Exploring the Comet Notebook: 1997 Computer. Thing.
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- It's a '90s portable computer! Sort of. More of a pocket organizer that has taken the form of a laptop. And runs on AA batteries. And came from Turkey. Yeah this bilgisayar is an odd one, ha.
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Middle Of Nowhere, Qualms Of Conscience
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Happy National Sovereignty and Children's Day for the Turkish LGR viewers out there! An unintended but neat coincidence :)
*Thanx Clint. Greets from Turkey...*
It's a small world, after all.
This is amazing!! Thanks alot 😁
Issa Kuhdashti Send him some coffee from Mehmet Efendi ve Mahdumlari as well - and make sure to get the confectionery from Haci Bekir.
Hey Clint, I just typed things right here.
these databanks were given by newspapers in exchange of coupons. In the 90s there was this huge coupon craze in Turkey. They gave encyclopedias,plates,stereos,crt televisions even cars. These sort of “laptops” had three different versions that different newspapers gave this one is from Sabah newspaper the ones from Hürriyet newspaper even had floppy drives.
That is wild.
That's pretty interesting! I don't know if it still exists, but Marlboro cigarettes had something similar in the US, with a whole catalogue of items you could buy if you had "proof of purchase" of a given number of packs. Which is a crazy incentive when you think about it, "smoke more and you can get a bag or some coffee mugs!"
Really ?! Holy crap :=)
I dug up a sample newspaper ad from 1996: i.imgur.com/ZVeSpll.png
A quick translation of the bulletpoints: The heading reads something like "Here are the supreme/superlative features of this computer" -- 1) This is the Brother PN-8500 MDS, Made in USA; 2) Software localized; 3) User's Manual available in Turkish; 4) Terminal software included, internet access with a 'standard modem'; 5) Word Processor & spreadsheet program included, "... for you to type in all manner of corresondence, reports, homework, etc."; 6) ... this bullet point says the items in the previous bullet point can be saved into memory; 7) ... this one's a comment as to how useful the spreadsheet software really is ...; 8) ... has an address book; 9) ... back to the theme of spreadsheets: It says this computer opens Lotus 1-2-3 files -- not to mention that the word processor is 'compatible with' Word, Word Perfect, and 'PW'; 10) Screen has 80 columns, 22 rows; 11) Has floppy drive; 12) ... says the computer has a 'printer interface', the parenthetical remark then explains that said 'interface' is a 'printer driver'; 13) ... features games like 'Tetis and Turnabout'; more games available through Brother resellers.
This was a pretty wild period indeed for media conglomerates in the country. As to the coupon craze: We still use some of the crockery we received in the 90s through coupon clippery.
I'm in New Zealand and I have of those Brothers, not sure which model. I used for typing up my accounting notes at Uni.
This is now being sold as the Soulja Macbook Pro.
Retail $1,999.99
@@sebione3576 for base model
@@zaburinaburi1705 -including microtransactions-
Ahahahahaha!! omg is his products selling division still operating? lmao
I see what you did there.
5:10 it says "my mother's (Anne) birthday"
Then "my father's (Baba) birthday"
Wow he take too much importance in his family :)
@@cysper479 probably they were the only reminders he can set in his pre-teenage era :)
@@cysper479 damn you dont care about your parents birthdays?
you pronounced ''Bilgisayar'' really well lol. never thought i would see something from turkey. great video as always man.
:D
Nice touch with the flag in title. Greetings from Turkey.
I had one of these actually :) This piece was given out for some newspaper coupons and another newspaper at that time period also gave out some Brother Super PowerNote ones. They were falsely advertised as "laptops" on TV back then.
9:40 I wasn't paying attention and then boom Bosnian Serbs
Yeah, You don't generally expect what seems to be a reference to ethnic cleansing in a typing tutor.
I guess they kept it interesting at least!
This is so odd and fascinating. A little e-textbook on the nutshell history of computers up to the mid 90s in broken English. Kind of hilarious.
