Questions about Jornada 680E

C:Amie,

thanks!

i usually don't have problems with editing, that was the only case when it wasn't working.

Heyas!

I just purchased one of the Jornada 680e's from Diger Direct. I'm truly appreciative of all of the grand information provided in this forum!!!

After perusing this forum, I'm planning on getting a wifi card over a modem. And purchasing the buttons for the external recorder. Likewise, I'm planning on surfing thru the numerous links for kewl and useful programs for my system.

I do have a few questions, which I haven't been able to find answers to. Which I am hoping someone here may be able to provide. So far neither Tiger Direct, nor HP, have been able to.

(As some background for my PC skills: I am not well versed in playing with PCs and being able to configure them properly. I confess I am a "Plug-n-Play" type of user. That said, I can follow instructions on how to load software or perform maintenance on my PC.)

Here we go:

1. This is my biggie: The software arrived in two unmarked disks. One loaded Microsoft Activesync 3.0. The other some misc software. But I didn't find any way to load "Windows CE Services 2.2". Supposedly it provides software options for my PC. But I haven't been able to find it for a download. I noticed commentary on the Activesync 3.8, and I'll load that later on. But do I need Windows CE Services 2.2? Or is there a better option out there for me? This truly has me perplexed. The documentation that came with the system didn't answer any of my questions.

2. I was planning on using a PCMCIA USB card for transfering data onto FlashDrives. However, the USB 2.0 card I purchased was incompatable with the 680e. And while I have yet to search for a USB 1.0 card, I was informed that it wouldn't be compatable with FlashDrives. So it seems like a wasted effort. Is this true? Or am I missing something? I would really like for this to work as I've grown accustomed to using these FlashDrives for data transfer between computers.

3. I was going to look into getting a PCMCIA Modem card. But after reading thru this forum, I'm more interested in getting a WiFi card. But I'm more concerned now with the next to obsolete Windows Internet Explorer. I was leery of loading the upgrade provided with the CDs as I was afraid it would overwrite my PCs Internet Explorer. Am I just uninformed? I hope I'm just missing somethiing.

4. Is there a users guide that makes sense? I find the User's Guide enclosed with the system is nice for how to turn on the system and get around. But I was looking more for a guide to how to *USE* the system. A Functional Guide on how to utilize the programs.

5. And finally, is there a guide to how to "properly" set up your Jornada 680e? Something like a listing of everything you need to interface with the modern world with this older system?

I appreciate any advice, and apologize for the noobness of my questions.

thx!

Clint

hi!

welcome here.
some of your questions will be answered if you read through all the topics here.

1.: you don't need wince services 2.2. just use activesync 3.8. works OK

2.: sorry, forget about usb only a few of the hpcs have usb host (intermec 6651, nec 900(c) and some newer hpcs).

3.: just install the SP1 if that's what you were talking about it won't overwrite anything important, certainly not your PC's IE. but i'm not sure if you have to install it. others will tell you how to make sure about it. (i don't have a 680)

4.: dunno. this forum will have to do and maybe also this one: www.voy.com/24979/

5. refer to 4.

try experimenting as well

and finally, enjoy your new hpc!

Edited by cmonex 2005-04-01 9:57 PM

about your second question again: you can use compact flash cards with a card reader they'll do instead of flashdrives

Thx for the tips cmonex!

Sadly, I have read thru the forums. Twice. I'm just not savvy enought to interpret much of the lingo.

such as... the SP1? I was referring to a version of IE that came on one of the CD's. What is SP1? ::make notes to self to review this shtuffage once again!!!:: thx fer the tip!

But I'm hoping to learn!

I managed to hunt down the Torx & phillps screwdrivers and Backup battery tonight! Tommorrow I'll hunt down activesync 3.8!!! Thx again for the tip! Then I'll order the audio buttons. Soon... I VILL HAVE UN VERKENG 680e ZAT VILL ALLUW ME TU TAKE OVER ZE VERLD!!! MUAHAHAAAA!!

I need sleep...

Thx again!

chow!

Clint

The external audio buttons are difficult to install. If you are looking to cover up the holes, some users have carefully removed the Dutch Railway logo from the custom bottom and glued it over the holes. The internal speaker is very poor. I think the MIC is too.

As for WiFi, a retailer on eBay is selling 802.11b with Jornada drivers for $24.00 "Buy it Now", or you can bid. Item 5765004652

--Bruised

SP1 is service pack 1, and active sync 3.8 are both located on the download page.

