Sharp electronic organizers with the IC card slot (Wizard OZ/IQ/PA/PI series)

[badaze]

I don’t see the IQ 8400 in the list.

[rprosperi]

(03-07-2023 09:42 PM)badaze Wrote:  I don’t see the IQ 8400 in the list.

Very nice condition! (but change the batteries before they leak).

Most 8000 series machines have died by now due to a poor flex circuit design in the hinge area. Please treat this rare working IQ-8400 machine well. Lots of memories with these, especially my 8600. Thx!

[Akuji]

(03-07-2023 09:42 PM)badaze Wrote:  I don’t see the IQ 8400 in the list.

Thanks, I've updated the table in the original post. Too many different variants of the same model of western organizers to remember them all. And that's even after I decided to omit the 'S' variant of the 8000 series to make the table less cluttered.

[Stevew62]

Does anyone want this ?

I just found it in a drawer of stuff I was clearing out. TBH I can vaguely remember owning an IQ in the early 90‘s but it is long gone.

[Dave Britten]

I finally got a copy of Box Jockey in the mail today - I've kind of wanted this one ever since I saw it in some store back in the early '90s (might have been Service Merchandise). Didn't have a Wizard at that time though. Apparently this version of Sokoban has 130 stages, whereas the Gameboy version (called Boxxle in the US) only has 108.

On a related note, does anybody have any experience with card battery life? I'm wondering how long I can expect the batteries in my BASIC or spreadsheet cards to hold up without needing a change. So far my cards are all doing okay after 2-3 years. My Time Expense Manager card's battery is still reading 2.930 Volts with no load.

EDIT: Well, it's dropping to a couple hundred mV under a 100 Ohm load, so I reckon that "every 2 years" recommendation printed on the back is pretty accurate, and I should put in a new battery!

[rprosperi]

(03-27-2023 07:41 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  ...does anybody have any experience with card battery life? I'm wondering how long I can expect the batteries in my BASIC or spreadsheet cards to hold up without needing a change. So far my cards are all doing okay after 2-3 years. My Time Expense Manager card's battery is still reading 2.930 Volts with no load.

It depends on how much it's used (of course) but the battery in my BASIC Card lasted over 20 years, though most of which time it was just sitting in a storage box. Also, I believe the card battery is only actually 'used' when the main batteries are low/dead; while they are fresh, I think there is effectively no load on the card battery.

If you're actually using these cards daily, obviously the life will be affected, but you are certainly safe changing it ~ every 2 years.

Please read the manuals to be 100% sure, but IIRC, unlike the HP-48, you should change the card battery while the card is installed in the organizer, but with the device turned OFF (in a 48, the cards are only powered by the device when the device is turned-on).

Get ready for a fairly deep rabit hole with Box Jockey, and YES they are all solvable.

[Dave Britten]

(03-27-2023 10:18 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(03-27-2023 07:41 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  ...does anybody have any experience with card battery life? I'm wondering how long I can expect the batteries in my BASIC or spreadsheet cards to hold up without needing a change. So far my cards are all doing okay after 2-3 years. My Time Expense Manager card's battery is still reading 2.930 Volts with no load.

It depends on how much it's used (of course) but the battery in my BASIC Card lasted over 20 years, though most of which time it was just sitting in a storage box. Also, I believe the card battery is only actually 'used' when the main batteries are low/dead; while they are fresh, I think there is effectively no load on the card battery.

If you're actually using these cards daily, obviously the life will be affected, but you are certainly safe changing it ~ every 2 years.

Please read the manuals to be 100% sure, but IIRC, unlike the HP-48, you should change the card battery while the card is installed in the organizer, but with the device turned OFF (in a 48, the cards are only powered by the device when the device is turned-on).

Get ready for a fairly deep rabit hole with Box Jockey, and YES they are all solvable.

Yeah, I consulted the BASIC manual to make sure I was correctly removing the battery. As long as the card is in the Wizard and the switch is set to lock, the card is powered by the main system batteries. So yes, make sure it's inserted and the Wizard is turned off, then you can safely test or swap the battery.

I've played a fair amount of Boxxle on Gameboy (both that and Box Jockey are ports of Sokoban), so I do know what a time sink it can be.

[Akuji]

I can finally present you the complete set of IC cards from the PI-3Cx lineup for the Zaurus 'PI' organizers. As can be seen from the photo, only a few cards have been released, especially with application software. Since the release of PI-4500 onwards, which allowed installing applications (called 'add-ins') directly into the organizer's memory, the software distribution shifted from individual IC cards to floppies & online repositories as a much cheaper medium.



There are multiple variants of PI-3C95 and PI-3C9F with different amounts of memory. Here are two versions of the PI-3C95 card.



One additional card doesn’t belong to the PI-3Cx series but is related to the PI-8000 organizer. The card 'CE-PA1' is part of the 'PHS Adapter,’ peripheral accessory, which connects a supported organizer to mobile phones of the then-new PHS standard. Early batches of PI-8000 didn't have built-in support for this new standard. The IC card contained the corresponding firmware update.

[fy789]

Doeos anybody know if the Sharp PA-9500/9550 organizers will work with PA-3xxx and PA-7xxx IC cards. These organizers were designed with the ESR-L CPUs, which is different from the previous organizers.


I am pretty sure that the PA-9xxx IC cards only work with the PA-9500/9550 organizers only, but correct me if you know otherwise.

[Akuji]

(03-14-2024 03:01 AM)fy789 Wrote:  Doeos anybody know if the Sharp PA-9500/9550 organizers will work with PA-3xxx and PA-7xxx IC cards. These organizers were designed with the ESR-L CPUs, which is different from the previous organizers.


I am pretty sure that the PA-9xxx IC cards only work with the PA-9500/9550 organizers only, but correct me if you know otherwise.

PA-9XX0 is generally compatible with all cards from the PA-3Cxx and PA-7Cxx series. Some cards from the PA-9Cxx series (i.e., 9C30, 9C60) are also compatible with the PA-7000/8000 series of organizers.

[fy789]

Hi,

I just wonder if there exist any US/Europe Sharp Wizard model conversion table?
I only know that :
IQ-8900/8920 = OZ-9500/9520
IQ-9000 = OZ-9600 (?)
IQ-9200 = OZ-9600II (?)

In addition, is it hard to change the language in these organizers?
eg. from German/French to English.....etc

BTW, are the US and Europe IC cards universal to both US and Europe organizers?
If they are not universal, are they locked to each region by software/hardware/form-factors?


Thanks!

[Akuji]

(04-09-2024 11:50 PM)fy789 Wrote:  Hi,

I just wonder if there exist any US/Europe Sharp Wizard model conversion table?
I only know that :
IQ-8900/8920 = OZ-9500/9520
IQ-9000 = OZ-9600 (?)
IQ-9200 = OZ-9600II (?)

OZ-8600 (US) = IQ-8400/8500M

(04-09-2024 11:50 PM)fy789 Wrote:  In addition, is it hard to change the language in these organizers?
eg. from German/French to English.....etc

Only the non-US models with 'M' in their model number have this feature, i.e., IQ-7100M (multi-lingual version of OZ/IQ-7000), IQ-8300M (OZ/IQ-8200), etc.

(04-09-2024 11:50 PM)fy789 Wrote:  BTW, are the US and Europe IC cards universal to both US and Europe organizers?
If they are not universal, are they locked to each region by software/hardware/form-factors?

IC cards don't have regional locks and can be used in both the OZ & IQ models. Some cards, however, may not be compatible with certain organizers, i.e., IQ-721 'Organizer Golf' supports only 7000 series of devices.