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A Backlight for the HP Palmtop

2009-10-14T12:31:07+00:00

Archived 2012-10-10:
This product is not offered or supported by hermocom anymore and this article may be outdated.

This article is related to the Palmtops HP 100LX, 200LX and 1000CX. The HP OmniGo 700LX may be compatible enough, too (untested). For the 95LX, some info from this article may be used, but in general the 95LX is not compatible.

Please note that I don't offer backlight upgrade installation service anymore. But backlight do-it-yourself kits are still available for sale. Please refer to the HP Palmtop product catalog.

An alternative screen lighting device, which is much easier to build and install than the backlight, is the LED-light.

Contents of this page:

Related pages:

The backlight installation instructions
http://www.backlight4you.com - the place where the backlight upgrade kit was sold
http://www.palmtoppaper.com - Thaddeus Computing, a sponsor of this project
http://www.rundel.net- Thomas Rundel, a sponsor of this project

Introduction:

One of the biggest disadvantages of the Hewlett Packard DOS palmtops is that they don´t have a backlit screen, thus they are unsuable in dim light conditions and in the dark.

There are ways to illuminate the screen without upgrading the palmtop with backlight: For example I developed the "LED light", which is a quite convenient alternative to backlight. Some people use battery-driven LED lamps, which can be mounted on the screen of the palmtop or on your head. But all these solutions require you to carry another device around and most of them even with extra batteries.

The backlight is the ideal solution for palmtop users who often need to illuminate the screen without much trouble. You simply switch on the palmtop, press the backlight hotkey Fn-X and the screen is readable, whereever you are.

How to get the palmtop upgraded:

Since I have stopped backlight inbuild service, the only way to get your palmtop upgraded with backlight is to buy the backlight upgrade do-it-yourself kit and - well - do the upgrade yourself. Here are the details:

The upgrade kit (basically, an EL foil and a driver module for it) can directly be ordered from backlight4you.com for about 60 EURO.
English: backlight4you.com HP backlight upgrade kit
Deutsch: backlight4you.com HP backlight upgrade kit

If you want to install the upgrade yourself, please consider that a quite high skill level is needed: You have to take the palmtop entirely apart, even opening the screen module. Before you decide to do the upgrade yourself, read the installation instructions (see next paragraph) carefully to see if you will be able to do it yourself! And please consider that replacement screens are extremely hard to get, and if you get one, it will be expensive.

Please read that installation instruction sheet carefully before you decide to do the upgrade yourself!
Click here to read the installation instruction sheet!.

The backlight kit does not contain any tools necessary for the upgrade process.

Detailed technical information

Further technical information can be found on the installation instruction sheet, technical info about the upgrade is in the introduction, and a usage guide for the software control of the backlight can be found in the driver section.

Here are a few pictures so you can see how the backlight upgrade affects the contrast and overall-readability of the palmtop screen. Please be aware that it is extremely difficult to take pictures of SCD screens and light sources which represent the real contrast and colors of the items, so I took one picture which shows the actual color of the backlight upgrade:

(Actual look of the backlight upgrade)

The following pictures are taken with another camera than the picture above and thus the color of the backlight is falsified and it looks darker than it really is, but the pictures show the contrast relations quite well:

Since the original reflective foil on the back of the LCD screen is replaced by an Electroluminescent (EL) foil, the crispiness of the screen is reduced a bit. This may be considered a disadvantage, but it can even be convenient for the eyes in very bright light.

1: unmodified screen

2: modified screen - backlight off

3: modified screen - backlight on

Compare the appearance of an upgraded palmtop to the appearance of an unmodified palmtop under different light conditions:

(in bright light - left: modified, but backlight off; right: unmodified palmtop)

(in dark light - left: modified with backlight on; right: unmodified palmtop)

(in very dark light - left: modified with backlight off; right: unmodified palmtop)

(in very dark light - left: modified with backlight on; right: unmodified palmtop)

You can see that the backlight upgrade decreases the contrast of the screen, which makes the screen less readable under a certain light intensity threshold, but as soon as you go below that threshold, you can switch on the backlight and the screen is very well readable again.

And here are some results of current measurements I have done to calculate the backlight´s impact on battery life. All values have been measured in the battery circuit, with a battery voltage of 2.6V (1800mAh NiMH rechargeables), no AC adapter attached, in pure MS-DOS mode, i.e. without System Manager running. Light sleep mode is entered automatically by the palmtop after a very short period after the last keypress, so the "normal" mode is active during a key is pressed permanently. In light sleep mode the current sometimes changes heavily and periodically, so I give current ranges rather than specific values:

current (mA)		Backlight off	Backlight on
2 MB Single Speed 200LX	normal mode	76	137
2 MB Single Speed 200LX	lite sleep	43	98
32 MB Double Speed 200LX	normal mode	91	166
32 MB Double Speed 200LX	lite sleep	25-50	89-115

You see that the current draw is in average about doubled with activated backlight, so if you always use the backlight, the battery life will be decreased by factor 2.

Some pictures and data points of my research work

I began to work on the backlight project in August 2002.

First I bought some components to build an inverter module for the EL panels which I got from Thaddeus Computing for research. As the main component I used the Sipex SP4403EU chip and built the surrounding electronics very similar to the suggestion on its data sheet. The first working circuit was still a bit large for the palmtop, but I compressed it when it worked and that smaller one fitted where it was intended to fit: Into the hinge tube.

This solution worked well, but it needed very much power, so the batteries only last 1/6 of the time they last without the backlight switched on.

Then I found out that Stefan Kächele (www.backlight4you.com) also worked on a backlight solution for the 200LX palmtop, and we combined our knowledge and experiences and optimized the inverter / EL foil combination, so the final backlight product would shorten the battery life approximately only by factor 2 in case the backlight is always switched on.

Another issue were the optical charateristics of the involved screen layers. Simply removing the reflective layer of the screen and replacing it with the EL foil did not work, because due to some reason, the contrast did suffer very much in that case, the light of the EL foil was darkened very much when penetrating the screen.

The solution was to put a thin transparent foil in between the screen´s polarizing foil and the EL foil, this established a certain distance between the two, and the contrast problems vanished. I tried different kinds of transparent foil, and then we choose the one which offered the best contrast with and without backlight switched on.

What about the other HP DOS palmtops (95LX, OG700LX)?

The screen module of the OG700LX is identical to the screen module of the 200LX, so the backlight upgrade should generally also work with the 700LX. However, there are the following problems, which may be solved some day, but they aren´t yet:

The case of the 700LX is totally different, so the technician who installs the upgrades has to learn to upgrade a 700LX before he can do that reliably. This requires a 700LX for trial. If you can offer one (no guarantee that is will survive that), please do so!
I don´t know if the CPU pin we use on the 200LX for software control of the backlight is also free in the 700LX. Since the 700LX has some additional features, it could be that that I/O pin is used for something else. If that´s the case, the backlight can only be switched via hardware (SMD switch)

Regarding the 95LX: No research has been done regarding the 95LX, and I won´t do anything into that direction. There are many unknown factors; in general, it seems possible to use the backlight kit also for upgrading the 95LX, but I don´t know if the screen is similar enough to the screen of the 200LX (its light transition properties for example, the general design and so on). Also software control using a GPIO pin of the CPU and a special driver would probably not be possible. Another unknown factor is where we can get the necessary power to drive the backlight, maybe the PCMCIA 5V supply can be used (as on the 200LX).

Special Thanks to:

Thaddeus Computing for supporting me with left-over material from their own backlight project and with replacement parts for my research work. Without them, I wouldn´t have been able to come up with a working backlight solution!

Rundel Datentechnik for supporting me with hardware parts for research

Stefan Kächele (backlight4you.com) for sharing some of his research results with me, and to be so cooperative that we can finally offer the long-awaited backlight upgrade to the palmtop community!

Stefan Peichl for writing the backlight driver, which makes it so convenient to use the backlight

Eric of battlequest.com for proof-reading the installation instructions

The HPLX mailing list and its very knowledgable and creative community, which helped me in many ways to get this project running.

A complex WWW/LX setup example

2009-10-15T12:07:09+00:00

Archived 2013-12-08
This page has been archived and some links may not work correctly anymore. No updates of this page will be done anymore.

Contents of this page:

Introduction:

WWW/LX is a software package made by and downloadable from D&A Software which allows Internet access with the DOS-based Hewlett Packard palmtops 100LX, 200LX, 1000CX and Omnigo 700LX.
You can download WWW/LX (for free) at ftp://ftp.dasoft.com/pub/WWW. The file is named "www3.zip".

