Got a Compaq Aero 2130 Palm Size PC

Since I keep finding more and more uses for my Palm Size PCs I decided to get another one, I got the Compaq Aero 2130 for $10. I think it's the only Palm Size PC that has a color reflective screen which means the screen can essentially be solar powered by turning off the backlight in well lit areas or outdoors.

So far I use my color Philips Nino as my organizer/reminder, my Casio E-100 is on my bedside table so when I have an idea at night I can write it down without having to get up and find a pen and paper, and my grayscale Philips Nino as my digital recipe book in the kitchen where I transferred all my printed recipes to txt files on a CF card and dumped the hundreds of printed recipe pages in the recycling bin, not only saving space where I stored the huge pile of printed recipes, but making finding recipes a breeze, I can even find recipes by ingredient in seconds. I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner!

It's hilarious being able to buy these previously $400-500 devices for $2-10, it allows me to scatter them around the house as if they were paper post it pads to have one for every use and location.

BTW I'm eyeing a Jornada 720 auction ending tomorrow from a seller that lives 15 minutes away from me, I've been wanting to get it again (I had one nearly 10 years ago). Ironically both my MP900s are dead so I use my HP 360 LX for now, but I'll be able to make a working MP900 out of the 2 broken ones, I just need to go buy a small enough screw driver.


Edited by aab 2011-11-09 8:35 AM

I really like the reflective screen of the Aero 2100 series. I have a 2180, which has 24 MB RAM and 16-bit color (65,536 colors). I'm still disappointed that no color clamshell H/PC ever came with a true reflective screen. (The only device with an H/PC platform that offered a reflective screen was the Fujitsu PenCentra, which was a keyboardless tablet.)

Since I rarely use a device outdoors, I didn't care for the trans-reflective screen on the 2130 personally. My E-125 was much brighter and distinct indoors, so it got all of my attention.

Now outdoors is another matter, and perhaps it would make a great GPS And it sure doesn't hurt having a MIPS cpu as there is a ton of software for it...

The Melard Sidearm has a transflective screen but it's not a clamshell design.

I've never seen a plain "reflective" screen, only "transflective", are they very different?

The specs of the Aero 2100 series also seem very low end for a color device, it's probably the slowest color model ever made, even the Nino is 75 mhz. The base model also only has 8 MB RAM while I think all other color models have a minimum of 16.

Only the 2180 came natively with 16-bit color. All the prior models in the 2100 series came with 8-bit color (256 colors).

Of course a 2180 was listed for the same price just as the 2130 ended. At first I thought the only difference was the memory, but I won't need 16 bit anyway and at least it's still a TFT.

Does anyone know if the 2130 might have the same 16 bit screen but is simply locked to 256 colors? I've heard of this being the case with some handhelds.

BTW I won the Jornada 720 and should be able to pick it up today.

Thanks


Edited by aab 2011-11-10 4:58 PM

I got my 2130 today, there's something about this one I like, probably the reflective screen and being able to use the color screen essentially on solar power in well lit conditions.

I have some dust specs in the screen but they are rarely visible, I think I remember this being a common problem with the Compaq Aeros and I think early iPaqs too. Can this be fixed with canned air? Are all used Compaq Aeros likely like this? If not I'd be interested in buying another one if I can confirm its screen is dust free, I'd like to get a dust free 2180, it sucks that 2180 was listed just as the auction for the one I won ended.

BTW does the 2180 also have the small non standard earphone jack?

Yep. 2.5 mm isn't really non-standard, though, just a less common size.

The older 2100s are of course upgradable to 16-bit color, but AFAIK this requires replacing the ROM chip with one from a 2180 (or 2160). (There's also a Pocket PC 2000 ROM chip for the 2100 series - I have a second 2180 with Pocket PC 2000.)

My local Meijers store has 2.5 to 3.5 headphone adapters in the cellphone accessorie area for only $4.

I don't really plan on using it as an mp3 player anyway, is it even stereo?

BTW Why did Compaq choose to make the slowest PSPC by combining both the slowest processor (70 Mhz) with the most colors in the case of the 2180 (16 bit)? The only slower PSPC I know of are the Casio E-10/11/15 that are just 1 mhz less (anyone know if the E-10/11 & E-15 have the same CPU? I've read conflicting spec sheets online).

What about the screen dust issue, are all used ones on eBay likely to have screen dust and/or is it possible to clean it our?

Thanks

I found what I'll use the Compaq Aero for, I had been leaving my Casio E-100 on my bedside table so I can easily jot down anything I think of at night. The reason I used the E-100 was that it was my only color device I wasn't using for something else, and I wanted a color device because since I want to use it at night I don't want to bother with having to also turn on the backlight separately.

The E-100 was way overkill for this kind of use of course, but the Compaq Aero is perfect for this, and the dim backlight has the benefit of not hurting my eyes if I turn it on in the dark. It seems like it'll need a new battery though, I barely get 10-20 minutes out of a charge, but a new one is $10-15 with free shipping on eBay.


Edited by aab 2011-11-17 5:25 PM

After playing the Mozart.wav file a few times the sound quality went from the best of all PPCs I have to the worst, the speaker crackles like crazy now.

I opened it to see if anything was loose near the speaker and it seemed fine so I assume the speaker is physically damaged, anyway I won't need high quality sound from the speaker but is this a common problem? I had an HP iPaq that could play sound so loud it would blow up it's speaker, I had to send it for warranty repairs and HP made a patch to limited the volume to a level that won't blow up the speaker, is it the same issue on the Aero?

Anyway while I had it apart I blew canned air between the layers of the screen and it's far better than it was.

This has got to be one of the worst PSPCs to take apart, tiny parts start falling out of absolutely everywhere, I had to put it back together several times before I got all the parts back in, even the scroll wheel and reset button fall out.

Anyway so now it has a better screen and worst sound. I guess I prefer it this way, but I really like this little thing I'll keep my eye out for a 2180 as the 256 color screen makes my background image in startap look awful.

Edit: I had the brilliant idea of blowing canned air into the speaker grill to see if it would help, it helped alright, helped kill whatever life was left in that speaker, it's dead as a dodo now. I guess I'll see if the speaker from my spare Nino would fit. I even tried the opposite of canned air and stuck the vacuum cleaner on the speaker grill and turned it on, no luck.

Anyone know where I can get the right speaker?

Edit 2: I noticed blowing on the speaker as sound is supposed to be playing causes it to work, and it's back to working but with very crackly sound.


Edited by aab 2011-11-19 7:02 AM