"The Sidecar" -- Adding advanced networking, and a Linux shell, to a Psion palmtop

One of the coolest designs I've seen for extending older computers via the serial port.

I am a huge fan of finding creative ways of using the serial port on older computers to get them On-Line — and otherwise extend their functionality.

One of my favorite such approaches is using a single board computer to emulate an old-school, analog modem… bridged to a WiFi connection. This allows an old computer — even ones which never had a networking stack — to use any plain old telecom software (the kind you might use to dial up a BBS in the 1980s) to connect to a Telnet or SSH server.

This is the “GuruModem”, an option I have detailed previously.

Well now one awesome nerd has created a similar solution… with a few extra bells and whistles. He calls it “The Sidecar”. And the design is brilliant.

From the developer:

“The idea was straightforward: take a Pi Zero, add an RS232 board that already handles the null modem side, add a Lipo battery, power management and charging, and print a case for it.”

The end result is a battery powered, Raspberry Pi, that he can connect to directly from his Psion palmtop. Which he can use an a little Linux shell machine… or as a gateway for accessing the Internet on the Psion… via The Sidecar.

While this isn’t something you can buy, the creator has done an admirable job of detailing the exact hardware needed and how to make the build. And, honestly, it looks fairly cheap and approachable as far as electronic projects like this go.

Quite cool. Highly tempted to put this project together as I can see it being used for a pretty wide variety computer platforms. This solution should work great for anything from DOS PCs to 8 Bit Ataris.

Here’s a few screenshots and pictures of the device in action (provided by the developer).

Using Hermes on a Psion to use The Sidecar as a Linux shell computer.

Connecting to the good old Space Jam website, using Opera, via the Sidecar.

Google. On a Psion. Sweet.