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48-519: Psion Organiser was the brand name of a range of pocket computers developed by the British company Psion in the 1980s. The Organiser I (launched in 1984) and Organiser II (launched in 1986) had a characteristic hard plastic sliding cover protecting a 6×6 keypad instead of a computer keyboard , with letters arranged alphabetically. The Organiser II competed with the Filofax and can be considered

96-467: A Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) VAX . Application developers writing in 6301 assembly struggled with the small amount of RAM (2 KB) and the lack of an operating system. Another difficulty for developers was with the performance limits of the earliest Datapaks, which used a serial-access internal architecture, instead of random access . Retrieving, for example, byte 2000 from a Datapak meant issuing successive hardware commands to either step from

144-431: A chip (SoC) facilities on-chip, power management and support for a sleep state. The particular variant chosen also had 4 KB of masked ROM on-chip, so an external ROM was unneeded on the board. Having fully static RAM and a processor which clock could be frozen without losing state meant very long battery life, measured in weeks or even months. Minimal power use was aided by the processor being frozen whenever there

192-471: A couple of years of the PC-1211's release, many other manufacturers, including Hewlett-Packard, Panasonic , and Casio , announced their own pocket computers. Many pocket computers feature ports for an expansion chassis, allowing the computers to be used with external peripherals. Such peripherals include data cassettes , printers , plotters , and modems . Sharp's PC-1401 , released in 1983, merged

240-433: A dedicated thermal printer. This latter was used by several banks as a counter-top exchange-rate calculator for some years. As it was easy to get hardware specifications, many bespoke devices were developed by small companies such as analog-to-digital converters (A/D) and even an interface to the full range of Mitutoyo measuring equipment, allowing it to be used in quality control for various car manufacturers. Later models in

288-529: A fixed memory space upon power-on, and the Boot ROM can find and load an embedded bootloader such as Das U-Boot from NAND flash memory , and that boot process does not use a dedicated EEPROM chip. XIP places requirements on file systems that are often difficult to meet. In systems without a page table , the entire file must be stored within consecutive bytes and must not be fragmented, while flash based file systems often aim to distribute data into sectors of

336-414: A large proportion of programmes written by Scherphuis, many written in machine code. In the spring of 2002 Boris Cornet took over as site maintainer/editor. Later that year he replaced the chat (bulletin board) with the now defunct Psion Organiser II Forum. When he died in 2012, the administrative duties for the forum were taken over by a power user MIKESAN who ran it until the spring of 2020 when he developed

384-464: A mechanism for the modifiable data to be copied to writable memory before any code is run that assumes that data can be accessed normally. This can be done as part of the previous stage, or within a small code segment at the beginning of the program. If address space is assigned externally, such as in an application program that is run on a system that does not provide virtual memory , the compiler needs to access all modifiable data by adding an offset to

432-572: A much larger ROM and either 8 KB (CM Model), 16 or 32 KB (XP Model), 32 or 64 KB (later LZ Model) of battery-backed RAM, and featured a capable newly designed single-tasking operating system. The first Organiser II models featured a two-line display. The new model supported several different types of improved Datapaks, containing either EPROM or battery-backed RAM storage, each storing between 8 KB and 128 KB of data. Later electrically erasable programmable read-only memory ( EEPROM ) flashpaks, and random-access memory (RAM) RAMpaks, were added to

480-499: A new ARM architecture -based operating system EPOC32 written in C++ ; the latter was later sold as the Symbian operating system, which until 2010 was the most widely used OS in smartphones , being in 2011 displaced by Google 's Android OS. This change was more significant than appeared at the time. The consumer-grade high-level programming language still shares features with OPL, but

528-560: A pointer to a private copy of the data area. In this case, the external loader is responsible for setting up the instance specific memory areas. In x86 systems, typically the BIOS / UEFI ROM is mapped to a fixed memory space upon power-on, and BIOS / UEFI in x86 systems use XIP to initialize the main memory . In ARM and RISC-V embedded systems, typically the SoC built-in Boot ROM is mapped to

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576-407: A small amount of SRAM in the chip itself, or allow using the onboard cache memory as RAM, to make this first stage boot loader easier to write using high-level language. For a kernel or bootloader, address space generally is assigned internally, so in order to use XIP for them, it is sufficient to instruct the linker to place unmodifiable and modifiable data in different address ranges and provide

