these databanks were given by newspapers in exchange of coupons. In the 90s there was this huge coupon craze in Turkey. They gave encyclopedias,plates,stereos,crt televisions even cars. These sort of “laptops” had three different versions that different newspapers gave this one is from Sabah newspaper the ones from Hürriyet newspaper even had floppy drives.
That's pretty interesting! I don't know if it still exists, but Marlboro cigarettes had something similar in the US, with a whole catalogue of items you could buy if you had "proof of purchase" of a given number of packs. Which is a crazy incentive when you think about it, "smoke more and you can get a bag or some coffee mugs!"
I dug up a sample newspaper ad from 1996: i.imgur.com/ZVeSpll.png A quick translation of the bulletpoints: The heading reads something like "Here are the supreme/superlative features of this computer" -- 1) This is the Brother PN-8500 MDS, Made in USA; 2) Software localized; 3) User's Manual available in Turkish; 4) Terminal software included, internet access with a 'standard modem'; 5) Word Processor & spreadsheet program included, "... for you to type in all manner of corresondence, reports, homework, etc."; 6) ... this bullet point says the items in the previous bullet point can be saved into memory; 7) ... this one's a comment as to how useful the spreadsheet software really is ...; 8) ... has an address book; 9) ... back to the theme of spreadsheets: It says this computer opens Lotus 1-2-3 files -- not to mention that the word processor is 'compatible with' Word, Word Perfect, and 'PW'; 10) Screen has 80 columns, 22 rows; 11) Has floppy drive; 12) ... says the computer has a 'printer interface', the parenthetical remark then explains that said 'interface' is a 'printer driver'; 13) ... features games like 'Tetis and Turnabout'; more games available through Brother resellers. This was a pretty wild period indeed for media conglomerates in the country. As to the coupon craze: We still use some of the crockery we received in the 90s through coupon clippery.
This was my first computer, indeed! My mom had collected some coupons of newspaper, and we paid it by these. If my typing is quite well now, definitely because of this computer had a typing programme. I wasn't speak English, but I was wrinting very well. :)) Good old days... I'm getting old. Damn!
@@aretard7995 It may have had the brain of a calculator (quite literally, given the blobs of resin) but yeah, text editor spreadsheet, some games and enough info to keep yourself occupied for a while. My aunt would love this kind of system, there is barely anything to be confused about. There have been worse starts when trying to learn computing, I'm sure (my MSX started up in basic, also not ideal).
@@aretard7995 hey in many ways this kicks the ass out of the beloved British SinclaIr budget computers. only thing this is inferior in is it has no way to make any programs of your own, but in shere user functionality it is in fact the superior machine.
This "computer" was given to people who subscribed and collected a number of coupons -like 60 or 90 pieces- from a newspaper. This kind of campaigns from newspapers at the times -90s- was very common tactic to get more sales , otherwise the newspapers themselves was mostly trash well today they are %100 trash.. :) Also people collected the coupons hoping to get a real computer because they never actually told about this being more of a PDA. At the height of this coupons craze the newspapers gave TV sets, boomboxes, various counterfeit game consoles and even a car :) Yes it was "possible" to collect coupons to get a car :)
@@RejectedRecords1998 If your talking to me, yeah I should, and disable auto correct. If you're talking to the OP; come on, he's probably a native Turkish speaker, he did pretty well for himself, especially for a UA-cam comment
This "Laptop" does not has backlight screen; it comes with a power adapter, user's manual, a mouse and (of course) the computers it self. You could get this computer by exchange of the coupons on the newspapers. Example: If you collect 100 coupons, then you go to the newspaper's headquarter and give these coupons to newspaper's headquarter to get the computer (It means you should buy 100 newspapers to get a computer). Also, computer is based on DOS; it gots printer port, mouse port, and Internet port(that's right). I can send the pictures of the user's manual in 1 or 4 weeks (of course if you want), also I can answer your questions in 1 or 4 weeks too... Edit: Excuse me for Internet port line; I got confused with the Internet add-on for the front slot
I'm guessing that the little compartment was a place to store the power cord, is that right? If not, what was it used for? Thanks for your information, I thought this was so very interesting.
That slot on the front is using for add-ons. (E.g. flash memory card; IO Card, for fax/modems and Internet Card). Also, power brick is really huge.So it can't fit. I'm sorry for my late answer. Also, thank you for your question.
BodziuM haha, i wish i knew more about it, my neighbour gave this to us when they were moving out in 2001 or something. I don't have any manuals for it. I only have the Notebook.
WRT Tetris, (At least on NES) Type A is the endless mode with increasing difficulty, whereas in Type B you have to clear a number of lines on a set difficulty.
It's a world of laughter, a world of tears. It's a world of hopes and a world of fears. There's so much that we share, That it's time we're aware, It's a small world after all... This damn song is too catchy. Even in chiptune.
This really cracked me up in the morning (missed it last night) I tried to clean it up as much as possible when I sent it to you but the owner seems to have used it quite a bit? When I first booted it there were some random notes from the Gökhan guy, who seems to have owned it 😁
I do remember at one point Turkey and Israel were on friendly terms, obviously before Erdogan's reign. I would guess for the stars of David, the software may have been developed by Israeli designers. Not knowing the develops and therefore their intent, I would take a wild guess "It's a Small World" was done in the spirit of the song itself as maybe symbolizing the low level cooperation or the oneness of humanity.
Several sketchy electronic toys and stuff used that song back in the day. I guess it was just popular and recognizable, so these manufacturers simply added it to everything.
"Hello, Comet support? I need help with your Notebook CNC-9606. I don't know where to find this thing called 'kebab'. Yes, kebab. I don't know either, your device keeps asking me to remove it."
Actually, this Comet Computer was An Educational Notebook Computer to beginners in Turkey. It came with a floppy disk to used in a PC to transfer data, a mouse and a AC adapter.
Original DMG Gameboys often suffer the same problem with vertical lines missing at the sides. Reflow the solder where the ribbon cable attaches to the screen by gently rubbing it with a soldering iron tip. There are some yootoob vids showing the process.
I love how much quirky charm this Laptop like device has despite it looking, on the outside, rather business-like. The clone games really remind me of the type of games you got on Hong Kong original handhelds, with strong resemblance to their Gameboy counterparts but their hasn't quite nailed the way things move. Anyways really fascinating video Clint ^_^
"1970s business laptop " Not sure what you mean, perhaps you are joking, as this clamshell design really only took off in the '80s and this device is clearly imitating the look of contemporary '90s laptops.
Oh my, seeing something from Turkey as a citizen of Turkey, it's amazing. I love how bizarre some stuff seem to you even though us Turkish kids were used to them since forever!