It contains a TCP/IP stack with built-in IrDA and Ethernet support (in addition to the usual PPP and SLIP protocols which are needed for modem connections or direct serial connections to other computers) and the package contains several clients for almost every kind of purpose. An email client, a news reader client, ftp, telnet, finger and HV, a limited but useful WWW browser and get, which lets you get web pages automatically. Another very useful addition has been developed by Tony Hutchins using ROBOT/LX, an Internet robot program: ROBOWEB/LX. It combines get and ROBOT/LX so that you can get Internet pages or even whole sites onto your palmtop for offline reading. See this link for details.

It is relatively easy to set up WWW/LX and Post/LX for basic purposes. However, there are so many amazing sophisticated possibilities, which are not covered by the setup programs which come with WWW/LX and must be created manually.

Here are examples which should give you some ideas of what is really possible with WWW/LX. I have never seen another Internet software package which is so powerful and rich of features as WWW/LX. And in addition it is extremely user-customizable. See below. I won´t give you details here of how basic setups work, because you can read that in the WWW/LX documentation. Here I assume that you are familiar with the basics already.

Basics of my setup:

I use almost every possible kind of Internet connection, so you will find examples here which are useful, regardless which kind of connection you want to use:

Modem connection over the serial port with several ISPs
Modem connection via PCMCIA modem with several ISPs
Mobile connection via IrDA-enabled GSM mobile phone
Ethernet connection via PCMCIA Ethernet card
direct serial connection to a PC which is connected to the Internet (internet connection sharing)
IrDA connection to another PC which is connected to the Internet (internet connection sharing)

Take this as a "snapshot" of my current WWW/LX configuration and have fun with it!

My main application, which acts as the "central", is Post/LX. WWW/LX is loaded resident and activated everytime I press F5 in Post/LX to establish a connection. If you don´t use email that much, but more often use ftp or HV, it may be better for you to start www.exe manually giving the setup to use as a parameter. It will then connect instantly and return to the DOS prompt, so you can do whatever you want once the connection is established. If that is the way you want to use WWW/LX, most parts of my setup are not useful for you. I use Post/LX as the central application of my setup.

In general, my www.cfg only contains five basic setups, independent from the ISP to use. So my www.cfg is kept small and thus doesn´t need so much memory. www.cfg is always loaded entirely into RAM, so it really makes a difference if you have for example 10 setups (one for each modem / ISP combination using two modems and 5 ISPs) or only two setups for the two modems and do the ISP choice externally using the little utility wwwset.

You could even work with just ONE "general" www setup and modify all relevant parameters externally. However, I have not choosen that way because I want still to be able to use www.exe as a stand-alone program without having to use the external wwwset utility.

My WWW/LX setup:

My five basic www.cfg setups are [Modem1], [Modem2], [IrDA], [Ether] and [PPPD].
I also have TERM-IR and TERM-K, which are explained below.

Modem1 is for an external modem on COM1
Modem2 is for a connection via PCMCIA modem (COM2)
IrDA is for mobile phone connections over IrDA, for either Internet or SMS
Ether is for a connection to my home PC via Ethernet card
PPPD is for serial or IrDA connection to my home PC or laptop running Linux and the pppd (PPP deamon) and internet connection sharing (=IP forwarding and IP masquerading)
TERM-K and TERM-IR is for a dumb terminal which enables you to send AT commands to a modem or mobile phone (IrDA) and connect manually (for debugging purposes). It requires you to have telnet.exe (also available on the dasoft ftp server) and you have to call it from the DOS prompt that way: www.exe -d TERM-[IR|K] "!telnet local"
IR stands for IrDA, K for Cable.

My Post/LX setup:

Post/LX is set up in a way that I only need to press F5, then it launches a batch file "setcom.bat" via the post.cfg parameter "PreOnline". setcom.bat determines the connected hardware and decides, which www setup to use. If it finds out that I want to connect via modem, it lets me choose an ISP. Otherwise it changes the active www setup instantly to the appropriate one from the five setups mentioned above. In addition I let setcom ask me (only for the setups where it is useful), if I want to let WWW/LX disconnect after the online run of Post/LX, i.e. directly after mail sending / receiving. If I want to surf the web with HV after transmitting mail for example, I choose to keep the connection. In other cases, for example when I will have an expensive connection via mobile phone, and I´m sure I don´t want to do anything else than sending the email I just wrote, I can choose "yes, disconnect!" and the connection is terminated as fast as possible automatically after the Post/LX online run. This is done via the post.cfg "PostOnline" parameter which invokes a batch file after every online run.

I also use Post/LX for SMS sending and receiving via IrDA and my mobile phone. For this purpose, I have created a keyboard macro in post.cfg, which lets me send and receive all SMS just by placing the mobile phone near the palmtop´s IR port and fressing F8 in Post/LX. Note that if you are used to use F8 for pther purposes (for example for marking messages during you read them), you should NOT use that macro. I do never use F8 with the functionality Post/LX gives to it, and in the main screen of Post/LX F8 doesn´t have any functionality anyway. So I could choose F8 as my SMS macro activating key.

For more info on how to setup PDU for SMS processing please download PDU from Stefan Peichl´s homepage and read the documentation.

Here are some screenshots of my Post/LX main screen:

The main screen with some folders and mailboxes (SMS box on top so that the F8 macro works, see post.cfg below!):

Here I pressed Shift-F5: Only the one "Default" WWW/LX setup is shown. No need anymore to choose anything here!

This shows some of my "Externals" entries (Menu-X-X). Hotkey "S" chooses "SMS" (so that the F8 SMS macro works, see post.cfg below!)

My cfg config files:

Okay, enough words, I will now show you my cfg and batch files and add comments everywhere I think it´ necessary. Again: Please read the WWW/LX documentation carefully in order to understand everything. I won´t answer questions covered there.

Click here to see my www.cfg file (don´t use the file as is, because it contains html tags! Load it into your browser by clicking on the link and then mark, copy and paste! Passwords are replaced by dummy strings.)

Click here to see my post.cfg file (don´t use the file as is, because it contains html tags! Load it into your browser by clicking on the link and then mark, copy and paste! Passwords are replaced by dummy strings, most folder and mailbox data is removed because it is not relevant here)

My batch and other involved files:

Now follow the batch files and a robot script (thanks to Tony Hutchins who provided this script!) which enable the magic of my setup ;-)

First I provide the setcom.bat file which is invoked directly after pressing F5 in Post/LX (by the PreOnline parameter in the cfg).
Then follows the batch file choosisp.bat, which is invoked from within setcom.bat and which is responsible for the appropriate Dial and login paramteres, depending on the ISP which shall be used. choosisp.bat is only invoked if setcom.bat recognizes a modem, either on COM1 or in the PCMCIA slot.
After that you will see postonl.bat, which handles the disconnecting after the online run (invoked by the PostOnline parameter in the cfg.
Thereafter at.scr (a robot script) is shown which setcom needs in order to distinguish, if the device connected to IrDA or the serial port is a modem or another computer.

And finally, I will show you my postlx.bat, which I use after booting the palmtop to invoke Post/LX with WWW/LX loaded resident.

For all this you need the following programs:

port1.exe or modem.com which looks if there is something connected to COM1
wwwset.exe, which sets WWW setup parameters externally
dis.com which is part of the WWW/LX package (terminates connection)
Robot/LX (Robot/LX), which executes SCR scripts
lxcic.com which detects, recognizes and enables PCMCIA cards
PDU for SMS processing
choice.com which is part of DOS, but not included in the palmtop ROM.
LXETH, the Ethernet packet driver for the LX, if you use an Ethernet card
maxdos, if you want to reserve as much DOS memory as possible for external programs like an editor or HV.

Download links for these utilities (as far as they are not part of the WWW/LX package) are provided directly within the batch files below (where the utilities are used), simply click on the links and download the utilities.

Click here to see my setcom.bat file (don´t use the file as is, because it contains html tags! Load it into your browser by clicking on the link and then mark, copy and paste!)

Click here to see my choosisp.bat file (don´t use the file as is, because it contains html tags! Load it into your browser by clicking on the link and then mark, copy and paste!)

Click here to see my postonl.bat file (don´t use the file as is, because it contains html tags! Load it into your browser by clicking on the link and then mark, copy and paste!)

