PCMCIA - People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms...

I'm sure many of us remember the old joke of combining Windows CE with Windows ME and Windows NT ending up with Windows CEMENT!

Its always really fascinating to see the older technology.

When I think back to the time when these machines were in production, the idea of having a portable device with the capabilities of these was novel and attractive. My professional life was starting to involve more travel, and the ability to do word processing while on a plane or train made travel time more productive. Now we take this all for granted with even the most basic of smartphones having far more processing power, memory, and connectivity. Thanks for the look back.

At 6:08, you said Windows CE looks like Windows 3.1... but Windows CE you showing is clarely resembles to Windows 95 because you can see a taskbar with small system tray, start menu button, shortcuts/recycle bin on Desktop area, ... and there were no such things on Windows 3.x. A good review video. Congratulations and keep giving us nice videos.

Fun fact: the Sega Dreamcast runs Windows CE

Thanks for another great trip down memory lane! I had a Windows CE HP handheld, I have forgotten the model, for several years. I loved it because I could put into my briefcase and take it to the library to do my research when I was at the university. Thanks again for helping to keep the memory of these Window CE devices alive.

03:43 - I think if you take into consideration the performance we have nowadays, then look at the battery life, it shows that the battery life has gone almost parallel with the higher performance. Processing efficiency has increased a lot as well as display efficiency. I'd guess if Intel was to make an old generation CPU with today's technology (utilising energy efficiency while processing), as well as using Lithium Ion batteries and OLED screens, the battery life could be extended to days. I could go into all the technology, including things like modern MOSFETS and high efficiency power converters, but I'll stop here lol. Thanks for the video! Always interesting to see older technology to see how far we've come.

Hell's bells, this video made me feel old. I remember an age ago, reading a computer book advising to buy a hard drive with 50MB, to ensure future functionality! Times they are a changing...

I could never afford a laptop in them days. I don't know if I ever heard of Windows CE. That must have been a premium PC in those days. I'm glad you saved it.

Looks like Win 3.1 ?, i think you mean 95 ;-)

Hi, I'm Italian, when you speak English I understand everything completely. excellent

I have a tiny GPS that I found that runs windows CE. It's kinda funny.

I had CASIO CASSIOPEIA A11. It was the English version. I am Japanese, but I bought it. Japanese volunteers made Japanese input software. It was very convenient for mail and document writing.

Thanks for the demo. Back around the turn of the century I'd seen CE devices in use at hospitals, and such, but never had a chance to examine one more closely.

I miss those little fellas. I don't know why we're not making a push to go back to them. These are so much handier and functional than a smartphone and if you're a student or a field worker these totally suit you. I wish they would make a Windows 10 netbook or similar device which is entirely solid state. One can dream.

I'm a little late writing my review of your review. So a trip down memory lane Chris. I was a Apple consultant back when this equipment came out. The only device we had That was compareable was the Apple Newton. The forerunner to a lot of personal assistants sold in that timeframe. It fun going back and having a look at what we had. I remember selling the first commercial spreadsheet called VisiCalc. It ran on the Apple II and the Commodore PET.

Back in early nineties at our INVEX computer fair, I immediately bought ms book about first WinCE 1.0 devices ... and lived with it on mobiles then for many years, motorola mpx200 was great :-)

Thanks for this episode. It brought back fond memories of days gone past. I began as a programmer in 1967 and have experienced it all starting with an IBM 1401. I really enjoy your videos!!

Exceptional video Chris. Thanks for the video! Amazing quality material as always :)

My car, a Mercedes A class (2016), still runs Windows embedded for the entertainment system. I believe its Win7 embedded. So its definitely still in use.