Hey Clint, to fix the missing lines use the old method: heat the contacts of the lcd with a hairdryer and then rub them with a soft pencil eraser. This worked for all my devices, from pocket organizers to GameBoys.
Around late 90s in Turkey, there was a huge newspaper promotion craze. People would collect newspaper coupons for years to get TVs, computers, and even cars. That Comet PC is a specimen from those days.
Hi, follower from Turkey here. On one of the webpages you show it says 'some kind of a children' s computer for education' as information. Btw your pronunciation of 'bilgisayar' was pretty good. :) I've never thought I would a hear Turkish word coming out of your mouth. :D
"This is a new-old stock IBM and I've wanted one for so long. Now if you look in the back its got some empty bays for expansion cards or you could hide your weed in there." - Stoner LGR
That plastic bay is for storage of bonbons and toothpicks, if you read the complimentary information coasters included with the deluxe edition you would know that.
Looks like here's a bad connection with the leftmost column of LCD pixels. You can see there's a bigger gap on the left side of the screen than on the right.
𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲: "I know why you're here, Neo. I know what you've been doing...why night after night, you sit by your computer. It's the question that drives us, Neo. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did..." 𝐍𝐞𝐨: "ｗｈａｔ ｉｓ ｆｉｌｅｓ ?"
I mean, as a PDA to introduce people to computers, it's actually pretty neat. It's mobile, doesn't rely on any permanent battery or power supply, and the build quality seems decent. I'm pretty sure that empty compartment is just for storing batteries, for longer trips. It's like the VTech kids' "computers" (I don't think they make those anymore) that have those mushy "mess-proof" keyboards, but are pretty much the same kinda thing, just with games and such much more targeted at kids.
Thank you for the review! I am a bit late but, i felt really excited when i saw Turkish flag :') And your pronunciation of the word "bilgisayar" was pretty decent. Thanks again! :)
Pro tip - when you take something electronic apart, you should have an empty ice cube tray handy to keep all the loose parts in so they don't wander off :)
The Tetris game is actually a pretty faithful recreation of the GameBoy version, to an extent. it even has the same patterns for the different block shapes. B Type is also from the GameBoy version. It allows you to select a High level, where it will put random blocks in the play area up to the row corresponding with the High level. The objective of B type is to make as many multi-line clearouts before you run out of lines remaining. After you run out of lines remaining, the game tallies up your score, with Doubles, Triples and Tetris's netting you more and more points, respectively.
I know that version. Its the one where Superman and Spiderman battle the Empire using stock footage from The Temple of Doom and then slap a bunch of women with paper swords.
Hi man, really love your show and I’m Turkish myself, so it was definitely interesting that you reviewed this. That thing on the calendar, “Annemin doğum günü” translates to “Mom’s birthday” in Turkish. Let me know if you’d like anything translated in the future!
The eBay-ish screengrabs that came up were oddly amusing on that front. I know £1 = about 3TL... the first one was just 40TL, there was another for about 200, which seemed a little ambitious... then a third for _850 TL,_ wtf?! I bet it didn't sell for that much when brand new.
They are just making up prices so that a dumb rich guy would mistaken the item as valuable and buy it, but in reality, these damn things are everywhere in the flea markets. Shame.
This actually looks like something a parent to give to their kid. It sort of mimics a real machine without actually giving the kid an expensive laptop. Would be neat to see some of that extra software because this is actually rather impressive for something so simple!
I remember a time when this thing would have seemed like science fiction. Then again, I'm typing this on a device that would have been beyond comprehension.
Hmm...a "How to use DOS" guide, a faux version of DOS, and a Typing Trainer? I'm thinking this is some kind of learning computer for students. Fascinating.
A friend of my father has given me this in 2007, or course just as a toy, and I was OBSESSED with this thing. My dad had a high end Dell at that time, but this thing was much more interesting for a six year old boy. I found every combination after which the virus sign comes up (I don't know its meaning, but I know that I loved it) and played with it for years. I still remember the first level of Soukoban and how I felt very intelligent when I started to solve the puzzles in different levels (I think I was stuck in one of them). I played "Alley Way" possible for more than 100 hours :) I was 5 or 6 when it was given to me and my mother gave it to someone without asking me when I was 13 or something. I was looking for the name of this device, and found it on Teknoseyir, a great Turkish tech site. I will purchase it as soon as possible :) I tried to find it but couldn't even understand what its operating system was, I thought maybe it was some early version of windows, but what I remembered wasn't even similar to Windows 1 or 3.1, but now, finally, I am finally relieved.
The manufacturer seems to be a Hong Kong company called Comet Electronics, here's an old archived copy of their website: web.archive.org/web/19991109110434/www.cometelectronics.com.hk:80/ by 2001 (the earliest product listing I can find that worked) they didn't have anything like this notebook listed, but their main product line seemed to be electronic translators/organisers, which I guess were likely based on similar technology to this thing. (in fact Comet brand translators still seem to be on the market in some places, their latest one being basically an Android tablet with translation software installed, but I can't find a working website for them anymore)
WE NEED MORE TECH TALES!!! Please... also sorry for the enthusiasm, I just really like your tech tales and I think you do a really good job! Keep up the good work!
This kinda reminds me of those Alphasmart classroom computers, where they were basically just word processors with extra goodies. My old elementary school had entire classroom sets of em
I have two of them (because I thought the first one was broken before I realised the problem was just a dead internal battery). Still use the repaired one heavily. I'm not sure what the OS was, would have to dig up the manual and see what I can find. I do have photos of the innards that I took while replacing the battery, though.
The text on the schedule screen says "my father's birthday". Comet was given as a promotion by a newspaper back in the mid to late 90s in exchange for coupons that were issued every day (I believe it was either 30 or 90 coupons). The keyboard is that way due to Turkish characters. I still do have mine somewhere and yes, the original mouse works with the other port. This was an amazing stroll on memory lane. Thanks for the great content as well as your good wishes for 23rd of April!
Type B, if I recall correctly, was a mode where you could have random blocks stacked before you begin. "High" in this case would be how many rows up you wanted those blocks. It was like a challenge mode of sorts.
Hello @LGR In 5:10 , The clause on the screen is Turkish also It means "My Mother's Birthday" Then following sentence is "My Father's Birthday". Greetings from Turkey.
Normalde iki kanalıda takip ediyorum ama teknoseyir de ki son tozlu raflardan sonra merak edip bakiyim dedim. [(ENG) I normally follow both channel but after than last posted teknoseyir's "tozlu raflar" video then I come here and check this "comet notebook".]
