Scratch
a Palmtopper and you will find a story, often a personal history of
his or her introduction to the HP LX family of computers. Somehow
we all seem to remember, with amazing clarity, how it all began for
us!
The
following examples are excerpted from some memories submitted by some
of the Palmtoppers in the Fireside Forum of HPHand on CompuServe.
Stan
Dobrowski, certainly one of the most advanced and enthusiastic users
of the LX and a member of Team HP, loved the HP line of calculators
in college and moved on to the 95LX from there. He has owned every
model and did one of the early crystal upgrades in this area, in 1995,
using Japanese instructions...fortunately, as he says, with good pictures!
Michael
Melvin "A physician I worked with read about the 95LX and got a 512K
model. I saw it and played with it. I particularly like the spreadsheet
and Solver function of HPCalc. When my friend got a copy of a pharmaceutical
reference program, I dashed out and got a 1Meg 95LX. I have since
moved to a 1Meg 100LX, then had it upgraded to 2Meg. Now I have a
5Meg double speed 200LX. (Educalc has made a lot of money off of my
propensity to upgrade palmtops!")
Steve
Carder MD (Family Practice) "Fortunately for all of us, some
of those who love LX's have gone on to develop marvelous software
that has made the basic unit even more useful. "
Avi
Meshar, one of the founders of D&A Software, developers of such remarkable
appplications for the LX as WWW.LX, recalls that he followed the evolution
of the LX from the 95 onward, primarily due to its ability to run
Lotus123, until "...in 1992 or 1993 I saw an ad for CompUSA and they
had the HP 100LX. Hmmmm.... I was there in 5 minutes - sure enough,
an 80 char. PC DOS, w/my beloved Lotus 123 Rel 2.4. Needless to say
my work was different, but I was still a captive of the charm of having
a PC in your palm. So that's how it began in August 1993 for me."
His
friend, 'lexu (Alexander Gutfeldt), remembers: "In 1994, when I got
my first job at the University of Berne, I managed to sleep in (too)
late very often, leading to some embarrassing situations So I started
looking around for an electronic agenda. At the Orbit computer fair
in Basel I saw a couple of HP200LX on display.. when I realized how
useful the agenda applet was for me and that I could run other stuff
I needed for the evening classes
I still attend, I
quickly bought one."
Also
in Europe, Daniel Legendre says that he started with other HP products
and ".... subscribed to the PTP one year before I bought a previously
owned HP100LX from EduCalc", by which time he knew that it was just
what he needed! In
Germany, Martin Breidenbacht, another member of TeamHP, says that
although he has long collected HP products, some of the small ones
can get lost on a "busy" desk, but: "...that can't happen with the
700LX because if it disappears in that room I can
call its Cel phone and hear where it is " ! (Brilliant!)
Arturo
Riera has a very long list of wonderful computers that he has owned
over the years, between 1984 and today, including a particular old
favoite of mine, the Toshiba 1000. He sums it all up with these somehow
familiar words: " I keep telling my wife
the equipment is good for my career! (Don't let on!)".
Ole
Latham, in the mid-west, tells a fine tale of using an OmniBook but
reading about the LX...and lurking in the HPHand Forums, amazed by
the activity and the atmosphere there! Finally, in 1994, he bought
a previously owned 100LX and upgraded to a 200LX and now works happily
on a ram and speed upgraded 200LX...and has upgraded that OmniBook,
too!
I backed
into the family of Palmtoppers by way of the Palmtop Paper. I bought
a copy in a local Barnes & Noble in the summer of 1994, curious about
a publication dedicated exclusively to tiny computers. The transition
from the 95LX to the 100LX had already taken place and I went straight
to the Office Depot next door and bought a 1mg 100LX. I took it home,
installed batteries, began to explore the features, and fell in love
immediately. I returned it and bought the 2mg model from ACE and upgraded
to the 2mg, 200LX when it arrived on the market the following year.
I have loved and lived with this little wonder, without a break, since
then! When
I found the HPHand Forums I found an endless source of information,
instruction and friendships. And I have subscribed to the Palmtop
Paper since 1994 as well.Ole
was right: the HPHand Forums are lively and fun and endlessly informative
too. And even as the LX's evolve to utilize the newer format of WinCE,
some of us remain faithful and satisfied users of the original DOS
computers we fell in love with some years ago.
To
second Avi's sentiments, I am still a captive of the charm of having
a PC in your palm.
