If like me you are feeling a bit of a “3G iPhone!!” information overload, here is something to possibly counteract the high-tech marketing hysteria.

A story is told of sometime ago in the days of Windows 98, about a father who used to let his young son play games on the family computer. The father was quite proud of his son, who could find his way around the computer without a problem. Then one day the son cried out “Help me dad, I’m stuck in the black space”. Puzzled, and wondering what game his son could be playing, the father went to have a look. The son was really stuck, no amount of mouse clicks could get him out of the DOS Prompt. The Dad quickly typed “exit” and the computer was back into colorful GUI Windows.

Since then it has become harder to get into the black space of the DOS prompt, it will now open in a non-maximized Window which can be closed with a mouse click. It no long gives dire warnings about closing a Dos Box, since it is no longer DOS, just an emulation.

Out of interest I found a Y2K compliant version of IBM PC DOS right here on PriceGrabber.com. This is real DOS, it actually comes on a CD, like software sometimes still does.

One of the things which distinguishes the Sony PlayStation 3 from its competitors is that you are legally allowed to install another operating system onto the the gaming console which will run alongside its gaming system. This is particularly unusual, especially for Sony, who are in a constant battle to keep hackers from running homebrew applications on the Sony PlayStation Portable. Of course the only operating system you can install is Linux. This is not really restrictive, since there are so many different flavors or distributions of Linux. Also there probably would be some legal ramifications if Sony allowed you to install Windows XP on the Sony PS3. This functionality has been available since the PS3 was released.

There is a small problem though; the Sony PlayStation 3 currently comes with a maximum of 80GB of hard disk space. This is really not enough for a modern PC. The PS3’s hard drive can be upgraded, although not as easily as a PC hard drive.

Popular Mechanics has an article on “How to Turn Your PlayStation 3 Into a Linux PC“, which describes in detail how to upgrade the hard drive of a 40GB PS3 to 250GB and install Ubuntu, one of the most popular Linux distributions.

In previous blog entries I’ve mentioned Virtualization more than once. VMware Workstation is basically a PC emulator, although on OSFaqWiki they say it is not (see “VMWare PC Emulator“). Well, that is confusing, but I’d like to mention other emulators and simulators which I have come across.

One simulator that many people have heard of is the Microsoft Flight Simulator. The last version of the Flight Simulator I used was Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000. Although each version is more realistic than the previous one, I must admit becoming bored with just flying around, and never really becoming good enough to take part in the missions.

When developing for the Palm (quite a popular pastime several years back), there was POSE (Palm OS Emulator) for testing and debugging Palm programs. POSE requires an actual Palm ROM image to boot. This can be obtained from Palm, or uploaded from a real Palm device. POSE only worked up until Palm OS version 4.x, for Palm OS version 5.x and later you had to use the Palm OS Simulator, which was essentially the Palm OS recompiled to run on the x86 (Intel and AMD PC) platform.

There are two other Palm OS emulators which are available for purposes other than debugging programs. One is the commercial StyleTap Palm OS emulator for the Windows Mobile operating system. It is aimed at handheld users who have moved from Palm OS-based devices to Windows Mobile devices. It allows users to install and run Palm applications which then run inside StyleTap on the Windows Mobile device. Another Palm OS emulator is the Palm OS Garnet emulator for Nokia’s Internet Tablets. Released as a free beta by the Access, it allows users of Nokia N770, N800 and N810 to run Palm Applications in a similar fashion. (see “Garnet VM Beta for Nokia N Series“) . Garnet is another name for Palm OS 5.

Sony has officially announced VoIP (voice over IP) for the Sony PlayStation Portable. Unfortunately owners of the original Sony PSP “1001″ model like myself are excluded, as this will only work with the new updated Slim PSP model. Somehow visions come to mind of holding the 6.7 inch by 2.8 inch PSP awkwardly to your ear, like the first generation Nokia nGage. Of course VoIP will most likely require a headset with a microphone.

Although the updated Slim (aka Slim and Lite) PSP has several enhancements which improve the gaming experience it is not a “must have” upgrade.

The Sony PSP is already a multifunction device, with the ability to play videos and music as well as browse the internet. It is rather large to use as an MP3 Player, even though the Memory Stick Pro Duo media is currently available in capacities up to 8GB. I’ve watched a couple of video clips on my PSP, and the screen is excellent. Of course, having the Sony Media Manager to copy the video files in the right format to the right directory on the Memory stick (with the right filename) helps. Mostly though, I play games on it. Slow load times aside, this is where the PSP excels - and I’ve played with a number of different handheld gaming consoles, each with its own unique qualities.

When is a computer a computer? I am not going to go into a long geeky discussion, so it is safe to carry on reading. Just think about it, most modern cellphones (and I’m not even referring to smartphones) have as much computing power as early Personal Computers.

The smallest computer I have owned was a Palm-OS based PDA watch, which had a 66 MHz Processor, 8 MB RAM and a touchscreen interface.

Of course, the latest generation gaming consoles like the Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3 are really powerful computers.

For a different take on a computer, there is an add-on to the GP2X gaming console. The GP2X is a Linux-based GP2X gaming console, and its latest iteration includes a touch screen. It is not really much of a competitor to the Sony PSP or Nintendo DS Lite, but more of a platform to play open source games. You can also listen to music or watch videos on the GP2X, and it comes with an Software Development Kit. The thing which really makes it even more versatile is the “Gp2x Commercial Interface Board Cradle”, basically a cradle which supplies several ports, including four USB ports.

That way you can plug in a USB keyboard, for example the Kensington Comfort Type USB Keyboard, and a mouse and you can call it a computer.