Need help with 360LX

I just got myself a 360LX and I have questions.
I am new to these palmtops. I did not even know these things existed, until a curch friend sold me one.


1) Where can I find a pdf manual?
2) The unit did not include a charger so I am using alkalines. I was told that this unit lasts a long time with alkalines is this true?
3) Will this device connect to WindowsXP?
4) Should I buy a CF card? I do not plan to do anythign fancy with it but sync with my PC. It came with a serial cable, do all these units use the same cable?
5) Where can I find a modem?

Thanks to all who assist

Scott

Scott:

I have a second hand HP 360lx myself. I will try to answer your questions.

1) Where can I find a pdf manual?

You can find information at this direction:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?product=61106&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&submit.y=2&submit.x=9&lang=en&cc=us

I don’t know about any manual, I never had one and trust me you won’t need it the operation is pretty intuitive.

2) The unit did not include a charger so I am using alkalines. I was told that this unit lasts a long time with alkalines is this true?

I can’t tell, I never use alkalines.

3) Will this device connect to WindowsXP?

I use it whit Windows XP, you can use ActiveSync 3.7.1
I never try it, but you may have a problem trying to establish a serial connection using just batteries.

4) Should I buy a CF card? I do not plan to do anythign fancy with it but sync with my PC. It came with a serial cable, do all these units use the same cable?

You can buy a CF card, that depends on the amount of data you need to carry.
The 360lx only have 8 mb to use for programs and storage memory.

5) Where can I find a modem?

I guess you can find a modem in any trade web page as ebay for example.
Before doing it check the hardware compatibility list at this site to find out if the modem is compatible whit the Windows CE 2.0 (360lx os)

Thanks!!!

I think alkalines will work fine. Remember they carry more voltage than rechargeables. Alkalines hold 1.5 volts and recharges 1.2 V. 2-3 hrs? You sure about that? One site said 10-12 hrs.


Scott

The rechargeable batteries that came whit my device when I bought it doesn’t last more than 1 hr (really bad shape). Recently I change those for a pair of new ones (Ni-MH 2100 mAh), this ones work a lot better but I didn’t do any exhaustive performance test yet.

By the way, analogue modems consume a lot of power, if you get one you would probably need an AC adapter too.

Good luck

I've noticed that, too.

I've had my 360LX for ages (it was a warranty replacement for a 300LX ), and I've noticed it chews through NiMH batterys pretty handily when doing any sort of major I/O, be it through the serial port, or the PC card/CF card slots.

I'd be very curious to hear how the new 2100 mAh batteries work in the 360LX - my 1850 mAh batteries are, oh, probably around 3 years old at this point, and, with just a 128 MB CF card in and no backlight running, I can probably get around 3 hours of use. Backlight drops that in half, and, when using my LAN card (Hawking 10/100 ethernet CF card in the PC card slot), I only get, on average, around 10 minutes before I get my battery alert.

Either way, though, battery life on the 360LX tends to be pretty comparable to my iPAQ 1945.

Well, essentially if you get new batteries it will improve battery time...although that is not always the case!

The fact that NiMH batteries give out only 1.2 volts instead of 1.5 is regardless. Also take into consideration that the voltage drops with alkalines rather sharply as they are in use. Pretty much, if you are lucky enough to have a hpc that can take $8 rechargeable AA's, seriousely go for it. Alkalines usually have better battery life, but only work once, and the rechargeable ones are expensive and can only be charged about 40 times.

By the way, if your ethernet card takes up so much power there might be a setting you need to change...

I am having extensive fun with my new ability!