Great Products, Knowledge and Downloads for Your HP Palmtop!
Palmtop Email Newsletter
A Free Newsletter for Users of the HP95LX/100LX/200LX
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In this issue:
---First Look at an External Keyboard for the Palmtop
---Speed Up the Palmtop's Built-in Keyboard.
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Like your palmtop? Why not the ultimate? New doublespeed 200LXs with from 6 to 64 Megabytes of C drive space are available at http://www.PalmtopPaper.com
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First Look at an External Keyboard for the Palmtop
For those who use their Palmtop as a data-entry tool or for those with little or no finger-dexterity, a larger keyboard is almost a necessity. Until now, the only option has been to find and use a Newton keyboard.
The HP Jornada keyboard, (HP # F1275A) is a small keyboard for use with HP Handheld PCs. It has been modified for the HP 200LX. The modifications include a standard serial plug instead of a proprietary plug and an HP 200LX driver instead of the WinCE software drivers.
In particular, the keyboard is a 10 X 5 inches (0.5 inches thick). It is dark grey in color and light in weight. The keys are very responsive and have a good, tactile feel. There are embedded number keys as well as top row number keys and the F9 through F12 function keys show HP/C icons rather than the standard key labels. The keyboard requires the HP Connectivity Cable when used with the HP 200LX.
To install the keyboard you need to load and run a 2K bytes program called HPKB.COM on the Palmtop. Once started, you press the Shift+Ctrl+K keys to toggle the external keyboard on and off. The Palmtop's keyboard always remain active.
Mack Baggette, of doublespeed and memory upgrade fame, modified the HP/C keys to emulate the Palmtop's blue keys. For instance, you can press the Windows Start key along with either the F2 or A keys to start the Palmtop's Appointment Book. The keyboard's WinCE function keys have been remapped to act as standard F9-F12 keys.
PROs: the keyboard is easy to install and provides access to almost all the applications on the HP 200LX. It is very responsive and will let you enter data into the Palmtop as quickly as you could on a laptop or desktop.
CONs: The keyboard draws power from the serial port of the Palmtop. Although the keyboard is low-powered you will experience shortened battery life. (On the other hand, a battery powered keyboard would mean a little more weight and the same amount of power used, or more.) As with all new keyboards it will take some time to get used to the placement of the keys. You will also need an HP Connectivity Cable which is not included with the keyboard.
Thaddeus Computing, Inc. plans to offer the modified keyboard in their next Catalog. The price will be $140. The search continues for alternatives to the HP keyboard. However, at the present time, the other keyboards are equally expensive and require even more extensive modifications to convert them from Palm Pilot to Palmtop usage.
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Your palmtop can act like 12 palmtops in one with Software Carousel. Switch between separate DOS and System Manager sessions as easily as you open Phone. http://www.PalmtopPaper.com
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Speed Up the Palmtop's Built-in Keyboard.
You can dramatically speed up the keyboard response and increase the repeat rate when you hold down any key.
To do this insert the following command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
MODE CON: rate=32 delay=1 and then restart the Palmtop by pressing the CTRL+ALT+DEL keys.
Mode -- Mode typically configures the parallel and serial ports, code pages and the display. In this instance you can change the "typematic" rate (the rate at which DOS repeats a character when the key for that character is held down). The typematic rate has two components: rate and delay. The syntax for the MODE command to set the typematic rate is:
MODE CON[:] [RATE=r DELAY=d]
CON -- Refers to the keyboard.
RATE=r -- Specifies the rate at which a character is repeated on the screen when you hold down a key. Valid values are from 1 to 32 and equal approximately 2 to 30 characters per second respectively. The default value on your Palmtop is 20. If you set the rate, you must also set the delay.
DELAY=d -- Specifies the amount of time that elapses after you press and hold down a key before DOS starts to repeat the character. Valid values for d are 1, 2, 3, and 4 (representing 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1 second, respectively). The default value is 2. If you set the delay, you must also set the rate.
By placing the above command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you can set the repeat rate to 30 characters per second and tell DOS to pause for 1/4 second before repeating the character.
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If you're no longer using your HP Palmtop, please consider selling it to Thaddeus Computing. We're out of used LX's and have a backlog of orders. Please help other users keep your Palmtop alive. Sell us 1 or 1000 Palmtops even if they are broken. (We can use the good parts to perform transplants to keep other Palmtops alive.)
See http://www.PalmtopPaper.com or e-mail wayne@thaddeus.com. If you've switched to the WinCE platform, check out http://www.hpcmag.com
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