I own an atari portfolio which I absolutely love, its a little like this strange device but..actually good. I hope you would do a video on the portfolio some day.
Checkout the flag of Karamanids(and some other beyliks too) and Barbarossa's Flagship banner. There was a Jewish Turkic Khaganate named Khazar Khaganate. You see the pattern there *wink wink* Great Khazaria is coming. :)
I forget whether following Hepburn romanization rules 倉庫番 is 'sokoban' or 'soukoban' but I am guessing the makers of that software went with the latter. I have seen both used in my many modern travels, and I thought I did address this at one point (back when I was still helping to build Sega Retro) but I can't find evidence of it in five minutes... I WILL say that the box for the Japanese version of Shove It! on the Genesis doesn't seem to have furigana to indicate what it should be. The SEC 631 chip is probably just RAM, from a cursory Google search. Will need to de-epoxy those blobs to find out more... :\ I DO wonder what happens if you try to connect the Communications program to a standard RS232 terminal emulator, or if you can even find the software online anywhere, to see if you can dump the on-board software separately.
*Technically* Hepburn uses macrons to denote a long vowel, so 'sōkoban' would be more correct for that, but without the macron you would indeed write 'soukoban'. It's a perfectly standard reading of the characters anyway, so there's no real reason to think the title was supposed to be read differently.
倉庫番 is そうこばん which would be sôkoban in Hepburn and soukoban in Kunrei. Sokoban, as it is generally rendered, is technically defective but accents are a PITA (and Kunrei is unintuitive, as demonstrated by Clint's mispronunciation), so as is often the case it was simply omitted.
That chip could be flash for the files and stuff. The rest of the blocks most likely are a masked rom/otp eprom and an 8bit cpu of some sorts if not 4bits
Most of the games are clones of Game Boy games of the same name. Alleyway was in fact an early game boy title, if not a launch title. Tetris is exactly like the game boy version- Type B is basically what is now known as "Ultra" where you have to clear 40 lines. The "High" setting if not zero fills part of the matrix with garbage.
There is some weird shit going on with this notebook... The "Small World" kinda music... The star of David for the games (even weirder for a turkish computer)... ... just why ?
well... I never saw a star like that. Even Morocco's flag, wich is one star, is a 5 branch star. With Turkish symbols, I always saw 5 branch stars and sometimes 8 branch stars. Not 6. Isn't it supposed to be with another symbol ? Or with little circles around the corners of the star ? (And don't be salty dude... that's not cool :'/ )
XD ok man... I never learned about turkish history at school, but whatever... And you didn't answered my question about the star. I never noticed that turkish flag could have a star with branch. Where can you find that, please ?... Because Google image doesn't show anything that looks like the 6 branch star shown on this computer.
I bet money this uses an embedded Z80 processor. The design looks(internally) similar to the Sharp Wizard. That one used a 9 mhz z80 processor. They are perfect for this type of application, and it also explains the speed/capability on battery power. A 9 mhz z80 processor can do some serious applications and use almost no power...same with the flash memory. In addition, the CPU in halt mode would use practically nothing for energy. Some of the CPU clock time would be required for screen refresh of course. The other gunk covered chips are likely the LCD drivers and MMU chip for the 512K of "RAM". In these designs, the flash actually acts as both RAM and flash storage like a USB stick and is directly addressable by the CPU. The MMU(memory management unit) separates all memory into 8K pages. In this case, there would be 64 pages of ram(64*8192=524288 bytes, or 512KB (which 512 * 8 bits = 4 mega bits...)). The CPU can address 64KB at once, and the MMU allows for the switching of pages, so that all ram may be addressed within the system. In some systems, certain portions of pages are non-switchable/bankable, while others are. This makes sense since you need to "remember" some of the program instructions in memory. Often, a mere 14 registers isn't enough storage for convenient bank switch capability. As such, one may opt for low 32k of ram to be fixed to pages 0-3, and then have the upper 4 pages of the 64K switchable. If anyone out there wants a computer similar to this one, but that fits in your pocket, I recommend the Sharp Wizard OZ-770...2 AA batteries, and it runs for 100 hours. 239x80 COG passive LCD with back light. 9 mhz processor Z80 with zillions of pages of memory(a whopping 3MB!)! Ability to run Z80 assembler and C cross compiled/assembled code. Ability to connect over RS-232 and sync/transfer programs. It also has many C libraries written for it, and piles and piles of games and applications! Including a fully faithful Scorched Earth clone! (called tank war). I actually find it to be the coolest Z80 retro computer money can buy...I have only begun to explore its capabilities, and I would really like to see if I can get it to run CP/M operating system. Since it is capable of RS-232, it could be possible to implement _all_ CP/M innovations to this tiny pocket computer. In addition, software and code exist already to turn it into a terminal, with VT-52 compatible mode.
Oh, and the OZ-770 has games with crappy spelling in them as well :D, but with a lot more musical variety. Anyway, really cool video, and this device is a really interesting approach to portable computing!! A full sized organizer...who knew that could be a thing?!?! I consider these types of computers rather special. They were sadly destroyed by VISOR PDAs in the early 2000s. All the organizers met their doom when the touch screen fad started, which still plagues portables today. When oh when will we get our keyboards back??
Something about this reminds me of those odd keyboard Famiclones. Some of the carts for them also had a fake DOS prompt. Speaking of Nintendo, interesting how they called the Arkanoid clone "Alleyway," since that's also the name of a clone on the Gameboy...
Very cool video. That may be ROM-DOS of some sort, or possibly one of the CPM variants. Pity you didn't find an identifier processor, but I do think CPM-68k was made to run on one of the DragonBall m68ks which would be around the right period.
No way they'd have bothered with a 68k in that, let alone a Dragonball... I doubt it's up to a straight fight with a PalmPilot (which would have about the same pixel density, but at least do some greyscales, and have more sophisticated software). CP/M was mainly made to run on Z80s after all, and MSDOS is but a hop and a skip away from it... I bet it's a high single digits MHz Z80A or similar. Think more Gameboy grade stuff rather than Nomad.
cp/m was not a variant of DOS but its predecessor: my first personal computer (an olivetti 500 with 2 5'1/4 floppy discs) ran on CP/M 2.2 Its syntax was slightly different from DOS's one: for example, when you wanted to copy a file from A to B, you had to type: copy b: xxx.txt a: but the main commands (like dir, cls, exit, copy, del, md, cd, rd, format, prn, ver, type), were the same. CP/M evolved in 82 or 83 to become DR/DOS then MS/DOS when it was bought by Microsoft...
