website/content/museum/psion-organiser-ii.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
PSION Organiser II	Computers	Pocket	United Kingdom	1986	HD6303X	name image company company_name specs tabs photos screenshots links comments oc_id source Organiser II /media/museum/photos/psion_organiser2_system_2.jpg /companies/psion PSION label value NAME Organiser II label value MANUFACTURER PSION label value TYPE Pocket label value ORIGIN United Kingdom label value YEAR 1986 label value END OF PRODUCTION 1989 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE OPL label value KEYBOARD 36-key Alphabetic label value CPU HD6303X label value SPEED 0.92MHz label value RAM CM: 8 KB, XP: 16 KB, LA/LZ: 32 KB, LZ64: 64 KB label value ROM CM/XP/LA: 32 KB, LZ/LZ64: 64 KB label value TEXT MODES CM/XP/LA: 2 lines x 16 chars, LZ/LZ64: 4 lines x 20 chars label value COLORS B/W LCD label value SOUND Buzzer label value SIZE / WEIGHT 142 (D) x 78 (W) x 29 (H) mm / 250g label value I/O PORTS Proprietary label value POWER SUPPLY 9v/.1A battery or mains label value PERIPHERALS Proprietary memory expansions label value PRICE CM: £79.00 - LZ64: £179.00 photos software links title subtitle text image ORGANIZER II LZ 64 model. /media/museum/photos/psion_organiser2_system_1.jpg title subtitle text image MAIN MENU ON THE MODEL CM/XP/LA Thanks to **Damian Walker** /media/museum/photos/psion_organiser2_menu1.jpg title subtitle text image MAIN MENU ON THE MODEL LZ/LZ64 Thanks to **Damian Walker** /media/museum/photos/psion_organiser2_menu2.jpg title subtitle text image AYO GAME The smaller is the Psion CM/XP/LA screenshot, the larger one is for the LZ/LZ64. Thanks to **Damian Walker** /media/museum/software/psion_organiser2_ayogame.jpg title url text Web site and forum dedicated to the Psion Organiser II CM, XP & LZ http://members.tiscali.at/org2/org2.htm Lots of information, manuals and software author date text Mark Garton (United Kingdom) Tuesday 25th October 2022 I own an lz64 64 I purchased in 1091 I find it usefully as a notebook in which ad a medical technician I keep a record of asset and serial numbers on it for the equipment I maintain it fits in my tool box its unusual in that its made in uk not china or japan its fitted with 2 32 k datapacks its well made from the days when we were able to make things ourselves everything made in china now author date text ryan hunt (United Kingdom) Thursday 29th April 2021 I recently found mine along with a 256k flash solid state disk, does anyone know how these would be connected to the organiser itself? author date text Peter White (England) Wednesday 30th December 2020 I have the program to update CM or XP Psion II Organisers to set current date (2000 onwards). It is available on eBay (Y2K and INFO datapack). The info program also shows the available ram and version numbers etc. It will also auto boot Psion II POS models to work as XP mode. Also many other Psion II packs and hardware. Search under username Lepowerfulpierre on eBay. author date text Hercules Driver (England) Friday 11th December 2020 I have a Psion II XP. Not used it since the late 1980s. Woken it up in 2020 only to find my calender only goes up to 31 Dec 1999. Can this be changed because without out it nothing really works. Laso, is it possible to see how much unused data there is on a Datapack, or even the RAM. author date text Christopher Havel (Siler City, NC, USA) Monday 17th December 2012 ...oh, right... Mine is in fact an XP-labeled LA model. (That''s normal, I hear.) author date text Christopher Havel (Siler City, NC, USA) Monday 17th December 2012 Fixed my organizer today! The battery leads had gone. A replacement snap connector (soon I''ll add a diode for reverse-polarity protection) fixed that problem rather quickly. I can''t say my soldering skills are "all that", but they were sufficient. Now if only I had a CommsLink cable... author date text Simon Lyne (England) Tuesday 23rd October 2012 Here''s a webpage version of the programming manual for this machine. I will keep an eye out for any other documents. TheEPROM9 $-) Link: http://archive.psion2.org/org2/manlzpg1.htm author date text Simon (England) Tuesday 23rd October 2012 For programming guides and manuals/PDFs have a look here. Might prove useful for those seeking information and use on the programming language. Link: http://www.garethjmsaunders.co.uk/psion/programming16_opl.html author date text Christopher Havel (Siler City, NC, USA) Monday 25th April 2011 I have one of these... my father worked for a company that was using them for many interesting things, but I don''t know much more than that. The company was named "Learning Resource Consultants" if I remember correctly. My unit (a model XP) is missing the battery spring (it fell out) and won''t turn on anymore. I think it died a year or two ago $ that''s a pretty good run considering it''s about as old as I am! (I was born in ''86...) author date text Ian Gillman (Rockford, IL, USA (originally from the UK)) Wednesday 7th April 2010 I am still using my LZ64 to keep lists and notes, in fact it is strapped to my belt right now. I use it at work and at home to keep track of things that I need to do and for appointments. I have to remember to only store short term things as the battery lasts somewhere between 1 and 2 months and the unit resets when I replace the battery (I guess the internal circuitry to keep the memory alive with no battery is no longer operational). author date text Brett Price (UK) Wednesday 3rd January 2007 I used to work for British Telcom, and as a field engineer, we used these terminals between 1988-1996 to record or time keeping and jobs completed on a daily basis. We then unplugged the ram pack and posted it every Friday to a central office for download. If it wasn't for this little device, BT engineers wouldn't have got payed! It was easy, albeit basic to use but got replaced with Laptops enabled with GSM to contact our intranet and data base directly. 10/10 psion! author date text Otto Yamamoto (Highland, NY, USA) Sunday 17th December 2006 I had one of these-the LZ 64, in fact. Quite a nice piece of work. I wrote a little program to calculate IV drip rates. The A-Z key setup was a pain, but otherwise this was a top rank machine that was reasonably cheap. I sold mine for more than I paid for it, but now I wished I've kept it... 1203 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230323142819/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1203 2023-03-23

