The Typeframe PX-88 Portable Computing System
21 comments
·December 14, 2025rwl4
nxobject
> But now I realize that "ideal" device for me just reaches back to my contextual memory of state of the art devices of the time.
I think as well about that… as well as the work I do that pays my bills, and how efficiently I need to do it to keep my job.
I get nostalgic after Psions. Small clamshell designs are great - I can do work on the go without lugging a fragile laptop!
Well, no, actually - I need to do things in R, _quickly_, at a speed and efficiency that wasn’t possible back in the 90s. And by the time I’m done I don’t have any patience for the virtues of “distraction free computing”!
Edge to edge high resolution screens that can simultaneously show graphics and an terminal and a ChatGPT session. The ability to constantly pipe large datasets into memory to and from disk, while holding up to R’s profligate use of memory.
I’m just not meaningfully productive otherwise. So: I would love this, but it would be a toy that I’m sure I’ll use for a bit while I wax nostalgic about the mythical days people did everything on a VT-100.
anthk
SSH with Mosh it's your friend.
DannyPage
The website design and product reminds me of the c100 - https://caligra.com/
But this makes a lot more sense, can DIY, and uses the full body with the embedded touchscreen.
jhbadger
Needs microcassette drives like the original PX-8 (which I actually had for a time, although after it was discontinued and sold by liquidators for a fraction of its former list price).
c22
It looks like there'd be room to stick one to the right of the screen, above the main board. I'd prefer a minidisc drive, though, to bring it into the 21st century.
ErroneousBosh
My first thought too :-)
mikerg87
Any comment on the battery life? My TRS-80 model 100 could get about 2 full work days on two AA batteries.
shakna
A Pi on a 3.7v, with touchscreen and keyboard... In my experience that is in the range of 4-6 hours.
Though, considering all the model 100s I keep staring at are in the range of $600-1000, tradeoff seems acceptable.
b800h
Launch a Kickstarter to make pre-built versions of this IMMEDIATELY.
null
exasperaited
Instantly in love with the 80s ad design cues in the website design. Disappointing that the 3D design files are Fusion, though; this is fully within FreeCAD’s scope.
bitwize
Holy crap, the front copy on this web site even reads like an 80s PC Magazine ad.
ZeroConcerns
Yeah, lovely... But can we please stop retconning obsolete technology into something to strive for? The Epson, Tandy, Psion and Nokia almost-like-a-laptop systems of the time were pretty neat, but not magic.
Really: you could lock me into a room with just a pencil and a ream of blank sheets, and nothing of value would come out, and that's not because of the technology or the distractions, but just... well...
pjdesno
This is tempting.
I fairly frequently leave my phone in the office and take a clipboard full of lined paper and a ballpoint to a place where I can write without access to the internet - I've got a number of published CS papers and at least one funded grant where a significant amount of writing was done in longhand on paper.
Of course this would require a bit of software work and maybe a brain swap to make it into the sort of portable typewriter that I'm really looking for, but given this as a starting point it should be fairly easy.
One question I have - what is the finished weight?
iamnothere
To each their own. If there were a Psion that supported modern email, calendar, and task standards, with wifi sync, I would carry it most days. I basically never make phone calls anymore, and I always found the old greyscale LCDs to be very legible.
Caveat: such a device should not be infested with shitty spyware like everything else these days.
freetanga
Isn’t that a Palma from BOOX? And I believe there were 1-2 competitors (Hisense phone?)
iamnothere
Those don’t have physical keyboards, and all run Android which rules them out. I also prefer old school greyscale LCDs to e-ink, as e-ink has issues with ghosting and slow refresh.
The closest modern device is the Planet Computers PDA, which can run Linux, but it can’t run mainline Linux and it has a modern color screen that uses too much power.
iberator
Fun and nostalgia IS value! Same as minimalism.
It's fun to push old hardware to the limits and develop software/hw for it (such us wifi for apple 2 from 1979 hehe)
Clunky hardware has one advantage too: It's usually a single tasking tool. Great for focus and running away from WWW.
Your kid can play pac-man and Tetris without fear of popups, credit cards, scams, hate and porn.
exasperaited
I know a few people who would love a device that gave them only the things they need and none of the rest. A great keyboard, enough room for writing.
I use an iPad with a keyboard when I need this kind of “writing room” thing, but I know someone who uses an ancient electronic typewriter.
FWIW when my disorganisation is catastrophic, I go out for a walk, leave my phone at home if I can, sit on a bench, and try to organise my life in one side of A4. And then if there’s a task that I can start by writing, I do it there, with a pen.
These kinds of products are drop dead gorgeous to me. Any time I see a device that has an Amiga 500 form factor or similar, I feel a compulsive urge to click buy. But after many, many of such purchases, I've learned my lesson.
I buy it, I play with it a little bit, but the reality is my phone, iPad, or my laptop can do every single thing better.
Maybe not with the same swagger. But ultimately, as I get older I realize I'm trying to produce with the least friction possible, and usually these devices have either highly constrained touch interfaces, shrunken keyboards, or both.
I've always said that if somebody would create a new HP 200LX device with the same chicklet keyboard that I'd buy it in an instant. But now I realize that "ideal" device for me just reaches back to my contextual memory of state of the art devices of the time. A time when we couldn't type on a 6" screen, or use a detachable keyboard. So a chiclet keyboard you could thumb type at 40wpm was a revelation. But we have come a long way.
In the end, alas, these devices really are just a novelty, at least for me.