Click here to see my at.scr file, created by Tony Hutchins.

This is the line of setcom.bat which invokes Robot/LX with at.scr:

ROBOT.EXE -q AT.SCR >NUL

It appears twice in setcom.bat. Once in the section for a device on COM1 and once for the IrDA section.

And here is my postlx.bat, which I use to start Post/LX with WWW/LX loaded resident:

@echo off
maxdos -l -e
C:\DFU\WWWLX\WWW.EXE -d !C:\DFU\WWWLX\POST.EXE
maxdos -r

Involved batch and configuration files linked from the text above:

at.scr

;at.scr, provided by Tony Hutchins
;tests, if device on COM1 or IrDA is a modem or not by sending an AT command.

e testing modem ...\n
;create file at_no_ok.tmp
file w at_no_ok.tmp
put 1\n
file c
e sending AT\n
send AT\r
e waiting for OK\n
wait 2 OK
e GOT OK\n
;delete file at_no_ok.tmp, if OK has been received, otherwise leave it there
file d at_no_ok.tmp
x

choosisp.bat

@echo off
REM CHOOSISP.BAT (choose ISP)
REM this batch is called by setcom.bat! Don't use it manually!
REM %1 is the WWW setup to use as the basis for the settings

echo.
echo.
echo Now choose ISP:
echo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
echo.
echo (1) MSN Easysurfer (???)
echo (2) E-Plus Online  (60 Freiminuten pro Monat)
echo (3) TU Berlin ZRZ  (Ortstarif Berlin)
echo (4) Compuserve Classic Berlin
echo (5) Compuserve Classic International (adjust Dial string!)
echo.
choice /c:12345
if errorlevel 5 wwwset "%1 Login=117144,1520 Dial=ATX3DT0,901666255 Password=xxxxxxxx Script=CIS_Script"
if errorlevel 4 wwwset "%1 Login=117144,1520 Dial=ATDT691000 Password=xxxxxxxx Script=CIS_Script"
if errorlevel 3 wwwset "%1 Login=dherbgba Dial=ATDT31553500 Password=xxxxxxx"
if errorlevel 2 wwwset "%1 Login=hertrich Dial=ATDT010880192192 Password=xxxxxx"
if errorlevel 1 wwwset "%1 Login=msn Dial=ATDT010880192658 Password=xxxxx"

echo.
echo.
choice Disconnect directly after Online run?
if errorlevel 2 goto nodis
goto end

:nodis
echo 1 > nodis.tmp

:end

post.cfg

; Configuration file for the POST/LX package

[FILTER]
HPLX-L@=hplx-l

[MFILTER]
>=q
??>=q

Subject=h

Date:=+
Subject:=+
From:=+
To:=+
Cc:=+
*=-

[MACRO]
;F8: send / receive SMS.
;Esc Esc Home Space Menu X X S Space
;(SMS box must be first in Post/LX list, SMS batch must be external using hotkey S,
;up/down arrow of SMS box must be DEactivated (script activates for you))
#4200=#011b#011b#4700#3920#c800#2d78#2d78#1f73#3920


[SYSTEM]
;only relevant for ROBOWEB/LX:
ExtProg=ROBOT.EXE -p "RWEB1 po"
Scripts=c:\_dat\wwwlx\ROBOWEB

;for opening of attachments with the appropriate program:
PNS=maxdos pns200.exe

PreOnline=SETCOM.BAT
PostOnline=postonl.bat
ManualPack=1
ForceDate=1
Editor=maxdos PEH.BAT $f $h $x N
EditSM=maxdos PEH.BAT $f $h $x N
HangUp=0
TimeZone=+0200
Overlap=0
Quote=>_
Clog=1
TopLines=0
ZoomMode=1
LZoomMode=0
AllHeaders=0
ReFormat=1
NoQuote=0
Download=a:\attach
Japanese=0
Dir=a:\_dat\wwwlx
TmpDir=c:\_tmp
ClipFile=c:\_dat\clipvue.txt
Selected=Mail
Init=1
MIME=0
ShowDate=0
GrabLink=c:\_dat\clipvue.txt
GrabAdr=c:\dfu\wwwlx\post.adr
RegKey=xxxxxxxxxxx
GrabText=c:\_dat\clipvue.txt


[EXTERNAL]
&Disconnect WWW/LX=DIS.COM
&HV (as Webbrowser)=HV
H&V (with last email)=HV $f
&Read message in V&R=a:\programs\vr100\vr.exe $f
Edit &.CFGs=pe.exe c:\dfu\wwwlx\robot.cfg  $c
;SMS external with hotkey S:
;   robosms.bat is simple:
;   @wwwset "IrDA"
;   @robot.exe pdu
&SMS=robosms.bat

[HEADERS]
Cc:=Cc:
Bcc:=Bcc:
DeliveryConfirmation=Return-Receipt-To:my.own@email.address
X-Priority:=X-Priority:
Importance:=Importance:
Sensitivity:=Sensitivity:
Depth=:=Depth=:
MaxCount=:=MaxCount=:
Return-Path:=Return-Path:

[WWW]
;only one entry here, because PreOnline=setcom.bat does everything to choose
;the WWW setup to use!
Default=Modem1

[HTTP]
MaxTotGet=100

;========= MAILBOXES ===========
; (most of mine removed here in the example)

[FOLDERS]
SMS=E
RWEB=X
Mail=E
csc=E
hplx-l=F
archivlx=F
sentarch=F

[SMS]
CheckFields=0
Alias=SMS
Dir=c:\_dat\wwwlx
SMTP=not.set
POP=not.set
Template=SMS.TPL
Del=0
Sep=0
RPA=0
APOP=0
VolatilePOP=0

[Mail]
ForceDate=1
Alias=E-Mail GMX
APOP=0
RPA=0
Timeout=60
Del=1
Sep=1
SMTP=mail.gmx.net
POP=pop.gmx.net
VolatilePOP=0
Limit=10000
Signature=c:\_dat\wwwlx\signatur.txt
Login=206139
Pass=xxxxxxxxxxx
TopLines=20
Dir=c:\_dat\wwwlx

[csc]
Alias=E-Mail Compuserve Classic
SMTP=smtp.sompuserve.com
POP=pop.compuserve.com
Login=117144.1520
Pass=xxxxxxxx
Del=1
Sep=1
APOP=0
VolatilePOP=0
Limit=10000
Signature=c:\_dat\wwwlx\signatur.txt
Dir=c:\_dat\wwwlx



;============ FOLDERS ============
; (most of mine removed here in the example)

[hplx-l]
Alias=HPLX Mailing List
Sep=1
Box=Mail
Dir=c:\_dat\wwwlx

[RWEB]
Checkfields=0
Dir=C:\_dat\wwwlx\ROBOWEB
Alias=ROBOWEB/LX

[sentarch]
Sep=0
Alias=Archive of sent messages

www.cfg

; Configuration file for WWW
; A. Garzotto, February 1998

[Global]
Command=C:\dfu\wwwlx\wwwmenu.exe
;(when www.exe is executed from command line without a program to run
;automatically, wwwmenu is executed. It lets you choose what to do (HV, Post/LX...))
Cache=C:\_DAT\WWWLX\WWW.CAC
Hosts=C:\_DAT\HOSTS
Setup=Modem1
;Log=c:\_DAT\WWWLX\WWW.LOG
UserName=Daniel Hertrich
RegID=xxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Setup]
Ether=Ethernet HomePC
Modem1=Modem on COM1
Modem2=Modemcard on COM2
IrDA=IrDA connection
PPPD=Connection to PPPD on Linux
TERM_IR=DumbTerminal_IrDA
TERM_K=DumbTerminal_Cable

[Script]
CHAP_Script=PPP dial up using CHAP or PAP
ISP_SLIP_Script=Generic SLIP (needs to be modified)
CIS_Script=Compuserve Classic dial up
pppd_script=PPPD on Linux over serial line or IrDA

[CHAP_Script]
e=Initializing modem
m=
s=\r
w=5 OK
d=
s=\r
w=75 CONNECT

[CIS_Script]
e=Initializing modem
m=
s=\r
w=5 OK
d=
s=\r
w=75 CONNECT
@=1
e=Connecting to CIS
s=\003
w=15 D:
e=Sending login
l=
s=/noint/ppp:cisppp
s=\\
e=Sending password
p=
s=\r
e=Waiting for CIS to respond
w=75 PPP

