Handheld Learning - learning with mobile and ubiquitous technologies

I remember getting my first Macintosh Plus, a very cool design at the time and still iconic. It pretty much did most of the things I use a computer for now, e.g. writing, spreadsheets, graphics, etc, and at the time it seemed fast enough and simple to use.



So I was very pleased to hear about a Macintosh emulator for the Pocket PC as well as see a demo on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Jt-6OFD9vIk&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Jt-6OFD9vIk&rel=0</a>. Pleased because it made me smile with nostalgia and because it made me think how far handheld computers have come in terms of power. While some still regards "PDA's" as nothing more than organisers with PIM functions the reality is that they are powerful enough to emulate faithfully our desktop computers and an operating system (Mac OS 7) that was current up to 1997.

Remember now that this is an "emulation", i.e. a software programme running on the existing Pocket PC that is having to emulate an entirely different set of silicon chips that aren't part of the Pocket PC device!

What I'm driving at is what many of us already know, that these Pocket PC's and other mobile devices are becoming in some ways almost as powerful as todays desk/laptops and in some cases are even eclipsing them.

Get the emulator here

Watch the video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Jt-6OFD9vIk&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Jt-6OFD9vIk&rel=0</a>

I wonder if there's a version that emulates Windows 95? 

Hi Macwiz

Yes, dosbox has been available as freeware for the Pocket PC for a while now and you can download it at:

http://www.freewareppc.com/utilities/pdosbox.shtml

Not sure what you'd use it for but there it is anyway!

Probably the most useful emulation software for Pocket PC is StyleTap which allows you to run most Palm OS applications. Given the vast number of educational applications available for Palm OS (especially free ones!) this could be a good investment.

If you're a retro gamer you might like to use MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator) which allows you to run all the old arcade classics such as Asteroids, Space Invaders, Galaxians, Defender, Pacman, etc.