Working with old tech can take you to unexpected places and expose the quirks of modern coding systems. Case in point: old computers’ supported character sets and their impact on getting workable text when you transfer data across to a recent OS.

I came across this with my Psion Series 3a. I’ve been using it as a note-taking device while researching archive texts on the history of semiconductors. When I was done, I transferred the notes (a single Psion Word file) to a Mac and converted it using my Word2Text utility.

But the computer said, “No”.

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