[ISP_SLIP_Script]
e=Initializing Modem
m=
s=\r
w=5 OK
d=
s=\r
w=75 CONNECT
s=\r
w=5 name:
e=Logging in
l=
s=\r
w=5 word:
e=Sending Password
p=
s=\r
w=5 :
e=Starting SLIP
s=SLIP\r
w=3 IP address is
i=

[pppd_script]
s=\r
@=3

; adjust and uncomment the following line to set up a HTTP proxy server
;HTTP_Proxy=proxy.zrz.tu-berlin.de:3128


[Ether]
Ether=1
My_IP=172.16.96.18
Peer_IP=172.16.96.1
;Peer_IP is the IP of the Computer which the palmtop is connected to (usually gateway)
DNS_IP=217.5.100.1
DNS2_IP=194.25.2.129
Script=CHAP_Script
Login=DOESNTMATTER
ModemInit=AT&F
Dial=00000
Password=DOESNTMATTER


[Modem1]
Port=1
OmniGo=0
PPP=1
Modem=1
Baud=57600
My_IP=0.0.0.0
DNS_IP=0.0.0.0
DNS2_IP=0.0.0.0
Script=CHAP_Script
ModemInit=AT&FL1
Dial=ATDT31553500
Login=dherbgba
Password=xxxxxxx

[Modem2]
Port=2
OmniGo=0
PPP=1
Modem=1
Baud=57600
My_IP=0.0.0.0
DNS_IP=0.0.0.0
DNS2_IP=0.0.0.0
Script=CHAP_Script
ModemInit=AT&FL1
Dial=ATDT31553500
Login=dherbgba
Password=xxxxxxx


[IrDA]
Port=-1
OmniGo=0
Modem=0
PPP=1
Baud=38400
My_IP=0.0.0.0
DNS_IP=0.0.0.0
DNS2_IP=0.0.0.0
Script=CHAP_Script
ModemInit=at+cbst=71,0,1;+chsn=1,1,0,4
;For correct settings of init and dial string for your mobile phone,
;please read http://www.hermocom.com/knowledgebase/hplx/mob_hplx
Dial=ATDT03031553500
Login=dherbgba
Password=xxxxxxx


[PPPD]
Port=1
OmniGo=0
PPP=1
Modem=0
Baud=38400
My_IP=0.0.0.0
DNS_IP=0.0.0.0
DNS2_IP=0.0.0.0
Script=pppd_script
Login=
ModemInit=
Dial=
Password=


;===================== Dumb Terminal Setup ===================
; CALL WITH www -d TERM-[IR|K] "!telnet local"
; useful e.g. to send AT commands manually to a modem or mobile phone

[TERM-IR]
Port=-1
Baud=38400
Modem=1
Script=T_Script

[TERM-K]
Port=1
Baud=19200
Modem=1
Script=T_Script

[T_Script]
?=
e=done

setcom.bat

@echo off
REM SETCOM.BAT
REM called by "PreOnline" feature of Post/LX
REM sets communication parameters for WWW/LX depending on attached communications hardware

if exist nodis.tmp del nodis.tmp
if exist pcmcia.tmp del pcmcia.tmp
REM nodis.tmp is used by postonl.bat to prevent automatical connection termination.
REM The file will contain nothing, postonl.bat only checks if it exists!
REM Similar with pcmcia.tmp: it tells postonl.bat that there is a PCMCIA modem
REM so postonl.bat can switch PCMCIA power off after the online run.

lxcic>NUL
if errorlevel 7 goto un_card
if errorlevel 6 goto lan_card
if errorlevel 3 goto un_card
if errorlevel 2 goto modem_card

:un_card
port1 > NUL
if errorlevel 1 goto no_ext
echo External modem or serial line to PC detected
echo Testing if modem or not...
wwwset "Port=1"
robot.exe -q AT.SCR > NUL
if exist at_no_ok.tmp goto com1noat
echo the device on COM1 is a modem! :-)
call choosisp.bat Modem1
goto end

:com1noat
del at_no_ok.tmp
echo Connection over COM1, but no modem!
echo Setting up for Linux PPPD over serial line
wwwset "PPPD port=1"
goto end

:no_ext
echo No extermal device found, trying IrDA setting
wwwset "Port=-1"
robot.exe -q AT.SCR > NUL
if exist at_no_ok.tmp goto ir_noat
echo The device on IrDA is a modem!
echo.
choice Disconnect after Online run?
if errorlevel 2 goto echo 1 > nodis.tmp
wwwset "IrDA"
REM you could also call choosisp.bat from here, if necessary!
REM for me it isn´t, because I only use one ISP with my mobile phone
goto end

:ir_noat
echo NO MODEM on IrDA. Setting up for Linux PPPD over IrDA...
wwwset "PPPD Port=-1"
goto end

:lan_card
echo LAN card detected
echo loading packet driver....
c:\dfu\lxeth\lxen2216.com 0x66 > nul
wwwset "Ether"
goto end

:modem_card
wwwset "Port=2"
REM tell postonl.bat that there is a pcmcia modem:
echo 1 > pcmcia.tmp
echo Modem card detected (COM2)
call choosisp.bat Modem2
goto end

:end

postonl.bat

@echo off
if exist nodis.tmp goto nodis

:dis
dis.com

REM if there is a PCMCIA modem, switch PCMCIA power off to save power:
if exist pcmcia.tmp lxcic o > nul

echo unloading Packet driver if LAN card is present...
lxcic>NUL
if not errorlevel 6 goto common
echo LAN card detected. Disconnecting...
c:\dfu\lxeth\termin 0x66
goto common

:nodis
echo Not disconnecting now.
echo Disconnect manually with Menu-X-X-D
goto common

:common
call sr.bat
REM (sr.bat is from the ROBOWEB package)
if exist nodis.tmp del nodis.tmp
if exist pcmcia.tmp del pcmcia.tmp

A Keyboard Repair Process with Graphite Paint

2015-03-25T09:53:39+00:00

Fellow Palmtopper Rodolfo provided information about his efforts to fix a broken keyboard. THANKS for sharing!

Hi Daniel,

I´m going to try to describe in my poor english exactly what i did. Unfortunately I don't have pictures for the whole process. What it happened was that I previously (I did not know how to do it) use cyanoacrylate super glues to stick on graphite in powder in every bubble of the keyboard, where I saw it was an erosion marks. Well, that was a big mistake because the blend (which got hard after drying) was to thick and irregular, and when the keyboard was assembled some of the keys did not move at all, and others did not make contact. When I tried to clean it up with isopropyl alcohol, it didn't work. Then I thought that the keyboard was destroyed because that glue agent is extraordinarily strong and every spot was hard.

Next day, I decided to use a mini drill with a spherical stone. I used it very gently in every spot (concave parat of bubble) and when I finished the whole part was completely transparent. Then I bought Graphite paint for re-paint remote controls contacts and with a cotton swab (for inner ear) I stamped (painted) the graphite pain spots, I painted three coats in every bubble (you have to wait half an hour between coats), and the result was perfect.

To repair two keys (the top part with the keys you press to type) they have one of the two supports to the frame that has every key were broken, and I used the same cyanoacrylate super glues to glue them to the frame.

Build an HP 200LX Car Charger

2013-12-08T14:02:20+00:00

Archived 2013-12-08
This page has been archived and some links may not work correctly anymore. No updates of this page will be done anymore.

Here is a document written by me, which describes a self-made car charger for the HP Palmtops:

CLICK HERE

Charging / battery capacity

2010-08-11T10:51:07+00:00

Archived 2013-12-08
This page has been archived and some links may not work correctly anymore. No updates of this page will be done anymore.

The charging circuit of the HP 100LX and 200LX provides 100mA for 6 hours, then it switches to trickle charging mode which only submits enough current for the batteries not to lose their charge again by self-discharging.

That means, the default mechanism is only capable to submit 600mAh of charge to rechargeable batteries.

In order to make sure modern rechargeables with capacities much beyond 600mAh are fully recharged, you can use a software program which modifies the charging mechanism. The current cannot be made higher via software, but the charging time can be extended.

Modern 2800mAh batteries need in theory 28 hours with 100mA in order to be charged fully when they were completely empty. This is quite a lot of time.

