Perfect Programming PDA/Palmtop/Calc

[Dave Britten]

(03-30-2016 01:57 AM)Bill (Smithville NJ) Wrote:  All of the TRS-80 pocket computers are great little handheld's that run a very good basic. Likewise there are a series of Sharp handheld computers that are very powerful. Several of the Sharp units have a Z-80 processor that will allow you do Z-80 Assembly as well as Basic. Likewise, several have the 'C' language built-in.

Personally, I would almost always recommend the Casios over the Sharps, simply because they give you multiple program spaces. You can have more than one fully independent program in memory, each reusing the same line numbers. They typically support calling the other programs as subroutines, too.

For example, the Casio FX-702P, which is the first one they made, and is still labeled simply "Programmable Calculator", has a mere 1,680 bytes of RAM, but allows you to do a surprising amount with it, due to the tokenized BASIC and ten independent program spaces.

Storing multiple programs in a Sharp requires carefully ensuring the line numbers don't conflict. Same deal with the TI-74, as I recall.

The TRS-80 pocket computer line is an assortment of rebranded Casios and Sharps, sometimes with slightly altered keyboard layouts (and occasionally lower price tags on ebay):

PC-1 = Sharp PC-1211
PC-2 = Sharp PC-1500
PC-3 = Sharp PC-1250 (There's a later model based on the PC-1250A, with more memory)
PC-4 = Casio PB-100
PC-5 = Casio FX-780P
PC-6 = Casio FX-790P
PC-7 = Casio FX-5200P
PC-8 = Sharp PC-1246