I still remember in 2011 when I got my GPS device modified to access Windows CE. Installed some games, a MS-DOS emulator and some productivity programs. Reading e-books was pretty nice, though I needed to convert some to *.txt to improve performance. It was a quite joyful experience, especially considering the fact that I was really missing something that could replace my Palm m125 which the touchscreen started to fail. In 2012, I still used a modified PowerBook 100 just to type text, because the keyboard was excellent, the equipment was lightweight and with the modern lithium batteries that I setup inside, I could use it almost for several days straight in a single charge. Eventually in 2013, the first cheap Android devices started to appear in my region. Some were impressive like the Motorola Atrix with the Lapdock. In 2015 with my Moto X2 XT1097 I noticed that phones were very capable to replace laptops in several low demanding activities and even in some tougher tasks like image and video editing.

A decade or so ago, I once bought a fully functional Compaq Windows CE 1 device on eBay for $3 free shipping because the seller thought it was a calculator. I suppose he technically wasn't wrong.

Love these Retro Mobile Videos Chris. I still remember had a hard time at school deciding between Windows CE or the Apple Newton2000. End up with the Newton instead with a bit of Dad's help to top up my pocket money. I hope you can also do a future episode explaining the demise of Windows Phone as well.

It's quite fascinating to see these retro devices. I haven't had a chance to use them. I was about 6 or 7 years when those devices came to existence. Wow !! Thanks from India.

Didn't see an announcement,glad I checked this channel myself. Always looking forward to this.

Just want to give props to my dude on an old video for maintaining the most consistent style on KZfaq. If you were to publish this video today I wouldn't be any the wiser.

Finally another classic tech thing! Hope more retrocomputing stuff keeps popping up from time to time. We know you as somebody who introduces us to the most innovative tech, looking into the future, but you also have lots of experience after a lifetime as a computer scientist, so looking back does no harm either, and there's so much we can learn from you in that vein, too. And these CE machines are a topic I've hardly watched any content on. Loved this.

Very interesting to see how far we have come and what is in the future, my all time favorite software was Windows 95. All software toady is based on personal data collection.

A Packard Bell machine that actually worked! They were notorious for failing, at least their desktop machines. I never had the pleasure of owning one, but the reviews were never very good.

This episode reminded me of my Windows iMate mobile phone. I still have it and it still works.

6:07 Have to take issue with you there, Chris ;) Have you seen 3.1 lately?! Looks much more like 95/98/2000 to me. (That said, these videos about older computing are great, and I always hoped you'd do more after I first saw the Psion 7 vid years ago).

Wow!! Brings back a lot of old memories, especially Solitaire. I cant tell you how much time I have spent on this legendary game lol, I guess a lot of computer geeks from this era still love this game today! Thanks a lot for another awesome video Chris.. We have come a long way from such tech, but they are still interesting today nonetheless. Cheers and keep em coming buddy

Wonderful video! Two Hitachi SH-2 processors were used in the Sega Saturn, and the SH-4 was used to power the Dreamcast.

Whooaah that packerd bell easymate was really ahead of it’s time,considering it had a builtin color touch screen builtin.

Did I miss the part where you said what these puppies listed for? A touch screen in those days has to have been insanely expensive. Thanks for another great video, Chris.

Call me crazy. I am going buy a handheld just to write my novels on it. As a kid I was obsessed with Pocket PC concepts. Reliving that again in Windows CE is an absolute treat.

Hello Chris! 👋🏻 Weeeee! I love your video! {Like I don't usually love your videos😆} I had one of similar Windows CE machine, I have it still somewhere around. And I definitely don't want to throw it away. It is still fully functional and reminds me of my childhood wish of having a 'computer pad like in Star Trek'. 😁 Windows on RAM & ROM, so cute. 😆

i still have a working phillips velo 1, used it a lot back in the late 90's and even in the early 2000's. carried it everywhere.

Nice video Chris. Great to look back on these devices that were cutting edge in their day. More please! :D

I had to award a 'like' for the birdsong soundtrack.

Another great stroll down memory lane! Seems like the Packard Bell CE has to be based on Windows 98B with the Start button and especially USB.