Eh, true, given the price point these likely sold at, Z80 is possible, though I didn't think any of the 8-bit CP/Ms supported directories (though maybe CP/M 4 did?).
that 11.0592 mhz processor in there makes me think part of it is based off of either an 8051, or that that crystal is what's used to drive the serial port (since its divisible to common baud rates from that clock-speed.)
I can see this as being really great for a younger teen of the time who couldn’t afford a better system. Especially if they had an interest in writing because of the word processor. Just like I think chrome books are great for kids and teens now as a way to do basic assignments and research if they come from a family who cant spend very much. I got a chrome book several years ago when they first came out for about 150 and it was my primary note taking, research, and homework device while in college.
I think chrome books & early computers are great for kids, regardlless of income level. Lack of resources stipulates creativity. Access to social media & MMO games are a time sink which trigger negative emotional development so my kid is not getting an iPad any time soon (which is also what Steve Jobs did).
It's hilarious that you are showing this computer. I actually own one (non working), that my husband picked up from someone on his truck route. It's always frustrated him that he could never figure out how to turn the blasted thing on.
![Radius Pivot: The Rotating CRT Monitor from 1991 [LGR Oddware]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/mpayqVGmKyo/mqdefault.jpg)
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Happy National Sovereignty and Children's Day for the Turkish LGR viewers out there! An unintended but neat coincidence :)
*Thanx Clint. Greets from Turkey...*
It's a small world, after all.
This is amazing!! Thanks alot 😁
Issa Kuhdashti Send him some coffee from Mehmet Efendi ve Mahdumlari as well - and make sure to get the confectionery from Haci Bekir.
Hey Clint, I just typed things right here.
these databanks were given by newspapers in exchange of coupons. In the 90s there was this huge coupon craze in Turkey. They gave encyclopedias,plates,stereos,crt televisions even cars. These sort of “laptops” had three different versions that different newspapers gave this one is from Sabah newspaper the ones from Hürriyet newspaper even had floppy drives.
That is wild.
That's pretty interesting! I don't know if it still exists, but Marlboro cigarettes had something similar in the US, with a whole catalogue of items you could buy if you had "proof of purchase" of a given number of packs. Which is a crazy incentive when you think about it, "smoke more and you can get a bag or some coffee mugs!"
Really ?! Holy crap :=)
I dug up a sample newspaper ad from 1996: i.imgur.com/ZVeSpll.png
A quick translation of the bulletpoints: The heading reads something like "Here are the supreme/superlative features of this computer" -- 1) This is the Brother PN-8500 MDS, Made in USA; 2) Software localized; 3) User's Manual available in Turkish; 4) Terminal software included, internet access with a 'standard modem'; 5) Word Processor & spreadsheet program included, "... for you to type in all manner of corresondence, reports, homework, etc."; 6) ... this bullet point says the items in the previous bullet point can be saved into memory; 7) ... this one's a comment as to how useful the spreadsheet software really is ...; 8) ... has an address book; 9) ... back to the theme of spreadsheets: It says this computer opens Lotus 1-2-3 files -- not to mention that the word processor is 'compatible with' Word, Word Perfect, and 'PW'; 10) Screen has 80 columns, 22 rows; 11) Has floppy drive; 12) ... says the computer has a 'printer interface', the parenthetical remark then explains that said 'interface' is a 'printer driver'; 13) ... features games like 'Tetis and Turnabout'; more games available through Brother resellers.
This was a pretty wild period indeed for media conglomerates in the country. As to the coupon craze: We still use some of the crockery we received in the 90s through coupon clippery.
I'm in New Zealand and I have of those Brothers, not sure which model. I used for typing up my accounting notes at Uni.
I wouldn’t trust the translator of a machine that says “well down”
😂
The translator is probably legit me thinks 😂
Soundz lejit
I thought that was gonna replace "You're Winner" from Big Rigs.
How retro! They included an ashtray.
Not that retro for Turkey in the 90s, I'd bet :D
Well down, Turkey, well down.
Not so much retro.. more like "from the 8th level of hell" or something heh. I like the AA batteries though. Post-apocalyptic word processing.
Perfect for what i need today. an ashtray, storage compartment, and no modern OS- +history and DOS lessons
I thought it was a compartment to hold a rather small sandwich.
*types one Turkish letter*
*gives up*
Never change, LGR.
What do you mean shut up? It was Children's Day in Turkey.
@@FigureFarter what
@@idiotsimulator8055 April 23rd
@@aretard7995 what
Every single reply to this comment is a train wreck.
This was my first computer, indeed! My mom had collected some coupons of newspaper, and we paid it by these. If my typing is quite well now, definitely because of this computer had a typing programme. I wasn't speak English, but I was wrinting very well. :))
Good old days... I'm getting old. Damn!
You have a nice mother
"computer" haha
@@aretard7995 It may have had the brain of a calculator (quite literally, given the blobs of resin) but yeah, text editor spreadsheet, some games and enough info to keep yourself occupied for a while. My aunt would love this kind of system, there is barely anything to be confused about. There have been worse starts when trying to learn computing, I'm sure (my MSX started up in basic, also not ideal).
@@aretard7995 hey in many ways this kicks the ass out of the beloved British SinclaIr budget computers. only thing this is inferior in is it has no way to make any programs of your own, but in shere user functionality it is in fact the superior machine.
@@ColtGColtG it may have good specs but it's just as limited as VTech I.Q. Unlimited
This "computer" was given to people who subscribed and collected a number of coupons -like 60 or 90 pieces- from a newspaper. This kind of campaigns from newspapers at the times -90s- was very common tactic to get more sales , otherwise the newspapers themselves was mostly trash well today they are %100 trash.. :) Also people collected the coupons hoping to get a real computer because they never actually told about this being more of a PDA. At the height of this coupons craze the newspapers gave TV sets, boomboxes, various counterfeit game consoles and even a car :) Yes it was "possible" to collect coupons to get a car :)
Turkey is fuckin' weird.
I should visit one day.
Learn to spell, Christ.
@@RejectedRecords1998 If your talking to me, yeah I should, and disable auto correct.
If you're talking to the OP; come on, he's probably a native Turkish speaker, he did pretty well for himself, especially for a UA-cam comment
That's interesting. Thanks for sharing. :)
This thing was percent one hundred always trash.
This video was very well down, Clint!
10/10 did not contained profanities
With the ability to send and receive between PC and this thing, I don't think the world of this thing is a small world after all.
What is files? Isn't that the question we're all asking ourselves?
What is files? Baby, don't delete me, don't delete me, no more!
