10 replies to this topic

[segasaturn]

(just so you know, I'm sorry if it is in the wrong forum, I didn't know what forum this was supposed to go into)....


So I was wondering if anyone owns the Atari Portfolio? I was thinking about asking for one for chirstmas. I looked on ebay and there only about 100 or so dollars for the used ones. But I don't mind of there used. If I was getting one I would use it for school-planning(as a school/life planner). I think that is what the computer was designed to do anyway. But yeah. It sounds pretty neat. So does anyone own one? Is it a good thing to own? Do you use it alot? And is it easy to navigate the DOS system on the computer?(I can use DOS) I really like Atari, and I think owning an Atari Planner was be so cool. Obviously I would take good care of it.....also how is the battery life on one of those things?

[svenski]

I have a Portfolio.

You can use it as a planner, diary, set alarms, address book, and more. The battery life is quite good, can last for weeks if you don't use it much. The Portfolio uses memory/storage cards that were the forerunner to the PCMCIA standard. One of the British guys behind the Portfolio went on to push for the PCMCIA standard. The portfolio cards use a cell battery - these can easily be replaced.

The Portfolio uses a version of DOS, called "mini DOS" if I recall correctly, written specifically for the Portfolio. Most of the basic DOS commands will be fine. It also has a GUI of sorts so you can access the different applicaitons via a menu screen.

[segasaturn]

svenski, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 5:14 PM, said:

The portfolio cards use a cell battery - these can easily be replaced.

What do you mean "cell battery"? Is it the battery backup that the portfolio uses? For when you change the batteries? Do those cell batteries last a long time and where can you buy those?

Also where can you buy the "memory cards" for it? Is that the only form of "storage" that is removable? (so that is the only way to add programs?????)

Edited by segasaturn, Tue Oct 4, 2011 5:53 PM.

[svenski]

The Portfolio effectively has a hard drive which is C: . The portfolio itself uses AA batteries which are easy to replace.

The cards use, a better description, a watch battery. The memory cards work like removable storage on A: . You can buy a ton of stuff for the Portfolio from the likes of Best Electronics etc. You can buy Chess and BASIC for the Portfolio on card, and there is a way to hook your Portfolio up to your PC via parallel interface to transfer files and data between them - check out the Best Electronics site - probably works better on older DOS PCs though.

$100 for a Portfolio without anything seems a bit steep for ebay. Look out for ones that come with at least the manual, or some extras.

Here is the link for Best Electronics, so you can see all the cool stuff available:

http://www.best-elec...om/portfoli.htm

[segasaturn]

svenski, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 6:16 PM, said:

The Portfolio effectively has a hard drive which is C: . The portfolio itself uses AA batteries which are easy to replace.

The cards use, a better description, a watch battery. The memory cards work like removable storage on A: . You can buy a ton of stuff for the Portfolio from the likes of Best Electronics etc. You can buy Chess and BASIC for the Portfolio on card, and there is a way to hook your Portfolio up to your PC via parallel interface to transfer files and data between them - check out the Best Electronics site - probably works better on older DOS PCs though.

$100 for a Portfolio without anything seems a bit steep for ebay. Look out for ones that come with at least the manual, or some extras.

Here is the link for Best Electronics, so you can see all the cool stuff available:

http://www.best-elec...om/portfoli.htm

Thanks for your replies. I think I'll ask for one for Christmas. I'll hopefully get an expansion for the memory, and find a way to connect it to my computer. I want to add some programs(games, etc,.)......again thanks for your replies.

[Sauron]

The Portfolio was a neat little system for its time. I bought one on eBay a number of years back and had fun playing around with it, but the tech unfortunately has not aged well.

svenski, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 6:16 PM, said:

The Portfolio effectively has a hard drive which is C: . The portfolio itself uses AA batteries which are easy to replace.

C: on the Portfolio isn't actually a hard drive, but a RAM disk which contains the OS and related files which are loaded from ROM whenever it boots. If you want any type of "permanent" storage for the Portfolio, you'll need one of those memory cards for it, which essentially act like a floppy disk on it. I seem to recall a third party hard drive for it though. Has anyone ever seen one of them?

[Chuck D. Head]

I hope my portfolio does not get polio. Titicaca!

[jaybird3rd]

At one point I owned two Portfolios, which I used for note-taking for several years. I like the built-in software, and the fact that they managed to fit removable storage and an expansion interface into such a small system. The biggest limitations are the keyboard size (inevitable given the form factor), the old memory card format, and the fact that there is no built-in I/O (yes, you can add serial and parallel modules, but these make the system much too large and unwieldy for a palmtop). The screen was also problematic: the hinges would get very stiff and squeaky over time, and one of my screens failed because of a bad ribbon cable. The rubberized coating they used on the exterior of the case also did not hold up very well; even inside a carrying case, it collected scratches and scuffmarks very easily.

I held on to them for as long as I could, but I eventually upgraded to the Tandy 102 for writing, and I still use it today. It has many of the advantages of the Portfolio: it provides very long battery life on ordinary AA batteries and it has a good collection of built-in software, but the keyboard is much larger, it has a built-in serial port, and thanks to aftermarket upgrades like the REX, the internal ROM software and the storage capacity can be expanded with ease.

[svenski]

Sauron, on Wed Oct 5, 2011 3:36 AM, said:

The Portfolio was a neat little system for its time. I bought one on eBay a number of years back and had fun playing around with it, but the tech unfortunately has not aged well.

C: on the Portfolio isn't actually a hard drive, but a RAM disk which contains the OS and related files which are loaded from ROM whenever it boots. If you want any type of "permanent" storage for the Portfolio, you'll need one of those memory cards for it, which essentially act like a floppy disk on it. I seem to recall a third party hard drive for it though. Has anyone ever seen one of them?

Well I did say "effectively" but yes, your description is more accurate. It is a RAM drive that acts like an internal disk drive. The RAM drive usually defaults to about a quarter of the total RAM size although you can change the size of the RAM drive using FDISK.

I haven't seen a third party hard drive for it, but thanks for the heads up. I'll see if I can find something about it. The Portfolio still has its uses but I agree with you 100% that it is a bit long in the tooth now. There was quite a lot of support for it at one time and you can download everything from games to music files and "e-books" (not the sort you can buy from Amazon!) . Cool device really.

[rdemming]

And according to the movie "Terminator II" you can hack the ATM with it to give you money for free. So it will be a great investment

Quote

The Portfolio appears in the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, where it is used by the young John Connor to bypass security on an ATM with a ribbon cable connecting the Portfolio's parallel interface to a magstripe card. This setup also appears a second time in the movie, when John uses it in the Cyberdyne Systems lab to retrieve the key to the vault containing the arm and CPU of the first Terminator.

And according to Wikipedia, you can replace the ramcard slot with a CF slot:

Quote

Another interesting hack is the Portfolio Compact Flash modification. By modifying the RAM card slot and fitting a CF-socket and a small circuit (a 74 series chip and a bit of buffering), CF cards can be used (albeit in partitions no larger than 32 MB each due to limitations of the ROM DOS).

Here is the description of the CF-mod.

Robert

[puppetmark]

I really like my Portfolio. there is a lot you can still do with it. I would recomend trying to pick up a parallel and serial interface for it. The keyboard is great for typing on the go. BTW, Here is a good thread from a little while back concerning transfering data to and from the Portfolio and a PC:

http://www.atariage...._1#entry2056702