NC 100
HARDWARE REVIEW: AMSTRAD NC100 NOTEPAD
by Michael Noyce
It's here at last!! I bet you thought I'd never get it done, eh
Richard? The reason for the delay has been the numerous rewrites
until I was FINALLY happy with it. That and the fact I found
slightly more interesting (and easier) things to review. Anyway,
I think the wait was worth it, I hope you do too. Enough idol
banter, you've waited long enough. On with the review....
I'd wanted a portable computer I could use for a while. You
can't always haul you ST around with you. What with the STacy
being well out of my price range I had to look to the other
cheaper end of the market.
The "Amstrad NC100 Notepad" was released about two years ago in
late '92, touted as the most user friendly computer in existence
(sic). If you couldn't use it within five minutes you could have
your money back!
So what's it like?
<<< LETS GET PHYSICAL >>>
The NC100 is dark charcoal grey in colour and measures
approximately 29.4, 20.8, 1.5-2.3cm (roughly A4 sized) and weighs
in at a delicate 2.2lbs.
Rear View
_______________________________________________________________
| ______ ______________ |
| O \____/ \____________/ _______________________ |
-|-------------|-----------|------------------------|----------
| | | |
| | 25 Pin Parallel Socket |
| | |
| 9 Pin Serial Socket Battery Compartment
|
6 Volt Power Socket
The rear of the NC100 plays host to various ports. There's a 6
Volt power socket where you plug in the supplied mains adaptor,
the now standard 9 pin serial port and 25 pin centronics parallel
port for printers and the "Lapcat" lead.
Plan View
On/Off Button
|
Screen Speaker |
_____________|_______________________________________|____|____
| __________|___________________ ??? [O] |
| | Amstrad | \_________________________ |
| | ________|___________________________________________ | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | ---------------------------------------------------- | |
| -------------------------------------------------------- |
|===============================================================|
| |Stp| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | - | = |d->|<-d| |
| ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| |Tab | Q | W | E | R | T | Y | U | I | O | P | [ | ] | | |
| ------------------------------------------------------|Enter| |
| |Caps | A | S | D | F | G | H | J | K | L | ; | ' | # | | |
| ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| |Shift | Z | X | C | V | B | N | M | , | . | / |Shift |
| |
| ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| |Func. |Ctl|Sym| Space bar | \ |Men| | | | |
----|--------------------------|-------------------|---|---|---
| | | | |
Yellow Keyboard(?!) Red | |
Green |
blue
The top of the NC100 can be roughly divided into two halfs
between the screen and the keyboard. The screen is an LCD
display, eight characters deep by seventy characters wide, it has
no backlight so can be a bit hard on the eyes when using it in
less than perfect lighting conditions, i.e. if the light is dim
or at the wrong angle to the screen. On the other hand it means
that battery life is somewhere between thirty to forty hours,
which seems a reasonable trade off to me.
The keyboard is nice and big with normal sized keys, handy for
people like me who have big fingers, making typing a lot easier
and natural than on those horrid small keyboards where you press
not only the key you want but also all the keys around it. On the
downside it feels a bit spongy or soft when typing.
Also located here are the on/off button and speaker.
Underside View
Lithium Battey Compartment Battery Compartment
| |
____________|_______________________________________|__________
| * / \ | | |
| | == | | | |
| \__/ | | |
| --------------------- |
| [ ] ======= ======= [ ] |
| || | || | |
| | | _____________ | | |
| ----- || | --|-- |
| |___| ||+ | |_|_| |
| || | | |
| ------|------ | |
| * | * Flip-Down |
| ROM Compartment Legs |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| [ ] [ ] |
---------|-----------------------------------------------------
|
Rubber Feet
There are two types of battery used in the NC100 and they are
found here. The battery compartment takes four 1.5 Volt
batteries, as used in most walkmens, which power the NC100 when
you use it on the move or if you aren't using mains power. The
lithium battery provides power when the NC100 is turned off or
disconnected retaining any data and settings. Interestingly, on
the first page of the manual it instructs you to remove a plastic
film from the lithium battery compartment to engage it, but the
piece of plastic was non-existent on mine, and everyone else's
I've spoken to! This means that the battery would've been running
down as soon as it was installed at the factory!
The little legs fold down to elevate the NC100 to a more
comfortable working angle for typing and viewing position when
working a flat surface such as a desk.
There's a small hinged 'trapdoor' secured by a single screw that
when opened reveals a single (EP)ROM chip that at best guess is
where the firmware is stored. I'm not sure if opening this door
constitutes invalidating your guarantee or not, but it would
appear to allow for easy upgrades of the firmware by the user by
simply removing the chip and replacing it with a new one - if
such an option were available.
Left View
___________________
| \___________________
| [=========] |
-------------|-------------------------
|
Memory Expansion Slot
There isn't much to be found here, just the memory expansion
slot. Here SRAM cards (available separately) are inserted and to
increase the memory capacity in steps up to 1024Kb. These cards
can also contain programs as well, though I'm not aware of any
for the NC100 at the moment.
Right View
___________________
___________________/ |
| [---] |
----------------------|----------------
|
Brightness Control
Again, just as with the left side of the NC100, there's very
little located here, just a brightness control to adjust the
screen in different light conditions. Actually it's a contrast
control despite what Amstrad might call it.
<<< FIRMWARE >>>
When the NC100 is first turned on you have to set the time and
date. Once this has been done the main menu appears, displaying
the current time zone (e.g. London), date, time and three big
icons representing the three main functions: the word processor,
calculator, and diary/address book.
Selecting a function is a simple matter of following the on
screen prompts. For example, pressing the yellow and red keys
together enters the word processor. Most of the functions are
accessed through keyboard short-cuts like this.