The most useful handheld PC I ever had was a Gateway Handbook in the early ‘90s. It had a monochrome screen, a 386 variant processor, and a keyboard (with function keys) that was only 1/2” narrower than a standard keyboard in the normal typing area. It ran either MS-DOS 5.0 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11. It did have an actual hard drive, as well as a PCMCIA slot, PS/2 keyboard and mouse connectors, a serial port, a video port, and an “eraser head” pointing device in the keyboard, with the mouse buttons on the front edge, convenient to your right thumb. It had its limitations, but it ran so much standard software that it was really useful. One interesting quirk was that the power cord connector was on the removable battery. Not as crazy as it sounds, since it came with two battery packs. One could be charging while the other was in use. Very handy since the battery life was less than stellar. Closed, the weight and size was comparable to a hard cover book. It wasn’t a true instant on, because it did go through a normal DOS and Windows boot up, but after it was running, closing the screen did a snapshot suspend and opening the screen brought it back to life at that point in just a second or two.

Great Video Chris, Great trip down memory lane

Oh my! Another trip down memory lane. I used to love my Windows CE devices. I remember having a pretty nifty Acer device. However it developed a fault and had to be sent to Germany for repairs. They were quickly competed and the device promptly returned only for UPS to loose it. But when I contacted Acer and asked where my device was, they checked and then they actually promptly apologised and sent me their latest, top of the line device, as a free replacement. Now that's service. I also remember having a HP device, similar in form factor to the Phenom but running, I believe Windows CE 5 or 6. Actually used that one for work and also had a bunch of games on it. Think my last Windows CE Device was called Dell Axim X51v, a brilliant little device at the time.

I have a couple of handheld HP IPAQ machines but they were really palm things about the size of a current mobile phone. I want to get one of them laptops now. Nice video

My laptop is about old enough to be called retro lol.

Hi Chris just got my explaining computers mug I saw in the computer vision demo video. I love it, perfect amount of nerdiness 😁

I think my only Windows CE experience was on a Windows version of the Palm Treo phone. Not good at all. Got A Palm OS version of it after that and never looked back. Those were the days when I carried a phone, a PDA, and a iPod, but the PDA soon dropped out of service. I still miss my HP 200LX. A dos pocket computer with Lotus 123 and some other useful software built in. It had the best tiny keyboard I've ever used, and a monochrome green/gray screen. The batteries lasted for weeks on end. *sigh*... Great memories. Thanks for another great video Chris.

Thanks for bringing back the old glory of Windows CE. I really enjoyed the Phenom part. We used to own one at home and the only thing my mom ever used it for was to play Solitaire. At the time, I also owned a Compaq Aero 1550 Pocket PC and I really, really enjoyed the features of it, it felt like a precursor of an iPhone. I would listen to MP3s on it, and was even able to use it as a terminal to access my Linux physical desktop. Oh the times...

"24 MEGA B. for everything! Makes you think doesn't it?" Yes, good said. I thaugh often on such things like effectiveness or why is there need to have such big specs.

I put my psion5 through a lot of work, that was a great little machine. Wish I still had it but it failed and I couldn't bring it back to life.

11:58 If anyone was wondering how a phone plug could connect to a PCMCIA card that's obviously not as thick, it's because these things used external dongles that had a phone or ethernet socket on one end, and a flat connector to plug into the PCMCIA card on the other, I thought I'd point that out because I used to use a PCMCIA ethernet card on my IBM Thinkpad (yes, back when IBM was still making Thinkpads)

It looks like Windows 95 not Windows 3.1. Windows 3.1 used the Program Manager and grouped icons in tiles on the desktop (almost like Windows 8). Windows 95 used Explorer.exe as the front end and had a Start button (as we can see the WinCE computer has.

I love these old school computing videos

Another great video Chris. It's amazing how little memory we needed back then. Imagine trying to surf the internet now with a 56k modem! We wouldn't be watching these videos, that's for sure :)

Yay! Atari Portfolio. I had mine until about 2012 when I decluttered my Atari collection. It was still in use and I ran a pseudo GUI app. I had all the accessories too.

