[jazzy intro commences]
Greetings and welcome to another LGR thing about IBM personal computing!
This time with a pleasant sprinkling of Palm OS thrown into the mix
cuz today we’re looking at the IBM WorkPad PC Companion.
The two megabyte model to be specific, that being the WorkPad 20X,
costing $399 when it launched in June of 1998.
This delightful little handheld was IBM’s second entry into the realm of Palm personal
digital assistants, or PDAs.
A series of products IBM dubbed “WorkPads”
keeping in line with their ThinkPad series of laptops.
Even if, confusingly, IBM made another WorkPad that looked more like a ThinkPad, the model Z50.
That WorkPad was an odd Windows CE machine that’s a topic for another day, whereas
this WorkPad is more along the lines of a Palm PDA.
And by that I mean that’s exactly what it is: a rebadged 3Com Palm III, built for IBM
by 3Com just a couple months after the Palm III came out.
Same specs, same case, same software, same accessories.
The biggest difference is that IBM’s WorkPad had a black plastic
shell instead of the Palm’s charcoal-colored one.
And of course, it’s an IBM, which means...
things.
Professional things, respectable business person things!
Things that mattered to a company’s existing relationship with Big Blue, meaning that businessy
business folks could bring about business with IBM PDAs matching their IBM laptops and
IBM desktops and IBM servers and IBM IBM mlenuneh!
Yeah, from IBM’s perspective, that was the strategy: forge an agreement with 3Com subsidiary
Palm while keeping IBM customers under the IBM umbrella.
While you could buy your own WorkPad through an authorized reseller, chances are more people
received one instead, as part of a package deal through IBM or through their employer.
Like, purchase a five thousand dollar IBM desktop, get a four hundred dollar WorkPad
alongside it, that kinda thing.
Either way though, end users were nestled into the massive Palm ecosystem that boasted
a 63 percent worldwide market share.
And ended up with a rather capable Palm OS 3.0 PDA,
without or without the IBM WorkPad branding.
Just like the Palm III, it’s a more streamlined, rugged case design compared to its predecessors,
while remaining super lightweight at 147 grams or 5.2 ounces.
Ideal when recording haphazard b-roll and dropping it from eye level to the floor.
[PDA crashes to the ground]
Not a dent though, not even a scratch!
This thing is almost Nokia levels of bulletproof.
The LCD screen is basically the same as the earlier Palm Pilots though, being a touchscreen
measuring 85mm or 3.3 inches diagonally.
It also has the same 160x160 pixel resolution 2-bit grayscale display capable of showing
four shades of gray, with adjustable contrast using a tiny knob under the left side edge.
And of course, being from the late 90s it’s a resistive touchscreen, so pressure needs
to be applied using a fingernail or using the included stylus
tucked away in the back right corner.
No smart input features here, just a passive plastic pen for tapping and dragging items
on-screen, simple and effective stuff.
In addition to the LCD touchscreen, this pale green rectangle below is also touch-sensitive.
Providing four shortcuts for searching files and text, opening the calculator app, accessing
drop-down menus, and displaying installed Palm OS 3 applications.
There’s also a center rectangle for inputting text, with letters entered on the left-hand
side and numbers on the right.
These are drawn using Graffiti,
which was Palm’s single-stroke handwriting recognition system.
And yeah, it’s one of those things where once you get used to it, typing in text can
be accomplished pretty quickly indeed.
It’s all done using predefined gestures and shapes, so the learning period varies
depending on how you normally write.
Personally I find Graffiti 2 a tad more intuitive, but yeah.
This first generation works well enough, I just have to refer to the cheat sheet on the
folding cover more than I’d like.
Besides, if it gets annoying there’s always the option of bringing up a virtual keyboard
by tapping the bottom left and right corners.
Or you know, just plug in an external keyboard or docking station.
Though at that point you’re forgoing some of the advantages of PDAs outright
so yeah, pick your poison.
Another nice feature of the WorkPad is its electroluminescent backlight, enabled by holding
down the power button for a few seconds.
A pretty desirable feature in low light situations, though lacking the inverted pixel option seen
on later Palm devices, so it’s always black on blue and not the other way ‘round.
Really it’s a tough time finding ideal lighting either way due to the screen’s narrow viewing
angle, with bright indoor lights or sunlight being ideal, but not too much since the plastic
screen is reflective as nuts.