@@Gameboygenius i wanted to write that xd
This "Laptop" does not has backlight screen; it comes with a power adapter, user's manual, a mouse and (of course) the computers it self. You could get this computer by exchange of the coupons on the newspapers. Example: If you collect 100 coupons, then you go to the newspaper's headquarter and give these coupons to newspaper's headquarter to get the computer (It means you should buy 100 newspapers to get a computer). Also, computer is based on DOS; it gots printer port, mouse port, and Internet port(that's right). I can send the pictures of the user's manual in 1 or 4 weeks (of course if you want), also I can answer your questions in 1 or 4 weeks too...
Edit: Excuse me for Internet port line; I got confused with the Internet add-on for the front slot
I'm guessing that the little compartment was a place to store the power cord, is that right? If not, what was it used for?
Thanks for your information, I thought this was so very interesting.
That slot on the front is using for add-ons. (E.g. flash memory card; IO Card, for fax/modems and Internet Card). Also, power brick is really huge.So it can't fit. I'm sorry for my late answer. Also, thank you for your question.
Maybe you should send him a message to his UA-cam account.
Can you send me? I am a turkish too.
It says "My moms birthday" and "My dads birthday" in Turkish @ 5:13
Türk müsün?
Kimse Evet
give him some more info about that computer, mouse, outputs purpose (is it for monitor or for what) if you can ofcourse
Hadi adam senden bilgi bekliyo kardeşim anlat :)
BodziuM haha, i wish i knew more about it, my neighbour gave this to us when they were moving out in 2001 or something. I don't have any manuals for it. I only have the Notebook.
I had one when I was a kid. It's Turkish Q keyboard layout we still use today. It is crammed because of extra letters our alphabet has.
Spent 22:44 minutes watching a man play with a turkish mystery laptop, my life is complete..
contained profanities. She returned
i wonder what those excerpts were from
@@dzvxo searching the phrase in quotes reveals an article "Paths to the Inferno: The Wandering Sisters" from May 3, 1993 Time Magazine
Well down
@@Vokabre Well Down.
5:10 Translation;
"My moms birthday"
second one is;
"My dads birthday"
no shit :)
@@HERKELMERKEL yeah İ am Turkish and doğum günü mean birthday annemin mean my moms
@@HERKELMERKEL aptalmısın aw doğru dediği
Uh . . . They are very drunk you see
@H; ben oyle anlamamıştım ben mesala wow falan kulalnirim böyle durumlar icin
WRT Tetris, (At least on NES) Type A is the endless mode with increasing difficulty, whereas in Type B you have to clear a number of lines on a set difficulty.
And you can select a starting height, hence 'high' :)
yeah, I'm guessing that if he had chosen anything other than '0' there would be blocks on the playing field when the game started.
Same thing in the Game Boy version!
It's a world of laughter, a world of tears. It's a world of hopes and a world of fears. There's so much that we share, That it's time we're aware, It's a small world after all...
This damn song is too catchy. Even in chiptune.
hi chriddof! thought you'd vanished off the face of the earth. glad to see that's not the case.
Kinda weird that some laptop pda thing would have Its a Small World Afterall on it.
Disney slave child, "You _must_ sing, otherwise they'll make you star in a Christmas movie with Tim Allen!!"
Had little snow globe played it since wee little one.
Never knew lyrics till now though. Thx for posting.
This really cracked me up in the morning (missed it last night) I tried to clean it up as much as possible when I sent it to you but the owner seems to have used it quite a bit? When I first booted it there were some random notes from the Gökhan guy, who seems to have owned it 😁
I usually don't like comments but when this one said 99 I just couldn't help it.
heart this comment LGR!
A bit late on my part, but thank you for making this video possible.
Teşekkürler
Two questions:
Why was it playing “it’s a small world” from that Disney ride”
Why are there stars of David on the games screen?
Yeah same.
I do remember at one point Turkey and Israel were on friendly terms, obviously before Erdogan's reign. I would guess for the stars of David, the software may have been developed by Israeli designers.
Not knowing the develops and therefore their intent, I would take a wild guess "It's a Small World" was done in the spirit of the song itself as maybe symbolizing the low level cooperation or the oneness of humanity.
"It's a small small intestine..."
Several sketchy electronic toys and stuff used that song back in the day. I guess it was just popular and recognizable, so these manufacturers simply added it to everything.
All the symbols displayed are from the standard Windings font
This is basically the chromebook of 1997
Minus the internet connectivity.
@@und4287 Nope, its pretty much the same.
Just as crappy.
had a good laugh over this, you're actually 100% right
@@archkull I know. Chromebooks are always the worst and the cheap build quality and the limitations of the system in the video reminded me of them.
My mom got me a chromebook. Then dual booted debian to play games lol.
"I realize this makes me sound like an apologist for the Bosnian Serbs." Wow. That got dark.
As a Serb, I laughed so hard
"Hello, Comet support? I need help with your Notebook CNC-9606. I don't know where to find this thing called 'kebab'.
Yes, kebab.
I don't know either, your device keeps asking me to remove it."
Actually, this Comet Computer was An Educational Notebook Computer to beginners in Turkey. It came with a floppy disk to used in a PC to transfer data, a mouse and a AC adapter.
Original DMG Gameboys often suffer the same problem with vertical lines missing at the sides.
Reflow the solder where the ribbon cable attaches to the screen by gently rubbing it with a soldering iron tip.
There are some yootoob vids showing the process.
Real question time...
can it run doom?
shit thats what i've wanted to ask
Maybe, but can it run Crysis?
@Nova Games shut up
Can it run *pong* ?
Can it run away
@@clockworkengine whats away? I've never heard of that game
2:53
I could almost read Clint's mind, thinking about making a smuggling joke, but then, for the sake of diplomacy, he contained himself.
I love how much quirky charm this Laptop like device has despite it looking, on the outside, rather business-like. The clone games really remind me of the type of games you got on Hong Kong original handhelds, with strong resemblance to their Gameboy counterparts but their hasn't quite nailed the way things move.
Anyways really fascinating video Clint ^_^
"1970s business laptop "
Not sure what you mean, perhaps you are joking, as this clamshell design really only took off in the '80s and this device is clearly imitating the look of contemporary '90s laptops.
Oh my, seeing something from Turkey as a citizen of Turkey, it's amazing. I love how bizarre some stuff seem to you even though us Turkish kids were used to them since forever!
Hey Clint, to fix the missing lines use the old method: heat the contacts of the lcd with a hairdryer and then rub them with a soft pencil eraser.
This worked for all my devices, from pocket organizers to GameBoys.
"What IS files?" made me choke on my water.
The files are _inside_ the computer!!!!
@@willowashe WHAT!!??
