Hi. I guess many people can't remember passwords etc. so these little 'vintage' LCD gadgets have been very handy, however limited before the SF- series.

We started in 1986 with a couple of new DC-2100ER which were meant for telephone numbers so could only show numbers on the second line of the two line displays. Next were DC-7800 and DC-8500 from eBay, still with two lines of display but with four lines of data for each secret Memo entry. They do still have symbols but only in upper case and copying between them is not available.

Latest, on the way, are SF-4300, SF-4700, (and SF-5500 with the display on the lid). The manuals could be found on line and promise the missing features: the display is four lines of 20 characters, lower case and symbols and an SB-6 lead is available. That is needed for data transfer between SF- units (which is not feasible for SF-A... units) and is advertised for 'Casio graphic calculators, compatible with FX-7400, FX-9750, FX-9860 and FX-CG20 series' http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2318010312...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

The equivalent Sharp gadgets e.g. ZQ-5450/5650 seem less common and more expensive, and the data transfer lead CE-300L or CE-200L is also hard to find.

Programs on PC and Mobile phones are said to have displaced these things for storing passwords but reckon they are still better for quick access.

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...%20SF-4300.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...%20SF-4300.jpg

...the third link was supposed to be to an illustration of the connecting lead for Casio SF- series databanks (except for the SF-nnnn...'A' versions):-
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...-62%20link.jpg

A somewhat interesting blast from the past. I loved my Psion 3a organiser in the early 90's, which was probably the closest thing to the smartphones which would arrive about fifteen years later. The Psion supported the installation of third-party apps, as well as developing your own apps on the device itself with its built in programming language: something you can't do today on a smartphone.

All those devices are today probably obsolete (the Psion might be viable today for some uses as it was powered by 2xAA batteries which lasted around 40 hours, except for the likelihood the screen hinge will have broke on most of them by now). It was great in its day, but a smartphone can do everything better now.

If you want to store passwords on a separate device you take with you that doesn't have an internet connection, it makes more sense to do so today on a printed out piece of paper you put into a plastic-protector in your wallet, than on a dedicated device to store them.

Interesting about Psion 3a for programming. I looked but found it would be too complicated to synch with Windows for sharing programs and printing etc. ...pity, but found justbasic.com which looks good for PC. Thanks