624-471: A teaching aid in education. The last pocket computers manufactured by Sharp, the PC-G850 series, were released in 2001 and featured 24-column, 6-line dot-matrix LCDs while being powered by CMOS -based Z80 -compatible processors. Execute in place In computer science , execute in place ( XIP ) is a method of executing programs directly from long-term storage rather than copying it into RAM . It

672-484: A terminal illness and the site became inaccessible. In January 2021 Olivier Gossuin, a Belgian enthusiast, launched a new Organiser II User Forum which in turn became inaccessible in 2022. In January 2023 a Canadian enthusiast Yves Martin provided space on his business server for a replacement forum with a long time enthusiast Martin Reid helping with the administration. Another legacy that Boris Cornet left Organiser II users

720-529: Is Psi2Win , the Windows PC comms link server. This Windows-friendly server was developed using Jaaps' reverse engineered comms link protocol. Boris always considered his Comms Server Psi2Win to be in permanent state of 'beta testing' but with his sad passing it is no longer being developed. With this in mind the author of ORG-link has further developed and released ORG-Link_V2 an Organiser II Comms Link Server that works in all Windows versions 32 and 64 bit. In

768-494: Is a bit slower than normal system RAM in most setups. In x86 systems, typically the First Stage Boot Loader is an XIP program that is linked to run at the address at which the flash chip(s) are mapped at power-up and contains a minimal program to set up the system RAM (which depends on the components used on the individual boards and cannot be generalized enough so that the proper sequence could be embedded into

816-454: Is an extension of using shared memory to reduce the total amount of memory required. Its general effect is that the program text consumes no writable memory, saving it for dynamic data, and that all instances of the program are run from a single copy. For this to work, several criteria have to be met: The storage requirements are usually met by using NOR flash memory or EEPROM , which can be byte-addressed for read operations, although it

864-467: The Atari 2600 work with only the 128 bytes of RAM in its joystick interface IC . A relatively new file system for Linux, called AXFS ( Advanced XIP File System ), aims to overcome some of the shortcomings associated with XIP, especially in regard to the in-place execution of user-space applications. For example, it makes it possible to split up an executable binary file into "XIP regions", thus avoiding

912-632: The Poqet PC and the Atari Portfolio , which were both software-compatible with the IBM PC and featured more RAM. For those who did not need advanced programming capability, electronic organizers such as the Sharp Wizard proliferated in the 1990s among casual users and businesspeople. In Japan, however, pocket computers managed to stay popular into the early 21st century, finding use as

960-406: The interpreters , which were commonly available for other consumer computers of the time. More advanced users could edit the system machine-code routines, either by direct machine code or by calls from OPL, could manipulate the built-in address database, and create their own. The Organiser II was widely used for commercial applications in companies such as Marks & Spencer , where it was used on

1008-436: The scientific calculator and pocket computer for the first time through the addition of scientific calculation function buttons to the side. This served as the foundation for competing clone models by Casio and HP. Toward the end of the 1980s, a number of pocket computers were developed with larger screens capable of displaying both graphics and text. Pocket computers had a surge of popularity on their market introduction in

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1056-737: The 21st century. The first pocket computer was the Sharp PC-1211 , introduced in March 1980 by Sharp Corporation and sold exclusively in Japan. Later in 1980, the PC-1211 was resold and rebranded by Tandy Corporation in the United States as the TRS-80 Pocket Computer (PC-1) . The invention of the pocket computer was prefigured by pocketable programmable calculators , such as Hewlett-Packard 's HP-65 in 1974. Within

1104-467: The 32-bit Psion Series 5 machines, which were of a clamshell design with a QWERTY keyboard. As to hardware architecture and operating system, these had no links to the earlier Organiser range, other than the end-user programming language, which shared a great deal of structure with OPL. The SIBO family, and the improved version of the OPL language (with window and focus controls), was replaced in 1997 by

1152-567: The Datapaks not being execute-in-place memory-mapped. Software developed by Psion as part of the Organiser I project, and application software after its launch, was written in 6301 assembly language , in POPL, and in other custom-designed languages. Assembly language development at Psion was carried out using cross-development tools, including a cross assembler and linker, all of which ran on

