Picture of Poqet PC

Welcome to The Poqet PC® Web Site

1989 Technical Excellence Award

As Poqet Computer Corporation stated over 20 years ago, The Poqet PC is "A one-pound technological marvel". In 1989, the year of its introduction, PC Magazine gave The Poqet PC the "Award for Technical Excellence" in the "portables" category. Byte Magazine gave The Poqet PC the 1989 "Award of Distinction". In September, 1989, Andrew Seybold proclaimed The Poqet PC to be "The most exciting advancement in personal computing I have seen this year."

Continuing it's tradition of awards and accolades, in 2006 PC World named The Poqet PC one of "The 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years." PC World said of The Poqet PC:

Years before the Pocket PC, there was the Poqet PC. About the size of a videotape, the Poqet was pricey ($2000), but it ran off-the-shelf applications and could go for weeks on two AA batteries. Highly praised during its brief life, the Poqet vanished from the market after its manufacturer was acquired by Fujitsu. As with seemingly every interesting computer of yore, it still has its devotees, including Bryan Mason, proprietor of the informative Poqet PC Web Site.
1989 Byte Award of Distinction

In 2011, one of the founders of Poqet Computer, John Fairbanks, was selected to receive the prestigous "Alumni of Influence" award from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, in part for his creation of the Poqet PC. This award was bestowed on only 28 of the more than 50,000 living alumni of the university.

Even now, much of the technology in The Poqet PC remains unsurpassed. The once revolutionary concept of a small handheld computing device is now a taken-for-granted necessity known as the smartphone. The radical voltage and frequency changes that the Poqet PC performed in oder to squeeze the last milliwatt out of its batteries is now simply known as "power management" and is used almost universally on mobile computer systems.

However, Poqet Computer Corporation no longer exists, and Fujitsu, the company that purchased Poqet Computer, moved off in other directions, leaving The Poqet PC behind. In a strange twist of fate, however, Fujitsu Personal Systems merged with Fujitsu PC Corporation, and Fujitsu until recently sold a line of Windows-based computers, called the Lifebook P1000, that are reminiscent of the Poqet PC.

The purpose of this site is to provide as much technical support as possible for the Poqet PC and the Poqet PC Plus. In these pages, I hope you find the answers to your questions about The Poqet PC.


Support

The following areas contain support information and answers to common questions about The Poqet PC.
* The Poqet PC FAQ
Perform a quick search to find the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the Poqet PC.
* The Poqet PC Plus FAQ
Perform a quick search to find the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the Poqet PC Plus.
* The Poqet PC Mailing List
Meet with other Poqet PC users to talk and share information about our favorite palmtop computer.
* Mailing List Archives
Archived digests from the Poqet PC Mailing List.
* Software for the Poqet PC and PC Plus
Software patches to fix some of the Poqet's shortcomings and other useful utilities.
* Documentation for the Poqet PC and PC Plus
Useful documentation covering the internals of the Poqet PC and many of the utilities that came with the Poqet PC Plus.

Additional Information

Here are some other places that have information on the Poqet PC. Because these links lead to pages that are not part of the Poqet PC Web site, a new browser window will be opened when you follow these links.

Poqet PC

* Inc. Magazine Article on the Poqet PC
Originally written in 1989, this is one of the early articles about the Poqet PC.
* 25 Years of PC Magazine: Year Eight 1989
The Poqet PC is featured in year eight in PC Magazine's retrospective "PC Magazine Turns 25". To quote the article, "BOTTOM LINE If this Microsoft Windows thing doesn't pan out, the Poqet will rule the world...."
* Review by Tom Carlson
Tom Carlson runs a Web site called the "Obsolete Computer Museum." He's got good reviews of lots of beloved old computer systems and chat boards where people can reminisce.
* Chronology of Handheld Computers
Ken Polsson has assembled a timeline of when all the different handheld computers were introduced. Puts the Poqet PC in perspective.
* Google Search for "Poqet PC"
And, if all else fails, there's always Google.

Poqet PC Plus

* Al Wong's Review of the Poqet PC Plus
A good review of the Poqet PC Plus. Lots of practical, hands on, information based on first-hand experience with the Poqet PC Plus.
* NJ QRP Review of the Poqet PC Plus
Lots of good links on how to solve issues raised by some of the limitations of the Poqet PC Plus.
* Poqet PC Plus Serial Port Adapter
A Web page by Craig LaBarge that describes how to make a serial cable for the Poqet PC Plus.
* California Digital
California Digital sells, among other things, the Poqet PC Plus and some of its accessories.
* Google Search for "Poqet PC Plus"
And, if all else fails, there's always Google.

Other Information

* Fujitsu Computer System's Home Page
This is the home page of Fujitsu Computer Systems, the company that merged with Fujitsu PC, which was the company that merged with Fujitsu Personal Systems, which was the company that purchased Poqet Computer.
* Fujitsu's Home Page
This is Fujitsu's home page.
* Usenet: comp.sys.palmtops
This newsgroup focuses on handheld and palmtop computers. Many Poqet users subscribe to this newsgroup.

A little fun...

* The Poqet Museum
Some interesting material, including some of the original Poqet brochures and advertising.

Disclaimer: These pages have no affiliation with Poqet Computer Corporation, Fujitsu Personal Systems, Inc. Fujitsu PC, or Fujitsu Computer Systems. The views expressed herein are solely those of the author.

"The Poqet PC" is a registered trademark, and "Poqet," the Poqet logo, the Poqet illustration, "PoqetTools," "PoqetCalc," "PoqetWrite," "PoqetSchedule," "PoqetAddress," "PoqetTools," "VNA," and "PoqetLink" may be trademarks or registered trademarks of Fujitsu. I know that they once were trademarks of Poqet Computer Corporation, but I'm no lawyer, so I don't know if trademarks expire. In any case, I don't own the trademarks.


Filename: PoqetPC/index.html
Date Created: 27 Dec 1995, Last Modified: 9 Dec 20117
Created by Bryan Mason - E-Mail: poqetpc<at>bmason<dot>com