Thankfully, it’s also efficient as nuts, able to last several months in standby mode
using only two AAA batteries.
Of course, it’s not gonna last nearly that long under constant use, especially if the
backlight is turned on.
But even then the battery life of the WorkPad is stellar, I’ve used it for a good ten
hours on this set of batteries and the power meter hasn’t budged.
Something to keep in mind though is that data integrity is reliant on power.
So if the batteries die or are removed,
whatever was running in memory is lost after about a minute.
And after a few months the internal backup battery runs outta juice
and user data is lost, reverting back to factory settings.
On the topic of storage, when IBM says this is a two megabyte WorkPad?
They mean it, the 20x here has no external memory option.
However, looking inside you’ll see a little expansion slot, and that can be upgraded with
a larger memory module.
Mine only has the factory-installed two megabytes of EDO DRAM.
In addition to those two megs, there’s also another two dedicated to storing the Palm
OS 3 operating system and built-in applications.
And all this is being run by a 16MHz Motorola MC68328, one of their mid-90s DragonBall CPUs
based on the classic Motorola 68000.
There’s also this teeny little monophonic speaker for playing beeps and bloops, similar
to that of a PC speaker but amusingly even punier.
[cute little beeps]
One big feature 3Com and IBM were super happy to brag about was the integrated infrared
transceiver, letting users transfer files wirelessly using IrDA 1.0.
Previous models only had this available through an expansion,
so having built-in infrared was rad.
Radfared.
But yeah, as neat as all this is from a technical perspective,
what can you actually do with an IBM WorkPad?
Well let’s get it synced with a Windows 98 PC,
try out the software, and play some games!
[jazzy interlude fades out]
So getting the IBM WorkPad connected to a PC is absurdly simple.
As with all Palm OS devices, there’s this magical feature called HotSync, where you
can synchronize data between your machines at the press of a single button.
This button, the HotSync button, for syncing hotly in a hot synchronized fashion.
The WorkPad has a hidden serial interface on the bottom for connecting it to Palm’s
proprietary cables and cradles, and thankfully this bundle came with the latter.
Plop in the WorkPad so it clicks in place, connect the 9-pin cable to a serial port on
your PC, and then it’s down to the software.
This package came with two CD-ROMs, but all you really need is this one with the relabeled
Palm Desktop software: IBM WorkPad Desktop.
The other disc just comes with a few trial programs that no one really needs.
But yeah, so long as you’ve got your COM port selected,
the Desktop software takes care of everything!
Simply hit the HotSync button
[cheerful beeping noise]
and your computer and the WorkPad talk it out for a bit, synchronizing user data between
your desktop and your PDA, matching everything up.
It can take anywhere from a handful of seconds to a couple minutes depending on much data
there is, but once it’s done, that’s it!
[successful beeps]
Your PC and PDA and now in-sync.
Things like emails, calendars, addresses, documents, installed programs,
everything you need really.
So what you do on one system is cross-referenced and updated on the other
every time you HotSync, and it’s awesome.
This is also how you install new programs, something to do ASAP since from the factory
the WorkPad only comes with a handful of PDA productivity basics.
Most of the time, Palm programs are distributed as PRC files,
like these games here provided by Palm with the WorkPad.
Once they’re copied over, that’s that, no further setup required.
I seriously love how simple this is to use, it’s just a pleasure.
As for the games it came with, Giraffe here is the simplest one of the bunch, designed
to help users learn the Graffiti system.
Draw each letter before it reaches the bottom of the screen and... that’s what that is.
Hardball is a Breakout clone, doing a great job at highlighting the image persistence
limitations of this particular LCD.
It’s fine though, and introduces the idea
of using the application shortcut buttons for controls.
Minehunt is a straightforward Minesweeper game,
something ideal for a pen-based touchscreen device.
Tap the boxes and don’t blow yourself up, you know the drill.
Flagging mines is a little awkward though, done by tapping boxes while holding the page
up or page down buttons at the bottom-middle of the device.
Puzzle is another lackluster freebie, being one of those sliding number puzzles that I
have never found enjoyable in my entire life, but that’s just me.
Works well as a monochrome touchscreen game though.
And finally, there’s Sub Hunt, one of those games where you’re a battleship destroying
submarines using depth charges, just like Sega’s classic arcade game Deep Scan,
also known as Sub Scan.