Hello @LGR In 5:10 , The clause on the screen is Turkish also It means "My Mother's Birthday" Then following sentence is "My Father's Birthday". Greetings from Turkey.
the unknown slot was for an expansion cartridge, this looks very similar to the *vTech Power Pad* I think it might be a clone (it also included more games, more songs and BASIC)
Turkish q keyboards never striked me as hard even in my early days.But when i switched my layout to us i was stunned by how many keys were left for symbols and that i didnt have to press shift/alt for most of the characters.
Great video! What a weird little device. Re: Learning; maybe the computer thing is meant to be used at a school. One which couldn't afford a top of the line computer but still wanted to boast a computer science learning component. The translation app seems to support that idea too.
An electronic gadget, that teaches you how to use electronic gadgets...
Must be the joke of the 80's :D
*_Well Down Clint!!_*
So much fun looking back at machines like this. I personally think the device is neat!
Wow... It's like halfway between a vTech toy laptop for toddlers and a PDA from the mid 90s. I'd think that it was intended for students in middle/high school, based on the software included. Then again, there are plenty of companies out there that try to pass off cheap electronics as something more sophisticated and mainstream.
that little plastic "bay" was probably for storing extra batteries
It looks like one of those educational laptop toys VTech used to make. I think that was what it was designed for.
i think is just a toy for children in a shape of a laptop
PcGames88 Looks that way, or people who simply can't afford a PC at all.
The screen reminds me of an old Vtech laptop I got as a kid. Had the same sore of functionality. Even had a little programing app that let you write simple programs.
This looks like the Iranian love child of the GAMEBOY and a TI-83 except their child was raised by the Star Wars children's computer.
I think the concept behind the comet is that it’s an introductory laptop for computer illiterate people cuz it has an entire encyclopaedia explaining how to use computers and utilise them a proper manner. Also the UI is very basic and has large icons to help people with old age
It’s a small world after all and Star of David on a Turkish machine. What a world we live in.
Is there a possibility this machine's OS might be a CP/M derivative? An interesting trinket. Thanks for sharing it with us.
What a strange, fascinating little oddity.
Nice ! I like this type of video :)
I would say that plastic slot is for extra batteries
Any batteries that would come along with it, is *free of charge*
Contained profanities. Well down!
"its a small small small small world" ....argggggg
I'm guessing that empty bay was to carry spare batteries
Is that an active-matrix display? It doesn't look like there is tons of ghosting compared to some of the old LCD monochrome displays I've used, like on the old Powerbooks, at least from what I can tell from this video.
One step above a Vtech laptop.
depends on the period of said Vtech laptop. some offered more than this but then again this is Türkiye and i guess Vtech didnt have any selling there. unless im wrong
With today's cheap single-chip machines you could probably make a decent system at this thing's price point.
was this made before CNC machining, cutting, marker holding, ect. was a thing?
This is an educational toy for children, not a computer. It is fun to see "Manyak"(stupid) , "Gökhan"(male name) in directory list :D
I wouldn’t trust the translator of a machine that says “well down”
😂
The translator is probably legit me thinks 😂
Soundz lejit
I thought that was gonna replace "You're Winner" from Big Rigs.
*types one Turkish letter*
*gives up*
Never change, LGR.
What do you mean shut up? It was Children's Day in Turkey.
@@FigureFarter what
@@idiotsimulator8055 April 23rd
@@aretard7995 what
Every single reply to this comment is a train wreck.
How retro! They included an ashtray.
Not that retro for Turkey in the 90s, I'd bet :D
Well down, Turkey, well down.
Not so much retro.. more like "from the 8th level of hell" or something heh. I like the AA batteries though. Post-apocalyptic word processing.
Perfect for what i need today. an ashtray, storage compartment, and no modern OS- +history and DOS lessons
I thought it was a compartment to hold a rather small sandwich.
contained profanities. She returned
i wonder what those excerpts were from
@@dzvxo searching the phrase in quotes reveals an article "Paths to the Inferno: The Wandering Sisters" from May 3, 1993 Time Magazine
Well down
@@Vokabre Well Down.
What is files? Isn't that the question we're all asking ourselves?
What is files? Baby, don't delete me, don't delete me, no more!