The Word Processor
The word processor is in fact a specially written version of
"Protext" by Arnor (who wrote all the firmware) and has retained
almost all of the functions of its ST counterpart remaining fully
compatible. I'm not going to describe it in any detail here,
you'll just have to read about "Protext" elsewhere. Of course
it's just as fast and powerful as the other versions. All the
usual features are there: text formatting, cut, paste delete,
search, replace. The mail-merge facilities are very powerful
indeed and entries from the address book can also be easily
inserted into documents. It has a fast spell checker with a built
in 40,000 word dictionary which you can append as well.
The NC100 is worth it for the word processor alone!
The Calculator
I haven't really got much to say about the calculator, which to
be blunt and brutally honest is utter crap!! Honestly, my ten
year old solar powered calculator is more powerful than this.
After spending nearly £200 I'd expected something more. Not all
is lost, though (see about BBC Basic, below). Another really bad
piece of design, to me anyway, is that the so called 'numeric
pad' is mapped onto the main keyboard making it very cluttered
and confusing to use. Why they couldn't have an option to use the
number keys along the top of the keyboard?
Address Book
The Address Book is a no-nonsence, no nobs on, simple database
program. You can enter up to seven lines per address. The first
being reserved for the person's name and the last two are used
for telephone and fax numbers. You can perform a number of basic
operations such as add, delete, edit, search and that's it.
A very simple utility, but effective nevertheless.
Diary
The main screen shows the current time zone, date and time on
one side and a calendar on the other. Using the cursor keys it is
possible to change the day, month and year displayed.
You can then make entries for a particular day. When the NC100
is turned on and there are entries for that date it beeps and
asks if you want to read them. Perhaps I should use this to
remind me when the ST NEWS deadline approaches <grin>.
Time Manager
The time manager allows you to set any number of alarm calls for
any time, just like an alarm clock. An alarm call can be set to
go off once only, every day, or on a specific date.
At the correct time and date the NC100 will automatically turn
on (if it's switched off), beep and display the message until you
turn it off.
You can also set the current time zone from here. There is space
for six different zones whose location and time offset is fully
definable. Selecting the location, e.g. Central Europe, will
automatically adjust the time and offsets accordingly. The times
in the different locations are also displayed.
Bits'n'Bobs
So, apart from the main utilities, what else is there? Well,
there's the "Lapcat" (see ST NEWS 8.2 for a full review of the ST
version) and terminal software for transferring files between the
NC100 and another machine.
You can store secret information protected by a PIN number. The
slightly annoying thing is there's no way to port the secret
information to another machine. A real pain when crashes occur
because the information is lost forever!
There's also an implementation of BBC Basic!! This takes me back
to my old primary school days when we used to write 'Hello
world...' programs on the BBC micros instead of working <sigh>.
Most of the commands have been implemented with some obvious
exceptions, such as the sound and some graphics commands. I think
the primary use of BBC Basic is for the more complex maths
problems that the calculator can't handle.
It is also possible to configure such things as the power off
delay, preserve context during power off, display document size
and date, transfer port and format, sticky shift keys(?!), time
display format, time and date.
The sticky shift keys option is quite an innovation. One I've
never seen before. When selected it means that you can press the
shift key then press the key you require one after the other,
instead of pressing both keys at once.
The manual is clear and well written. It is divided into two
sections. The first is a brief walk-through tutorial of all the
main functions, aimed at getting you familiar with the workings
of the NC100. The second goes into much more detail on each
function, with a large portion covering the word processor and
BBC Basic.
Bugs! (Shock, horror!!)
Yes, unfortunately, a number of bugs have crept into the NC100's
firmware (v1.00, at least) which you should be aware of:
O When moving around a document using the cursor keys, a
random letter occasionally appears. Annoying but not fatal.
O Selecting 'Format Text' from the 'Text Formatting ...'
option in the word processor will sometimes cause the NC100
to crash! The only way to recover is to reset the machine,
therefore losing all data!!
O Selecting 'Insert' from the 'Document operations' menu will
cause a reset or crash, again, losing all data!!
There may be more, but I haven't encountered them yet or other
NC100 owners I know haven't informed me of them.
Conclusion
The NC100 is a nice and fairly compact machine. Perhaps it's a
bit big when compared to other modern day portables - you're not
going to put this in your jacket pocket. I happen to think the
size is just right, though, and the general construction is solid
enough for everyday buffeting
The utilities are very useful and work well together. The word
processor is worth it alone. Especially when you consider the
cost of "Protext" on the ST.
It must be said that the NC100 is getting on a bit now, but is
still good value for money. If you're after a good reliable
portable computer then you might like to give the NC100 a try.
Name: Amstrad NC100 Notepad Computer
Price: £199.99
Company: Amstrad
Manifest: NC100 Notepad Computer, travel bag, 4 batteries,
mains adaptor, and 218 page manual.
Comment(s): A nice little machine let down slightly by a few
irritating bugs. You might consider buying its big
brother, the NC200, which has the same features
plus a 3.5 inch disk drive.
Address to contact Amstrad:
Amstrad plc.
169 Kings Road
BRENTWOOD
Essex CM14 4EF
England
Tel. ++(44)(0)1891 808181
Fax. ++(44)(0)1277 211350
Disclaimer
The text of the articles is identical to the originals like they appeared
in old ST NEWS issues. Please take into consideration that the author(s)
was (were) a lot younger and less responsible back then. So bad jokes,
bad English, youthful arrogance, insults, bravura, over-crediting and
tastelessness should be taken with at least a grain of salt. Any contact
and/or payment information, as well as deadlines/release dates of any
kind should be regarded as outdated. Due to the fact that these pages are
not actually contained in an Atari executable here, references to scroll
texts, featured demo screens and hidden articles may also be irrelevant.
