Sharp PC-1360 find

[toml_12953]

(12-22-2023 02:14 AM)polbit Wrote:  I think I'm starting to appreciate 1500 more and more, and will just have to get my hands on the 1600! While I started this thread (and my purchase) with an idea of a smaller machine, I just don't find the trade-offs worthy for my use.

I looked at all the pocket computers available. Since I program in BASIC, I finally chose a Sharp PC-E500S since it had the most powerful BASIC of any handheld other than the HPs which were out of my price range. 1500 and 1600 BASIC both limit arrays to 255 elements in each dimension:
DIM A(256) will give an error. This is too limiting for me. The PC-E500S has IF..THEN...ELSE...ENDIF (in addition to the older, single-line IF THEN) as well as SWITCH...ENDSWITCH, REPEAT...UNTIL and WHILE...WEND all of which make programming it a joy. Also I have a 256K RAM module for a total of 288K RAM, all directly usable by BASIC. My system includes the CE-126 thermal printer/cassette interface with the Sharp cassette recorder/player, and an RS-232 serial port that drives a Sharp CE-515P color plotter/printer.
I'm pretty happy with the setup.