In 1986 Psion launched their second pocket computer, the Organiser II. Initially there were two models: the 8K RAM model CM and the 16K model XP. Both had a 32K ROM containing simplistic software, including a card file database, diary and clock. Less simplistic was the OPL programming language, a semi-compiled structured language allowing full use of the machine's features. It was this that principally guaranteed the machine's success. Later, the XP was upgraded to 32K RAM for the U.S. market, and given the model name LA, though the cases still bore the legend "XP".

In 1989, two upgraded models were released, the LZ and LZ64. These featured an enlarged 20x4 display, a choice of 32K or 64K RAM, and a 64K ROM containing more sophisticated diary and card file software, along with a notepad application. The OPL language was upgraded with a few extra statements to take advantage of the machine's capabilities (and to rectify a few omissions from the CM/XP's built-in language).

Expansion was through a proprietary connector in the top of the machine, protected by a sliding door. Bar code readers and a thermal printer were available. Memory expansion was through a pair of expansion slots in the back of the machine. "Rampaks" were simple battery-backed RAM expansions. "Datapaks" were EPROMs which acted as write-once-read-many drives and were formatted with an external formatter device - a simple UV light with timer that erased the EPROMS. "Flashpaks" were EEPROMs, which acted similarly to Datapaks but could be formatted using the Psion itself. Software was supplied on Datapaks, or occasionally PROMs. The model CM could use only Datapaks.

The Organiser II range was used in a wide variety of environments, including retail and industrial environments in which its hardy case was particularly valuable. It was superseded as a PDA in 1991 when Psion brought out the Series 3 range, but continued to be manufactured until the late 1990s. Their robust design may well allow them to continue functioning long after the later Series 3 and 5 range machines are beyond repair.

Thanks to Damian Walker for information and picture.