Exploring the Comet Notebook: 1997 Computer. Thing.
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- čas přidán 22. 04. 2018
- 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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● Music used in order of appearance:
Middle Of Nowhere, Qualms Of Conscience
www.epidemicsound.com - Věda a technologie
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.
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.
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.
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.
Spent 22:44 minutes watching a man play with a turkish mystery laptop, my life is complete..
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 CZcams comment
That's interesting. Thanks for sharing. :)
This thing was percent one hundred always trash.
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 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
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.
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.
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 CZcams account.
Can you send me? I am a turkish too.
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.
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
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
"What IS files?" made me choke on my water.
The files are _inside_ the computer!!!!
@@willowashe WHAT!!??
"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."
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!
"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
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?
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.
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
2:50 it's an ashtray. A great Turkish innovation!
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
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.
The small compartment on the left is for storing Turkish delights!
Works for me!
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
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.
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.
Everything was going alright until "Well Down"...
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 ?"
also "well down" clint "well down".
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?
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.
I never expected one day i will watch something sent from Turkey on this channel. LOL
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".]
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!
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
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
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
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.
Kudos to whoever wrote the english captions for 18:51
made me laugh like a lunatic
[gentle screwing noises]
Pro tip - when you take something electronic apart, you should have an empty ice cube tray handy to keep all the loose parts in so they don't wander off :)
LGR'ı izleyen başka tüklerde varmış :)
Özbekler da var
Olmaz mı? :)
Bende.
LGR ı izleyen Toptur. Bu kadar net !
😂
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
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
I really enjoy watching your videos, its so fascinating to see the computers of yore. Keep up the great work my man!
Man, this was the kind of computer I dreamed about as a kid in the 90s ♥️
That boot time.
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.
I suspect it's running a Z80 clone and some kind of customized CP/M.
WE NEED MORE TECH TALES!!! Please... also sorry for the enthusiasm, I just really like your tech tales and I think you do a really good job! Keep up the good work!
I think this was given away by a newspaper if I m not mistaken.
You said bilgisyar perfectly super impresive.
rofl
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
A friend of my father has given me this in 2007, or course just as a toy, and I was OBSESSED with this thing. My dad had a high end Dell at that time, but this thing was much more interesting for a six year old boy. I found every combination after which the virus sign comes up (I don't know its meaning, but I know that I loved it) and played with it for years. I still remember the first level of Soukoban and how I felt very intelligent when I started to solve the puzzles in different levels (I think I was stuck in one of them). I played "Alley Way" possible for more than 100 hours :) I was 5 or 6 when it was given to me and my mother gave it to someone without asking me when I was 13 or something. I was looking for the name of this device, and found it on Teknoseyir, a great Turkish tech site. I will purchase it as soon as possible :) I tried to find it but couldn't even understand what its operating system was, I thought maybe it was some early version of windows, but what I remembered wasn't even similar to Windows 1 or 3.1, but now, finally, I am finally relieved.
Awesome sauce, Clint!
Thanks for the follow up on this interesting machine.
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 actually looks like something a parent to give to their kid. It sort of mimics a real machine without actually giving the kid an expensive laptop. Would be neat to see some of that extra software because this is actually rather impressive for something so simple!
10:15 Your pronunciation was on spot. Good job👍
Hi man, really love your show and I’m Turkish myself, so it was definitely interesting that you reviewed this.
That thing on the calendar, “Annemin doğum günü” translates to “Mom’s birthday” in Turkish. Let me know if you’d like anything translated in the future!
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.
Good lord! The way the resistors and capacitors and the like are arranged makes it look more like a hobby project than a manufactured product.
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.
Gonna have the damn music in my head for a week now thank you Clint! But seriously, another awesome video :)
How was the Turkish Delight?
Chewy
Loves, from Turkish Republic.
Merhaba ))
ATATURK
Wi Ar LaV yU ne ya ADGSDJVVVLQMKWMDNRNWM
Nice touch with the flag in title. Greetings from Turkey.
