GRiD System Corporation made some of the neatest, wackiest computers out there. GRiD was purchased by Tandy some time back, then more recently purchased by AST. ALPS did some GRiD stuff too. Although no more GRiD products are being made (as far as I know), AST still provides technical support for many GRiD products and maintains a file support library on their web page. GRiD made a lot of portables, mostly pen-based units. The majority feature the trademark black case manufactured out of super-rugged injection molded high impact plastic and magnesium alloy. GRiD, by far, made the coolest gear out there.

The GRiDpad SL model 2050 is a penbased 386 computer that features wireless pen input. The 2050 has many options such as 4, 8, or 20 megs of RAM, internal modems, and more. It has a PCMCIA slot for type I memory cards. It comes with an internal 60 meg 2.5" IDE hard drive which can be upgraded with almost any other 2.5" IDE HDD. The VGA screen allows it to run applications such as windows for pen and more which will accept and process your hand written input. On the back of the 2050 are ports for an external keyboard, floppy drive, external monitor, serial, parallel, and the optional internal modem. When running MS-DOS the pen can act as a mouse and there is an on-screen keyboard from which you can type. The external floppy drives are proprietary 3.5" 1.44 meg units which draw power from the computer itself (no extra cords or power adapters). The units claims to have a battery life of about 2 hours but since these are older units most of the batteries have already been used to death. There are still a few places selling new battery packs for these machines. I have new external floppy drives for these units forsale, e-mail me if want one. I am always open to trades.

I have documentation on hand for the GRiDpad 2050 so e-mail me if you have any questions. I am looking to obtain extra pens, batteries, an internal modem, ac adapters, etc for this model.

Here is a scan of the GRiD model 2050 AC adapter label. It provides a diagram of the power connector pinout information which will allow for experienced enough users to construct a makeshift power supply.