@@Gameboygenius i wanted to write that xd
Spent 22:44 minutes watching a man play with a turkish mystery laptop, my life is complete..
This video was very well down, Clint!
10/10 did not contained profanities
With the ability to send and receive between PC and this thing, I don't think the world of this thing is a small world after all.
This really cracked me up in the morning (missed it last night) I tried to clean it up as much as possible when I sent it to you but the owner seems to have used it quite a bit? When I first booted it there were some random notes from the Gökhan guy, who seems to have owned it 😁
I usually don't like comments but when this one said 99 I just couldn't help it.
heart this comment LGR!
A bit late on my part, but thank you for making this video possible.
Teşekkürler
"I realize this makes me sound like an apologist for the Bosnian Serbs." Wow. That got dark.
As a Serb, I laughed so hard
"Hello, Comet support? I need help with your Notebook CNC-9606. I don't know where to find this thing called 'kebab'.
Yes, kebab.
I don't know either, your device keeps asking me to remove it."
This "Laptop" does not has backlight screen; it comes with a power adapter, user's manual, a mouse and (of course) the computers it self. You could get this computer by exchange of the coupons on the newspapers. Example: If you collect 100 coupons, then you go to the newspaper's headquarter and give these coupons to newspaper's headquarter to get the computer (It means you should buy 100 newspapers to get a computer). Also, computer is based on DOS; it gots printer port, mouse port, and Internet port(that's right). I can send the pictures of the user's manual in 1 or 4 weeks (of course if you want), also I can answer your questions in 1 or 4 weeks too...
Edit: Excuse me for Internet port line; I got confused with the Internet add-on for the front slot
I'm guessing that the little compartment was a place to store the power cord, is that right? If not, what was it used for?
Thanks for your information, I thought this was so very interesting.
That slot on the front is using for add-ons. (E.g. flash memory card; IO Card, for fax/modems and Internet Card). Also, power brick is really huge.So it can't fit. I'm sorry for my late answer. Also, thank you for your question.
Maybe you should send him a message to his TH-cam account.
Can you send me? I am a turkish too.
5:10 Translation;
"My moms birthday"
second one is;
"My dads birthday"
no shit :)
@@HERKELMERKEL yeah İ am Turkish and doğum günü mean birthday annemin mean my moms
@@HERKELMERKEL aptalmısın aw doğru dediği
Uh . . . They are very drunk you see
@H; ben oyle anlamamıştım ben mesala wow falan kulalnirim böyle durumlar icin
This "computer" was given to people who subscribed and collected a number of coupons -like 60 or 90 pieces- from a newspaper. This kind of campaigns from newspapers at the times -90s- was very common tactic to get more sales , otherwise the newspapers themselves was mostly trash well today they are %100 trash.. :) Also people collected the coupons hoping to get a real computer because they never actually told about this being more of a PDA. At the height of this coupons craze the newspapers gave TV sets, boomboxes, various counterfeit game consoles and even a car :) Yes it was "possible" to collect coupons to get a car :)
Turkey is fuckin' weird.
I should visit one day.
Learn to spell, Christ.
@@RejectedRecords1998 If your talking to me, yeah I should, and disable auto correct.
If you're talking to the OP; come on, he's probably a native Turkish speaker, he did pretty well for himself, especially for a TH-cam comment
That's interesting. Thanks for sharing. :)
This thing was percent one hundred always trash.
WRT Tetris, (At least on NES) Type A is the endless mode with increasing difficulty, whereas in Type B you have to clear a number of lines on a set difficulty.
And you can select a starting height, hence 'high' :)
yeah, I'm guessing that if he had chosen anything other than '0' there would be blocks on the playing field when the game started.
Same thing in the Game Boy version!
It says "My moms birthday" and "My dads birthday" in Turkish @ 5:13
Türk müsün?
Kimse Evet
give him some more info about that computer, mouse, outputs purpose (is it for monitor or for what) if you can ofcourse
Hadi adam senden bilgi bekliyo kardeşim anlat :)
BodziuM haha, i wish i knew more about it, my neighbour gave this to us when they were moving out in 2001 or something. I don't have any manuals for it. I only have the Notebook.
