I'm getting a Pencentra 130 ! --- DDK ?

I found a surplus vendor that has a package deal (new-old-stock Pencentra 130 system, docking station, keyboard, etc.). I'm pretty excited. The fanciest HPC I ever had was a MobilePro 400. It should be here this week. I like really high quality hardware, but I can't afford to buy it when it's new and pricey. I love the instant on, and the familiar UI. I don't mind using yesteryear stuff that is still perfectly usable, and discounted by somewhere around 95% from release date prices. Anyway, that's a bit about my thoughts on "Why HPC?".

I've spent a bunch of time reading things here and hunting downloads around and about for the Pencentra. I even found a site with overclocking instructions. I'm super happy that the Embedded Developers Tools supports the HPC PRO. I already have hands on experience as I used to have a Casio E125 that I coded some special utilities for a few years ago in eVB. I'm wasn't too keen on the screen limitations of 240x320. I always wanted on of the VGA res. units, but the price was way out of reach for me.

Sadly, I didn't get around to download the trial version of the Platform Development Kit when it was featured on Microsoft servers. From what I've read, that seems to be the only way to get a copy of the HPC PRO Device-driver Development Kit (DDK). Does anyone out there know if Microsoft has a download link for the WinCE 2.11 HPC PRO DDK?

Congratulations on your new purchase. I don't know about that DDK, I'm not into this side of handhelds.

Let us know what it is like when you receive it. I have the PenCentra 200, but that has HPC Pro 2.11 OS also.

I also have a PenCentra 200, but it runs H/PC 2000 and has the daylight viewable display (which is the one I wanted for surfing the 'net in the blazing afternoon sun - and it works a treat too - indoors not so good though). Once Redgear's running on the thing, I'll be bustin' out the tanning lotion...

BTW hackjack,

Do you have an indoor or outdoor viewable display on the 130 (I don't know if the 130 offered outdoor) If you have the outdoor display, it'll take some getting used to poking at it with the stylus, as the sunlight has to penetrate the display through a grid of perforations, bounce off a mirrored inner surface and then transmit back to you through all of that again. The end result is a wonderfully visible screen if bright daylight, but with some serious depth perecption issues. The physical screen is itself quite thiick and you het a little parralax/light-bending thing happening on the device. It's easy enough to adjust to but it is a bit weird at first.

*Wow* that was a really good deal! Thanks for all of your feedback. It showed up today. Everything was brand new, still wrapped in close fitting anti-static bags along with the factory inserts. Here's what I got for my U.S. $119 + shipping (it all came to about $143):

A PenCentra 130 with the outdoor/indoor display and 16MB of RAM
A docking cradle
A mini PS2 keyboard
A portfolio case (I think that's what Fujitsu called it.) that holds the PenCentra and keyboard like a sort of two piece notebook that zips shut and has a shoulder strap
A battery pack
AC adapter charger module
AC cord
A small box that contained a stylus, and what looks like an 8MB Flash expansion module along with two matching mounting screws

It works great. I like the indoor-outdoor display because it is really sunny here most of the time, and everything else that I've had "washes out" in direct sunlight. I don't mind the tradeoff of the reduced contrast when used indoors with the backlight. Just like you would expect, it has a whole bunch of bSquare utilities in the ROM, so it wasn't a ROM-customized unit, fortunately. I looked at version numbers as soon as I powered it on, and it looks like the Office and IE components are version 3.01, at lease according the the control panel info screen. It also has the usual 8 MB on board flash memory drive in addition to the 16 MB of RAM.

The only problem that I encountered in the whole package was the add on flash module. It was all sealed up in the factory anti stat and in a small Fujitsu box, but I tried installing it and the system doesn't seem to see it, unless I don't know what I'm doing. I assumed that it would append on to the internal flash. If anything was going to be off, I'm glad that it was that, since I didn't know that they were throwing one in anyway. I've got PCMCIA to compact flash adapters and several cards that I'm going to try. The little portfolio case is really neat. It has a fold out stand (that sticks down with velcro for transport) that will let you prop up the system unit part of the case with the keyboard laid out in front like a notebook.

Anyway, I'm *way* more than satisifed. Good deals like that don't show up very often. I'm going to be testing all sorts of sotware and will put together a list of things that I've found that work. And at my home tonight, it's 1999 all over again. :-)

Best wishes to all,
-=hackjackal=-

you can do a search of our list for the Pen Centra 200.

S/F,
CEYA!

I'm wondering - what is the difference between the 130 and the 200 models?

Quiche,

Read the link below.

http://www.pencomputing.com/frames/textblock_pencentra_200.html

S/F,
CEYA!

Thanks, CEYA. I didn't realize the 200 could be so powerful. The review is right about the screen quality, which truly sucks indoors.

Both of mine PC 200 looks great indoors especially the HPC 2000 . If I could get a HPC 2000 chip I will get rid of the HPC Pro chip.



S/F,
CEYA!

Just a little info, not sure about the 130, but on the 200 you can change the amount of colors it will show from 8 bit to 16bit by a little manual hex editing...

2 cents

Whoa, I didn't know that. Thanx, thcrw739. What file(s) do you have to hexedit?

Open a Registry Editor, Navigate this path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Drivers
Display
PLUM2
Bpp
When you double-tap "Bpp" you'll see a dialog box. Where it says "8" (for 8-bit video), insert "10" and then tap the "Decimal" radio button. (10 Hex is equal to 16 Dec, Click "OK" to close the box. Quit the Registry Editor application.

Do a soft reset...

Should be good to go..



Edited by thcrw739 2007-04-05 11:43 PM

Nice trick! I can now open a couple of apps that wouldn't open before because they identified the display as 8-bit (256 colors). But I admit I don't notice a difference appearance-wise. (Maybe it's just harder to tell with that reflective outdoor-friendly display.) Is it really 16-bit color, or is the registry just telling the device that it has a 16-bit display?

It really is 16 bit color...

Its hard to tell as you said because of the display...

but you can plainly see it change if you take a colorful photo
display it in 8 bit, do the change then look at it again..

Allthough the display isnt the best for looking at pictures,
its still good enough to tell a big diffrence....