Osaris

Osaris is a

personal digital assistant A personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a handheld PC, is a variety mobile device which functions as a personal information manager. PDAs have been mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of highly capable smartphones, in part ...

(PDA) featuring the EPOC

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

(OS) distributed by Oregon Scientific. The Osaris was released in 1999, and at the time priced at to {{Inflation, UK, 279.99, 1989, fmt=eq, orig=yes, cursign=£. The Osaris contains an 18.432 MHz CL-PS7111 (ARM 710) processor and is powered by two AA size batteries or an external power 6

volt The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). Defin ...

AC adapter, with a 3 volt CR2032 cell providing backup power. The liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a

touchscreen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is ofte ...

, backlit 320 × 200 pixels with 16 greyscale levels. There are also 10 membrane keys, 5 on each side of the LCD. The Osaris can be linked to a PC via an

RS-232 In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard originally introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such ...

link cable and

IrDA The Infrared Data Association (IrDA) is an industry-driven interest group that was founded in 1994 by around 50 companies. IrDA provides specifications for a complete set of protocols for wireless infrared communications, and the name "IrDA" also ...

(Infrared). The Osaris contains 8 MB of

read-only memory Read-only memory (ROM) is a type of non-volatile memory used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be electronically modified after the manufacture of the memory device. Read-only memory is useful for storing sof ...

(ROM), and, depending on the model, 4 MB, 8 MB or 16 MB

random-access memory Random-access memory (RAM; ) is a form of computer memory that can be read and changed in any order, typically used to store working data and machine code. A random-access memory device allows data items to be read or written in almost the ...

(RAM). The memory can also be expanded using

CompactFlash CompactFlash (CF) is a flash memory mass storage device used mainly in portable electronic devices. The format was specified and the devices were first manufactured by SanDisk in 1994. CompactFlash became one of the most successful of the e ...

. * Dimensions: 170 × 90 × 20 mm * Weight: c. 250 g The Osaris is the only PDA to use the EPOC release 4 operating system. It also has the distinction of being the first device to run EPOC (later renamed Symbian OS) that was not built by Psion. It is very similar in ability to the

Psion Series 5 The Psion Series 5 was a personal digital assistant (PDA) from Psion. It came in two main variants, the ''Series 5'' (launched in 1997) and the ''Series 5mx'' (1999), the latter having a faster processor, clearer liquid crystal display (LCD), a ...

. The Osaris comes with these programs preinstalled: * Agenda: For appointments, things to do, birthdays, anniversaries * Data: For names, addresses, or other

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases s ...

use * Jotter: For making quick notes * Time: For alarms * Calc: For simple or scientific calculations * World: Shows a map, world times, dialling codes * Word: For writing documents, letters * Sheet: For tables,

spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in c ...

s, graphs * Program: Editor for writing

computer program A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components. A computer program ...

s Personal digital assistants Personal information managers Computer-related introductions in 1999