It is the one!

I have a long and strong tie to pocket computers. Introduced during the early 80s, pocket computers undeniably impacted my life. If you read me regularly, you know how I discovered computers with the SHARP PC-1211 pocket computer, and how the SHARP PC-1500 was my go-to system and my favorite computing platform on the go. Unfortunately, this computer category was never really replaced. The latest models produced by the heavy hitters of the genre are the CASIO FX-890P, the Hewlett-Packard HP-71B, and the SHARP PC-G850VS.

If I own all these systems today, I didn’t when they launched. Instead, I switched to the home computer movement. But I always missed my pocket computer. The ability to write a small program to test an algorithm, carry out some calculations, and even play – write really – a pico-game. You know, what we all
do today forty years later with our smartphones.

Later, driven by nostalgia, I tried several computer form factors, hoping for a replacement. Instead, I got more or less exciting ersatz. To summarize my quest, I would quote just a few of them: the PalmPilot (here), the HP LXes and iPAQ (here), the PSIONs (here), the Toshiba Librettos (here), the ATARI Portfolio, the SONY Clies, and of course the emulators powered by smartphones. Meh! None of them worked out, and I tried hard to make it work.

Last year, I tried the Clockwork DevTerm (here). I liked it and wanted to love it long-term, and it didn’t cut it. Nonetheless, when the uConsole was announced, I pre-ordered one. Unfortunately, because of the trend I fustigated in last week’s post, it took more than a year to receive mine.

As always, the HW and SW are open source, so you can get all the nitty-gritty details here.

I went for the black model and the A06 core (ARM64-bit Quad-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.4GHz, ARM64-bit Dual-core Cortex-A72 @ 1.8GHz, and a Mali-T860 GPU – yes, that’s seven cores + 4GB LPDDR4). Several variations exist to adapt to your use case, including a RISC V one. I picked a complete communications package, including a 4G/LTE modem, BT, and Wi-Fi. The wait was even more excruciating, but it was definitively worth every second of it!

Similarly to the DevTerm, the uConsole ships as a kit. And that’s cool. With the experience gained with the DevTerm, it took me less than an hour to assemble the computer. I took several pictures so you can follow the main steps. Being a kit makes the computer serviceable and expandable. It is also a good learning opportunity if you have kids.

Halas, you cannot feel the difference in quality from the predecessor via the pictures. Indeed, the computer’s shell is made of some metallic alloy instead of plastic (aluminum?). And everything in the uConsole screams quality and robustness. It is not a rugged Husky, but it feels good and has some weight.

Wisely, Clockwork reused as many components from the DevTerm as possible (the cores, the speakers, the battery pack, etc.) and carefully re-designed several other aspects. The most obvious ones are the orientation and size, which translates into other key differences. The extra space offered – but not leveraged by the applications – of the DevTerm transforms into a fantastic display (HD 720p 5.0-inch IPS screen – 1280 x 720 pixels), and sorry, the pictures cannot reproduce its feel.

The vertical orientation is spot-on! The computer is best held with two hands – the battery back extrusion on the back keys in your hands (95 x 77mm). Your thumbs easily reach the cursor/D-Pad on the left and the four game buttons on the right. More importantly, they rest on the L/R buttons (mouse left and right click) and the trackpad (the mouse). If you have ever had a BlackBerry Pearl phone, it will give you a good idea. Contrary to other users, I do not miss a touch screen.

The keyboard is a critical component of such a device. Hewlett-Packard enthusiasts can discuss this topic for hours without taking a single bio-pause. The uConsole comes with a 74-key QWERTY keyboard. The choice of rubber keycaps was suspicious to me. Indeed, to me, the rubber keyboard is synonymous with the crap Sinclair ZX Spectrum and cohort. After using my uConsole for about two weeks, I am reassured and love it. It is firm and gives me clear tactile feedback. The secondary functions are well thought-out and are easily accessible via the function key. There are two lows, however. To me, the backlight levels (there are two of them) are too dim. My biggest issue, however, is the Delete/Backspace and the Enter buttons’ position. I wish they were swappable. With practice, I know I won’t delete the last character of my commands instead of executing them 😉.

As mentioned, I went for a full comms package for my uConsole. Everything works like a charm, and I can fully utilize the Wi-Fi (5G – 802.11ac), BT 5.0, and the 4G/LTE cellular modem Extension module. The latter’s supported data rates are: LTE CAT4 (Uplink up to 50Mbps, Downlink up to 150Mbps), HSDPA/HSUPA (2.2Mbps/2.8Mbps), HSPA+( 5.76Mbps/ 42.0Mbps), UMTS (384.0Kbps/384.0Kbps), EDGE (236.8Kbps/236.8Kbps), and GPRS (85.6Kbps/85.6Kbps). The LTE MODEM is an extension module, meaning you can create your own. As of today, I am aware of at least two aftermarket modules here: uHub, a USB hub (to expand the stock USB A and C), and uPico, a RP2040-based Expansion Card (not available yet for the A-04/A-06 cores). This is an excellent omen for the future of the uConsole.

The only delicate aspect of the build is the placement and the routing of the antennas and co-axial cables. In particular, for the 4G/LTE module, I recommend connecting the coax first, routing the cable, and only then sticking the antenna to the shell (in the opposite order suggested by the manual). Several users are complaining about the low sensitivity and performance of the stock antennas and are replacing them with more standard external models. Another excellent news for the future of uConsole is its pickup by the HAM community.

So, naturally, I completed the package with an SDR (Software-Defined Radio – here). I picked an NESDR/Nano2 kit with a 976 MHz and a 978 MHz Nooelec antenna. They work as a charm paired with SDR++ (here). I just had to build it from the source on the uConsole since the built builds that are offered don’t support ARM. Did I mention that uConsole runs Linux?

I think I have found a modern replacement for my pocket computer!! It is not me being biased or willing to make it work at any cost. I feel the same enthusiasm in the community and unmistakable pieces of evidence of developments for the uConsole. So, I will end with an optimistic thought: I found the ONE thirty-nine years after the PC-1500 production ended!

Enjoy your WE!