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Offline Computer-Lab in Basement

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Pocket PCs
« on: Sun, 11 October 2009, 17:03:08 »
Anyone here have any Pocket PC's? I just bought one off ebay and would like an opinion on how usefull they are.
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Offline AndrewZorn

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #1 on: Sun, 11 October 2009, 22:14:33 »
recently i think an advanced phone is the only way to go
i have a htc touch pro that will soon be a touch pro 2
very useful
with the new 3.5mm headphone jack i will finally be able to have a real mp3 player replacement
free internet radio in the car is a great feeling
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Offline ironcoder

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #2 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 03:02:31 »
Quote from: Computer-Lab in Basement;124555
Anyone here have any Pocket PC's? I just bought one off ebay and would like an opinion on how usefull they are.

I have some old ones, a Tungsten T and a few m105s I got included in a deal where I bought a lot of goodies from a buddy of mine who was moving. I also got some ancient Apple laptops (68k) OS discs a CD drive and some other stuff in case there are any collectors here.

I use the Tungsten mostly for ebooks and it also has a really nice MP3 player. Palm OS is really nice, they did a tremendous job with the SDK. I have a few programming languages on it also but it's mostly a curiosity, without a real keyboard it's too much of a PITA to actually do anything. However you can develop apps on your PC and download them to the Palm. Anyway there are mp3 players that are a lot smaller now so that's not any kind of a reason to get one. There is actually at least one movie player for the Tungsten though and it's cool because of the SD card slot you can add alot of memory.

 I use the m105s I used to travel alot and having a plastic thing with all my addresses and phone numbers I could stash anywhere and not worry about it too much was nice. But I could do all that with a phone as well.

Now with all the power phones and tiny PCs it's really questionable whether the Palms and PocketPCs are worth it. I don't use mine enough that I would ever buy one again. They're neat to have but not worth spending money on to go out and get one unless you really have some specialized application you want and you really need the small gain in form factor over one of those tiny PCs with the flip top case like a Zaurus or something.
« Last Edit: Mon, 12 October 2009, 03:08:37 by ironcoder »
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Offline lowpoly

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #3 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 03:03:13 »
I have a Fujitsu-Siemens Loox N560. I use it several times every day since years and couldn't live without it. 640x480 3.5" screen. Here is an old post which lists some software I use:

http://geekhack.org/showpost.php?p=77626&postcount=6

I also use Softmaker Office. The built-in MS Software is very restricted.

OSX-like theme I downloaded somewhere and customized:

Start screen:



One of several application screens (for some stupid reason I chose the one that has almost the same apps like the start screen):



Pics are scaled down to a size similar to the PPC. They're much sharper on the PPC.
« Last Edit: Tue, 13 October 2009, 08:21:57 by lowpoly »
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Offline ironcoder

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #4 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 03:24:10 »
lowpoly, I checked out your type in style site. That work is really beautiful! You are a real craftsman!
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Offline lowpoly

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #5 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 03:31:36 »
Thanks. :-)
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Offline D-EJ915

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #6 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 10:45:08 »
those are some nice screens you've got there.  My samsung sch-i760 is a pda phone lol, does that count?  it has windows mobile 6 on it...should have updated to 6.1 before I installed everything but whatever
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Offline AndrewZorn

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #7 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 11:01:20 »
keyboard?
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Offline ironcoder

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #8 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 11:45:15 »
He could tell you, but then he'd have to thow sand on you...
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Offline AndrewZorn

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #9 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 11:46:09 »
i wont wait for the video but no worries

it is commercial broadband



that's right, high-speed BROADBAND

EDIT forgot to say above... always use custom ROMs if you can, winmo 6.x is sooo much faster on a custom ROM.
just hard to think how a nice phone isnt a 100% replacement for a palm or something.
wifi and cell wireless
audio player
less devices to carry
800x480 on TP2
ms office compatibility
« Last Edit: Mon, 12 October 2009, 11:48:30 by AndrewZorn »
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Offline maxlugar

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #10 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 11:55:28 »
Quote from: Computer-Lab in Basement;124555
Anyone here have any Pocket PC's? I just bought one off ebay and would like an opinion on how usefull they are.


