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Pda Includer

This page is about using PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) as the 'Includer' FlashDriveEditor, as an alternative to developing our own hardware device, or as a prototype for our own device.

By Ricardo June 27, 2008 19:05 CET (see my profile page for links to my other pages)

There are many different ways in which PDAs could be used as Includer systems. This page lists several design-concepts in seperate sections, below.

Contents of this page

EMail I sent to Andrius on 26-Jun-2008

PDA Includer - Concept 1 - PDA interfacing to USB Peripherals

PDA Includer - Concept 2 - PDA + Infrared keyboard

How the PdaIncluder could fit into the Includer project

HTML display test

Comments

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EMail I sent to Andrius on 26-Jun-2008

Hi Andrius

I need to finish a few other things in the next couple of weeks, then maybe we can have a chat about how to move the Includer idea forward.

The classic Includer is a bit like a very cheap PDA or diary/organizer/notepad device. I've been doing some google searching to see whether any existing devices would serve the purpose of a classic Includer, flash-drive editor.

I'm starting to have a little success there...

1. I've found one or two mobile phones that have USB Host capability. I'll post details in Worknets when I get time. They tend to be more expensive phones, using the Pocket PC (AKA Windows Mobile) operating system, but that at least shows some phones with USB Host capability exist.

2. The Sharp Zaurus range of PDAs look like good candidates to use as Includers. Some older model have a PCMCIA interface, like laptops. So they should be able to use some laptop peripherals that plug into a PCMCIA slot (now called PC Card or Cardbus). Also, you can plug a cheap PCMCIA USB 2.0 2/4 Port interface card into a PCMCIA slot, to give 2 or 4 fast USB Ports. That should let the PDA use devices like QWERTY Keyboards, mouse and printer. It all depends on getting/writing device drivers for each type of peripheral. If they don't exist, its worth writing device drivers for standard things like a Microsoft Keyboard and Mouse, and mass-storage devices like a USB Flash Drive. USB could also be used to interface to a GPRS phone.

3. Some phones have a CompactFlash memory card interface (sometimes called CF Card). Wikipedia says this is 'electrically identical to the PCMCIA interface' (also called the PC Card interface) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompactFlash (see the section 'other devices conforming to the CF standard). So, PDAs and Phones with a CompactFlash interface can use CF Card peripheral devices and, via an adapter/cable, use PCMCIA (PC Card or Cardbus) peripherals, designed for laptops.

All of this makes it possible for PDAs to use cheap keyboards etc.

The Sharp Zaurus PDAs and some similar PDAs are avaialable very cheaply on eBay USA and UK. The Zaurus was the most popular PDA in Japan, so eBay Japan may have a lot of them.

See the model numbers, features and interfaces in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaurus

You can post all of the above.

Bye for now.

Ricardo

PDA Includer - Concept 1 - PDA interfacing to USB Peripherals

Figure 1 - PDA Includer concept (Sharp Zaurus PDA, PCMCIA USB I/F Card, USB Peripherals)

Many PDAs have PCMCIA/PC Card/Cardbus interfaces, to make use of existing laptop interface cards. So a PDA + PCMCIA USB Interface Card could connect the PDA to cheap USB peripherals, like a USB Flash Drive, Keyboard and Mouse.

The flash-drives, keyboard and mouse are already available in developing countries like Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and the PDA is light enough to post cheaply from a major city to rural areas or from Europe/USA.

PDAs could also interface by PCMCIA+USB to more expensive peripherals like printer/scanner/copiers, USB Hard Drives and Cameras.

Some PDAs have a CompactFlash Card interface instead of PCMCIA. In that case, you can add a CompactFlash Card-to-PCMCIA Card adapter to the system above, or you interface directly to CompactFlash Card peripherals, such as flash memory cards and WiFi adapters.

