This working Psion cost £4 at the local car boot sale.
Because of its early place in the PDA/organiser timeline, the Organiser II, launched in 1986 has historical significance as part of the shift from simple calculators toward personal digital assistants.
The CM version is the entry-level model of the Organiser II family. The CM model is notable for being one of the units affected by a Y2K issue, as its internal calendar was not programmed to exceed the year 1999, though software fixes were later developed.
Specification
- RAM: 8 KB (battery-backed) jaapsch.net+3retroisle.com+3jaapsch.net+3
- ROM: 32 KB for the operating system and built-in apps. retroisle.com+2Everything Explained Today+2
- Display: 2 lines × 16 characters dot-matrix LCD. retroisle.com
- Processor: Hitachi HD6303X (or variant) running at approx 0.9 MHz. osnews.com
- Power: Typically powered by a 9 V battery (or mains adaptor in some use-cases) and designed for very low power consumption. retromobe.com+1
- Expandability: Two “Datapak” slots (for EPROM/RAM/Flash cartridges) plus an expansion connector. computinghistory.org.uk+1
- Keyboard: Alphabetical layout (A-Z) rather than QWERTY, reflecting its “organiser” rather than full computer focus. Reddit+1
- Operating system: 3.6(CM/LA)
COMMERCIAL AND GOVERMENT USERS
More than 500,000 series II Organisers were produced and is was widely used for commercial applications in companies such as Marks & Spencer, where it was used on the shop floor, with their branding instead of Psion’s and with only limited keys visible to the end user. It was also used in the world’s first large-scale application of mobile technology in government, where over 3,000 were used for benefit calculations by the Employment Services department of the UK government.
FURTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Psion-Organiser Wikipedia
Jaap’s Psion ll Version and model numbers page
Psion Organiser II CM – PDA
PSION Organiser II Forum
Psion Organiser II Operating Manual