[geeks] HP Journada 720 - $75 (Refurbished, after rebate)

[Sheldon T. Hall]

 Writes Micah R Ledbetter ...
>
> I thought the Velo was cool. I meant that WinCE blows goats.

Yeah, that's what I thought you meant. _I_ meant that WinCE 2.0 blows fewer
goats (or blows the same number of goats, but less frequently, or something)
than WinCE 1.0.

> Serial console is a really good idea... how did that work? Did you  
> use the serial port designed to sync it to the PC?

Yep.

Given the proper port-parameter diddling in WinCE, the Velo 1's "synch"
cable is just a serial connection, and WinCE's whatever-term  works well
enough to monitor the log and enter a few simple commands.  You wouldn't
want to use it for much more than that, though.

On the "PDA-as-terminal" front ... I used to have a Seiko watch, circa 1985,
with a built-in database for phone numbers, appointments, etc.  Somewhat
like the recent Timex/Microsoft item, except that the Seiko synched to the
PC with a, wait for it, serial cable.  With appropriate set-up, you could
use the watch as a 300 bps serial terminal.  The main drawback was the lack
of a keyboard; you had to step through the alphabet character-by-character
and press the "set" button for each and every character you wanted to enter.

-Shel