Ah nah, Personal Digital Assistants! They’re basically Smartphones with half the smart and none of the phone. Pocketable computers that do a lot of what modern phones can do - but worse because it’s 20+ year old tech.
Oh hey! I collect somewhat vintage computing stuff as well! Mainly Thinkpads. What I found the most challenging would be finding replacement parts, especially batteries. How do you go about yours?
Batteries are easy to get thanks to Cameron Sino! They make brand new batteries for old devices from cameras to PDAs.
As for parts, depends! Some you can easily find broken/untested units for cheap to grab parts off of. Others like my daily driver, the Sony Clié PEG-UX50(It even flips around to hide the keyboard!), is rarer since it was top of the top of the line, and therefore wicked expensive ($700! Today that’s worth $1,200!) Working units can be found but command high prices, and it needs a special dingus cradle for charging. Without the cradle, you can’t charge as it doesn’t take USB power.
A lot of the time, untested units usually just need a new battery and they kick right back on. Every untested device I’ve bought was much cheaper than working, and one fresh battery later it starts right up.
I collect mid-2000s PDAs!
How do you collect personal displays of affection from 20 years ago?
I’m guessing photos!
Ah nah, Personal Digital Assistants! They’re basically Smartphones with half the smart and none of the phone. Pocketable computers that do a lot of what modern phones can do - but worse because it’s 20+ year old tech.
Walking in with your Newton, acting like you own the place!
That’s generally frowned on.
Oh hey! I collect somewhat vintage computing stuff as well! Mainly Thinkpads. What I found the most challenging would be finding replacement parts, especially batteries. How do you go about yours?
Batteries are easy to get thanks to Cameron Sino! They make brand new batteries for old devices from cameras to PDAs.
As for parts, depends! Some you can easily find broken/untested units for cheap to grab parts off of. Others like my daily driver, the Sony Clié PEG-UX50 (It even flips around to hide the keyboard!), is rarer since it was top of the top of the line, and therefore wicked expensive ($700! Today that’s worth $1,200!) Working units can be found but command high prices, and it needs a special dingus cradle for charging. Without the cradle, you can’t charge as it doesn’t take USB power.
A lot of the time, untested units usually just need a new battery and they kick right back on. Every untested device I’ve bought was much cheaper than working, and one fresh battery later it starts right up.
I used to work at a computer store back then, there were so many (shittty) options for pda and mo3 players back then
Oh yeah, there’s definitely a reason why the iPhone took off so well lol