My dad worked for enterprise data sales a Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile (Now Verizon) so I had the pleasure of getting to tinker wit a lot of these as a child.

Greetings from South Africa!

ah. i remember my first pocket device was the sony clie. i had one that had a convenient roller that you could use for scrolling. made a perfect e-book reader along with the standard organizational usage i got out of it. it had some decent games too.

I had a HP Jornada 680. Miss the thing. I could connect my printer and phone and do a lot with it. I wish laptops are as small as these, yet as powerful as their modern counterparts.

These are my favorite types of videos and on my favorite pieces of old tech, windows CE palm tops

I had a couple of Philips Velo 1 devices. While the screen was not brilliant from today's standards it was a very useful little computer that did still fit in a pocket. I got rid of them when I bought my first Windows smartphone which was also CE based. It was huge compared to today's flimsy iBreak phones but had a real slide out keyboard and was actually useful as a mobile computing device without needing a boxful of adapters and an add-on keyboard.

I have 2 Jornada 720s with Handheld PC 2000 (WinCE 3.0). A year ago, I used them daily taking notes on university. They are working fine, but the old plastic case is getting weaker so I don't use them, because I don't want to chrash them. These are very capable devices and even with nearly 20 years old batteries, can work 4-5 hours.

I miss these form-factor machines.

I have a Ol IBM Think Pad built like that. Built way better then the rubbish of today I think. Lucky to get a few years out of the new stuff. This Lenovo I'm on is built like that but you can't replace the Key Board that I'm wearing out. DAMN !

Great video Chris. Should have mentioned the expense of cf cards back then

I believe the Windows CE on the Packard Bell machine was based on Windows 98 SE. It's definitely not Windows 3.1 -- there's a start button in the lower-left corner of the screen, and that didn't come about until Windows 95. But the reason why I say Windows 98 SE is because that machine has a USB port, and the first version of Windows that knew about USB ports was Windows 98 SE.

A little less happy when you turn it on. lmao. I’ve worked on systems like that. Thanks from Orlando Florida

In my youth in know that i has buyed a second one Philips Velo 1 PDA. Think it was arround 2005 or something. It has also Windows CE on it and has a whole dial up modem in it. Sometimes i connected it to the internet and could visit websites in monochrome and a few errors about a old version of Internet Explorer. But i was happy. For the rest i could nothing with it and finialy i sold it. :) Many PND's before you use navigation on your smartphone runs also on Windows CE.

I have a Casio BN-20 (which still works!). I bought it in 1998 I couldn't afford either a Palm Pilot or one of the devices that ran Windows, but I could run spreadsheets on it and transfer them using an RS232 cable. I used CSV format to edit and transfer between the Casio and my Windows 95 desktop. All I needed back then! :-)

There’s two things in life you never forget. 1. Your 1st love 2. Your 1st pocket PC. And not necessarily in that order When I was a teen, I found a Casio Cassiopeia at a pawn shop back in 96, and I had to have it! I got two part time jobs, and basically traded my 1st paychecks for it.

Interesting to look at this! Bringing back memories

Finally a retro episode 😁😊

How many memories!

That was so cool! Bringing back the days of ole! Thanks for the great share! Have a great day!

Greate demo Christopher! Thanks!

This reminds me of my first phone that my grandpa gave to me, it was a Nokia and I used to play Bounce on it. The screen looked and performed similar to this Peckard Bell

I used to be obsessed with Windows CE devices before because they are quite interesting compared to the other mobile OSes during that time! It feels like an actual Windows OS with built-in functional Office apps.. And I loved the interface, esp with the tabs and all. Are there any modern devices that run the latest Windows CE OS?

You can plug a wi-fi card into the PCMCIA slot. It's how I did it back in the day altho I wouldn't recommend connecting it to the internet but you could use it just to share files onto it across your network. I still have that old wi-fi card lol I recall it get's very warm.

It was difficult using these cut-down versions of Windows. Always made me WinCE...