Easily the best of the bunch in my opinion, since its slow pace and simple concept are
bare-bones enough for the WorkPad’s controls and display not to interfere.
However, this is only scratching the ocean surface when it comes to early Palm OS games,
I tell you hwhat.
All WorkPad and no PlayPad makes LGR a dull BoyPad, so let’s install some third-party
games about selling illicit substances!
Yeah that’s right, there’s no way I wasn’t gonna start with the dopest Palm game of all:
Dope Wars!
A definitive computer gaming experience going back to the 1980s, where you play a sketchy
New York City drug dealer trading all manner of uppers, downers, and all rounders.
[chuckles] Ahh this brings back memories.
Whether it’s Dope Wars, Drug Wars, for MS-DOS, for TI calculators, doesn’t matter.
Growing up, it seemed like every new device that came along had some version of this strategic
arbitrage classic, and it’s just as addictive as ever.
Same goes for Space Trader,
which I actually prefer when it comes to early monochrome Palm games.
Similar idea to Dope Wars, but with more spaceships and fewer trenchcoats.
Think a text-based version of Elite and yeah, entirely too fun and the perfect kinda game
to play on a small screen with a stylus.
And since I know someone’s gonna ask, no, the WorkPad 20x does not run Doom.
But it does play SimCity!
Yeah, there was actually an official port of SimCity Classic
to grayscale Palm OS systems in 1999.
And believe it or not, the gameplay is not held back in any significant way, this is
a proper city-building experience.
Which you’d hope considering it cost $20 back in ‘99.
That 3-inch mono display doesn’t do the game any favors of course, and accurately
placing large buildings can be a tad iffy.
But seeing as SimCity’s normally played with a mouse,
playing with a pen and a touchscreen works awesomely.
Also making great use of the WorkPad’s limitations is the freeware game SFCave, one of those
endless flyer games where the goal is simply
to make it from left to right without hitting anything.
Instead of tapping the screen though, here you press the page up button and hold it down
to gain altitude exponentially.
Yeah, dead simple, oddly addictive, a must-have time waster.
Blocks is another free Palm OS classic, and it’s exactly what it looks like.
Tetris, on a portable system, ya gotta have it.
There was an official port of Tetris for Palm OS as well,
but eh, this one’s more than good enough.
Next up I have to mention Vexed, another freebie puzzle game
with an amazingly simple but devilishly addictive quality.
All you need to do is connect the tiles with matching patterns together in such a way that
you’re left with zero by the end.
Straightforward but seriously tricky later on,
especially with some of the downloadable level packs.
Yeah that’s right, free DLC on a 90s PDA game, that was a thing.
And finally, of all the PopCap games I could mention, I gotta go with Bejeweled.
Astraware was omnipresent back in the day when it came to paid Palm OS games, and PopCap
thrived on the platform.
It’s just the original Bejeweled, nothing fancy, and it’s in monochrome at that.
Yet they still managed to make each jewel shape distinct enough without color, so it
remains highly playable.
I’ve had Bejeweled on every PDA I’ve ever owned with good reason, the match-3 gameplay
is utterly timeless.
But yeah, that’s the IBM WorkPad from 1998!
What a lovely device to use even decades later,
despite how woefully outdated it is on a technical level.
Its miniscule two megabytes of storage, reliance on old HotSync software, and lack of, well,
any modern wireless capability means that there’s little reason to grant it serious
usage in the 21st century.
But that’s not why I like these old PDAs so much.
It’s all about stepping back into a time where Palm OS devices felt like the future,
where anything seemed possible once Moore’s Law
took hold of the burgeoning handheld computer market.
Seeing the productivity and entertainment that folks managed to pull off on such a limited
device is endlessly fascinating to me, making for a device that’s ultra-usable even if
underpowered, stylishly designed yet too small to supplant the need for a laptop.
So if you happen to run across an IBM WorkPad PC Companion or any of its late 90s Palm OS
relatives, and you find this kind of retro simplicity as intriguing as I do, then grab it!
If nothing else then to while away the hours trading robots and firearms between technocratic
planets while dodging police raids and pirate attacks.
[jazztastic outro music]
And if ya dug this PDA retrospective then might I recommend
my video on the HP iPaq Pocket PC?
Or other LGR things in general since I cover retro hardware and software each week.
As always though, thank you for watching what you just did!