5:10 it says "my mother's (Anne) birthday"
Then "my father's (Baba) birthday"
Wow he take too much importance in his family :)
@@cysper479 probably they were the only reminders he can set in his pre-teenage era :)
@@cysper479 damn you dont care about your parents birthdays?
Around late 90s in Turkey, there was a huge newspaper promotion craze. People would collect newspaper coupons for years to get TVs, computers, and even cars. That Comet PC is a specimen from those days.
Weeeeeird
Hi, follower from Turkey here. On one of the webpages you show it says 'some kind of a children' s computer for education' as information. Btw your pronunciation of 'bilgisayar' was pretty good. :) I've never thought I would a hear Turkish word coming out of your mouth. :D
Ayşegül
It looks very reminiscent of those children laptop thingies on first glance, but very... IBM'y...
Yeah, those toy laptops that were barely a step up fro ma Speak & Spell. tinyurl.com/ToyLaptop
Yea, those... I have really boring memories of them.
Jesus 117 likes... Wow... I guess thanks?
"Its an emply plastic bay idk what you could hide in there."
Your weed.
Pretty sure it's to carry extra batteries
its an ash tray
my thoughts exactly.
Haha that was my first thought too! 😂🤦♂️
"This is a new-old stock IBM and I've wanted one for so long. Now if you look in the back its got some empty bays for expansion cards or you could hide your weed in there." - Stoner LGR
That plastic bay is for storage of bonbons and toothpicks, if you read the complimentary information coasters included with the deluxe edition you would know that.
The best thing to come out of Turkey since Turkish Star Wars!
Betcha didn't watch Turkish Star Trek yet
I bet he haven't watched the longest death scene ever recorded in the history of filmmaking
What is files?
Baby don't hurt me
erica No More
Some kind of food???
A miserable pile of secrets
a small annoying organisms capableof flight that likes to land on food and get in the wayof peoples vision
Looks like here's a bad connection with the leftmost column of LCD pixels. You can see there's a bigger gap on the left side of the screen than on the right.
All 3 of my personal organizers have broken LCD screens
2:50 it's an ashtray. A great Turkish innovation!
𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲: "I know why you're here, Neo. I know what you've been doing...why night after night, you sit by your computer. It's the question that drives us, Neo. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did..."
𝐍𝐞𝐨: "ｗｈａｔ ｉｓ ｆｉｌｅｓ ?"
The empty bay could be a space for storing extra batteries :P
I was thinking it was where you would store your power cord (the one that's gone missing) so it doesn't go missing.
Yeah , I thought the same thing about the batteries.
The small compartment on the left is for storing Turkish delights!
Works for me!
Everything was going alright until "Well Down"...
also "well down" clint "well down".
I mean, as a PDA to introduce people to computers, it's actually pretty neat. It's mobile, doesn't rely on any permanent battery or power supply, and the build quality seems decent. I'm pretty sure that empty compartment is just for storing batteries, for longer trips.
It's like the VTech kids' "computers" (I don't think they make those anymore) that have those mushy "mess-proof" keyboards, but are pretty much the same kinda thing, just with games and such much more targeted at kids.
I think this was given away by a newspaper if I m not mistaken.
You said bilgisyar perfectly super impresive.
rofl
Thank you for the review! I am a bit late but, i felt really excited when i saw Turkish flag :') And your pronunciation of the word "bilgisayar" was pretty decent.
Thanks again! :)
How was the Turkish Delight?
Chewy
Loves, from Turkish Republic.
Merhaba ))
ATATURK
Wi Ar LaV yU ne ya ADGSDJVVVLQMKWMDNRNWM
I suspect it's running a Z80 clone and some kind of customized CP/M.
Pro tip - when you take something electronic apart, you should have an empty ice cube tray handy to keep all the loose parts in so they don't wander off :)
Kudos to whoever wrote the english captions for 18:51
made me laugh like a lunatic
[gentle screwing noises]
The Tetris game is actually a pretty faithful recreation of the GameBoy version, to an extent. it even has the same patterns for the different block shapes. B Type is also from the GameBoy version. It allows you to select a High level, where it will put random blocks in the play area up to the row corresponding with the High level. The objective of B type is to make as many multi-line clearouts before you run out of lines remaining. After you run out of lines remaining, the game tallies up your score, with Doubles, Triples and Tetris's netting you more and more points, respectively.
A lot of these games appear to be gameboy variants, which is where Alleyway comes from as well.
Can it run Turkish Crysis?
No can't, but can run farcry.
ZERA kriz
I know that version. Its the one where Superman and Spiderman battle the Empire using stock footage from The Temple of Doom and then slap a bunch of women with paper swords.
GreyWolfLeaderTW I know, lol
LGR'ı izleyen başka tüklerde varmış :)
Özbekler da var
Olmaz mı? :)
LGR ı izleyen Toptur. Bu kadar net !
😂
Gerçekten ha :)
Hi man, really love your show and I’m Turkish myself, so it was definitely interesting that you reviewed this.
That thing on the calendar, “Annemin doğum günü” translates to “Mom’s birthday” in Turkish. Let me know if you’d like anything translated in the future!
This is a common thing in turkish flea markets. I bought one for 10 liras (around 2 bucks). Weird toy it is.
The eBay-ish screengrabs that came up were oddly amusing on that front. I know £1 = about 3TL... the first one was just 40TL, there was another for about 200, which seemed a little ambitious... then a third for _850 TL,_ wtf?! I bet it didn't sell for that much when brand new.
They are just making up prices so that a dumb rich guy would mistaken the item as valuable and buy it, but in reality, these damn things are everywhere in the flea markets. Shame.
$1 = 4TL
€1 = 5TL
fuck.
alienozi 10 lira bir an dedim nasıl around 2 bucks sonra aklıma kuru geldi ashjsgdhagah
Jyneath ekonomi bitti maalesef.
Good lord! The way the resistors and capacitors and the like are arranged makes it look more like a hobby project than a manufactured product.
This actually looks like something a parent to give to their kid. It sort of mimics a real machine without actually giving the kid an expensive laptop. Would be neat to see some of that extra software because this is actually rather impressive for something so simple!
I like how 3 out of 5 of the games on this thing are ports of Game Boy games: Tetris, Alleyway, and Dr. Mario.
I remember a time when this thing would have seemed like science fiction. Then again, I'm typing this on a device that would have been beyond comprehension.
That boot time.
you pronounced ''Bilgisayar'' really well lol. never thought i would see something from turkey. great video as always man.
:D
Hmm...a "How to use DOS" guide, a faux version of DOS, and a Typing Trainer? I'm thinking this is some kind of learning computer for students. Fascinating.