In order to allow for a longer charging time, you have several options:

Disconnect and reconnect the palmtop after less than 6 hours manually. This resets the charging circuit and begins a new period of 6 hours for charging. However, this is quite inconvenient (but could be automated using a timer).
If you have a palmtop with a Times2Tech doublespeed upgrade, make sure you have the latest Times2Tech doublespeed driver spd31.exe on your palmtop. Download it from here.
The command line switch /N for spd31.exe sets constant full-rate chariging with no timeout.
The command line switch /N- does the same, but starts off with batteries not charging.
The driver comes with the utility CHRG.COM which allows to enable / disable charging.

Please note that this driver should only be used if you have an original Times2Tech Doublespeed upgrade, not one of the other options provided by other companies (e.g. the 32MHz doublespeed upgrade by hermocom).
With another or no doublespeed upgrade, use this option:

Use a stand-alone tool which replaces / manipulates the built-in charging mechanism. You get a list of such tools here.

Always keep in mind, that the palmtop recharges with 100mA. This lets you determine the time the palmtop should stay on AC power for the batteries to be fully charged (capacity in mAh / 100mA = charging hours) Use this calculation result for configuring the charging duration of the tool of your choice.

If you do it like I did, configuring the tool to charge infinitely with 100mA to make sure it always charges, if you connect the Palmtop to AC power, you must make sure that you do not forget the Palmtop on AC for too long. My usage pattern was to connect the Palmtop each night to AC and always(!) disconnect it in the morning, then using it for many hours over the day.

Even if the batteries are overcharged a bit, it does not do any harm. The batteries may fail a bit earlier, maybe not after three years but already after two years, but they don't cost much, so rather choose a convenient and power-safe setup than one which has the risk of data loss or an inoperable palmtop due to empty main batteries.

Also, to be even safer, you could simply always carry a pair of (non-rechargeable, because rechargeable batteries always have quite high self-discharging rates, except those called "Sanyo eneloop") with you for replacement. Make sure, however, to not let the palmtop recharge them when in use! Above mentioned software tools may enable charging even if you disable it in the HP's setup application. So if you have set up one of these tools, use non-rechargable batteries only without the AC adapter connected!

Recommendation:

Recently (2012/2013) more and more palmtop users recommend Sanyo "eneloop" cells for the palmtop, as they have a very low self-discharging rate.

Connectivity Pack for HPLX emulation on other (mini) PCs

2010-05-08T20:03:33+00:00

Connectivity Pack ("CPack"), the way to emulate a HP 200LX on any PC, runs on almost any DOS-capable computer with at least a 386 processor, also under DOS emulations or DOS on PC emulations.

For example, you can run CPack on

Windows PCs and UMPCs such as the Viliv N5 or UMID M1 in a command window (should work on 32bit systems) or under DOS emulators such as DOSBox (works also on 64bit systems)
on Windows CE based devices using PocketDOS
the Linux-driven Pandora Palmtop using DOSBox for Pandora
even on Android systems, such as Tablets or Smartphones, using e.g. DOSBox Turbo
on iOS devices (iPad, iPod, iPhone) you can use DOSPad, but this software requires a jailbreak
on the Mac using DOSBox
on your Linux PC at home using DOSBox

In addition to a DOS environment, CPack needs an INT5F Palmtop graphics emulator. One is already supplied with CPack, called CG.COM. It is automatically called from inside the app200.bat batch file that launches CPack. You may experiment with different Palmtop graphics emulators, to get different - maybe better - results. CG.COM is sufficient for larger screens, but since the CPack main screen is compressed to only half the size of the real screen using CG.COM, on smaller screens CG.COM is not ideal. You may replace CG.COM by

Palrun by Stefan Peichl
INT5fh by Harry Konstas
PalmPC
On Windows PCs or UMPCs, you may try PocketDOS (use the Windows evaluation version: direct download link). This replaces not only CG.COM, but also DOSBox. PocketDOS was a DOS emulation program for Windows CE devices, that already had HP Palmtop graphics emulation built-in.

The following photos show how CPack looks on different systems:

CG.COM

This is with CPack's own "CG.COM" Palmtop graphics emulator, with CPack running on a UMID M1 UMPC (Windows) and on the Pandora (Linux with DOSBox):

{gallery}/articles/hplx_cpack/cg.com{/gallery}

Current problem:

"Squashed" image: Only about half of the height of the M1's screen is actually used for the interesting contents. While this may be acceptable on a large PC screen, it makes CPack almost unusable on a very small screen.

PALRUN

And this is with Palrun (command line arguments: -c for the white background and -c -n for the black background):

{gallery}articles/hplx_cpack/palrun{/gallery}

Current problems:

Slow vertical line-by-line scrolling: Under DOSBox using Palrun, scrolling with arrow keys is terribly slow when scrolling beyond the last screen line. Without DOSBox, i.e. in cmd.exe, it's faster but still very noticeable and maybe annoying
Some screen refresh problems: Hour glass leaves a black box in the middle of the screen after it disappeared
Missing text cursor: When editing, you don't know where the cursor is

Other palmtop graphics emulators work even worse than Palrun. Tested: PALMPC (crashes DOSBox, CPack not executable also under cmd.exe), and INT5F (very slow operation, started programs under program manager are instantly closed again).

PocketDOS

Ed from the HPLX mailing list had the idea to use PocketDOS instead of any other INT5F graphics emulator. PocketDOS actually is DOS emulation software for Windows CE based pocket PCs. However, there is also an evaluation version for Windows (XP, Vista, 7...)
And indeed, it works. All problems mentioned above are solved. PocketDOS even allows you to control the F keys with the pointer device (mouse or Stylus on the M1), tapping / clicking on the F key labels. This is really nice. (Is this normal in CPack?).
Operation is very fast and smooth under PocketDOS and everything seems to work fine.

However, there are a few new display problems. See the pictures:

{gallery}articles/hplx_cpack/pocketdos{/gallery} Current problems:

Some menu items are "greyed out" (not readable) but seem to be functional
All edit forms of the database-based PIMs are messed. The field borders are somewhat slightly diagonal and disturb the look of the forms.

How to install this setup:
You need ActiveSync by Microsoft in order to make PocketDOS work under Windows XP (PocketDOS probably needs some libraries of ActiveSync). So install ActiveSync, e.g. version 4.5. Afterwards, install "PocketDOS for Windows" from http://www.pocketdos.com/download.htm

Entirely remove or comment out the CG.COM references from app200.bat in the CPack setup.

After starting PocketDOS and reading the 15-seconds nag screen, you can directly go to the CPack directory and start CPack using app200.bat. Then you can maximize the PocketDOS window to have almost fullscreen display. If you now use the menu item "View" / "Cycle Display Zoom Mode" twice, you have a nice 200LX-like display on the UMID M1.
Try tapping/clicking the F key labels. :-)

Ideas for optimization are welcome!

EMI problems with the HP palmtops

2009-10-14T13:36:51+00:00

Archived 2013-12-08
This page has been archived and some links may not work correctly anymore. No updates of this page will be done anymore.

(EMI = Electromagnetic Interference: Communication problems when the HP Palmtop cannot communicate via InfraRed anymore when a mobile phone is near, e.g. in setups where the Palmtop should use a mobile phone via IrDA for Internet access.
Contents of this page:

NEWS:

I have bought a used 700LX to study how HP solved the EMI problem there (since the 700LX is designed to work with a GSM phone on top, it must be somehow shielded against the EMI, and tests with ring.com and a seperate GSM phone so the dehaviour of the 200LX and 700LX regarding EMI coulr directly be compared, showed that indeed the 700LX is only disturbed marginally by a mobile phone). The results can be viewed on the separate 700LX page: Click here!

Introduction:

The problem appeared, when the first people wanted to use their HP 100/200 LX to connect to the Internet using the IrDA interface of a mobile phone in the summer of 1999. It is nice to have the ability to simply put the palmtop upon a table, put the cellular phone besides it, and surf the web, download email etc.
Actually it should be possible without problems, because the palmtop has got an IR port, and more and more cellular phones also have an IrDA port which looks to a PC just as a standard modem. The ´internet suite´ WWW/LX by D&A Software is the only software which is able to speak the IrDA protocol over the palmtop´s IR port. Actually the IR port of the palmtop speaks the "HPSIR" protocol which cannot be handled by modern mobile phones. So you have to use WWW/LX if you want to go online via IR.
But you will run into the following problem: The connection is either terribly slow, or it isn´t possible at all to get a working connection.

