[Noisebridge-discuss] Compaq Concertos

[Brian Morris]

OK, I am still thinking about them too.

I forgot I have a pcmcia memory SD card reader and some old cards, if the
card support is in the kernel they work with linux, might have to boot off a
floppy though. Also have possibly have one set of pen batteries (if they
fit).

I may go looking for a semi-modern boot floppy image (recent kernel).
Although need something trimmed down, also want pcmcia built in (not module)
and a rescue shell. We have these for mac 2.6.18, maybe 2.6.22, although
they have been approaching the limit.

Even if building a custom system for tablet-pen support, one needs a generic
starting point for native build.

Googling just now I found -

Picture, note date of mfg is 1992 and cpu is 486:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_Concerto
More
http://hawky.net/laptop.html
(amazing its browsing the ebay ad in the ebay ad = recursive)
http://www.pistolerapost2.com/viewing/concerto1.html

The project of getting the pen to work for this particular model,  for
2.6.20 kernel (broken):
http://code.google.com/p/cpqpen2/
older driver (works?) for 2.0 kernel (scroll down the page)
http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~pfeiffer/index_old.html#linux

Could it become a retro cult classic ?

On Fri, May 6, 2011 at 12:31 AM, Corey McGuire <coreyfro at coreyfro.com>wrote:

> Yeah, they work alright.  I'll have to dust off my SuSE 6.3 discs, and dig
> up my PCMCIA CD-ROM and see if I can reunite the two.
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 10:49 PM, Corey McGuire <coreyfro at coreyfro.com>wrote:
>
>>
>>    - The batteries are in a separate bag,. but they are there.
>>    - I believe there are batteries for all of them.
>>    - They may not operate until a battery is install and until
>>    it receives a small amount of charge.  I remember this to be an annoyance
>>    when they were new.
>>    - They use high quality NIMH batteries that perform very well
>>    considering they are 20 years old.
>>    - The pens require coin cell batteries and they are, all of them,
>>    dead.
>>    - I have a box on my shelf of units with intact hinges, paired with
>>    their pens, batteries, and keyboards.  I believe there are many working
>>    power supplies in said box.
>>    - They use 19v DC which is common for laptop PSU's.
>>    - The hinges are indeed broken on many of them, but being they are
>>    tablet dos/win3.11/win95 machines, it is not a remote portability that
>>    they'd serve well as wall terminals for various functions.
>>    - They run X Windows.
>>    - There is a linux pen driver for them.
>>    - They love PATA to Compact Flash Adapters, which makes them 100%
>>    solid state
>>    - I have a working win 3.11 image for them
>>    - They are groovy
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 7:07 PM, Brian Morris <cymraegish at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> There's only one power supply and it appears to not work (unless I picked
>>> the two tablets that were broken to try). Also many of them the plastic
>>> cases are busted, especially around the hinge pivots that causes them to
>>> fall apart. also many have open battery compartments with no covers.
>>>
>>> Maybe a few that are in better shape could stick around a while ?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 4:45 PM, Corey McGuire <coreyfro at coreyfro.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>> All but 2 of them are in 100% working order.  Take a closer look.  They
>>>> are donations.  If they are in the way, chuck them.
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 3:23 PM, Rubin Abdi <rubin at starset.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> There's about a dozen of these things...
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.google.com/search?q=compaq+concerto
>>>>>
>>>>> Next to POLE 3. They're in various states of disassemble and
>>>>> destruction. I haven't found one that looks to be in working order.
>>>>> Unless I get poked, they're going into the ewaste pile.
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Rubin Abdi
>>>>> rubin at starset.net
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>>>>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>>>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
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>>
>
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