This is basically the chromebook of 1997
Minus the internet connectivity.
@@und4287 Nope, its pretty much the same.
Just as crappy.
had a good laugh over this, you're actually 100% right
@@archkull I know. Chromebooks are always the worst and the cheap build quality and the limitations of the system in the video reminded me of them.
My mom got me a chromebook. Then dual booted debian to play games lol.
Real question time...
can it run doom?
shit thats what i've wanted to ask
Maybe, but can it run Crysis?
@Nova Games shut up
Can it run *pong* ?
Can it run away
@@clockworkengine whats away? I've never heard of that game
Hi, follower from Turkey here. On one of the webpages you show it says 'some kind of a children' s computer for education' as information. Btw your pronunciation of 'bilgisayar' was pretty good. :) I've never thought I would a hear Turkish word coming out of your mouth. :D
Ayşegül
I had one when I was a kid. It's Turkish Q keyboard layout we still use today. It is crammed because of extra letters our alphabet has.
"What IS files?" made me choke on my water.
The files are _inside_ the computer!!!!
@@willowashe WHAT!!??
Two questions:
Why was it playing “it’s a small world” from that Disney ride”
Why are there stars of David on the games screen?
Yeah same.
I do remember at one point Turkey and Israel were on friendly terms, obviously before Erdogan's reign. I would guess for the stars of David, the software may have been developed by Israeli designers.
Not knowing the develops and therefore their intent, I would take a wild guess "It's a Small World" was done in the spirit of the song itself as maybe symbolizing the low level cooperation or the oneness of humanity.
"It's a small small intestine..."
Several sketchy electronic toys and stuff used that song back in the day. I guess it was just popular and recognizable, so these manufacturers simply added it to everything.
All the symbols displayed are from the standard Windings font
"Its an emply plastic bay idk what you could hide in there."
Your weed.
Pretty sure it's to carry extra batteries
its an ash tray
my thoughts exactly.
Haha that was my first thought too! 😂🤦♂️
"This is a new-old stock IBM and I've wanted one for so long. Now if you look in the back its got some empty bays for expansion cards or you could hide your weed in there." - Stoner LGR
It's a world of laughter, a world of tears. It's a world of hopes and a world of fears. There's so much that we share, That it's time we're aware, It's a small world after all...
This damn song is too catchy. Even in chiptune.
hi chriddof! thought you'd vanished off the face of the earth. glad to see that's not the case.
Kinda weird that some laptop pda thing would have Its a Small World Afterall on it.
Disney slave child, "You _must_ sing, otherwise they'll make you star in a Christmas movie with Tim Allen!!"
Had little snow globe played it since wee little one.
Never knew lyrics till now though. Thx for posting.
This was my first computer, indeed! My mom had collected some coupons of newspaper, and we paid it by these. If my typing is quite well now, definitely because of this computer had a typing programme. I wasn't speak English, but I was wrinting very well. :))
Good old days... I'm getting old. Damn!
You have a nice mother
"computer" haha
@@aretard7995 It may have had the brain of a calculator (quite literally, given the blobs of resin) but yeah, text editor spreadsheet, some games and enough info to keep yourself occupied for a while. My aunt would love this kind of system, there is barely anything to be confused about. There have been worse starts when trying to learn computing, I'm sure (my MSX started up in basic, also not ideal).
@@aretard7995 hey in many ways this kicks the ass out of the beloved British SinclaIr budget computers. only thing this is inferior in is it has no way to make any programs of your own, but in shere user functionality it is in fact the superior machine.
@@ColtGColtG it may have good specs but it's just as limited as VTech I.Q. Unlimited
LGR'ı izleyen başka tüklerde varmış :)
Özbekler da var
Olmaz mı? :)
Bende.
LGR ı izleyen Toptur. Bu kadar net !
😂
2:53
I could almost read Clint's mind, thinking about making a smuggling joke, but then, for the sake of diplomacy, he contained himself.
