A few selected comments from the video.
RedBearAK2 months ago
I bought a DTR-1 from Heartland for $849 and absolutely loved it despite all of its limitations. I was the only person in my high school in 1994-ish who could pull a keyboardless tablet PC out of my book bag. It felt like holding the future. I still remember the feel of the textured plastic case and the fun of pulling the sliding cover off to reverse it to protect the screen during transport. The keyboard was tiny and terrible, but I still kind of enjoyed it. I would probably still pull the DTR-1 out every now and then to play with today but the PS/2 keyboard port broke off the motherboard and the whole thing became pretty useless. Good memories though. Downloaded a lot of, uh... files... from Usenet with the built-in 9.6k dial-up modem.
Razvan Rogoz2 months ago
Look, by today's standards, it sucks but this was space age technology back in 1993. We're talking about an age where desktop computers were considered very high tech devices. Having a device that had a touch-screen, was portable and had a two hour battery life (when most mobile phones couldn't last that much) was extraordinary. Maybe it wasn't built up to proper standards (therefore, being a failure) but the idea behind it, what it could achieve was extraordinary. In 2017, a $25 tablet is better yet in 1993, this was years before its time.
Anthony Nixon2 months ago
Alan has a book out now called "The Four Pillars of Business Success". I wonder if it makes any reference to this? His LinkedIn profile is rather interesting to look at.
Eric Grumling2 months ago
I picked up one of these at a hamfest in 1995 or so, supper cheap. I think I had to track down a suitable power supply, probably from Radio Shack. I managed to get the hard drive running by installing it in another computer and loading up Windows. I'm not exactly sure where I got the Pen utilities from but it seemed to work fine. It became my control center for my X-10 home automation system and worked very well in that role for a few years.
Forcemaster20002 months ago
Seems like Dauphin was ahead of their time. They had the right ideas, the technology of the time just wasn't up to the task.
Chris Ayres2 months ago
Well as much of a joke as it is today , this is an important PC as it is the first Tablet PC it is amazing to think the technology existed to make a tablet back in 93 when most people myself included did not even own a PC as they were very expensive , here in the UK where im from the cheapest desktops in 93 started at £ 800 i did not get my first PC till 1998 when prices came down to a more sensible £400 lol
Mauricio Espinosa2 months ago
this reminds me of the pocket pc and windows mobile 2003 se.
Trusteft2 months ago
I don't know if it was the same or not, but I remember seeing a very similar computer back in 1995 when a group of American technicians came aboard our ship to test some of the onboard ASW systems. Unfortunately my memory of the exact computers is not the best, it's been over 20 years after all.
Sean Blargh2 months ago
Watching this video on an iPad Pro with a Smart Keyboard (I bought on eBay for about 75% off the original price) and an (used) Apple Pencil. This nifty little device would have blown away the makers of this back in the early 1990s. The pencil works almost identical to a proper pencil, with pressure sensitivity, everything about it is just great.
DarkLinkAD2 months ago
Managment used these in "Target", 2006 IIRC
Thomas Carpenter2 months ago
had a friend that used it mainly to setup network switches with the serial port
Joshua Chap2 months ago
I remember seeing this thing back in the day in a hospital I stayed at for a short while in the mid 90s
dj PeK2 months ago
i played with one of these in 95, almost *censored*. runs dos games well
Cesar Cardoso2 months ago (edited)
I have one of these computers - no stylus, PS2 keyboard connection has broke, sometimes it simply forgets everything about calibration and date and time and HD and everything. No serial mouse handy means using Windows with my normal PS2 keyboard... but hey, previous owner installed Wolfenstein 3D and is kind of playable.
Brooks' Personal Looks2 months ago (edited)
Man, this was more advanced than my first 386 computer, at least in theory! Had no idea there was a tablet this early on! Thanks for the history lesson, teacher!
Magna Ryuu2 months ago
First thing that comes to mind is taking this gutting it and making it into a kind of ShadowRun/Cyberpunk Hacker Board.
albear9722 months ago
Ancient Chinese proverb, "If you are a little mouse, don't dance with an elephant"
Krzysztof Piskorz2 months ago
I've thought, that my 1998 Fujitsu-Siemens B142 was an ultrabook before ultrabooks, but this... It blows my mind.
Homer Cooper2 months ago
Always interesting when a company tries to to do something bold like this. Often a bit to early. Within 10 yrs we had cellphones more powerful then this.
997102 months ago
i thought the hp LX series of palmtops were were cool for their time because they ran full DOS but the DTR blows them out the water in comparison
Thanks, Joe. It brings back a lot of memories. There is no such thing as an over-night success and we have to take the good with the bad. On balance I am honored to have make a difference at an important point in the evolution of portable computer and wireless communication.
We trust that DNotes will be another significant contribution that we all can be proud of.