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Frenzy


The Feeding Frenzy Of The Flea award for April, 2007.

The guy with all the Mac parts also had a big box full of NEC MobilePro 790 Handheld PCs. This one of Microsoft’s many Great Ideas That They Simply Abandoned.

A Handheld PC is a hybrid between a PDA and a notebook. You start off with a PDA sort of processor and operating system and apps. You build this inside a package that’s just big enough for a full-sized notebook keyboard. And hell, if the thing’s going to be no smaller than a full keyboard, then you might as well put in a full-width VGA screen. Just make it half as tall.

Result: a very cool and useful item. I knew that as an HPC, it’d have pocket editions of Word, Excel, and Windows Explorer built in. I also remembered (and confirmed via visual inspection) that it’d also sport a CompactFlash slot and a PC Card slot.

Think for a moment; I bet you’ll make the same conclusions as I did.

Yes, it’s six years old but it’s also damned useful. Word means that I can use this as a "real" word processor, complete with special formatting, and can import/export files to and from my Macs pretty easily. Ditto for the spreadsheet: I can easily AppleScript some stuff to transmogrify all kinds of database info into a table format that Pocket Excel can deal with.

And I can move files between the MobilePro and a modern machine with little trouble. I don’t have to worry about the lack of a data cable, or the fact that Windows Mobile/PocketPC hardware requires ActiveSync, because I can simply save things to a Compact Flash card and then stick the card into a USB reader.

And I can use that CF card without tying up the PC Card slot…which means I can throw in a WiFi card and keep up with websites and stuff. I’d have to check to see if Pocket Explorer supports secure connections, but if it does, that’s the email solution, too: I can just use a webmail client.

To say nothing of the possibility of avoiding Windows CE completely. Maybe someone’s ported a Linux to this thing?

One problem with these surplus units: the batteries have no recharges left in ‘em. But hell, I’ve cracked open battery packs and replaced old cells before. Even if I didn’t, it works off of 7.4 volts. That’s acceptably close to a multiple of 1.5, which means that I can homebrew an external battery pack without any problems and I should be able to find an AC adapter somewhere in my Big Tub Of Power Supplies.

These sold for more than a grand when new, which is why the platform failed. You were paying a hell of a premium for this device…it didn’t do nearly as much as a notebook, and while a cheap notebook still cost 00, a HPC was at least in that ballpark.

Price at the Flea: . And the seller was smart enough to have a power supply handy, so you could test them out before buying.

I’d been working my way through the box for a few minutes (choosing one that was cosmetically good, no bits missing, and which appeared to boot up and have a bright screen) when suddenly, everyone appeared to see this thing at once. He sold completely out…and at that price, no wonder.

Yup, I bought one meself. Ten bucks! How can you go wrong? I’ve wanted a good, satisfying mobile word processor. Like when I’m headed out the door for lunch and I want to do a little writing, but it’s not worth making a big scene with my MacBook (or doing all the things I’d have to do to safely unmount the external hard drive and other stuff).

A HPC like this one also has an odd little advantage: it does have Windows Explorer and a media player, but for all intents and purposes all I can use it for is word processing. It’s like a typewriter: it won’t help to distract you with access to Bloglines and Flickr and YouTube is completely out of the question. Potentially, you could be way more productive with this thing than you might with a 00 lunch-tray notebook.

I know I can be more productive with this during my usual coach-class flights. You have to be pretty damned tiny in order to be able to use a full-sized notebook on an airline tray table. I can do it, but (a) I have to keep my elbows out and my wrists cocked, which hurts, dammit, and (b) if the lout in front of my reclines his seat back without warning, the screen’s toast. This thing looks like it’d be perfect for writing a column or a blog post or whatever.

If you did buy one, click the above link for NEC’s legacy support site, which includes a PDF of the manual. Head on over to eBay to buy a new battery…I quickly found one for .

Check out this page on handhelds.org for instructions and downloads to install Linux. You’ll wind up with PicoGUI up and running; I’m not 100% convinced that this is an improvement on what’s built-in. But getting a WiFi driver installed on this thing is not a problem, so no worries there.

www.handhelds.org/moin/moin.cgi/NecMobilePro780

Finally, HPCFactor.com seems to be a good supersite. It’s still very current, with active messageboard filled with answers.

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