But can you really look at the clunky Compaq LTE 286 laptop that [Dmitry ... to tell a hacker what they should do with their bespoke computer.

Nowhere is this truer than with laptops and tablet PCs. The supposedly portable computers of the early 1980s, such as Osborne 1 and Compaq, were conventional desktop computers with a small monitor ...

the Gavilan SC was more compact than rival IBM PC-compatible portable computers such as the 28 pounder (13 kg) Compaq Portable. Gavilan Computer Corp. declared bankruptcy and closed in 1985.

“The reason we need those specific Compaq laptops is that they run a bespoke CA card which is installs into them,” a fellow from MSO told me. “The CA card is an interface between the laptop ...