I really, really enjoyed this. Good on you man.
that empty compartment is for putting your regrets in it :P
A typical arme*an throwing shit when see any Turk related thing. I saw your other replies in the comments that underestimating and making fun of this computer. Of course, people gave you a correct answer to shut you up.
watching lgr is like taking a bath after a long lonely walk in the cold.
The Tetris game is actually a pretty faithful recreation of the GameBoy version, to an extent. it even has the same patterns for the different block shapes. B Type is also from the GameBoy version. It allows you to select a High level, where it will put random blocks in the play area up to the row corresponding with the High level. The objective of B type is to make as many multi-line clearouts before you run out of lines remaining. After you run out of lines remaining, the game tallies up your score, with Doubles, Triples and Tetris's netting you more and more points, respectively.
A lot of these games appear to be gameboy variants, which is where Alleyway comes from as well.
So much fun looking back at machines like this. I personally think the device is neat!
Love this channel. Im fully convinced Clint and I would be best friends based on how much we nerd out on stuff.
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
This kinda reminds me of those Alphasmart classroom computers, where they were basically just word processors with extra goodies. My old elementary school had entire classroom sets of em
I used one of those. I think some of them even ran Palm OS.
I have two of them (because I thought the first one was broken before I realised the problem was just a dead internal battery). Still use the repaired one heavily. I'm not sure what the OS was, would have to dig up the manual and see what I can find. I do have photos of the innards that I took while replacing the battery, though.
this is a very interesting little piece of oddware, well down finding this one!
Can't helped but bawwwww at the Learning tag review, what a wholesome machine it is the Comet Notebook.
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)
this little machine is strangely adorable. great video!
The text on the schedule screen says "my father's birthday". Comet was given as a promotion by a newspaper back in the mid to late 90s in exchange for coupons that were issued every day (I believe it was either 30 or 90 coupons). The keyboard is that way due to Turkish characters. I still do have mine somewhere and yes, the original mouse works with the other port. This was an amazing stroll on memory lane. Thanks for the great content as well as your good wishes for 23rd of April!
This really reminds me of some of those "Toy Laptops" from companies like VTech or the ComQuest Plus back in the day; some of the more advanced versions of those came with various ports and accessories like mice or little printers, and they had a lot of personal organizer-type functionality too.
This is super-interesting stuff! I love it when you find proper fascinating Oddware to show off - "Well Down", LGR! :)
At 5:10 those were dates, it said
“My mother’s birthday”
And
“My father’s Birthday”
It's hilarious that you are showing this computer. I actually own one (non working), that my husband picked up from someone on his truck route. It's always frustrated him that he could never figure out how to turn the blasted thing on.
Its 'sound' reminds me of those musical old-school christmas light sets from the '80s/'90s! 😂
you pronounced ''Bilgisayar'' really well lol. never thought i would see something from turkey. great video as always man.
:D
Well down video!
Well Down ! comment.
Well down! And this is from a Turk.
Love that the music on games menu is "it`s A Small World"!
Just wanted to say, great video, Well down!
Well, Clint. If you type "Comet Notebook Turkey" into a search engine this video is the first result. Already. It's the only result, in fact. So, you've made internet history. Sort of. And that chip is a Samsung 512K 8bit flash memory. It's still in use and available. Here's the data sheet if anyone wants to peek. datasheet.datasheetarchive.com/originals/distributors/Datasheets-110/DSAP003344.pdf
11:45 Well Down 😂😂😂
That plastic "bay" is where you put the beans!
its funny that you brought up chips challenge, i love that game so much and i still play it to this day. i was under the impression no one remembers it
The dates in the calendar said "My mother's birthday" and "My father's birthday" Nice to see . you reviewing a product from my country
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
I love weird pieces of esoteric technology... this was a delight to watch!
Seni seviyoruz LGR!