It looks very reminiscent of those children laptop thingies on first glance, but very... IBM'y...
Yeah, those toy laptops that were barely a step up fro ma Speak & Spell. tinyurl.com/ToyLaptop
Yea, those... I have really boring memories of them.
Jesus 117 likes... Wow... I guess thanks?
I love how much quirky charm this Laptop like device has despite it looking, on the outside, rather business-like. The clone games really remind me of the type of games you got on Hong Kong original handhelds, with strong resemblance to their Gameboy counterparts but their hasn't quite nailed the way things move.
Anyways really fascinating video Clint ^_^
"1970s business laptop "
Not sure what you mean, perhaps you are joking, as this clamshell design really only took off in the '80s and this device is clearly imitating the look of contemporary '90s laptops.
What is files?
Baby don't hurt me
erica No More
Some kind of food???
A miserable pile of secrets
a small annoying organisms capableof flight that likes to land on food and get in the wayof peoples vision
Normalde iki kanalıda takip ediyorum ama teknoseyir de ki son tozlu raflardan sonra merak edip bakiyim dedim.
[(ENG) I normally follow both channel but after than last posted teknoseyir's "tozlu raflar" video then I come here and check this "comet notebook".]
Teknoseyir'den gelenler:)
Everything was going alright until "Well Down"...
Actually, this Comet Computer was An Educational Notebook Computer to beginners in Turkey. It came with a floppy disk to used in a PC to transfer data, a mouse and a AC adapter.
Looks like here's a bad connection with the leftmost column of LCD pixels. You can see there's a bigger gap on the left side of the screen than on the right.
All 3 of my personal organizers have broken LCD screens
𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲: "I know why you're here, Neo. I know what you've been doing...why night after night, you sit by your computer. It's the question that drives us, Neo. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did..."
𝐍𝐞𝐨: "ｗｈａｔ ｉｓ ｆｉｌｅｓ ?"
Original DMG Gameboys often suffer the same problem with vertical lines missing at the sides.
Reflow the solder where the ribbon cable attaches to the screen by gently rubbing it with a soldering iron tip.
There are some yootoob vids showing the process.
when you live in europe, having 4 different things on one key is the most normal thing on earth so i was amused by your reaction to that
Михаил Генералова Yes, we Americans have it TOO soft!
Christopher Sobieniak well as a trade off we get enough free space to fit our big enter key :)
Михаил Генералова The way to use this, at least on PCs is the same in most countries: AltGr+key=lower right symbol. Shift+AltGr+key=upper right symbol. AltGr is the right Alt key, making it extra annoying when some companies omit that key, so you have to press Fn+Alt+Shift+' just to get a | for piping some output.
The ALT keys can get annoying if you weren't training yourself to use those particular characters.
You communist stop talking, the Turkish keyboard has nothing to do with Europe nor you
The empty bay could be a space for storing extra batteries :P
I was thinking it was where you would store your power cord (the one that's gone missing) so it doesn't go missing.
Yeah , I thought the same thing about the batteries.
That plastic bay is for storage of bonbons and toothpicks, if you read the complimentary information coasters included with the deluxe edition you would know that.
also "well down" clint "well down".
Oh my, seeing something from Turkey as a citizen of Turkey, it's amazing. I love how bizarre some stuff seem to you even though us Turkish kids were used to them since forever!
The best thing to come out of Turkey since Turkish Star Wars!
Betcha didn't watch Turkish Star Trek yet
I bet he haven't watched the longest death scene ever recorded in the history of filmmaking
Hey Clint, to fix the missing lines use the old method: heat the contacts of the lcd with a hairdryer and then rub them with a soft pencil eraser.
This worked for all my devices, from pocket organizers to GameBoys.
I suspect it's running a Z80 clone and some kind of customized CP/M.
I just had to laugh really hardly bacause I was happy about the fact that other Turks watch you too
Yours Anilcan
P.s 5:12 means "my dad's birthday"
Anal can
I think this was given away by a newspaper if I m not mistaken.
You said bilgisyar perfectly super impresive.
rofl
How was the Turkish Delight?
