HP Jornada 680: what to expect.

Huh. Weird. Maybe i need to format my cards. I could see as i mentioned up to 2gb, but no more than that. I did a LOT of experimenting with SD, CF and PCMCIA cards recently. So either my cards need to be formatted or theres an update i dont have installed to see that much. If theres an update that fixes this let me know, but as i said above im just glad it takes 2.0gb as of now. More than enough space for what im doing.

Im talking about on Windows CE 2.11 on the 680e and 690. I would still like to know why im not seeing more than 2gb. Not a huge deal, but this is weird that you pasted what ya did above and after all the experimenting i did i couldnt get the units to see more than 2.0gb. THats why i love this site !!!! :-)

Thanks for the information, now im on a mission ;-)

Edited by WallyB110 2024-02-24 7:48 PM

Check this comment I made here

https://www.hpcfactor.com/hcl/detail.asp?hcdid=828

It looks like I couldn’t get CE 3.0 to recognize more than 8gb.
I would assume CE2.11 is similar to 3.0 on this respect.
I would theorize a secondary driver is necessary to recognize 32gb. So it’s probably a “theoretical “ compatibility versus an actual real world one.

Long story short, I’d just stick with 8gb or less.

But please read the articles and make sure to format the card with the specific cluster size that it stipulates for maximum compatibility.

^ THIS :-) . I will def have to mess around and see what i can get going on. ;-)

I posted video and pics of the scratched digitizer on my 690. So i ordered a new digitizer. I also wanted to experiment with the 690 rom/ram and the compatiblity with a 680e. So i got a working 690 motherboard with the ROM/RAM chip on it. Last but not least, i liked the extra bottom part that the 680e has. Yes it blocks your access to the CF slot. But i dont remove my memory cards once i put them in the palmtop (usually). So for me pop a 512mb or 1gb CF into that slot and put the bottom on and anything else i need will be using the PCMCIA or im using Active Sync with the palmtop hooked up to a PC.

So next week i should have these parts. If the 680e and 690 rom/ram thing doesnt work. Then ill simply just upgrade the 680e to a 690 using the 690 motherboard. Ive really looked at these two models and im almost positive these are using the SAME motherboards. Other than having to pop off a plastic cover on the 680e where the modem would be on the 680 and 690, its a fit. Same with the bottom piece of the 680e fitting on a 690. The screen scratches are bad looking when the unit is off and where its scratched you can tell someone was a BIG Solitare fan haha. But with the unit on, i cant see the scratches. But the 690's Digitizer has issues when trying to press things on the screen with the stylus. Thats the main reason im replacing the part. If it was just the scratches, id have left it alone.

In the future i am also going to look into getting the extended battery packs for both units. The 690 battery pack was not so good, so i rebuilt that ones battery pack and it gets great battery life. But the extended batteries going by HP get up to 18-21 hours worth of battery, that sounds good to me. :-)

Huge shout out to usedhandhelds.com for all there patience and help into making this happen. Also huge shout out as always to the folks here @ HPCfactor for always being willing to answer questions and in general just pointing all of us in the right direction. :-)

I will be doing videos of most of this but my digital camera's battery is messed up, so i ordered a new battery that should be here on Monday. Right now the camera is only getting 10mins of video recording before the low battery indicator pops up and the camera turns it self off. But ill def make sure i get some videos and pics and i post them on here.

I just maybe one of the first people to upgrade a 680e to a 690 using a 690 board inside a 680e enclosure, and i have not seen the 680e bottom piece on any other 690s ive seen either. Breaking all the rules with this one ! :-)

Cheers mates :-)


Edit:

Oh and by the way, if your rebuilding battery packs, check this out.