The ActiveSync 3.0 CD has MSIE on it, if you need to update IE you should not use the version on the CD it is an older version. You can get IE5.5 SP2 (Windows 95) and IE 6.0 SP1 (98, Millennium, NT4, 2000) from:
http://www.hpcfactor.com/downloads/msie/

If you are running XP you don't need anything.

Infor on SP1 can be found here:
http://www.hpcfactor.com/support/patching/ce211/

You can get AcitveSync 3.8 from here:
http://www.hpcfactor.com/support/syncsoft/activesync/

Personally I don't think that the audio buttons are difficult to install, fiddly to hold mind but so long as you're careful...

Okay... Thanks for the advice, I confess I'm confused. I cannot figure out which version of IE I'm running on my 680e. My Desktop PC runs on XP. IE = v6.0; Update vSP2. If I download and install either "IE5.5 SP2" or "IE 6.0 SP1", will that screw up my desktop performance?




I'm uncertain if there are any benefits to this patch. Any advice, recommendations?, Insight?

Thanks again for the feedback!!!

Clint
Confused...

I believe C:Amie referred to the IE version of your desktop machine, not the jornada one, as Pocket Internet Explorer (PIE) in the J cannot be upgraded. If you've already got IE 6 SP2 don't install the other updates.

About SP1 for the J, you should install it, it adds a couple cities to time zone preferences and i believe it has better network support and drivers. along with that you should install - the vibrant color display patch
- the Record key patch (if you intent to use it)
- the updated version of HP settings.
- The HP viewer patch
All of that software you can find it here: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?product=59950&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en〈=en&cc=us
just select Windows CE 2.11

Hope this helps

Edited by matrixcore 2005-04-02 8:48 PM

KingoftheRogues,

Just to reiterate, you should not install the IE on the ActiveSync 3.0 CD (It has the host version on it) as you are running Windows XP, you have the latest and greatest. (Firefox users flame me at your peril).

What if his system has vanilla XP and he had not updated IE to 6.0 SP2 (or SP1) yet? Then its not the latest greatest is it?

Well he did say that he has SP2

& if anyone doesn't...
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

No excuses now

Heyas!

Thx again for all the tips!

I'm working on a compilation sheet for all the advice I've gleaned from this website, and from others. It includes such things as what Wireless card to use. Recommended software/driver downloads. And other misc shtuffage! I hope to have it presentable for review in a day or two.

Chow!

Clint

ubid.com has the 680e-AU available for $131 with free shipping.

I just received mine. Yes the backup battery was dead from sitting in the warehouse. The unit is in perfect cosmetic condition. It came with a cradle, manual, cable, pwr supply, CDs, special offers for magazines (old ones), an accessory catalog, everything a new one would come with.

It also came with a disclaimer stating that it was specially modified for the Dutch Railway System and did not have the recording buttons and it said that the flash card slot was not accessible however, that was not the case. It had the recording buttons and did not have the stupid plastic base covering the flash card slot.

The unit powered up fine right out of the box. A quick tour showed that it did not have SP1 installed.

After playing around with it and trying an old modem card that worked fine and an old LAN card that did not and verifying that it would sync with my PC, I finally got around to loading SP1. It loaded fine but when it asked me to reset, to my dismay, the reset button would not work.

Unless someone knows a way to reset (soft) the unit, this one is headed back to the refurb shop again.

OK. New question. Since my LAN card does not work, can the unit be connected via the serial cable to the PC and function as a LAN including access to my DSL. I have done this several times with various laptops and PCs that I have worked on that did not have LAN cards. It seams to have this ability, according to the help files, but only using modems. Not using a direct cable connection. Since I've played with it for 1 evening maybe I missed something.

Next question: Are there any disc interfaces? I have done extensive searching on the internet and the best I can come up with is an adaptec SCSI card that claims that it will work. I even called their tech support and they were not familiar with what capabilities were supported. Their web site says it will support a floppy, HD, CD or CDRW so my question was, where does the writting and formatting software come from? They knew nothing except it was supposed to work. That's OK. I really wanted a hard drive anyway. Has anyone tried this? Does it work?

It seems from the Microsoft site that CE 3 includes some minimal support for USB. Are there any USB cards that will work on the Jornada? Does anyone make a USB hard drive that is compatible?

What I would really like to do is have a USB interface that would support my camera and a hard drive so that when I travel, I can download pictures from the SD card in my camera to the hard drive. Then I wouldn't have to drag my laptop all over the country when I travel.