Sharp PC-1401: A Recollection...from the archives (circa
early 2000's)
I got this unit from a friend sometime in 1985. This was my
first handheld computer. It was also a calculator. I had lots
of fun learning to write BASIC programs on this. I would play
around in BASIC on the Commodore 64 and see if I could do
similar things on this unit. I gave me many hours of fun
during long car rides and visits to relatives who had no kids my
age. There was even a tape drive and a thermal printer
available but I never could save up enough for it.
I loved the pseudo-metallic keys and just how it looked so
hi-tech. I remember I use to pretend like it was some kind of
control panel for all sorts of things, like the car. I used
to put it on the dashboard of my parents' car and pretend
like I was in a spaceship and controlling the way the ship
was moving. Sometimes I would tape it to my arm and pretend
like I was some kind of robot. Man, those were some fun
times. I think this computer stretched my imagination more
than I used it for its functional purpose. Eventually,
unsurprisingly, the LCD cracked and was no longer functional.
I took one of those eyeglass screwdrivers and took it apart
to release the microscopic robots that lived inside that
controlled the computer. And I also wanted to see if I could
fix it, which I never could.