1200-472: The Organiser I was a powerful set of IBM PC-based cross-development tools for producing Forth application software, including a Forth compiler . The Forth system on the Organiser I had a compiler to intermediate code , interpreter and runtime, and had several unusual design features one being that it could interpret – that is, read and execute – Forth intermediate code directly in place on a Datapak, rather than needing to copy it into precious RAM first, despite

1248-543: The Organiser II range offered other hardware improvements, with 4-line displays, and also models were introduced with 32, 64 and 96 KB RAM. In the autumn of 1996, when Psion PLC had moved their focus away from the Organiser II onto the newer clamshell series devices (below) and had almost ceased support for the Organiser II, Dave Woolnough created the Psion Organiser II Homepage to fill

1296-670: The Organiser's software as a "clever design ... for fast and foolproof use". He approved of the consistent user interface across applications and reported that without documentation he was able to learn how to do everything except program in 15 minutes. The machine provided a simple flat-file database , calculator and clock, and had no operating system (OS). The Organiser I supported removable storage write once read many (write-once) devices, which used erasable programmable read-only memory EPROM storage. The device can host two of these, named Datapaks (stylized as DATAPAK, or simply PAK), to which it can write data, but which must be removed from

1344-524: The POPL programming language editor, interpreter and runtime system and extended the built-in calculator by adding named functions. These Datapaks also contained different sets of application software written in the POPL language. A far more sophisticated programming tool was later made available with the implementation of the Forth language, but was available to registered professional developers rather than end users. The Psion Forth Development System for

1392-476: The Psion Organiser was the "world's first practical pocket computer". Based on an 8-bit Hitachi 6301-family processor, running at 0.9 MHz, with 4  KB of read-only memory (ROM) and 2 KB of static RAM and has a one-row monochrome liquid crystal display (LCD) screen. The size with the case closed is 142 × 78 × 29.3 mm, and the mass is 225 grams. A Byte reviewer described

1440-665: The Psion was pitted against the BlackBerry for a place on the show's Hall of Fame. Whilst the Psion was highly praised as a device that pioneered portable computing, host Jon Bentley ultimately gave the accolade to the BlackBerry. As of autumn 2024 several software features and hardware devices are still being developed and are available including a JavaScript Emulator, Parallel Interface, USB Commslink, 32 kilobyte (KB) and 256 KB RAMpaks, and 512 KB FlashPak. Launched in 1984,

1488-758: The West Yorkshire Psion Store. Massimo Cellin created the Psion Facebook group in the autumn of 2015, servicing all the Psion products including the Organiser II. Members of the Facebook group include the former editor of IPSO FACTO, the 1980s and 1990s newsletters of the International Psion Pocket Computers User Group, copies of which are still available from Scherphuis' archive. * Maximum size of Datapak supported ** LA model still carried

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1536-585: The XP label on its casing In addition to the above, many other industrial, one-off and special edition models were released, including a special edition with transparent housing. Some of these models have radically different keyboard layouts. The name "Organiser" was not used for later Psion handhelds, such as the SIxteen-Bit Organiser (SIBO) family Psion MC400 laptop, the Psion Series 3 and

1584-464: The current read position one address place at time until position 2000 was reached or, in the worst case, resetting the read position to zero and then issuing a step-forward command 2000 times. The Hitachi 6301 processor is an enhanced development based on the Motorola 6801 implemented in complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor ( CMOS ), with several extra instructions , various hardware system on

1632-717: The developer toolkits were from then on focused on programmers familiar with C and only the Symbian operating system remains. The first similar device made in the USA did not appear until 1985 and was manufactured by Validec. Pocket computer Pocket computers had their peak of popularity in the early 1980s, but sales quickly plateaued and declined in Western markets as consumers became aware of their limitations. In Japan, where they were invented, pocket computers maintained their popularity and continued to be used as teaching aids into

1680-432: The device and erased by exposure to ultraviolet light before they can be re-used. As Psion had patented the use of EPROMS as a storage device, it was impossible for other device makers to copy this unusual approach to mobile storage. Software supplied on Datapak included a crude programming language named POPL, in which end-users could write their own programs. Software Datapaks titled Science, Maths and Finance contained