The people who ran into that problem first were Andreas Garzotto (programmer of WWW/LX), Stefan Peichl and I, Daniel Hertrich. Later Mark Willis, Joeseph Buford and Jerome V. Healy joined us to help. With time I got many requests for help regarding that subject, but a real solution isn´t found yet!

The problem is caused by the following:

Everytime we want to establish a connection to the internet with the mobile phone via infra red (IrDA-protocol by WWW/LX), the palmtop receives strange disturbance signals. These signals are caused by voltages induced by the electromagnetic field surrounding the antenna of the mobile phone.

Actually these signals must have a frequency of 900MHz, 1800MHz or 1900MHz (GSM, PCS), depending on the frequency of the cellular network. But these modulation frequencies are pulsed with a frequency of about 1,6 kHz (maybe that´s only true in my case - I don´t know if the pulsing frequency differs between cellular networks!).
And these pulsing is probably the frequency which causes the problems.
I don´t think that the very high frequency of 1-2GHz causes problems. because this frequency is so high that it cannot be decoded by the decoder hardware of the palmtop (and even is not shown by a normal oscilloscope) - see the pictures below!
But the 1,6 kHz signal is shown and decoded! And it is decoded into many, many characters that prevent the IrDA protocol from working properly.
The signal that actually comes through the photo diode has a pulse frequency of around 10 kHz (depending on the character that was sent by the sending device).

If you would like to test these interference by yourself, you can use Stefan´s software ´RING.COM´. It displays every character received by the IR receiver circuit (also the induced signals) and every character causes a click in the speaker. And the average of ingoing characters per second is measured. So you can see how bad these interferences are in your case. Maybe send as a reference a vcard over IR from your telephone. That will not disturb the IR port, but only the actual IrDA data will be arrive in RING.COM (because the antenna pf the phone doesn´t send anything). Then establish some kind of radio connection (i.e. do a call) and place the phone near the palmtop. You´ll see and hear the disturbances arriving in RING.COM!
You can download RING.COM with documentation here.

Another experience is that with Siemens phones (S25, S35i), the disturbances are so bad, that most of the times a connection isn´t even possible, but with Nokia phones (8810, 7110, 6210...) you get a connection in most cases. You have to find the ideal distance between palmtop and phone in order to suppress most of the disturbances but keep the IR link working. For Siemens phones, this distance is about 15-20cm, for Nokia phones you can place the phone with a much bigger distance from the palmtop. About 50cm should still be possible. Several people worked out little tricks: For example with the Siemens phones (probably also with others) it helps if you take the phone in your right hand during the internet connection: touch the display with your palm, lay your fingers arund the upper edge of the phone and touch the cak of the phone (where the antenna connection is) with your third and fourth finger. That seems to bundle the emitted electromagnetic disturbances in a way that it doesn´t reach the palmtop anymore.

But of course we want to find a durable working solution!
First I thought, the right solution would be to build a high pass filter into the circuit of the IR Receiver to filter out all high GSM frequencies.

I thought we should replace the component no 7 (see picture below) by a properly dimensioned high pass filter. I tried this. But without any luck! :-(
I tried to replace component no 7 with different capacitors of values 150 pF up to 330 pF (My calculations showed that 220pF is the right value to drop 1,6kHz signals by approximately 15dB and leave the 10kHz sinals untouched. With a filter of 1st grade, a higher attenuation of the 1,6 kHz signal is not possible -- the filter of 1st grade is built by the inserted capacitor and the resistor to ground (no 12 and 13) with a value of 100kOhm + 6.81kOhm = 106,81 kOhm).

Before I did these tests I thought that the GHz-frequencies directly caused the problems and inserted several low pass filters into the receiver circuit. None of them worked)

One solution that already works in some palmtops is to connect pin 2 of the photo diode (the right one, if you watch the diagram below) to ground. It´s not such an elegant solution, because it drains extremely much power and we don´t know if it can hurt the circuit. And it doesn´t work in every machine. About every third machine we tested that ´low cost solution´ in wasn´t affected by the EMI anymore. The other machines couldn´t at all use the IR port anymore. We don´t know why. But Stefan used this solution for about half a year successfully and his palmtop survived it.

Drawings (schematics and board layout)

The circuit board layout with component numbers (description of the components below):

The components of the IR receiver circuit:

PD: the photo diode
1:    R = 21,5 k
2:    R = 21,5 k
3:    Transistor KST 5179 or 2N 5179 by Samsung (pins see below) (Data sheet (PDF, 50kB) downloadable here!)
4:    Transistor KST 5179 or 2N 5179 by Samsung (pins see below) (Data sheet downloadable above (=part #3)!)
5:    C = xx xF (value unknown)
6:    R = 215 R
7:    C = 0,01uF (marking "KA4")
8:    C = ´685´
9:    C = ´105´
10: R = 10 k
11: R = 21,5 k
12: R = 6,81 k
13: R = 100 k
14: IC ´TLC372C´ by TI description here (HTML with llink to PDF data sheet)

The pins B,C and E of the Transistors 3 and 4 are placed this way:

------
B O    |
|    |
|    O C
|    |
E O    |
------

The circuit diagram of the IR receiver (self-explored by Joeseph Buford and me):

My measurements

I made the measurements under the following conditions: An opened 100LX lying on the table, the Siemens S25´s IR port and the 100LX´s IR port are facing each other with a distance of about 3 cm.

You can see the arrangement here (on this picture the S25 is a little bit more away from the 100LX than 3 cm):

The following picture shows my measurements of the signal voltage of an IR-received character (measured at pin 3 of the 372 chip no. 14) without any interference.

Horizontally, one division is 0.2ms, so the frequency of the pulses is approx. 10 kHz
Vertically, one division is 2 V, so the peaks are approx. +/- 1V

The following picture shows my measurements of the voltage induced by the S25´s electromagnetic field:

with the same scalings of both axes as the picture above.
The signal has got a frequency of about 1.6 kHz (period cycle is abt. 0.6 ms).

If you would like and/or feel able to help, ideas are greatly appreciated by: Andreas Garzotto, Stefan Peichl, Mark Willis, Joseph Buford, Jerome V. Healy, me and many, many other users of the HP 200LX!
Please email me! I´ll forward your idea to the others.
Thanks to all who help(ed) us and to all who will help!

Ethernet PCMCIA cards (HP 200LX in the LAN)

2015-03-15T19:34:36+00:00

It is possible to connect the HP 200LX to a local area network (LAN) using a PCMCIA Ethernet card.

Hardware:

Since the PCMCIA slot is occupied by the card, all software that is used to comunicate via LAN needs to be installed on the RAM drive (C:).

Three cards are known to work with the HP 200LX:

Netgear FA411
Accton EN2216
Silicom Ethernet PCMCIA card (this one may have compatibility problems with the doublespeed upgrade)

Software:

For communication via LAN you may use the WWW/LX software suite by D&A software. You can find WWW/LX and its companion programs in the S.U.P.E.R. archive or on the D&A software website.

You can find an example of a quite complex WWW/LX configuration, that I used for many years and that includes usage of an Accton EN2216 ethernet card, here.

Another example setup – by Ted Heise – is described here.

How to repair a HP 100LX, 200LX or 1000CX Palmtop

2009-10-14T13:11:51+00:00

Archived 2013-12-08
This page has been archived and some links may not work correctly anymore. No updates of this page will be done anymore.

Contents of this page:

Here is the page that many hardware hackers will like: The process of dismantling the palmtop

Introduction / where to let the palmtop repair:

This page is intended to give you advice if your HP Palmtop is broken.

If you want to let your palmtop repair professionally, you have two options:

Thaddeus computing in USA repairs palmtops for a flat rate, regardless of the defect. They have excellent service and turnaround time, you even get warranty on the repaired device. They also buy used units.
Another option for you is to use my repair service. Please contact me to get an individual offer. It helps, if you describe the defect as detailed as possibile in your first email, ideally providing photos or a video showing the symptoms of the defect

In case you decide it is not worth to repair the palmtop anymore, please do not throw it away. It certainly contains valuable spare parts. In that case, please submit an offer for me to buy this machine.

If you need advice how to repair a palmtop yourself, read on:

Of course I cannot cover every imaginable defect, so I´ll describe the most common problems and the problems I´ve had myself. Since HP discontinued the 200LX palmtop, it becomes more and more important to repair broken units, because it will be difficult to find used units in good shape.

