Rebooting the PDA

What happened to the good old days when everyone was sure that we needed to carry little computers around with us everywhere, but no one was quite sure exactly what that meant? The mid-1990s through the early 2000s spawned all sorts of weird and charming personal digital assistants, music players, and other ultra-compact (for the time) computing devices. But those Wild West days are now long since past, and we have been left with a pocket-sized rectangle that can do it all. One device to rule them all. Boring!

Aside from the lack of variety, there are some other downsides to this trend. If you want to use your phone to kick back and do some reading, for instance, that same device also receives your text messages and plenty of other notifications that will disrupt you to no end. Maybe we have gone too far in the direction of consolidation and need to consider bringing back dedicated devices that serve distinct purposes?

That is what YouTuber Ashtf believes. But since these sorts of devices have fallen out of favor with consumers, Ashtf had to build one from scratch. That is not entirely bad, because it gave him the freedom to be creative and make something that is even a little bit odd, but very cool all the same. The result is a very slick little personal digital assistant (PDA) that gives off some serious 1990s vibes, even if the technology inside is far more advanced than anything that was available at that time.

Ashtf’s main purpose for the project was to allow for note taking, scheduling, and other productivity-enhancing tasks, much like the PalmPilot of yesteryear.

Hardware was selected to achieve that goal. A sizable E Ink screen was included as the main display. But since refresh times on E Ink displays are relatively slow, Ashtf also included a tiny OLED display just above the keyboard for cases where speed is needed. This was put to work in an interesting way — as words are typed, they only show up on the OLED initially. But when the user hits the “space” button to move on to the next word, it is transferred in one shot to the E Ink display.

The custom circuit board for the device is fairly simple, with little more than an ESP32-S3 microcontroller and a handful of supporting components being required. Since it is a portable device, it is naturally powered by a rechargeable battery, which can be topped off by plugging in a USB-C cable. The case is made from a 3D-printed clear resin, and the keyboard keys are made of silicone that was formed by being poured into a resin mold.

As it currently stands, the PDA cannot do a whole lot. A very basic text editor can be used to take notes, which can be saved to files. As a next step, Ashtf is considering adding additional applications for scheduling, or perhaps a calendar. And since the ESP32-S3 is capable of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth communication, wireless transmission of files between the device and a computer might be another nice feature to add. That might not be the same as putting the device in a cradle and hooking it up to a serial port, but hey, not everything about vintage hardware was good!