Ricardo July 11, 2008 23:36 CET

PDA Includer - Concept 2 - PDA + Infrared keyboard

This concept uses a PDA + Infrared Keyboard, in this example a Palm Z22 PDA + Targus Wireless Infrared Keyboard. The PDA has no way to read/write USB Flash Drives, since it doesn't have USB Host Capability. It only has a USB Slave connector, so that a PC can read/write files to the PDA.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z22_(handheld)

The Palm Z22 can be bought second-hand on eBay USA for about $50. The Targus Infrared Keyboard costs about $30 new. You need to add shipping costs to this. To keep Postage and Packing costs down, it would be cheaper for someone to buy things from eBay advertisers, 10 at a time, and pay just their US delivery costs, then send them all in one package to Africa.

The Targus keyboard runs on 2 button-cell batteries, which means there's an on-going cost for disposable batteries, or you need to buy rechargeable button-cell batteries and a charger. Rechargeable button-cells do exist. Some people use them for hearing-aids. To keep the total system-cost down, it would be good to avoid buying a charger. If I can find one, there may be a a small, cheap button-cell charger that charges from a USB socket at a cyber cafe. These exist for other battery-types, like AA and AAA. The charger looks a bit like a flash drive.

It should be possible to implement this Includer concept more cheaply, using older models of PDA.

In this system, the user can read/write files using the Memo application (or any other text editor) on the Palm Z22 PDA, and type at full speed using the Targus Infrared full-size QWERTY Keyboard.

To get files in/out of the PDA, the user takes the PDA to a Cyber Cafe or somewhere else with a PC/Laptop, and files are transferred between Computer and PDA using the PDA's USB Cable. The Palm Z22 has a Mini USB Socket on the top, used for both data and charging. It also has a touch-screen and stylus, allowing the user to write characters on screen using the Graffiti 2 alphabet and software. An on-screen QWERTY keyboard is available too, which is faster to use (see Fig 8 below). The stylus is inserted into a holder in the PDA, to avoid losing it.

Figure 2 - Palm Z22 PDA + Targus Infrared Keyboard, displaying a Memo that I typed in using the keyboard. The keyboard folds in half, and includes a stand to hold the PDA. An arm rotates upwards, then the tip folds down to point at the Infrared window at the top of the PDA. The PDA and Keyboard communicate by Infrared light-beam, using the IRDA (Infrared Data Association) communication standard.

Figure 3 - Palm Z22 PDA + Targus Infrared Keyboard, showing the Infrared Arm that rotates upwards, with the Infrared transceiver tip that folds down towards the PDA.

Figure 4 - Close-Up of Palm Z22 PDA + Targus Infrared Keyboard, displaying a Memo that I typed in using the keyboard. If you can't read it, it says "Hello. This is a test of the Palm Z22 + Targus folding wireless keyboard".

Figure 5 - Targus Infrared Keyboard, showing the 3 fold-out metal 'grips' that hold the PDA in place. The one on the left is sprung and slides left-right, to hold various-sized PDAs, in portrait or landscape orientaton.

Figure 6 - Targus Infrared Keyboard, showing the Infrared arm in the down position.

Figure 7 - Targus Infrared Keyboard, folded-up, for carrying. It's a little bit smaller than a paperback book, and fairly light-weight.

Figure 8 - The Palm Z22 also has an on-screen touchpad QWERTY keyboard. After a little practice, it's possible to type with a stylus at about 1 character per second. It's certainly faster than texting on a phone keypad, where you have to press a key 1, 2 or 3 times to get the right character, or use predictive text. There are some commercial on-screen keyboard programs with bigger keys, for faster typing.

This on-screen keyboard could be quite useful to users that want to keep the total system cost down, and can't afford the full-size Targus Infrared Keyboard. The total system cost is then just the cost of the Palm Z22 PDA (about $50, second-hand on eBay USA, plus shipping).

I need to check, but there may be older, cheaper PDAs in the Palm range with an on-screen keyboard, which would get the cost of using a PDA as an Includer down even further

Findings from my evaluation:

Keyboard - In my opinion, a full-size external QWERTY Keyboard like the Targus is essential, to work comfortably, at high-speed.

