What is the best BASIC Pocket Computer

[robert rozee]

(04-05-2014 06:42 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  

(04-05-2014 01:18 PM)robert rozee Wrote:  how about an HP-95LX set up to boot straight into a suitable basic interpreter? you get a 40x16 screen that beats anything else, a tonne of memory, and can backup to a removable card. plus a serial port too.

personally, i prefer the 95LX over the 200LX series due to the 95's far more readable screen.


rob :-)

The trouble with the 95LX is that it isn't a full 80x25 text display like a standard MS-DOS machine, so you have to deal with hot key combinations to pan the screen. The 100LX and 200LX will present a full screen of text, but it's pretty tiny.

the original posting didn't make any mention of an 80x25 screen or a need to run MSDOS programs. i'm thinking of a 95LX that is set up to take the user directly to a BASIC development environment. when set up thus - without any need or means to exit to DOS, a 95LX would make a nice BASIC Pocket Computer with a 40x16 screen and full keyboard that blows away the likes of the casio FX-850 and others.

while impractical at the original sale price, given a 95LX can be had for less than $100 on ebay it seems like a cost-effective and quite practical choice. just forget about it being an MSDOS machine below the BASIC environment.

rob :-)