Is some form of USB supported in the X30?

sktzofrenic · 05-29-04, 09:19 PM

I would absolutely love to have USB connectivity with my brand new Dell Axim X30, but it appears that USB is something that is rather downplayed on PDA's in general. Is there a reason for this? Have any of you used some form of USB on your PDA with any success?

AbSoluTc · 05-29-04, 10:45 PM

Its downplayed for the sheer fact that a PDA is suppose to be small, sleek, mobile and connected.

People that want a usb hard drive or other large mass storage devices, might want to look into a laptop.

No, the X3i, X30, nor the X5 have USB

MrKlaatu · 05-29-04, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by AbSoluTc
......the X3i, X30, nor the X5 have USB

Two outta three ain't bad.

The X5 CAN, but only 'cause it's a CF Card kind thang.

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

USB 1.1 Host Adaptor CF Card

sktzofrenic · 05-30-04, 01:39 PM

The reason I was asking was becaues I want to use my new X30 to give power point presentations. THe projector can either be connected with USB or a VGA serial thingy.....

From what I know, the VGA thing costs about $175 and I wasnt too keen on shelling out all that cash.

MooMooFarm · 05-30-04, 03:59 PM

lol, nice mrklaatu hehe 2 outa 3 but i dont think you need usb to run powerpoints, i know htere is a program that can view pp projects on the pocket pc, couldnt you use the ir port? or bt?

sktzofrenic · 05-30-04, 04:08 PM

Yeah the program is called pocket slides, and i have the trial version and i like it a lot. The point is, I want to connect the Axim X30 to a projector and it doesnt not have IR or BT. The only two ways are with USB and some sort of VGA cable. So it looks like I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. :bang:

05-30-04, 04:27 PM

I don't think you could connect the projector to a PDA via usb anyway. To send a video signal by usb cable, you would need some sort of software drivers, and since most PDAs don't have usb capability, there most likely isn't any kind of drivers made for the pocket pc OS. I have to go with the rest of the crowd and say you need a laptop. Get one of those Dell Inspiron 1000's. They just (re)added them to the product line and they are only $999 cad, so it's probably $700 or so US.

brandenpro · 05-31-04, 03:26 AM

there is no Video output.

SDNick484 · 05-31-04, 04:21 AM

One major reason why we don't see too many USB outputs on PDA's is the drivers; just because there is a USB port, that doesn't mean a driver exists. Just as regular Windows programs don't work on a PocketPC without being ported, drivers won't work either. I highly doubt most manufacturers would be willing to port their drivers for what is still a realitively niche market (PDA users).

For the person wanting to use the PDA to control the projector: Are you planning to use a laptop/desktop to send the slides to the projector? Regardless of the OS, there is a great, free program called VNC that allows you to remotely control any PC from another. Furthermore, if the PC uses XP Pro, Terminal Services, which comes with WM2003, will allow you to remotely control the PC as well. For more info on this subject, search these forums; oh I believe the PDA client for VNC is available in the downloads section here as well. A $20 wifi card for your laptop is a lot cheaper than a $175 USB connection for your PDA and will get the job done just as well.

Tom61 · 06-01-04, 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by sktzofrenic
The reason I was asking was becaues I want to use my new X30 to give power point presentations. THe projector can either be connected with USB or a VGA serial thingy.....

From what I know, the VGA thing costs about $175 and I wasnt too keen on shelling out all that cash.

1. The Vga card doesn't work on the X30, as it's Compact Flash last I checked, and the X30 only has a Secure Digital slot.

2. the USB card (doesn't work with X30 for the same reason) costs almost that much.

06-01-04, 02:07 AM

Bluetooth is meant to replace USB for a variety of applications and generally offers interconnectivity in a more convenient and mobile manner. And fortunately the X30 has bkuetooth built-in, so the fact that the Ax does not have any USB ports should not be much of a problem.

Who wants to deal with a big cable mess on the road anyway?

sheepy · 06-01-04, 02:11 AM

I'd tend to agree, but don't forget that bluetooth only allows up to 700kbps, for some applications that just isn't fast enough -- or won't be in a few years time (e.g. a hard drive containing video at 1mbps and a 640x480 PDA would have a hard time communicating effectively via bluetooth - usb would be fast enough for this however).

also, you can't use bluetooth on a plane :D

SDNick484 · 06-01-04, 03:44 AM

Not to mention BT can't carry power (another great feature of USB).

sktzofrenic · 06-01-04, 07:40 AM

Why couldnt you use bluetooth on a plane?

sheepy · 06-01-04, 03:11 PM

probably because they won't let you. :p

i'm sure it'd be perfectly safe - bluetooth is such low power that if it affects the flight equipment then all sorts of random things could also affect it, but I'm pretty sure they won't allow you to use anything that contains radio transmitting or receiving equipment (unless you can verifyably turn that bit off - e.g. X30 with wifi turned off).