A friend of my father has given me this in 2007, or course just as a toy, and I was OBSESSED with this thing. My dad had a high end Dell at that time, but this thing was much more interesting for a six year old boy. I found every combination after which the virus sign comes up (I don't know its meaning, but I know that I loved it) and played with it for years. I still remember the first level of Soukoban and how I felt very intelligent when I started to solve the puzzles in different levels (I think I was stuck in one of them). I played "Alley Way" possible for more than 100 hours :) I was 5 or 6 when it was given to me and my mother gave it to someone without asking me when I was 13 or something. I was looking for the name of this device, and found it on Teknoseyir, a great Turkish tech site. I will purchase it as soon as possible :) I tried to find it but couldn't even understand what its operating system was, I thought maybe it was some early version of windows, but what I remembered wasn't even similar to Windows 1 or 3.1, but now, finally, I am finally relieved.
It uses a HOLTEK HT3810E (or perhaps a Mosdesign M994A-68L?) melody IC for the background music.
Is just PC-Speaker dude, not something as fancy as a holtek
watching lgr is like taking a bath after a long lonely walk in the cold.
Nice touch with the flag in title. Greetings from Turkey.
The manufacturer seems to be a Hong Kong company called Comet Electronics, here's an old archived copy of their website: web.archive.org/web/19991109110434/www.cometelectronics.com.hk:80/
by 2001 (the earliest product listing I can find that worked) they didn't have anything like this notebook listed, but their main product line seemed to be electronic translators/organisers, which I guess were likely based on similar technology to this thing.
(in fact Comet brand translators still seem to be on the market in some places, their latest one being basically an Android tablet with translation software installed, but I can't find a working website for them anymore)
I really enjoy watching your videos, its so fascinating to see the computers of yore. Keep up the great work my man!
WE NEED MORE TECH TALES!!! Please... also sorry for the enthusiasm, I just really like your tech tales and I think you do a really good job! Keep up the good work!
At 5:10 those were dates, it said
“My mother’s birthday”
And
“My father’s Birthday”
Well down video!
Well Down ! comment.
Well down! And this is from a Turk.
This kinda reminds me of those Alphasmart classroom computers, where they were basically just word processors with extra goodies. My old elementary school had entire classroom sets of em
I used one of those. I think some of them even ran Palm OS.
I have two of them (because I thought the first one was broken before I realised the problem was just a dead internal battery). Still use the repaired one heavily. I'm not sure what the OS was, would have to dig up the manual and see what I can find. I do have photos of the innards that I took while replacing the battery, though.
10:15 Your pronunciation was on spot. Good job👍
The text on the schedule screen says "my father's birthday". Comet was given as a promotion by a newspaper back in the mid to late 90s in exchange for coupons that were issued every day (I believe it was either 30 or 90 coupons). The keyboard is that way due to Turkish characters. I still do have mine somewhere and yes, the original mouse works with the other port. This was an amazing stroll on memory lane. Thanks for the great content as well as your good wishes for 23rd of April!
Type B, if I recall correctly, was a mode where you could have random blocks stacked before you begin. "High" in this case would be how many rows up you wanted those blocks. It was like a challenge mode of sorts.
That Music... is that "It's a small World" or am I hearing things?
Yep, sounds like it!
Seems to be, yepp!
Yes, that would be the song, and yes, you are hearing things.
trekaddict seek help talk to psychologist.
*I CAN'T **_UNHEAR_** IT!*
I never expected one day i will watch something sent from Turkey on this channel. LOL
Hello @LGR In 5:10 , The clause on the screen is Turkish also It means "My Mother's Birthday" Then following sentence is "My Father's Birthday". Greetings from Turkey.
Normalde iki kanalıda takip ediyorum ama teknoseyir de ki son tozlu raflardan sonra merak edip bakiyim dedim.
[(ENG) I normally follow both channel but after than last posted teknoseyir's "tozlu raflar" video then I come here and check this "comet notebook".]
I own an atari portfolio which I absolutely love, its a little like this strange device but..actually good. I hope you would do a video on the portfolio some day.
Do you use it to hack ATM machines for "easy money"? ;)
don't do that, it pisses skynet! hahaha
terminator 2 is my favourite movie of all time, but that scen was absolutely rediculous.
Six pointed stars on a Turkish Device? Curious...
Merriman Devonshire Turkish flag has been six pointed before the standardized form of today.
Hm... more like Ottoman Empire timeframe? commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ensign,_Turkey_and_Ottoman_Empire_(after_1844)_RMG_RP_17_6.jpg
Checkout the flag of Karamanids(and some other beyliks too) and Barbarossa's Flagship banner. There was a Jewish Turkic Khaganate named Khazar Khaganate.
You see the pattern there *wink wink* Great Khazaria is coming. :)
I forget whether following Hepburn romanization rules 倉庫番 is 'sokoban' or 'soukoban' but I am guessing the makers of that software went with the latter. I have seen both used in my many modern travels, and I thought I did address this at one point (back when I was still helping to build Sega Retro) but I can't find evidence of it in five minutes... I WILL say that the box for the Japanese version of Shove It! on the Genesis doesn't seem to have furigana to indicate what it should be.
The SEC 631 chip is probably just RAM, from a cursory Google search. Will need to de-epoxy those blobs to find out more... :\ I DO wonder what happens if you try to connect the Communications program to a standard RS232 terminal emulator, or if you can even find the software online anywhere, to see if you can dump the on-board software separately.
*Technically* Hepburn uses macrons to denote a long vowel, so 'sōkoban' would be more correct for that, but without the macron you would indeed write 'soukoban'. It's a perfectly standard reading of the characters anyway, so there's no real reason to think the title was supposed to be read differently.
倉庫番 is そうこばん which would be sôkoban in Hepburn and soukoban in Kunrei. Sokoban, as it is generally rendered, is technically defective but accents are a PITA (and Kunrei is unintuitive, as demonstrated by Clint's mispronunciation), so as is often the case it was simply omitted.
Typically you use Hepburn with ou/oo and ei/ee from Kunrei because macron is not readily available on virtually any keyboard;)
That chip could be flash for the files and stuff. The rest of the blocks most likely are a masked rom/otp eprom and an 8bit cpu of some sorts if not 4bits
Most of the games are clones of Game Boy games of the same name. Alleyway was in fact an early game boy title, if not a launch title. Tetris is exactly like the game boy version- Type B is basically what is now known as "Ultra" where you have to clear 40 lines. The "High" setting if not zero fills part of the matrix with garbage.
