drives
• Proprietary snap-on extension in rear for various expansion modules and snap-on peripherals

References

• oldcomputers.net/ibm5140.html
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Convertible
• www.seasip.info/VintagePC/5140.html

It’s a device we keep in our pocket or handbag and take everywhere we go: the mobile phone. But not too long ago putting a cell phone in our pocket or purse was impossible.

MuMoH has a collection of 1980s and 1990s era mobile phones, and we’ll have information up about them soon. In the meantime, enjoy these vintage commercials when the cell phone was brand new:

Circa 1989:

Circa 1990:

One of the most unique computers in the MuMoH collection is the Amstrad PPC 640. The Portable PC with 640 KB of memory was introduced in the Fall of 1987 together with its little brother, a portable PC with 512 KB of memory, aptly named the Amstrad PPC 512. These IBM PC compatibles featured a full keyboard including number pad and a built in 9 inch LCD display that was located on the far left of the computer. But while other portable computers of the day sold for thousands of dollars, the Amstrad PPC 640 and PPC 512 were highly affordable, starting at less than $700.

Here’s an excerpt from an October 1987 news article in the British publication Computer Business Review covering the debut of these computers:

AMSTRAD VAPORISES LAP TOP PRICE UMBRELLA WITH UKP400 PPC

29th October 1987 | From Issue Number: 799

Amstrad Plc will change the economics of owning an MS-DOS portable in January when its PPC range, unveiled in London yesterday, becomes available. There will be four PPC models, with an entry price that at UKP399 plus VAT is roughly half the cheapest competition. For that money, customers get an 8MHz 80C86 processor, 512Kb RAM, one 3.5″ 720K floppy drive, full AT-enhanced keyboard, MDA and CGA compatible graphics, 80 by 25 line 640 by 200 resolution black-on-green Supertwist LCD with six tilt positions, serial and parallel ports, a further port to attach an, as yet unpriced, four-slot expansion box with 20Mb hard disk, 8 hours life from alkaline batteries, MS-DOS 3.3, and a carrying case. For just UKP100 more, they get either an extra 3.5″ drive or 640Kb RAM and a 2,400 bps auto-dial, auto-answer Hayes-compatible internal modem with Softklone Distributing Corp’s Mirror II communications software, and for UKP200 more - UKP599 - they get the extra drive, 640Kb RAM and the modem. As can be seen from the picture, unusually for an LCD, the screen has the aspect ratio of a CRT: it folds back and then the keyboard folds over it to create a long narrow package with the handle at the side. The 17.8″ by 9″ by 4″ PPCs weigh a touch under 12lbs and will be delivered after the Which Computer? Show in mid-January. They will be shown at Comdex in Las Vegas next week. Prices in overseas markets excluding local sales taxes will be similar to those in the UK. After coming a cropper on his estimates for first year sales of the PC1512, Amstrad boss Alan Sugar said he would never again talk about expected volumes but he did admit he hoped to look back in five years time having sold several hundred thousand of the PPCs. He also hinted that Amstrad was considering a portable version of its PCW word processor. The UK unveiling of the PPC is avoid criticism of its products being launched overseas first.

In October 1987, UKP399 was approximately $680 U.S.

The gray PPC 640 and the beige PPC 512 both employed the NEC V30 processor running at 8MHz, one or two 720k 3.5″ floppy drives, a built-in modem, and standard peripheral connectors for serial (RS-232), parallel (Centronics) and video (CGA/MDA). Both computers were powered by ten C-size alkaline batteries when portable, but also came with AC adapters and the ability to power the unit from the car cigarette lighter.

As these were IBM PC compatibles, they used MS-DOS 3.3. Programmed into ROM memory was the Organizer software, a suite of utility applications that included contact mangers, calendar, calculator and modem dialer. The PPC 640 also came with Mirror II, a communications package for use with the built-in modem. The MS-DOS boot disk also included a utility which could be used to switch between the internal display and an external monitor without rebooting.

References

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PPC_512

www.thepcmuseum.net/details.php?RECORD_KEY(museum)=id&id(museum)=370

www.sinasohn.com/cgi-bin/clascomp/bldhtm.pl?computer=ppc640

www.amstradcg.nl/eppc.html

At 20.5 inches wide, 14.5 inches deep, 8.5 inches tall (all with the case closed) and weighing just over 26 pounds, the Osborne 1 was the first “portable” computer. Portability was obviously a different concept in 1981, when the Osborne 1 was release, than it is today. But the attractive design, self-contained nature of the machine and its relative affordability made the Osborne 1 the first commercially successful computer in the new portable class. Because of its weight and girth, this class would later become known as “luggable” computers.

With its keyboard becoming the lid, the Osborne 1 folded up into a suitcase that held virtually everything an executive could want or need in a computer: two disk drives (one for the application disk and one on which to save data), a keyboard and a monitor. The Osborne 1 came with a built-in CRT monitor that was all of 5 inches, apparently a design concession so the unit could also include two 5 ¼ inch disk drives. The computer ran off the CP/M operating system, which had to run off one of the diskettes. The Osborne 1 also came standard with bundled software, akin to buying a laptop today with an office suite. Most units came standard with Wordstar (the leading word processor from MicroPro), Supercalc (the leading spreadsheet software from Sorcim) and CBasic/MBasic (a programming language from Microsoft). The retail price for this software would come to roughly $1500 if sold separately, making the $1795 computer plus software bundle a very good deal.

Back in its day, the Osborne 1 became practically an overnight success, with the Osborne Computer Company shipping as many as 10,000 a month. However, competition from computers like the Kaypro II, which worked exactly like the Osborne using the same CP/M operating system and associated software, but came standard with double density disk drives and a much larger built-in monitor, began eating into the Osborne 1’s market share. Soon enough, the business world started to “standardize” on IBM-based computers and a new operating system called DOS from an emerging software company called Microsoft. By 1983 the Osborne Computer Company had filed for bankruptcy. But its legacy is the era of portable computing led by its innovative Osborne 1.

The MuMoH physical collection includes an Osborne 1 “B” computer, serial number 118781.

Specifications:

SIZE measured with case closed

• 20.5 inches wide
• 14.5 inches deep
• 8.5 inches high

WEIGHT

• 26.2 lbs (shipping weight 34 lbs)

MAIN PC BOARD

• Processor – Z80A, 4 MHz CPU click
• Memory size – 64K bytes programmable (RAM)
• 4K read-only memory bank-switched
• 60K of programmable memory available for software

DISPLAY

• Video monitor size – 3.55” horizontal, 2.63” vertical
• 24 lines of 52 characters visible
• 32 lines of 128 characters video memory over which window may be moved

DISKS

• 5.25 inch diskettes, single sided, soft sectored (92K per diskette)

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_1
http://www.obsoletecomputermuseum.org/osborne/
http://oldcomputers.net/osborne.html
http://www.mobilitypr.com/blog/2006/06/29/mopr-mobility-minute-portable-computers/

A month ago Digibarn co-founders Allan Lundell and Bruce Damer presented items from their portable computing collection on CNET Live. Watch this fascinating tour in the history of mobility:

We’re very proud to say that MuMoH has these same items in our own physical collection, and we look forward to sharing more details about them with you in the coming days. Please visit the Digibarn Blog when you have a chance, too.