I use this HP iPAQ:  http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/product_detail.do?storeName=storefronts&landing=handheld&category=HP&lanAttr=Type&orderflow=1&product_code=FB041AA%23ABA&catLevel=2  It is one of the last remaining stand alone PDAs not bundled with a phone.  It uses a Marvell PXA310 processor and runs on Windows Mobile 6.0.  I can seamlessly transfer documents from Office 2007 between my laptops and my iPAQ. I think the bright 4" VGA (640X 480) is the best I've seen on a hand held device.

I use it with this keyboard:  http://www.diatec.co.jp/en/det.php?prod_c=517
It uses scissor switches over rubber domes.  I prefer it to the HP Bluetooth keyboard which is twice the cost and broke after a few months.  The Filco Papillon folding keyboard can be special ordered from EliteKeyboards.com.
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Offline AndrewZorn

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #11 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 12:07:24 »
to be fair a ping doesnt mean much unless you are both connecting to the same place

BUT
its never less than about 600 - a delay that is part of the satellite, which is somewhere along the way to anywhere, from here

surprisingly it is barely enough to play red alert 3 effectively
but no chance with a FPS or anything
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Offline ironcoder

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #12 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 12:18:56 »
Yeah aside from that horrific ping the .130 download tells the story. You're not getting broadband performance, that is more like the old 128k lines.

The ping is critical because things like dns lookups take a long time. With that kind of latency you're screwed. Ping yahoo.com and see what kind of timings you get. Mine are running about 250ms.
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Offline AndrewZorn

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #13 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 12:30:15 »
no exaggeration, yahoo, google, all are 600ms+ (no matter the package you are paying for)
its the minimum delay because of the satellite.

this is $100 a month by the way.

i guess it isnt so bad if i am complaining about the internet speed in war, though.
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Offline Rajagra

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #14 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 14:05:00 »
Quote from: ripster;124664
Keyboard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjqd2PLz6rE


I couldn't concentrate during that video, I kept thinking of power tools for some reason.
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Offline itlnstln

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #15 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 14:09:37 »
Could the intro be any longer on that video?  Homeboy need to use some lotion on those hands, too.  It looks like he has a pretty nasty hangnail.
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Offline rdjack21

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #16 on: Mon, 12 October 2009, 21:48:03 »
I have a Nokia N810 that I just love. I use it for all kinds of things but the majority of the time I use it for Music and reading (Just have to love this site http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/ it has all the Bean cd's that have been published). When traveling I use it for web access and it works just fine (WiFi connection).
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Offline ricercar

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #17 on: Tue, 13 October 2009, 01:53:06 »
i recently picked up a bunch of Pocket, Handheld, tablet PCs from last century
- Philios VeLO1
- Toshiba Libretto 50ct
- Hitachi Traveler 300
- Fujitsu Pencentra 130 - two units
- VADEM Clio tablet

These are listed in order of usefulness. The last one is really sweet. it's about an inch thick, and the LCD flips to lie flat on the keyboard for pen-only tablet mode.

Most of the PocketPCs I see any more are extremely limited by lack of bootability if the hard disk crashes, requiring a proprietary floppy or optical drive that's rarely included with a 10-year old machine. However, lots of these machines accept PCMCIA-adapters for CF cards, which can be loaded with all manner of things, including CD images.

Yet given a decent browser and wireless card, they perform admirably for surfing just about anything but SSL logins or flash video.
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Offline rdh

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« Reply #18 on: Tue, 13 October 2009, 02:19:32 »
Quote from: ricercar;124876

- VADEM Clio tablet


Do you have a good picture of the keyboard?
The layout appears to have a couple of interesting details (curved key rows? unusual offsets between rows?), but I can't see it clearly on the few images I've googled.
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Offline lowpoly

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #19 on: Tue, 13 October 2009, 05:34:07 »
PPC with keyboard:



(posted before)

Because of a bug in WinMobile or in the hardware the keyboard isn't recognized after the PPC going to standby. Have to reboot then. :-(
« Last Edit: Fri, 01 June 2018, 09:59:28 by lowpoly »
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Offline AndrewZorn

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« Reply #20 on: Tue, 13 October 2009, 07:13:25 »
is that an active adapter?  surprised it took it...