Chewy
Loves, from Turkish Republic.
Merhaba ))
ATATURK
Wi Ar LaV yU ne ya ADGSDJVVVLQMKWMDNRNWM
The small compartment on the left is for storing Turkish delights!
Works for me!
2:50 it's an ashtray. A great Turkish innovation!
I never expected one day i will watch something sent from Turkey on this channel. LOL
Can it run Turkish Crysis?
No can't, but can run farcry.
ZERA kriz
I know that version. Its the one where Superman and Spiderman battle the Empire using stock footage from The Temple of Doom and then slap a bunch of women with paper swords.
GreyWolfLeaderTW I know, lol
Thank you for the review! I am a bit late but, i felt really excited when i saw Turkish flag :') And your pronunciation of the word "bilgisayar" was pretty decent.
Thanks again! :)
This is a common thing in turkish flea markets. I bought one for 10 liras (around 2 bucks). Weird toy it is.
The eBay-ish screengrabs that came up were oddly amusing on that front. I know £1 = about 3TL... the first one was just 40TL, there was another for about 200, which seemed a little ambitious... then a third for _850 TL,_ wtf?! I bet it didn't sell for that much when brand new.
They are just making up prices so that a dumb rich guy would mistaken the item as valuable and buy it, but in reality, these damn things are everywhere in the flea markets. Shame.
$1 = 4TL
€1 = 5TL
fuck.
alienozi 10 lira bir an dedim nasıl around 2 bucks sonra aklıma kuru geldi ashjsgdhagah
Jyneath ekonomi bitti maalesef.
It uses a HOLTEK HT3810E (or perhaps a Mosdesign M994A-68L?) melody IC for the background music.
Is just PC-Speaker dude, not something as fancy as a holtek
Around late 90s in Turkey, there was a huge newspaper promotion craze. People would collect newspaper coupons for years to get TVs, computers, and even cars. That Comet PC is a specimen from those days.
Weeeeeird
Kudos to whoever wrote the english captions for 18:51
made me laugh like a lunatic
[gentle screwing noises]
You know, I was just thinking the real failing of this channel was that you never did tell us what is files
Its an existential rhetorical question
Well down video!
Well Down ! comment.
Well down! And this is from a Turk.
Hmm...a "How to use DOS" guide, a faux version of DOS, and a Typing Trainer? I'm thinking this is some kind of learning computer for students. Fascinating.
The manufacturer seems to be a Hong Kong company called Comet Electronics, here's an old archived copy of their website: web.archive.org/web/19991109110434/www.cometelectronics.com.hk:80/
by 2001 (the earliest product listing I can find that worked) they didn't have anything like this notebook listed, but their main product line seemed to be electronic translators/organisers, which I guess were likely based on similar technology to this thing.
(in fact Comet brand translators still seem to be on the market in some places, their latest one being basically an Android tablet with translation software installed, but I can't find a working website for them anymore)
I remember a time when this thing would have seemed like science fiction. Then again, I'm typing this on a device that would have been beyond comprehension.
There is some weird shit going on with this notebook... The "Small World" kinda music... The star of David for the games (even weirder for a turkish computer)...
... just why ?
well... I never saw a star like that. Even Morocco's flag, wich is one star, is a 5 branch star. With Turkish symbols, I always saw 5 branch stars and sometimes 8 branch stars. Not 6. Isn't it supposed to be with another symbol ? Or with little circles around the corners of the star ?
(And don't be salty dude... that's not cool :'/ )
XD ok man... I never learned about turkish history at school, but whatever... And you didn't answered my question about the star. I never noticed that turkish flag could have a star with branch. Where can you find that, please ?... Because Google image doesn't show anything that looks like the 6 branch star shown on this computer.
Please find a partner to translate into Russian. In Russia there are many people who love the theme of retro technology. your channel is great. Many interesting things
That Music... is that "It's a small World" or am I hearing things?
Yep, sounds like it!
Seems to be, yepp!
Yes, that would be the song, and yes, you are hearing things.
trekaddict seek help talk to psychologist.
*I CAN'T **_UNHEAR_** IT!*