Returning to Clie (another retro day)

Having just got my copies of iziBasic and ViziBasic I've decided not to use my trusty Tungsten T3 and instead go back to an old NX73V (Sony Clie).

So, why this change in direction? Well, simply because the Clie is in many ways better suited to this kind of activity. This is because the NX73V has a keyboard built in.


I first owned this device (I've sold and bought it back a few times now) from new some years ago, and at the time it really was the swiss army knife of PDAs. It has a camera and will shoot video, a keyboard and very large screen which can be swivelled around to work in a number of different positions.


By today's standards the processor is woefully slow, running at only 200mhz (or something like that). Even so it has other benefits and drawbacks too.

The NX73V has a built in sound chip, which I think is the same as the chip in the Handspring springboard module which I used to have (I wish I'd kept that now).


One big drawback with the NX73V was Sony's implementation of Palm's sound API, or rather lack or it. When the NX73V came out at first it didn't work with applications like SoundPad or Bhajis Loops etc. However, that all changed when a Japanese developer created a driver called MCA (modern clie audio). This driver has made the Clie work with apps like Microbe and Bhajis and at the time really extended the life of the device.


So the Clie is charging and I'm hoping that this might be a good all round machine for keeping in my bag and making a few apps on the fly for the old Palm platform using iziBasic and ViziBasic, and of course I'll give the new FastBasic a look too, especially to see if the MIDI function can be used.