The Pocket 386 IBM PC Compatible Handheld Computer

386 SX (40MHz) embedded in an Ali M6117
8MB DRAM, 639k conventional, 7168k extended. 24k used by apps conventional, 64k in DOS HIGH memory, 615K conventional memory free. 
Replaceable VGA Card ( CL-GD542X / TVGA9000 / CHIPS F655xx )
Seamless Online Switching between 4:3 and 16:9 display ratios. (640x480 / 800x480) (Fn F4)
CF Card (IDE Mode) Storage (2GB typical)
USB Controller (CH375B) for USB Flash storage devices only
OPL3 (Yamaha YMF262-M) Sound Card, speaker and 3.5mm line out jack
Built-in Mouse using arrow keys
OSD/SOSD LCD Control (Fn F4)
4000 mAh Lithium Battery
12V DC Input (1.5 amp supply provided)
External Interfaces:
Serial RS-232 (using a MAX211 chip to get RS-232 levels using an internal daughter card and external dongle)
Centronics Parallel (printer)
Card with VGA, PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse connectors
ISA bus connection (card sold separately)
ISA/GPIO connection (no daughtercard is apparently available

• There is the full featured article about this device. That explains specifications, ports and other information.
• User guide.

Before buying please be aware of:

• Keyboard ghosting and sticking issues → built-in keyboard suffers from key ghosting and sticking because of hardware scan-rate and implementation limitations.
• RTC clock jumping or BIOS resets → Power-cycling the machine frequently reverts the system time back to the last value manually hard-set via the DOS command line. Rapidly turning the physical power switch on and off can completely wipe the CMOS NVRAM.
• No LBA Support → The BIOS lacks Logical Block Addressing (LBA) support. As a result, the hardware hard-limits hard drive capacities to roughly 8GB, even under operating systems that natively support more. Hard drives or Compact Flash cards larger than 8GB will have their extra capacity rendered completely unusable unless a Custom BIOS or Dynamic Drive Overlay (DDO) software is used.
• GPU Overheating → The built-in graphics card (often a Cirrus Logic variant) runs remarkably hot. Multiple users have reported total GPU failure (“thermal death” resulting in a “No Signal” screen), leading some to operate the device with parts of the case left open for airflow.
• Limited Mouse Functionality → The integrated mouse function key layout does not allow you to perform drag-and-drop actions
• Breakout Board Short Circuits → Users have noted that plugging in the external VGA/PS/2 breakout adapter can completely kill/short out power to the machine if connected while the unit is on.

https://github.com/FreddyVRetro/CH375-USB-DRIVER

• An ISA sound card and CD-ROM emulator, powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico
• Pocket386/8086 ISA8-Exp-01 ISA bus expansion card
• Some users receive Serial card version 1.2 and it appears to have an ESP32 footprint, mentioned here and here.

• vcfed forum article about pocket386
• vogons forum article about pocket386

• 2026.08.06 → I was right of the fake package with missing serial adapter, it never arrived, seller was forced to refund me a 40 €, he refunded.
• 2026.06.12 → Seller said it send the missing part to me, but i think it's fake, so i opened the dispute on AliExpress.
• 2026.06.04 → Received the package, i was very excited, btw the serial adapter is missing, wrote to the seller about the issue…
• 2026.06.02 → Got email from customs that i have to pay 71 € for import taxes… heh…
• 2026.05.16 → Bought it from AliExpress for 195 €.