I love my j720 buuuuutttttt...questions about the NEC 880 or 890

I was just given a very nice, early Christmas gift, an HP Jornada 720 that is in brand new condition. It has lots of nice features and a crystal clear screen, quick response...but....I still cannot see myself typing the great American novel on it...

I have been doing some research on the NEC lines and need some clarification on conflicting specs I have found for the 880. The 880, I believe is similar to the 780 but has a larger screen.

1. To connect the 880 to an external monitor do I need a special cable or is there a port on the unit itself that can be used to directly connect to a monitor?
2. Is there any way to use this hpc to chat in a chat room that requires java?
3. Can I use standard AA batteries in this hpc as (I have heard) can be done with the 780?
4. Is there a USB port on the hpc itself, not just on the docking station?

Thanks!

1. it isnt a standard port, you need a cable but you can get it on ebay cheap..
compatible with about all NEC's..

2. well... if you put a 790 rom in it you can, with netfront... or maybe jeode if it has a mips version, but again you need hpc2000.
if the chat room has an irc version, just use an irc client to connect to it. even CE 1.0 can do it.

4. yes, and you can use the clik drivers to get a lot of usb stuff on it...

Edited by cmonex 2005-11-26 5:13 PM

Thanks! Can a transplant from the 790 to the 880 really be done? Do you know someone who has done it? How much should I pay for an 880 in reasonably good shape? Are there typical problem areas that 880's usually have?

MobilePro 880... Good choice... Especially having CE 2.12 and the USB port...
BTW, can the USB port be used with a Memory Stick?

yeah transplant can be done, if no one can answer you here ask about it on the ppcmag.com NEC hpc forum.
dunno about the other q's...

it is 2.11... which can be upgraded to 3.0

clik drivers to get a lot of usb stuff on it..

I have the clik driver on my HPC Pro 2.11 sh4 Hitachi? What kinds of USB stuff can I now access on the Hitachi?

I already have a floppy disk drive. A Ye-data one that has sh4 drivers available on their site. That is a treasure. Because when you go to different computers, many don't have compact flash card slots. So, a floppy is handy for file transfers.

What other peripherals can work with this USB port? I would assume you would need the appropriate drivers for each peripheral, besides the clik driver.

1. To connect the 880 to an external monitor do I need a special cable or is there a port
on the unit itself that can be used to directly connect to a monitor?

The cable you want is NEC part number S1424-12V. The same cable will work on all of the NEC HPCs from the 700 through the 900 series.

2. Is there any way to use this hpc to chat in a chat room that requires java?

Forget using JAVA while online...as Cmonex stated, some other method is necessary.

3. Can I use standard AA batteries in this hpc as (I have heard) can be done with the 780?

There is no AA battery adapter for the 800/880 series.

4. Is there a USB port on the hpc itself, not just on the docking station?

There is a USB port, however, if for some reason you would decide to do the 790-->880 rom switch, you would lose it completely as the 790 rom has no support for the USB port. If you left it as a standard 880, then from what I read there is now pretty much full USB support for many devices.

Rich

Don't buy a device with CE 2.12, I almost did, but Chris talked me out of it. CE 2.12 is junk, well junk is a little extreme, but it has no office, and anyway, the MP790 has CE 3.0

don't worry, the 880 is a plain hpc pro / ce 2.11 device

which model was the 2.12 hpc you wanted to buy?

Well, I read on the Pocket PC Magazine reviews for the 880, they said it came with Pocket Office and CE 2.12...But now I cannot believe what they say..

I seem to recall wallythacker saying in another thread that he found USB driver files in ROM in the 790.

There are some USB driver files on the 790 rom, but they are incomplete. Not even sure what they are or used for...perhaps a future option...just like the empty rom slot on the bottom that was never integrated? If you do a rom switch, the USB port on the 880 becomes useless...

Rich

How does the NEC 880 work with viewing videos? Does it produce acceptable quality? I know that acceptable is relative...is it as good as the 790? or the Jornada 720? That is the main reason why I am choosing the 880 over the 790. The software package on the 790 is much more complete and is a much more attractive package.
I wish I could find someone in Northern California who had one of these - either the 790 or the 880 - so that I could take a look. I can see the a couple dozen homemake chocolate chip cookies being in it for someone...

Are all the accessories, i.e. power adapter, battery, etc for the NEC 790 the same as for the 880?