That last one picked up the chirping birds better than your prof mic

Old devices, but very interesting. Like

I love the STN display of the EasyMate, it looks fantastic, that is really vintage for me, and I'm only after these kind of displays (while everyone else hate them !). It's very unfortunate that there is not so much software, games etc for these old SH3/MIPS machine. I've just ordered a Jordana 710 because it's got an ARM CPU and there are tons of great things that run on them.

Hi. I just wanted to remind you, Mr. Christopher that you mentioned you were going to make a video, about controlling the speed of devastator robot. Thanks for great videos.

I miss my Packard Bell Legend 386sx. Loved its capabilities for the time it was useful.

I remember Windows CE devices from my childhood, as always with _unknown_ operating systems even very young me was fascinated by it and wondered what it could do. And honestly, if I have been a business man in the 90's and early 2000's I might very well liked it because it came with the most important office tools and even remote desktop software. Thanks for sharing this with us, I was lucky to get hands on a couple of PALM handhelds years ago, haven't yet found anything WinCE based however (outside of SEGA's Dreamcast perhaps which also hasn't it installed but rather suppports it).

I know a lot of sat navs (the separate ones) used windows CE at its core and the Sega Dreamcast used a form of CE too.

Lots of memories... Thank you.

The one thing I really like about your channel is your knowledge of computers the old one especially. Keep up the great work. And when are you going to update your other channel? or are you not going to?

I had a total of 3 win CE devices. The last was a toshiba that was impressive in it's sound quality from a superior D to A chip. It is funny how much better it is than the iPod of a decade later. It would be nice to flop a modern rom in one of these to make it a terminal to check on headless SBCs.

WinCE was fairly capable. In 2000/2001 I worked on a vehicle navigation app. It ran on WinCE pocket devices - we connected it to a CDPD modem (AT&T wireless digital network) and GPS. It delivered turn by turn driving experience very comparable to Google maps and the like running on modern smartphones. As to retro portable computing - I just bought a Tandy Model 200 off eBay. It was introduced in 1984 so goes back 35 years. Has built in apps - even Multiplan spreadsheet - and of course a BASIC interpreter - all sitting in ROM where is quick to select and run. The batteries could keep the memory contents viable for a month. Naturally has built-in modem and telecom program. I don't think the Tandy 100/102/200 portables get enough love in retro coverage - Model 100 sold 6 million units, which means lots of people beside journalist were buying them. (The CPU was the Intel 8085 - a successor to the 8080, but am not aware of anyone bringing up CP/M on these devices - that would be a fun project)

The EasyNote 800. What a delightful gem to have rescued from oblivion. Makes you wonder why we have memory and processors that would outclass a bygone era mainframe, to run similar software now? The answer to that is because we can and the greater level of sophistication of today's software. However, to get so much functionality onto a 32mb rom, it does make you think.

Facinating how you can work Text Spreedsheet and stuff on so minimal amount space ... I remember 50 MB for Graphics design and publicity...

You should do a video about Pocket PCs, as they're very cool devices. I've had such a great time playing around with them.

Hey. It's similar to win95/98 not 3.1. I thinks it's from the same era.

Awesome. I just pulled out an old tablet,a Witstech A81e. It ran either Windows CE or Android 2,2/2.3. You had to flash one or the other, it wasn't dual boot. Unfortunately, the weird proprietary barrel power connector has gone brittle and the wire snapped off right at the adaptor end. You have to love Chinese stuff. Usually they copy everything. This time they decided to re-invent the wheel. No one has an adaptor. I can't even get a USB cable with that size barrel connector.

USB 1.1 usually used white plastic(though it could be anything), USB 2 usually used black plastic, and USB 3 usually uses blue plastic.

The Sega Dreamcast used a form of Windows CE

Nice! I have a few CE machines lying around. A couple of HP/Compaq iPaqs, a Psion Walkabout Pro, and some garage sale No Name laptops. Back in the day, I thought instant-on would be the normal thing by now. Suspend is as close as that gets though, and it isn't the same.