1728-404: The early 1980s. In 1983, however, sales of pocket computers dropped considerably; Radio Shack reported that they had shipped 40,000 units of their pocket computers in 1983, compared to 70,000 in 1982. According to InfoWorld , this drop was due to both ambiguous marketing and consumers becoming become aware of the limitations of pocket computers. Owing to their limited random-access memory (RAM),

1776-454: The extent of the built-in software of most early pocket computers was limited to a simple interpreter , usually for the BASIC and Fortran programing languages. The few aftermarket commercial software titles that were available for these pocket computers were very limited in scope and capability, due to the lack of RAM and limited screen real estate. This reduced their mass-market appeal, and by

1824-455: The first usable electronic organizer or personal digital assistant (PDA) in that it combined an electronic diary and searchable address database in a small, portable device. Production of consumer hand-held devices by Psion has now ceased; the company, after corporate changes, now concentrates on hardware and software for industrial and commercial data-collection applications. On an episode of The Gadget Show , first aired 30 March 2009,

1872-482: The flash chip that have the least erase cycles and even out the wear on the chip, prolonging its lifetime. All these complications and the speed tradeoff mean that XIP is generally only used for first stage bootloaders or when RAM is in extremely short supply. In particular, second through fourth generation video game consoles connect the ROM cartridge 's address and data bus to that of the console, which lets (for example)

1920-423: The gap, stating "Considering that more than 500,000 series II Organisers were produced, there must be many people still using this wonderful machine". The original Org2.com In the summer of 1997, Jaap Scherphuis joined the site as software specialist and soon became fully responsible for maintaining the web pages on a day-to-day basis. Dave wrote about Scherphuis "A Remarkable Psion Programmer". The Psion 2 archive had

1968-458: The machine woke very fleetingly every 17 minutes 4 seconds. The original 1984 price was £99  GBP or $ 199  CAD and included one Datapak and one software Datapak, the Utility pack. This latter adds scientific and trigonometric functions to the otherwise basic calculator routines. In 1986, the successful Organiser II introduced many hardware improvements, a better keyboard and display,

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2016-563: The mid-1980s the user-base of pocket computers comprised largely scientific engineers, surveyors, and technicians. Additionally, the diminutive keypads rendered touch typing impossible for almost all pocket computer users. Sales of pocket computers in the West had all but stalled by the late 1980s with the transition away from home computers to the IBM PC paradigm . In these Western markets they were succeeded by so-called handheld PCs , like

2064-424: The precursor to the now popular total station . The Organiser II also had an external device slot, into which various plug-in modules could be fitted, including a device that provided an RS-232 port (named CommsLink ), thus enabling it to communicate with other devices or computers. This top slot also supported various other hardware additions, such as telephone dialers, a speech synthesiser, barcode reader, and

2112-483: The processor hardware) and then loads the second stage bootloader or the OS kernel into RAM. During this initialization, writable memory may not be available, so all computations have to be performed within the processor registers. For this reason, first stage boot loaders tend to be written in assembly language and only do the minimum to provide a normal execution environment for the next program. Some processors either embed

2160-424: The range, able to store up to 256 KB on each extension slot. The machine had far more application functionality, including many built-in application programs, an easy-to-use database, a diary, and an alarm clock, and featured end-user programmability in the form of the successful then-named Organiser Programming Language (OPL), a BASIC -like language, which was compiled to intermediate code , in contrast to

2208-536: The shop floor, with their branding instead of Psion's and with only limited keys visible to the end user. It was also used in the world's first large-scale application of mobile technology in government, where over 3,000 were used for benefit calculations by the Employment Services department of the UK government. It proved popular with surveyors who interfaced it with electronic theodolites , which proved to be

2256-425: The winter of 2013, Jaap created his web site with the aim "to be an archive of Psion Organiser II information and software that might otherwise be abandoned and lost". Hardware developments have continued with Olivier Gossuin, a Belgian enthusiast who has created a microUSB CommsLink, 256 KB RAMPak, 512 KB FlashPak, and microUSB Power Supply. These, with other Organiser II hardware and software, are still available from

2304-479: Was no work to do, plus a deeper sleep mode , which turned off the display . The machine lacked a full independently battery-backed, date-time real-time hardware clock, instead it had a simple hardware counter . While the machine was sleeping, the counter counted 1,024 seconds and then woke the machine very briefly, so that software could add 1,024 seconds to a record of the time held in RAM. This meant that when sleeping

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