For some of the repairs, you should be familiar with opening the palmtop´s case and taking it apart. For some repairs you even have to take the screen out of its shell. So if you have doubts, rather ask a friend who is able to do this quite complicated job for you.
Warning: You can take almost the entire palmtop apart, you´ll get it back together if you know how you took it apart. But there are a two exceptions:

The right hinge and the screen:
1. The right hinge: Don´t ever take the right hinge apart! Don´t remove the metal ring that holds the hinge together! You probably won´t be able to reassemble it, and that would result in a nearly unusable palmtop! If you want to remove the screen, you can do it leaving the hinge intact. Remove the four Torx-6 screws and carefully bend the screen part of the case apart and take the screen out of it. The screen is only lying in there, no additoinal screws, and the electric contacts are only pressed onto the screen by the two case screws on the left side which you have already removed.

2. the screen itself: If you have taken the screen out of the case, the only thing you can do is to separate the electronics board from the LCD by bending the little metal latches away from the circuit board. But don't ever remove the flat cable that goes from the electronics board of the screen to the LCD glass! That would let the screen die forever! Additionally, it is very difficult to get both screen halves back together; it is a matter of 1/10th mm! SO rather avoid that.

What you will need when doing your first repair job, is advice about opening the palmtop. I have written an article about the process of dismantling the palmtop. There is another source for advice for this:
David Sargeant wrote a page with instructions guiding you through the process of opening the palmtop and even doing hardware upgrades. Click here to read these instructions.

Let's now talk about the actual repairs:

Broken latch:

The latch which holds the case closed if you put down the screen lid gets easily broken. What breaks is not the latch itself, but very thin plastic springs that are responsible for the latch to flip into its original position after you pressed it to open the lid.

It is nearly hopeless to try to glue the spring back to the latch. It will break again sooner or later.
But there are some ways which enable the latch to work again.

1. Use a piece of a rubber band and sqeeze it into the gap under the latch. Maybe cut ittle triangles out of the rubber band, so that it is not so strong.

2. The solution I chose: A drop of silicone, which is actually used to make tight the gap between your bathtub and the wall, will do the job very nicely. You can use a screw driver to work the silicone into the gap under the latch, Just be sure to wipe away any silicone that remained outside. Let it become hard 12 hours with the latch fixed with adhesive tape or something like that, and voila: You have a working latch again.

3. Also a small piece of foam rubber (abt. 13mm * 8mm and abt. 1-2mm thick) can do the job very effectively. I have one palmtop repaired this way, too. Looks not as ugly as the above solutions and works very well.

The hinge crack:

Sometimes the case right above the right hinge of the palmtop breaks due to the strain if you open and close the palmtop frequently. This type of defect is typical for the HP 200LX and appears quite often. It is usually called the "hinge crack". The hinge crack is forced by a hinge that's too tight (See next item!)

Some people simply wait until the crack is wide enough and then put a little(!) drop of superglue or epoxy glue into the crack. That seems to work if you use very good glue.
However, the chance that this fix breakes again is big. There are other approaches, Alan Striegel used a small metal plate to reinforce the hinge, his results are shown on his home page. I have also tried this approach and so far I can tell it seems to be very reliable:

A nice 100LX user, Thomas Mahoney Jr., provided the method he used to successfully repair his hinge crack:

After using 2-part epoxy to reglue my broken hinge halves, I test fit the spring to make sure it was going to fit. Use an X-acto knife to smooth out the epoxy that may have entered the inner hinge area. CUT the hinge spring to about 75% of its usual length with a pair of diagonal cutters, so that you do not need a lot of force to compress the black ring onto the plastic hinge halves. Once all of the hinge pieces are in the correct order and in the hole, I used 2-part epoxy to glue the black ring onto the repaired hinge. The epoxy also acted as a "rubbing" dampener, that is, it makes it harder for the display to flop/fall down since the friction of the epoxy in the area of the right hinge against the hinge tube. The epoxy on the outer hinge also makes it harder for the hinge cap to come off and tightly grips the hinge assembly. Once the epoxy is dried, you may have to use an X-acto knife to cut away undesired epoxy that may be blocking the hinge tube from going back into position and/or cut epoxy away from the outer hinge so the hinge cap can slide on. I had to cut the hinge cap open slightly in order to make it slide onto the hinge. The hinge works good. I actually needed a drop of lubricant to loosen it up slightly after this repair.
Thanks for the dismantling guide. It's great!
Have a great day,

Tom

The hinge is too tight or too loose

If either the hinge is too tight (danger of hinge crack) or too loose (screen falls slowly back while you are working), you may be able to fix that (it does not always work!):
Remove the cap from the right hinge (only the right hinge contains the mechanics). You can do that by carefully prying it off with the nails of your two thumbs while the screen lid is opened with an angle of 90 degrees to the keyboard.

What you see then is a metal shaft in the center and plastic parts around it. The hinge consists of a spring which presses a little plastic cone onto a metal ring (which is on the side you cannot see because it's in the tube). The black plastic you can see directly around the metal pin is the back side of the spring with its plastic anchor. Now you have to adjust the friction of the cone to loose / tighten the hinge. You can do that by using very little amounts of either a lubricant (to loose) or Isopropanol alcohol (to tighten the hinge). Use only a very little drop of the lubricant and work the hinge a few times by opening and closing the lid. Of Isopropyl Alcohol you can use larger volumes. I suggest to use a syringe to apply the lubricant or alcohol.

Caution: Some people reported problems with some lubricants which seem to attack the plastic material! WD-40, for example, must never been used! And remember: Don't ever take apart the right hinge, except you know exactly what you're doing!

The screen: Missing pixels and other problems (and: Doublespeed upgrade!)

If you don´t see anything on the screen, as if the batteries were dead, but you know they aren´t, it is most probably not a screen problem. It may be a software problem. Take out all batteries, press the On key for a few seconds, then let the palmtop alone for 24 hours (so all electricity can vanish). Then put the batteries into the palmtop again and see if it works now. If now, it may be an electrical problem.

If the screen shows weird characters on boot-up or if the screen contents are shifted by about two columns to the right and the two left columns show flickering nonsense, the screen is not defective, but your palmtop is double-speed upgraded! To make things look well again you need a driver. If the double-speed upgrade has been installed by Times2Tech, use the driver by Mack Baggette. The following picture shows a typical double-speed-without-driver screen:

It can sometimes be much worse, so that even the characters are not readable anymore.

To be sure you have a double-speed upgraded palmtop, you can also enter the self-test mode of the palmtop (only if the screen is readable, otherwise you cannot read the self-test output!) using Esc-On to switch it on instead of just On. Then do the "Timers" test. If the test is not successful, the palmtop is upgraded. (Warning: Never do the RAM-Card test if a flash card is in the slot, this test is only for SRAM cards and can destroy other cards!)

If you look through the backup battery tray, you may see if a double-speed crystal is installed. If on the silver cylindrical component behind the tray is written 158 CP52, it is an original single speed palmtop, if you see F31.673, the palmtop has been double-speed upgraded:

If you see nothing written on the crystal, you either have to open the palmtop to read the crystal model number, or run the built-in timer self-test: Press Esc-On to switch the palmtop on, and if you can read the screen well, go to Timers test and press enter to execute it. If it fails (output: time bad), probably a double-speed upgrade is installed. If you cannot read the screen at all due to strange characters, you can be quite sure that a double-speed crystal is installed. Load the above mentioned driver and the screen will be readable again.

If lines or blocks of the screen are missing, flickering or black, or if the whole screen is black or white, there may be a defect.

There are various typical scenarios which I try to describe here. It heavily depends on the symptoms where you will most probably find the problem:

If the whole screen turns black or white, flickers wholly or block-wise, or something like that:

Maybe only the contacts between the screen cable and the screen itself are loose: Switch the palmtop on so that you see a picture which lets you see problem and press on the area marked in the picture below.

Does that fix the problem temporarily? If yes, you should pry off the screen cover on which is written "200LX" and so on and then fasten the two Torx-6 screws on the left side of the screen. If the screw fastening is not enough, you can probably use a few layers of paper to make the pressure contacts under the screws stronger. If these contacts aren´t the problem, maybe the cable which connects the screen to the motherboard is damaged or not properly attached to the motherboard connector.

If you have missing pixel lines (rows or columns), but if only every second column in a certain area is missing

(e.g. as you can see on the picture below) this is most probably caused by IC contact problems. Since all the mechanical stress when opening and closing the LX is only applied on the right side (because only the right hinge contains the relevant mechanics), mostly contacts on the right side are affected, and these are responsible for the columns of the right part of the screen.

