From: ALKIRE@acuvax.acu.edu (AL KIRE)
Subject: Re: SHARP PC-3000 Brief Review
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.20
Organization: Lost in NETland
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 15:58:04 GMT

In <1565@mrcu> yc23@uk.co.gec-mrc writes:

> A Short Evaluation of the Sharp PC 3000 Palmtop
> -----------------------------------------------
> The following short report reviews the SHARP PC-3000 Palmtop by two experienced
> PC users at this Centre.

	... review deleted for brevity.

Thank you for your review.  It answered many of my questions on the new Sharp
machines.  There are still a couple of questions I have, and information on
these machines has been rather scarce.

	... more stuff deleted

> The keyboard is just a fraction too small to allow for typing at a fast speed
> although far better than the HP95LX. For poorer typists the keyboard is
> probably quite OK (one/two fingers at a time) but for faster people it will
> cause a little delay. From  what I have heard I suspect it is better than the
> Poquet - but I have never tried one of these machines.

	... more stuff deleted
> 
> Trevor Wright
> yc23@uk.co.gec-mrc

Concerning the keyboard, HOW LOUD IS IT?  I don't mind audible feedback if it
can be turned off.  The main application I have for a palmtop involves text
entry.  For this I need a larger keyboard than the HP.  I _have_ looked at a
Poqet.  I noticed that when I was typing as fast as I could on the small
keyboard, that there was an annoying "clack".  Upon investigation I discovered
that this is caused by the plastic keytops bottoming out.  If I pressed the key
slowly, I could detect a nice tactile break over point and no sound.  However
when pressing the key rapidly, there was the sound of plastic against plastic.
What kind of noise does the Sharp machine make?

Incidently, when typing on the Poqet, I noticed my error rate was higher than
normal.  I belive that with familiarization, that would not be as much of a
problem.  I suspect the Sharp machines would present a similar situation. 
However for text entry of any size, there can be no comparison.  I use a Casio
digital diary which I like because of its compact size, but its biggest
drawback is the slow text entry.  There are some things I would like to use it
for that I can't because of this limitation.  I don't see how the HP95LX could
be any different with its keyboard arrangement.

> COMPATIBILITY
> -------------
> 
> The Sharp is  able to read  and write files  to and from  a HP95 formatted  ram
> card. I have indeed transferred programs via my HP95-PC link onto a card on the
> HP and have then run them on the Sharp.
> I was not able to try the other way round, formatting the card on the Sharp and
> moving files to the HP95, as I only have one 512 Kbyte card and did not want to
> destroy my data on it.

	... rest of review deleted.

Does the Sharp run the same ROM based program cards?  Can we take a ROM card
from the HP95LX or the Poqet and run it on the Sharp?  Also, does it have the
capability to execute those ROM based applications in ROM?  This could make a
big difference to the amount of available RAM.  I know the Poqet has the
ability to execute ROM based applications from ROM without loading them into
RAM.  I think this is highly desireable for these limited storage machines.

Finally, I have a stupid question.  How is the memory beyond 640K used on these
1 or 2 megabyte machines.  I thought you had to have at least an 80286 to use
exapanded or extended memory.  This is one of those fuzzy areas for me on DOS
architecture.  Can you actually have 2 meg of application memory?

Warren Alkire
Abilene Christian University