In need of genius electronic engineer

brucemc · 01-21-07, 05:11 PM

The problem:
I have an old Portege 3000. When I bought it I was making more money than I ever thought I would (At this point I can pretty well say I am making less than I ever thought I would), it was imported from Japan at a time that ultra thins were not even available in the US, and I paid almost twice as much for it than I paid for the tower or notebook that I now use that might pick their teeth with it. But I can't bring myself to toss it. I love that screen, just have to find something I can do with it!

It only has 64Mb RAM on board, and IF I recall, a whopping 266Mhz Pentium CPU. She can run W98SE OK though slow, but if I try 2000 or XP, I better be ready to wait about a half hour for boot-up.

The Request:
What's the chances I could separate the screen from the unit at the hinges, extend the cables between the two halves, and make it into a onboard computer for the car? Mainly to run a GPS linked program like Street Atlas or iGuidance. Might I get better performance and would it be possible to swap the OS for Windows Mobile or something else that at very least would be able to run a decent GPS program - either the palm computer or car computer versions?

If that's a futile pursuit, might you have any other ideas that might make use of it? - Something more electronic than "You could use it as a rectangular discus"... I admit it is missing it's "z" and "x" keys, but it still is a sound, though obsolete, unit. There's got to be some good use if not what I would like to pursue - again, something beyond "How 'bout a nice paperweight?"...

The Confused
Would be nice if I could make it into an MFD (Multi-Function Display - so maybe there won't be anything for a weapons bay nor targeting, but I think some of us would enjoy those capabilities) to replace the speedometer area altogether, but until they come out with some form of standardized electronic interface I guess that would cost more than it's worth, and by the time I figured it out I might even be able to afford a new car with most of the capability already built in. Just can't figure out why cars have yet to start employing an MFD instead of that static display area.

**breley** · 01-21-07, 05:23 PM

Hm, I wonder if afarre might have some ideas? He made an incredible car mount touchscreen combo for his Axim.

Noisy Crow · 01-21-07, 06:22 PM

You might have a shot at running Linux on it decently.

As far as remoting the screen... this might help: http://www.laptoprepairguy.com/lapto.../all-comments/

**breley** · 01-21-07, 07:00 PM

As Noisy Crow mentioned, certain versions of linux could run just dandy on it. I had a Thinkpad 560X P233MMX that ran Damn Small Linux reasonably well. Another small distro is Puppy Linux. While these are designed to run off a CD or USB memory stick, they can be fairly easily modified to run off the hard drive.

**PocketBrain** · 01-21-07, 07:25 PM

Don't toss it, donate it! Yeah, I need a super-subnotebook with Linux installed!

ultramagneus · 01-23-07, 02:06 AM

hmm.... interesting.

extending the screen would be quite hard, those monitor cables are very delicate, and if extended too long would be suseptable to interference

brucemc · 01-30-07, 10:40 AM

Is there a recommended version of LINUX for running something like either iGuidance or Street Atlas, and if so should I trust Googling it or go to a specific site?

Many Thanks,
-newbie

silentknight · 01-30-07, 11:00 AM

have you tried running the desktop or umpc version of iguidance on it? with WIN 98? or even 95 maybe.

I have a portege tablet too and its awesome.. I got it used on ebay for around 700$ from an older guy who only used it a few times.

brucemc · 01-30-07, 11:21 AM

Not yet, as Street Atlas dropped W98 support on their previous release so I just presumed the rest of the industry had also moved along, and the fact that it took so horribly long to boot, load SA then connect to the Blue Logger I use that I would be at half my destinations before the system was up and running. SA had been the only program I used for GPS for years that I didn't even check to see how iguidance might perform on it. Guess (duhhhhh) it is certainly worth loading and checking out.

I want to mount the Portege 3000 in the car semi-permanently and let it drop to "Stand-By" when I leave it, so the GPS is always available in an instant. Have posted to the referred laptop repair site my query about separating the screen from the unit along with the concerns on the cable nature and interference issues.

Also, from your expertise, are you able to briefly give me your comparison/opinion of the two products? I run SA on the overblown high powered notebook and desktop, the notebook being almost as big as the desktop (...) and iGuidance on the AXIM, but have not tried comparing similar application on same platform, probably due to having to play Mr. Mom most the time since business went bad (thank God my wife got a decent job. That is, outside the house), and chasing four daughters all day between home and school, and trying to keep what business I have alive, really seems to chew up more hours in a day than exist...

silentknight · 01-30-07, 11:44 AM

I know what your sayin.. I am Mr Mom during the day and I work full time in the evening and fit classes in between.. My wife works in the morning and plays mom in the evening.

the Desktop and UMPC versions of iGuidance are almost identical to the PPC version.

brucemc · 01-30-07, 09:21 PM

silentknight - Here's to Mr. Moms, folks don't know how hard it is for a male to fill a skirt. A lot more fun getting into one. And may I say it takes a real man to wear pink (or at least take the abuse). Hey! You in G.R.??? I just moved to Zeeland! Thar be cowwwwwwwws here!!!

Breley - you have me fascinated with this DSL Linux. I realized I was apprehensive about it, but then, I sure as heck am not using the 3000 because of the problems related to W98 overhead, so, as I used to say, WTF? Nothing to lose, and it looks real interesting. Now, I really can run iGuidance on it, right? Oh, I best also ask, what about software to make this jerky USB Dongle work? It was a major pain just to get that thing running, as the manufacturer's (M.S.I.) instructions did not work, and they had a big-time problem with English (I am not a supremest; English just happens to be the language I was raised with. I HAVE tried learning other languages, and the only ones I can are computer languages. I wanted to learn French. And Spanish. And Japanese. And Russian. And probably more. When it comes to learning a spoken language, I just plain suck. I am very impressed with folks who learn English as a second language, and I admit envious - some speak it better than I do).

silentknight · 01-30-07, 09:36 PM

The only way you could run iGuidance on linux is with a windows emulator something like "Wine" .. and even then it may not work.

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