BAttery Spot Welder

This made the whole process that much easier. :-)

Edited by WallyB110 2024-02-25 4:45 AM

OK yesterday when i was away the Digitizer, bottom and 690 motherboard came. So first i am going to do a video of replacing the digitizer today on the 690 i have. Then im going to open up the 680e and see if the ram/rom change works, if not, i will be putting the 690 mobo into the 680e enclosure to basically turn it into a 690. So a few things will be a happening this weekend and ill make sure i post links to the videos :-)

Big shout out to usedhandhelds.com for finding all these parts and getting them out to me so fast :-)

Well... I forgot to click record on my camera !!! I replaced the digitizer on the 690 and WOOT ! It works, just wish i had video of it. I tried to get the bottom of the 680e to fit the 690, but for some reason, something isnt lining up correctly, so that was a no go. Next is im going to take this 690 motherboard i have and try to see if the 690 ram/rom will work on the 680e. Looks like it should work. I will MAKE SURE i get video of that.

Only thing with the digitizer was having to re calibrate the touch screen when i turned the unit back on. Once i did that, boom it works like new. :-)

Heres the memory/rom from the 690. The 680 only has two chips on it (2 slots are vacant). This 690 has 4 chips. Im going to get into trying it in a bit. But thought id post a pic.

Ok i found a quick way (without having to rip apart the whole unit) to gain access to the ram/rom. Take the front 3 screws off the bottom. Then pop the keyboard up and theres the rom/ram module. Nice. Now i am backing up all my stuff before i try this, but im almost positive this is going to work. But im probably going to have to reset the whole unit. So better safe than sorry. But if this works, its good to know for all us 680 and 680e users. Theres a few 690 mobos onsale right now, so this is the cheapest way to get ahold of the ram upgrade. $30-35 shipped.

OK folks. After backing up my machine, i removed the 3 screws on the bottom front. Then i popped up the keyboard. Be careful there is a ribbon cable connected to the keyboard. Under the keyboard on the left side is a 680e's rom/ram module. I removed that. I put in the 690 rom/ram module and did a FULL reset. I powered it back on and it works. :-)

I will make a deeper video than the one here, but i at least wanted to spread the good word. YES a 690 rom/ram module will indeed work on a 680e. ;-)

https://youtu.be/ZJ0zgAC1KIo

^ Heres a quick video i made. Ill post a step by step video later when im done editing it, but i was so excited i had to post this one quickly. :-)


WOOT WOOT ! 32mb 680e. Very content right now. :-)

OK i wanted to show a lil deeper dive into what i did to get the Ram/Rom module into the 680e to upgrade it to 32mb of ram.

Newest video on 680 and 690

^ My latest video :-)

Def dont bother trying to find the rom/rom module on its own, its impossible to find. In the video i even mention that i contacted well over 50 places that claimed to have this part in stock but did not. You can find the 690 motherboard with the module on it for $35 ish from Usedhandhelds.com and they have been very helpful in helping me out. They are the ones i also bought the new digitizer screen for the 690.

I am waiting on PocketDOS unlock code, but when i get that and get DOS working fully, i will do some videos on that. But until then i am going to be working on JLime to run on my 690. I will also do a video of that.

One thing i understand some people dont like is the extra bottom on the 680e. I understand why some dont like this as it covers your access to the CF slot. But for me i leave my card in the unit and connect it to the laptop i show in the video. Yup that is the HP 6510b free laptop i got the AC adaptor for and was waiting on so i could do some of these videos and take a deeper dive back to the good ol days hooking the palmtops up to a XP machine. Felt good, real good. :-) With that said the reason i like the bottom is it allows you to insert a PCMCIA card and not have to worry about the units being level when typing. Even that fold out leg on the 690 did NOT solve this issue. Just some food for thought.



Edited by WallyB110 2024-03-03 3:57 AM

^ Oh and as always i gave a shout out to hpcfactor and usedhandhelds.com. Without all of your help and some of the help from members here, i dont know what id be doing right now with these devices to an extent ;-)

Ill have another video uploaded a bit later today as well. :-) Enjoy

Where did you get the back/bottom plate for the J680? I'm fed up of the CF card port to open constantly...

Edited by ABBADON 2024-03-05 9:17 AM

Email usedhandhelds.com they have them. I spent $15 shipped for it i think ?

^ Just make sure you ask him for the 3 longer and 2 shorter screws to go with it. ;-)

But the 680e bottom will indeed fit a 680 or 690. :-)

Will take a look.