Psion SIBO - PDAs that don't even need to be emulated

Among the Psion PDAs there are five models that do not even need to be emulated, since they work on NEC V30 processors compatible with 8086, hence the name SIBO PDA - sixteen bit organizer. These processors also have a compatibility mode with 8080, which is not used in these PDAs for obvious reasons. At one time, Psion released proprietary, but freely distributed (if not modified) tools for running the EPOC16 OS used in these PDAs on top of any DOS-compatible operating system. Nowadays, DOSBOX is also suitable, but it will already be an emulation.

Links to download pages of archives with these programs are given at the bottom of the original page of this article. Well, let's download for an example archive with a shell from the Siena model and try to run it.

The archive occupies 868 kB, let's create a folder ~/simulator, unpack the archive there and get:

$ ls
DPMI16BI.OVL  EPOC.RMI      licence.txt  RTM.EXE
EPOC.DLL      HHSERVER.PAR  readme.txt   siemul.exe

Let's start DOSBOX and type:

mount m: ~/simulator
m:
siemul

In native DOS, the same is done with the SUBST command. It is important that the disk is called exactly M:

It worked, the icons of the first four programs are placed on the screen:

Mouse? What mouse? Use the keys to go to the page with the icons of the remaining four programs:

You can exit back to DOS at any time by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Esc. But let's not rush. The readme.txt file specifies the correspondence of the keys on the PC keyboard to the Psion's keys:

F1 is System, F2 Data, ..., F8 Sheet, F9 Menu, F10 Help, F12 Diamond
F11 simulates the machine being switched off then on (only has any
effect when a password is set).
Alt is the Psion key.
You can use the Insert key as an alternative to Shift-System.

We will launch the applications in order. Exit from any - Insert. Let's start with Data, let's type something:

Word:

Agenda:

Time:

World, note the old dialing code 095:

calculation:

sheet:

Program:

In any program, you can launch the menu with the F9 key, moving through it is the same as in DOS programs without a mouse, exiting the menu is Esc:

The F10 key launches context-sensitive help, like the one in DOS programs on Turbo Vision:

Let's take a look at some help:

Shells from other Psions of the SIBO series are launched in approximately the same way, for example, Workabout (archive):

Shells from some PDAs, in addition to the M: drive, require drives A: and B:, which in native DOS are physical drives or are assigned by the SUBST command, and in DOSBOX they are connected by the mount command. And all readers now have five virtual vintage PDAs of relatively rare models.

SIBO are not the only PDAs based on NEC V30 processors. They are also used in most Casio Pocket Viewer models, which are also very interesting and original handhelds. But that is another story.

Source: habr.com