Quote
Yet given a decent browser and wireless card, they perform admirably for surfing just about anything but SSL logins or flash video.
my mogul and touch pro 2 both did SSL and flash (even homestarrunner was fast enough to play smoothly like it was no big deal, though i did have to be in a high-speed area)
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Offline lowpoly

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #21 on: Tue, 13 October 2009, 07:38:52 »
Quote from: AndrewZorn;124914
is that an active adapter?  surprised it took it...

No, just a cable.
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Offline AndrewZorn

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #22 on: Tue, 13 October 2009, 07:47:11 »
i see now that its not just a mini usb port on the device (i was thinking of mine) so it makes sense now
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Offline microsoft windows

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« Reply #23 on: Sat, 17 October 2009, 06:40:18 »
Why don't you guys like having letters on your keyboards?
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Offline AndrewZorn

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« Reply #24 on: Sat, 17 October 2009, 10:57:23 »
Quote from: microsoft windows;126318
Why don't you guys like having letters on your keyboards?

forces you to not look,
better cosmetic adaptability for different layouts,
looks cooler
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Offline JBert

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« Reply #25 on: Sat, 17 October 2009, 12:47:28 »
Now if I could only get blank double-shot keycaps...




Ok, that might be overkill.
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Offline Hak Foo

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« Reply #26 on: Sat, 17 October 2009, 13:08:42 »
Quote from: ricercar;124876
i recently picked up a bunch of Pocket, Handheld, tablet PCs from last century
- Philios VeLO1
- Toshiba Libretto 50ct
- Hitachi Traveler 300
- Fujitsu Pencentra 130 - two units
- VADEM Clio tablet


Isn't the Libretto different from the others in that it's a standard x86/Win95 PC?

I recall they held their value well beyond other machines of their performance class.

I actually saw a Toshiba T1960CT at the sale-of-scrap shop yesterday, but balked at the price (25USD).  I have a 1950, which has a really cool snap-on trackball.
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Offline rdh

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #27 on: Sat, 17 October 2009, 15:17:44 »
Quote from: ripster;126413
LOL - could be cool though if the sides were one color and the very top of the key another.


Like this?

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Offline D-EJ915

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #28 on: Sat, 17 October 2009, 15:22:44 »
Quote from: Hak Foo;126408
Isn't the Libretto different from the others in that it's a standard x86/Win95 PC?

I recall they held their value well beyond other machines of their performance class.

I actually saw a Toshiba T1960CT at the sale-of-scrap shop yesterday, but balked at the price (25USD).  I have a 1950, which has a really cool snap-on trackball.
yep librettos are laptops, just small ones
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Offline itlnstln

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #29 on: Mon, 19 October 2009, 08:01:03 »
Quote from: rdh;126447
Like this?

And here I was going to laugh at the irony of blank, double-shot keycaps.  You ruined my day.
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Offline InSanCen

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Pocket PCs
« Reply #30 on: Mon, 19 October 2009, 16:45:34 »
Libretto's... drool...

I have a Tungsten E2. Nice little unit. Got given it with a Full GPS setup attached (My 'Little' brother (6feet tall, huge, solid muscle) does not get on with "buttony Gadgety" things, bonus for me!).

I like it, but it's no more than a distraction, and a Media player while my SE C905 is being fixed. I can't seem to find a pratical use for it now that the iPod Touch's are out, so I can't annoy apple fanboi's with a Touchscreen media player ;-(

So, it just sit's there, and get's picked up occaisionally, as I'm rarely in Windows enough to use the godawful Hotsync program (Anyone know of a *nix equlvalent?).


For 90% of my portable needs, my rather customised eeePC 701 is just great.
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Offline microsoft windows

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« Reply #31 on: Sun, 25 October 2009, 09:09:32 »
For my portable needs I still lug around an 11-pound laptop running at 850Mhz.
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