Neta 985 vs 980

Can anyone tell me the real difference between the Neta 985 and 980 besides the built in wifi in the 985. And does anyone know the speed of the built in wireless card?

real diff is the CPU.

985 has x86, 980 is plain strongarm. thus the latter has more compatible software available for it. much more. but the x86 is slightly faster..

I can't remember the specific built-in card brand (based on the driver).

However, the WIFI in a 985 is a 802.11b based board which has maximum data rate of 11 Mbps. The antenna is a cable that is stretched around the framework of the unit.


I concur with CMONEX about the compatiblity. It is pretty much what you see is what you get with the Neta 985 (It is a good machine - I like my Neta 980 better!)

There is one interesting note. Futurecomglobal used to sell a machine with the same form factor that ran XP embedded. It would be cool if a person could install that software to a 985!?

Check out this link: http://www.21stsentrytech.com/2/support/specsheets/NETA995SpecSheet.pdf

DG

Yes I saw that they had a unit that had XP embedded. I have been watching their ebay listing and have not seen one yet. Not sure if they still sell one. As for loading programs. How hard is it and I assume you are limited by memory.

I haven't seen FuturecomGlobal / 21st Cent Tech sell any of their XP embedded machines on ebay in well over a year.

The operating system is stored in a 64mb compact flash card in the machine. The machine shares this storage with both the operating system as well as utilizes some if it as a "hard drive".

Note: Being on a CF card I would think it would be easy to remove the card back it up and place other operating systems on it (or larger cards or CF hard drives). Since it is an x86 system I'm surprised the Linux boys don't jump all over it.

The hardware specs for the Neta 995 and 985 are the same:

From the 21stCentrury Tech. Website:
Specifications:
National SC 3200 CPU Processor (up to 266MHz)
128MB SDRAM Onboard Memory
64MB Onboard Flash Memory <--This is a CF card on the 985!
10.4" TFT Touch Screen Display

If you are asking how hard is it to load programs into a 985 I would say not as easy as with a normal CE machine (although not impossible).

I am a little rusty on what I could get done with a 985 or not. I don't remember Activesync being usable. I know that you can copy files by use of PCCard memory cards (or a CF card with a PCCard adapter) or "Thumb" drives in the USB port.

You can download some files from the net. Realistically, I don't believe there are nearly as many options for software.

I remember talking to a FuturecomGlobal representative (over the phone) about some of the limitations of the unit. The representative indicated that you could "turn on" the normal CE shell (versus the "Viva" shell that is normally present). I would assume that this involves changing a few registry settings, etc. This may provide a few more options.

Note: The 985 is a nice piece of hardware with a great screen. I worked well for us because we wanted to use it as a Citrix client.

Well as usual, this is a bit long winded.

I hope that I answered your question. If anyone else out there in "Factorland" has any more information, maybe they can add to this or clear up any mis-information that I may have provided.

DG

hrm... you sure it is on a CF?! not on a flash rom chip?

I'm pretty sure... I think?... Well maybe...

The 980 has a flash chip (the same one we dumped a month or so ago.)

On the back of the 985, you remove a plastic cover. Under the cover is a CF card. On the card are the the boot files. (nk.bin or similar files). Using the Neta's file explorer, the card is listed as the "hard drive" (or similar terminology). We were able to store key files on the drive. If the unit were mine, I would remove the card and back up the data for safe keeping and try to have fun!

Of course, I haven't worked with the 985 in the better part of a year. I'll see if I can retrieve the unit next week for another look. I may be hallucinating.

DG

With the 985 the operating system is on the 64mb flash card. I have removed the card and looked at it's contents using my desktop. The NK.bin file is stting there all pretty.

I have tried to install linux on this unit using both the Puppy, and DSL distributions with no success. I used a 1gb flash card and now I am beginning to believe that the problem may be that the card is too big to be recognized. One of the other forum conversations led me to believe that this could be true.

Haven't built up the nerve to back up the 64mb card the unit came with and write the linux os on to it. I am assuming that with some skill the 985 could be made to hum with a light weight linux distro.

WOW.......... a cf card... heck why is it x86. we could use some files if it were ARM and hpc2000 (or not)


Phenderson, maybe it's just as easy as that, but you should look into the technical details about booting off the cf. until that, you'd better not try that, lol

Maybe you should try WIndows 95

Sorry to rehash an old thread, but I have one of these (Tatung Webpad, aka. Neta 985) and have recently installed Linux on it. So far I have a working kernel with wifi drivers, including WPA, all running quite smoothly. I'm still working on getting xorg to play well with the NSC graphics chip... not much luck there... I've gone from crashing X each time to getting a nice, bright, white screen.

At any rate, I was wondering if anyone had a CE.net 4.2 image that worked on here? Mine actually has the license sticker for 4.2, but the nk.bin that is installed is 4.0 (go figure).

If anyone is interested in a how-to on installing linux, or would like to help, reply here or drop me a line at neta (at) therives [dot] net

Okay, I have two suggestions, first, you become a registered member, and that you create a new thread about your issue..

Edited by tenjeangosi 2006-05-06 2:51 AM

tenjeangosi - sorry, I am registered now, and have posted a howto on getting Linux installed on the Neta 985 at http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=4645