Sharp electronic organizers with the IC card slot (Wizard OZ/IQ/PA/PI series)

[Akuji]

(01-01-2022 03:58 AM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(12-31-2021 05:58 PM)badaze Wrote:  Sharp also released "Blank programming" cards allowing users or programmers to develop and distribute specific software.

For retail/consumer sales, Sharp sold the "Scientific Computer Card" with BASIC, AER, predefined scientific functions assigned to the touchpad cells with function labels painted on the card (as seen several posts above) and had 32KB RAM for programs and file storage. There were 16 and 16/40-column versions of these cards.

For VAR/ISV/Corporate sales, Sharp sold 2 of the 'Blank' "Program Cards", in 32K and 128K RAM sizes, and though the face of these cards were not painted with the scientific key assignments, the cards actually behaved exactly the same as the Scientific Computer Cards, so pressing the touchpad on the 'Blank' cell of the Program Card, which is painted with "SIN" on the retail card, would execute the SIN function. Of course these cells could be easily customized to run programs, pick menu choices, etc.

Here's the photo to illustrate these:



I have several Japanese BASIC cards that 3rd party developers published. Unfortunately, due to their nature (an app is stored in RAM and requires a working battery for its storage), all but the bottom-right card have lost their contents. Western OZ/IQ-775/776 cards are much better in this regard due to EPROM.



There were dozens, if not hundreds, of this kind of BASIC card published by third parties in Japan alone.

And here is a complete hard-/software bundle that uses a Sharp organizer and a custom BASIC card to manage surveys(?). The organizer is housed in a custom-made cradle with extra ports and a custom circuit to power the organizer from an external source and exchange the data with a PC without the need to take the device out.