Re: Multimedia

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Dave Harper" <dharper@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e9qdrv$nb1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> In article <u_WdnWhzjOgeql3ZnZ2dnUVZ_t6dnZ2d@xxxxxxx>,
> Robert Green <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >I really thought the unit came with a LAN jack.  Some of the older
reviews I
> >read referred to one being on board however I've learned that it's only
> >active through one of the docking stations.
>
> I discovered this too.  Before I bid on the unit, I downloaded all the
docs
> I could find and one of the Fujitsu docs indicated that the LAN was built
in.
> Even after I found out otherwise, it still seemed like a good deal.

Yes.  I felt a little misled by their docs.  There are "fast dock"
connectors on the bottom of the unit that probably contain the LAN signal
which I understand does get generated inside the unit, it just doesn't get
sent anywhere except the docking connectors.  If can find the pinout specs I
could build my own docking cradle, at least for the metal fingers.  A row of
brass round-head screws would make good enough contact, I think.  Might not
reach 100Mbps because of the length of untwisted connection but 10Mbps would
be fast enough.  I suspect that port was "gonna be" a LAN port but at the
time they decided that a modem would be a more effective use.  Given when
these were "born" that was probably a good assumption.  Broadband was still
very limited.

> I did price docking stations but they were more than I wanted to
> pay.  Besides, I wanted the LAN to be active if I was moving
> around with the tablet so wireless really seemed the way to go.

Yes.  I'd be tempted to use wireless if I hadn't bought the sucker for wall
mounting.  But my last foray into wireless upset my cordless phones AND my
CCTV wireless cams, so I took all the gear back.

I gotta say, walking about the dark house at night with the glowing tablet
playing an MPG makes me feel a little like an electronic Moses.  There's
something magical about a PC that's so small and self-contained.  They
probably never took off because people never got to try one for a while to
realize how useful they are for a variety of things.  I'm tempted to get a
car cord and a GPS card and make a "travel" rig that I can use in either of
my cars or in a friend's when traveling.  Not sure how readable that screen
will be outside, though.

> >Tcl/Tk?  Unix tools?  What OS are you running?
>
> Both tablets came preinstalled with Win2K (I suspect we both purchased
from
> Laptop Enterprise, since they are the biggest 3400 supplier on eBay).

Good guess.  They're selling one with a duff digitizer for about half price.
I'm sorely tempted because a USB mouse is just as easy to use.  I have an
old touch pad mouse that I might try to attach to the unit.  I really wish
it had a combo PS/2 port like my Compaq so I could use a splitter and
conventional input devices.  If I do decide to mount some more around the
house, I probably will spring for either a replicator or a docking station.

> Tcl runs on just about everything, which is one reason why I use
> it.  You can get a really good distribution of Tcl (or Perl, or Ruby
> or...) for various OS  flavors by downloading from
> www.activestate.com.  I generally just go ahead and install an
> interpreter on the target system although it is fairly easy
> to convert Tcl scripts into a standalone executable.

I checked them out at their sourceforge site.  Looks interesting but might
be beyond skills.

> >Do you use screen protectors with your unit?  I'm tempted to, but I think
> >I'll end up running the unit via USB mouse - maybe even wireless since I
> >don't want any cords coming from the front of the unit.
>
> I thought seriously about getting the screen protectors but ended up not
> doing it.  Most of the time, the tablets just sit in a small plexiglas
stand
> that I made for them.  In this mode, I generally just use the small USB
> mouse to control things.  About the only time I use the stylus is when I'm
> doing a grocery shopping list; I have a small Tcl app that allows me to
> select an item from a list of stuff I normally buy and add it to the
current
> shopping list.  When it prints out it's ordered by asile in the store (I
> *hate* grocery shopping - anything that speeds it up is a plus).

I have an Access app that handles all my shopping like that, including
priority fields in case I am running out of time.  We have an Internet
grocer here and I hate shopping *so* much that I've signed up even though
the prices are high and the selection is low.

> Maybe if I was using the stylus for a lot of things it might be
> different.  Besides, I could be wrong, but I suspect these are
> nothing more than thin sheets of mylar for $9.95 - the same thing
> you could get at Staples or Office Depot for about fifty cents.

Since I have boxes of various sheet protectors, I think I'll try working
with those first, although, like you, I don't anticipate doing much stylus
work.

> One other thing I forgot to mention; when I was first looking for docs, I
> came across a Fujitsu Stylistic 3400 Discussion Board at:
>   http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/index.php?fn=browse_forum&f=529
>
> As you might expect, it's fairly low volume, but it might be a good place
> to check if you have really specific questions.

Neat.  Maybe they know both the pinouts on the two bottom connectors and how
to program the mysterious programmable function key.  I've been futzing with
it and am beginning to think it's there, but they never got it working.
Thanks for your input, Dave.

--
Bobby G.