Atari Portfolio - Review & Overview 

You could have took the words right out of my mouth! My first thought seeing the thumbnail was "Terminator 2" and my favorite movie of all time! Then I watch the video and that is the first thing you point out!

had no idea that was the device he used in the movie. i really appreciate the insight

Legend has it Terry Pratchett in the early days of his success, when attending conventions packed an Atari Portfolio in his bag and would make notes/write a little when the mood took him.

we had Psion handhelds for job reporting back in the mid 90's. they probably wasted thousands on replacing the little memory cards since they got lost so easily. all the managers had the Olivetti Palm which had actual games on it. technology was advancing so fast back then it seemed stuff was obsolete before u unpacked it. from what i remember it was memory chips that got stupidly expensive - to the point we had 2 break-ins where I worked. they smashed the computers just to get the chips out (& probably wrecked them in the process)

Very nice piece of kit there my friend, thanks for sharing it with us. 👍 👍

You have a wonderfully thoughtful wife! All you need now is the PIN software and ATM machine interface. If Atari Corp. had continued to focus on products like this (which was a success) instead of re-entering the overcrowded console market, they just might have survived...

I remember seeing these in a little Atari shop. One thing struck me as curious was the connectivity add-on options for PC and Amiga, which were competing with Atari's ST at the time.

Always wanted one of these! Your wife is very nice to you ;) one thing, the P is Psion is silent. So it is pronounced Sion. I had all the Psions growing up. I loved them. It is a shame they dont make them anymore. So much better than Android or iOS.

Wow, this is so effing cool, some wife you have dude!

I've pondered what I'd do with either a Portfolio or TRS-80 Model 100 (same resolution screen - 240x64 with 40x8 text). I'd play/program simple games, although the 8 line limitation is pretty hard to work with - even Sudoku doesn't fit. But 2048 fits, for example. The key question is what sort of game designs are fun to play by the designer/programmer. So text adventures are right out, as I'd already know the puzzles. I think I'd go with something like classic BASIC Star Trek, but with space trading rather than starbases which simply give you stuff. Space trading can be fun for the game designer, since the ups and downs of prices can be randomized. And rather than simply aiming the torps straight at the aliens, I'd incorporate star gravity. Thus, it would be like Amiga Gravitywars. The point is to make aiming the torps more fun than classic Star Trek. Hmm ... the torps could be like Scorched Earth, with different explosion radii and effects. When you shoot, you have three parameters - angle, muzzle velocity, and fuse setting. This could all be done in BASIC, with only one thing animated on screen at a time. It works well with flip screen also, so you can attack enemies in nearby sectors.

"Piece of cake!" (I owned the Psion 3 and thought T2's John Conner was a bit of a brat, which somewhat justified my purchase.) 😂

Can you do an in depth review of the Atari 400 and it’s peripherals? I bought one with the intent of doing some programming, but didn’t know that it didn’t have sufficient memory to run a disk drive. And a working tape player is hard to find because any hiccup in tape speed makes it fail to load or save. Thanks!

Nice video over some atari goodness. You have an amazing wife.

Never heard of it; can't remember in the film as well.

I did a special on this last year on my weekly, That Atari Show. It's a unique device and glad i own one ;) Now, what to do with it? lol cool video my friend

You forgot to add the idealine site in the description. :P

Money was spent on this item, I say game on it. A computer like this is useless without games. I am surprised it does graphics so well....I might have use for one after all....even if it does not play BattleZone by Atarisoft....I was actually interested in getting a palmtop PC compatible with CGA Graphics....Although I don't really need one when I already have a Gameboy and Atari Lynx that play BattleZone. I don't deny the appeal of a tiny IBM PC compatible that can play Arcade games....It's just the Nintendo Gameboy is much more user-friendly, much simpler to use, I already have it, it's fully paid off.

Do you think DOOM runs on this device?

"easy money"

Got free cash from the ATM? lol

You've such a beautiful wife, man! 🥰

You missed a trick here - you should have ended the video by saying "I'll be back!"