Is This A First?

[ljones]

Ok, this might sound like a silly question but is the pandora the first of its kind? From memory, I can't recall anything else like it - that is something that combines a computer and a games console. I understand there are ninendo consoles out there and UMPCs and oqo's out there but I can't think of something which combined a console and a computer and made it portable.

From memory, there was only 1 thing similar and that was an old desktop computer, namely the Amstrad Mega PC ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_Mega_PC ) . A 386 with a built in sega games console!

(Sidenote: I mentioned the oqo, the pandora is *much* better value, nearly 1/10th the price!).

ljones

 

[beljam]

Hmmm... Are you asking if this is the first game console combined with a computer, or the first one to be portable? You include portable in the criteria, but mention a desktop...

If you leave off the portable requirement, you could certainly argue about the the early Atari (400 & 800), Commodore (Vic-20 & C64), and Texas Instruments TI-99 computers, particularly as I think they all accepted games on cartridges. Also, I think at least some of them came with joysticks. Also, the Coleco Adam would certainly qualify, wouldn't it? And Mattel had something along those lines as well... I want to say the Aquarius, but I could be wrong.

jam

 

[ljones]

Well I was thinking along the lines of portable, but the mega PC is the closest thing I could think of - it isn't portable but it is ment for games and computing.

ljones

 

[Prometheus]

it isn't portable but it is ment for games and computing.

But so were the machines that beljam listed. The Commodore 64, for example, had multiple components designed for gaming purposes, and was dominant as a gaming machine at one point.

 

[oblivioner]

I would say Wibrain, though it's lacking in many aspects vs Pandora

 

[Iorgy77]

Commodore CDTV would have to be up there, non-portable though.

 

[Pleng]

In fact the entire Amiga range, though not portable, were computers designed with gaming in mind

 

[ashdjones]

Come to think of it, Cybiko may have been the first in this area. It had it's own OS, gaming controls, was fully programmable with an SDK from the off and had a qwerty keyboard with some PDA type programs. Plus, it had a proprietory wireless system that could communicate with other machines to send files/play games/chat/voice message etc.

 

[abbibi]

The Tapwave Zodiac. It was a PalmOS PDA with dedicated gaming controls.

 

[ashdjones]

The Tapwave Zodiac. It was a PalmOS PDA with dedicated gaming controls.

Yeah, but I think it needs to have a keyboard to qualify.

 

[Karel Jansens]

I played games on my Psion 3a. Does that count?

 

[ashdjones]

I played games on my Psion 3a. Does that count?

No, because it didn't have gaming controls.

 

[ljones]

Come to think of it, Cybiko may have been the first in this area. It had it's own OS, gaming controls, was fully programmable with an SDK from the off and had a qwerty keyboard with some PDA type programs. Plus, it had a proprietory wireless system that could communicate with other machines to send files/play games/chat/voice message etc.

x.x

I had *completely* forgotten about the cybiko! From memory as the poster said they had a propietary wireless system, so it never worked as do normal wireless systems today. Wasn't the whole cybiko thing killed off by mobile phones?

ljones

 

[ashdjones]

Come to think of it, Cybiko may have been the first in this area. It had it's own OS, gaming controls, was fully programmable with an SDK from the off and had a qwerty keyboard with some PDA type programs. Plus, it had a proprietory wireless system that could communicate with other machines to send files/play games/chat/voice message etc.

x.x

I had *completely* forgotten about the cybiko! From memory as the poster said they had a propietary wireless system, so it never worked as do normal wireless systems today. Wasn't the whole cybiko thing killed off by mobile phones?

ljones


Yeah basically. The in-house team that developed the freebie games and apps for the system went off to form a mobile games devshop.

There's an article somewhere out there on the net about how to get the Cybiko working with WIFI, I think it's an academic paper. There's also some software to get it working with Amateur Radio systems, and if you were lucky enough to own two Cybikos you could connect one to your internet enabled PC and access online stuff with the other - basically acting like an early WIFI router!

 

[Karel Jansens]

I played games on my Psion 3a. Does that count?

No, because it didn't have gaming controls.

Waddayamean, it has them arrow thingies.
And an enter button.

 

[God Ginrai]

Ok, this might sound like a silly question but is the pandora the first of its kind? From memory, I can't recall anything else like it - that is something that combines a computer and a games console. I understand there are ninendo consoles out there and UMPCs and oqo's out there but I can't think of something which combined a console and a computer and made it portable.

From memory, there was only 1 thing similar and that was an old desktop computer, namely the Amstrad Mega PC ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_Mega_PC ) . A 386 with a built in sega games console!

(Sidenote: I mentioned the oqo, the pandora is *much* better value, nearly 1/10th the price!).

ljones



The Amstrad Mega-PC was just two systems in one case, with a switch. There was no interactivity between the two. The Sega TeraDrive was much better. I believe it was a joint project between Sega and IBM. It was very similar to the MegaPC, but with better specs, and the PC and Genesis hardware could interact, so you could write code on the PC's OS, and then send it to be run by the Genesis hardware, and things like that.

Here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeraDrive

^I plan to get me one of those when I have the free money to spend on it, and I happen to find one being sold.

EDIT:

I played games on my Psion 3a. Does that count?

No, because it didn't have gaming controls.

Waddayamean, it has them arrow thingies.
And an enter button.


Well then if that counts, then the TI-89 can count. ;P

-God Ginrai

 

[ljones]

Intresting and although (d'oh!) I am going OT for just a second here -- although this device ( http://www.old-computers.com/museum/comput...?st=1&c=356 ) the atari portfolio wasn't ment for games it was a tiny little PC only slightly bigger than the pandora -c. 1989! (Still have one of these and it works!).

Typical of the amstrad machine not to be able to do any development work !

So just sticking to small portable devices and maybe non x86, the pandora is indeed a first?

ljones

 

[nubie]

The question should be is this where the future of computing is headed?

If I recall the Apple Newton is touted as getting features that we still don't have in today's PCs.

It is undeniably an incredible micro computer, but it is very retro in nature. At the same time with wifi and BT and Linux it could hook to a WiiMote for control and be very next gen interfacey

I don't think that there was ever a handheld like this in the "Open" community, with such backing from a major chip maker (??) and such a powerful and new chip.

 

[Karel Jansens]

If I recall the Apple Newton is touted as getting features that we still don't have in today's PCs.

In case of the Newton, it's not so much the hardware (which was pretty good for its day, but rather retro today), but the software which was revolutionary and still not matched. No handheld today has handwriting recognition that comes even close to what the MessagePad 2x00 had and the information integration levels Newton had still seem magical to many.

OTOH, Newton's connectivity possibilities were almost non-existent and the Internet was pretty much alien territory to Newtoneers.

 

[ashdjones]

I played games on my Psion 3a. Does that count?

No, because it didn't have gaming controls.

Waddayamean, it has them arrow thingies.
And an enter button.


Then many thousands of PDA type machines count!

The Atari Portfolio may have been the first intel based palmtop, but the daddy has to be the 200LX:

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/comput...c=1088&st=1

I put loads of DOS games and apps on mine, it's great hearing Outrun through a mini PC Speaker or squinting at a very blurry Commander Keen (The pong game in is great though!).

I even have Windows (3.0) on it! Thanks to the PCMCIA slot it has a 1gig CF drive.