Man, this was the kind of computer I dreamed about as a kid in the 90s ♥️
There is some weird shit going on with this notebook... The "Small World" kinda music... The star of David for the games (even weirder for a turkish computer)...
... just why ?
well... I never saw a star like that. Even Morocco's flag, wich is one star, is a 5 branch star. With Turkish symbols, I always saw 5 branch stars and sometimes 8 branch stars. Not 6. Isn't it supposed to be with another symbol ? Or with little circles around the corners of the star ?
(And don't be salty dude... that's not cool :'/ )
XD ok man... I never learned about turkish history at school, but whatever... And you didn't answered my question about the star. I never noticed that turkish flag could have a star with branch. Where can you find that, please ?... Because Google image doesn't show anything that looks like the 6 branch star shown on this computer.
The dates in the calendar said "My mother's birthday" and "My father's birthday" Nice to see . you reviewing a product from my country
You know, I was just thinking the real failing of this channel was that you never did tell us what is files
Its an existential rhetorical question
I bet money this uses an embedded Z80 processor. The design looks(internally) similar to the Sharp Wizard. That one used a 9 mhz z80 processor. They are perfect for this type of application, and it also explains the speed/capability on battery power. A 9 mhz z80 processor can do some serious applications and use almost no power...same with the flash memory. In addition, the CPU in halt mode would use practically nothing for energy. Some of the CPU clock time would be required for screen refresh of course. The other gunk covered chips are likely the LCD drivers and MMU chip for the 512K of "RAM". In these designs, the flash actually acts as both RAM and flash storage like a USB stick and is directly addressable by the CPU. The MMU(memory management unit) separates all memory into 8K pages.
In this case, there would be 64 pages of ram(64*8192=524288 bytes, or 512KB (which 512 * 8 bits = 4 mega bits...)). The CPU can address 64KB at once, and the MMU allows for the switching of pages, so that all ram may be addressed within the system. In some systems, certain portions of pages are non-switchable/bankable, while others are. This makes sense since you need to "remember" some of the program instructions in memory. Often, a mere 14 registers isn't enough storage for convenient bank switch capability. As such, one may opt for low 32k of ram to be fixed to pages 0-3, and then have the upper 4 pages of the 64K switchable.
If anyone out there wants a computer similar to this one, but that fits in your pocket, I recommend the Sharp Wizard OZ-770...2 AA batteries, and it runs for 100 hours. 239x80 COG passive LCD with back light. 9 mhz processor Z80 with zillions of pages of memory(a whopping 3MB!)! Ability to run Z80 assembler and C cross compiled/assembled code. Ability to connect over RS-232 and sync/transfer programs. It also has many C libraries written for it, and piles and piles of games and applications! Including a fully faithful Scorched Earth clone! (called tank war). I actually find it to be the coolest Z80 retro computer money can buy...I have only begun to explore its capabilities, and I would really like to see if I can get it to run CP/M operating system. Since it is capable of RS-232, it could be possible to implement _all_ CP/M innovations to this tiny pocket computer. In addition, software and code exist already to turn it into a terminal, with VT-52 compatible mode.
Oh, and the OZ-770 has games with crappy spelling in them as well :D, but with a lot more musical variety. Anyway, really cool video, and this device is a really interesting approach to portable computing!! A full sized organizer...who knew that could be a thing?!?! I consider these types of computers rather special. They were sadly destroyed by VISOR PDAs in the early 2000s. All the organizers met their doom when the touch screen fad started, which still plagues portables today. When oh when will we get our keyboards back??
That plastic "bay" is where you put the beans!
Something about this reminds me of those odd keyboard Famiclones. Some of the carts for them also had a fake DOS prompt. Speaking of Nintendo, interesting how they called the Arkanoid clone "Alleyway," since that's also the name of a clone on the Gameboy...
Except it was by Nintendo and Mario was riding inside the spaceship, shaped like the "bat" When you die, he jumps out to his death.
Reminds me of the first "computer" I was given as a kid, runs on AAs and has very basic functionality.
Very cool video. That may be ROM-DOS of some sort, or possibly one of the CPM variants. Pity you didn't find an identifier processor, but I do think CPM-68k was made to run on one of the DragonBall m68ks which would be around the right period.
No way they'd have bothered with a 68k in that, let alone a Dragonball... I doubt it's up to a straight fight with a PalmPilot (which would have about the same pixel density, but at least do some greyscales, and have more sophisticated software). CP/M was mainly made to run on Z80s after all, and MSDOS is but a hop and a skip away from it... I bet it's a high single digits MHz Z80A or similar.
Think more Gameboy grade stuff rather than Nomad.
cp/m was not a variant of DOS but its predecessor: my first personal computer (an olivetti 500 with 2 5'1/4 floppy discs) ran on CP/M 2.2 Its syntax was slightly different from DOS's one: for example, when you wanted to copy a file from A to B, you had to type: copy b: xxx.txt a: but the main commands (like dir, cls, exit, copy, del, md, cd, rd, format, prn, ver, type), were the same. CP/M evolved in 82 or 83 to become DR/DOS then MS/DOS when it was bought by Microsoft...
Eh, true, given the price point these likely sold at, Z80 is possible, though I didn't think any of the 8-bit CP/Ms supported directories (though maybe CP/M 4 did?).
This wouldn't be CP/M. CP/M uses COM or CMD files not EXE. As for the chip it probably uses a Hitachi HD64180 or similar.
that 11.0592 mhz processor in there makes me think part of it is based off of either an 8051, or that that crystal is what's used to drive the serial port (since its divisible to common baud rates from that clock-speed.)
That alien dude in the "Learning" app. is nightmare fuel.
I can see this as being really great for a younger teen of the time who couldn’t afford a better system. Especially if they had an interest in writing because of the word processor. Just like I think chrome books are great for kids and teens now as a way to do basic assignments and research if they come from a family who cant spend very much. I got a chrome book several years ago when they first came out for about 150 and it was my primary note taking, research, and homework device while in college.
I think chrome books & early computers are great for kids, regardlless of income level. Lack of resources stipulates creativity. Access to social media & MMO games are a time sink which trigger negative emotional development so my kid is not getting an iPad any time soon (which is also what Steve Jobs did).
I believe the DOS system is a custom TR-DOS.
That keyboard looks a lot like the lovely keyboard from my ZX Spectrum +2.
Please review the Turkish snacks on LGR Foods.
i didnt know this was a thing thx
It's hilarious that you are showing this computer. I actually own one (non working), that my husband picked up from someone on his truck route. It's always frustrated him that he could never figure out how to turn the blasted thing on.
Awesome sauce, Clint!
Thanks for the follow up on this interesting machine.