A failure of that kind can look like this (type "On" and the slash "/" to invert the screen, so it becomes obvious which lines are missing):

I was able to fix such a screen durably by resoldering the pin rows of some of the SMD ICs on the screen´s circuit board which have become loose.

The following pictures show a removed screen module with the ICs on the back. There is no way to tell without tests which of the pin rows may be loose. You have to try that by connecting the screen to a motherboard and pressing gently onto some ICs and their contacts or using a small screw driver to short-circuit the contacts one-by-one carefully while you observe the screen. Please note that you should use real SMD soldering equipment (a soldering iron blowing hot air), otherwise you need an extremely sharp soldering tip and a very calm hand.

Here you can see the principle how the ICs are wired on the other side of the circuit board (so you can understand which columns depend on which IC contacts):

However, if you have a screen which looks like this on the back:

You are out of luck, because these kind of screen has the ICs on the other side of the PCB and if that wasn´t bad enough, these ICs are fully covered and don´t have any legs which can be resoldered. But on the other hand, these screens are probably much less prone to this kind of failure. Another problem may be a too loose pressure of the screen glass to the conductive rubber band which connects the circuit board contacts to the contacts between the screen glas layers. But that happens only rarely. This can be fixed, too, but I only recommend that if you have good fine-mechanical skills and if this screen is not your only one - you could damage it forever with the following procedure:

There are metal latches which press both screen parts together. A pair of such latches is marked on the following picture:

You can first try to fasten these latches in the area where pixel columns are missing. If that doesn´t help, you have to separate the two parts of the screen and clean the contacts of circuit board, rubber band and the glass contacts carefully with alcohol and then reassemble it. The reassembling is tricky, because you have to place the both parts horizontally exactly as they were before you separated them, otherwise the contacts of circuit board and screen do not fit. Although the metal frame helps with that, you cannot rely entirely on that frame.

First, bend the metal latches straight so that they don´t press the parts together anymore. Take care the you do not break one of the latches.

Now you can remove the entire metal frame in which the two parts are embedded and pressed together.

Don´t separate the LCD from the circuit board yet, but apply some markings on the rubber bands and on the side of the circuit board, so you can later adjust them horizontally 100% precisely again.

Then carefully seperate the two parts, but note that they are still connected by a conducting adhesive tape on one side, this is for the horizontal lines and cannot be removed, otherwise you damage the screen permanently and make it totally unusable! Also make sure the white rubber bands remain on the LCD glass. This makes it way easier to reassemble the screen later. The following pictures show an opened screen:

Screen with metal frame still mounted:

Screen with removed metal frame: You see the white conducting rubber bands on the long sides and the yellow conducting adhesive tape on the short side.

Seperated screen parts: Do never remove the yellow conducting adhesive tape (actually a ribbon) on the short side and be very careful with it! Do not apply any force to it!

Now you can carefully clean the thousands of contacts on the circuit board and on the rubber band. Lift the rubber band only in these areas from the screen glas, where columns are missing, and clean the contacts there, too. Then reattach the rubber band to the glass and reassemble the whole screen. Take care you adjust the two parts horizontally exactly the same way they were adjusted to each other before, otherwise you will not get a valid picture, if you will get one at all! Many missing columns in a pattern which looks like an interference pattern can be the result.

Be sure to bend the metal latches again so that the two parts are pressed together with appropriate force.

If a block of consecutive rows or a single row is missing:

This can be caused either by bad IC soldering contacts, or (which is the worse case) by a defective ribbon cable - the yellow one on the right short side, which connects the LCD glass body to the circuit board of the screen module.

First try to find loose IC contacts, as described above. If that is not successful, take the screen module apart as described above, prepare a flat iron (highest heat level), put a bunch of paper strips under the contact row of the LCD on the right, where the yellow ribbon cable connects, to support the LCD glass mechanically, then press the flat iron gently onto the ribbon cable, moving it slightly, to melt the plastic and glue a little. After a few seconds, remove the flat iron and let the screen get cold again. I was able to fix some screens using this method. But it is risky, if you apply too much heat to the ribbon cable, it may be damaged permamently. In case this didn´t fix the problem, try the same on the contacts on the other side of the ribbon cable (on the circuit board).

Some or all keys of the keyboard don´t react anymore

Most likely the pressure contacts which connect the keyboard to the motherboard are not pressed strongly enough against the motherboard. These contacts are placed in the area under the menu key, the right shift key, the zero key and the dot key. Try to press the two parts of the palmtop´s shell together in that area and see if that fixes the problem.
If it only fixes it temporarily, you should try to fasten the screw under the plus key (from the bottom of the palmtop).

If that also doesn´t help, it may be necessary to clean the keyboard contacts to reduce resistance between the two contact counterparts. For that, you´ll have to open the palmtop. Click here to read how to do that. Be very careful when cleaning the keyboard foil contacts with alcohol or any other solvent. The contacts are build by a thin graphite layer, which is easily rubbed off using solvents. Clean them only once, and with only slight pressure with a soft tissue and some alcohol. Don´t worry about the black stuff rubbed of the contacts: It´s probably no dirt, but the graphite itself. So do not rub until no black stuff is rubbed off anymore!

The contacts on the motherboard can be cleaned as usual, using isopropyl alcohol and a tissue. These contacts are made of copper, so they cannot be rubbed off using a tissue.

Other case cracks

The hinge crack is by far the most common crack which appears on the case of the LX. However, there are a few more positions which the case breaks easily at. For example the little plastic "bridge" on the back between the battery cover and the keyboard part of the lower case shell:

I have no idea how this can be fixed the best way. I would try to take the shell apart, put epoxy glue into this crack, wrap it with adhesive tape until the glue is hard, remove the adhesive tape and then reassemble the palmtop.

HP OmniGo 100 / 120 - Technical Information

2009-10-14T12:54:14+00:00

Archived 2013-12-08
This page has been archived and some links may not work correctly anymore. No updates of this page will be done anymore.

Contents of this page:

Introduction

The HP OmniGo 100 is a totally different kind of palmtop than the 100LX, 200LX, 1000CX and even the OmniGo 700LX: It is GUI based, can be controlled by pen input or keyboard, but it lacks that great versatility of the other models, because it cannot be run in a real DOS mode. There is software which lets you run some DOS programs on the OG100, but this is very limited. The normal operation mode of the OG100 is GEOS, with its Graffitti handwriting recognition, which works surprisingly well.

This is describing text from http://www.thocp.net/hardware/hp_omnigo100.htm:

The HP OmniGo 100 handheld organizer includes a host of financial- and business-productivity functions designed to eliminate the need for multiple reference tools. In addition to incorporating the industry-standard HP 12C financial calculator, the new product´s personal information-management features include the following:

pen-navigation and keyboard-input capabilities - to accommodate user-interface preference;
a jotter application - to allow customers to capture information on the go and organize it later;
a Graffiti handwriting system - for easy-to-learn handwriting recognition; drawing capabilities - to enable the user to scribble quick notes and design maps and pictures;
HP financial-analysis tools and spreadsheet capabilities - for computing cash flow and loan payments, currency conversions, business calculations, percentages and margins;
a notepad feature - to input notes and organize thoughts via keyboard and pen entry;
appointment, address and telephone books - to give users a central repository for access to important personal appointments, activities and contact information;
database capabilities - for personalized list management; and
worldtime feature - for locating cities around the world and obtaining current time and city information.

I have not heard of any hardware upgrades which are available for the OmniGo 100/120.

Pictures

These are pictures of the internals of the OmniGo 100:

Usage of PCMCIA SRAM / Flash / CF storage cards

Although all documentations and FAQs say that the OmniGo 100 does only work with SRAM cards, and not with Flash or Compact Flash, I had success using a Sandisk 192MB Compact Flash card with my Omnigo 100. It worked instantly without any problem. If you want to put new programs for the OG100 on a card so that they can directly be used, you should let GEOS first prepare the card. Then you can put *.GEO files from the program packages into the \geoworks\world directory, put the card into the OG100, reboot the OG100, and the programs are available from the main menu screen.

Interesting external links

http://nenya.ms.mff.cuni.cz/~gergic/ogo_page/omnigo.html

http://www.mgroeber.de/omnigo.htm
http://www.salbrook.woodwind.org/ogo
http://www.scc.net/~jonco/omnigo
http://www.ulrich-cordes.de/omnigo/german/omnigo.htm