Screen Size - The 2.5 inch square screen is a little small. The text is just large enough to read. Bold text is a little easier to read.

Speed - I found typing text into the Memo application just a little bit slow. Either the keyboard or the Memo application adds a slight delay after typing each character. That's no problem for the average 2-finger typist, but it wouldn't keep up with a fast touch-typist. Maybe it's just this one application. It's possible that other applications would be faster.

Applications - Palm provides all the normal PDA applications (Memo, Diary, Calculator, Photo Viewer, etc). There are lots of Freeware Palm apps available online, and you can buy commercial apps too, from Palm or Third-Parties.

eBooks - The PDA can act as an eBook Reader, with the right reader software. Books are in .pdb format (Palm Database).

News - Reuters used to provide a daily news download for the Z22, but they stopped the service. People could download the news in the morning and read it on the PDA during the day. Maybe we could provide some services that work in a similar way, on any subject you like. People could pick up the files at a Cyber Cafe once a week or from someone with a computer in their area, either with internet-access or a once-a-day or once-a-week Sneakernet.

Sound - Limited to beeps I think, not playing MP3s.

File-Transfer - To get files in/out, you use the Palm Hot Sync manager software on a PC, to indicate what files you want to transfer and create a list of files, then you exit that program. The next time you plug the Z22 PDA into the PC and click the Hot Sync button on the PDA, the requested files are transferred. You can synchronise your Microsoft Outlook contacts (names, addresses, etc) with the PDA too.

Beaming Files by Infrared - Most PDAs can beam files to/from other PDAs, Phones with Infrared, a laptop (most have built-in Infrared), or a PC with a plug-in USB Infrared adapter/dongle. So, a PDA Includer owner could transfer files to the PDA or laptop of a Sneakernet mailman quite easily. That's just one option. Most Palm devices can transfer files to each other this way. You can also get third-party freeware to transfer files to/from non-Palm devices, such as Windows PCs.

PDAs with Serial Interfaces - Some old PDAs such, as the Palm Zire and Palm Zire 21, are available very cheaply on eBay ($10 to $15). They sometimes have a serial interface, instead of USB, but you could use a serial cable or a USB-to-serial cable at a Cyber Cafe to transfer files to/from them.

Internal Battery Life - Some PDAs use an internal battery. When buying an old PDA, check the details of that model to see whether the internal battery is replaceable, if it stops charging.

To check the capabilities of any PDA, Wikipedia is very good. It usually has a page for each Manufacturer, Range or Model. See the links on the PDA page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant

Ricardo July 13, 2008 13:24 CET

How the PdaIncluder could fit into the Includer project

Posted in

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/learnhowtolearn/message/248

Dear All (including Andrius)

I'll be talking to Andrius in the next few weeks about the future direction of the project. We have been looking at many variants of the Includer, including a new hardware design and variants using a collection of new existing products or old, second-hand products.

Recently I've been looking at using old, cheap, second-hand PDAs as Includer devices.

I'm thinking that PDAs could be used in 2 ways within the Includer project :-

1. Using PDAs to capture the Customer Requirements accurately.

We would put a PDA or PDA + Infrared Keyboard as an Includer device in the hands of some users, to get some opinions and feedback on usability. This would help us nail-down the exact requirements for all type of Includer device. It would give us information to change the design of PDA Includer systems and tell us the requirements for any Includer systems based on our own new hardware design (processor board, etc).

2. Marketing 'PDA Systems' as a 'Sale-able Product'.

We would make a 'PDA Includer System in a Box' available for people to buy, like a new commercial product, even though it's a collection of existing items.

It would include :-

a) An old, second-hand PDA (such as the Palm Z22, Palm Zire/Zire 21/Zire 31, etc).

b) Manufacturer's Printed User Guide for the PDA

c) Manufacturer's Software CD for the PDA (with PDF user guide)

d) Stylus

e) Optional Infrared Keyboard

f) Our own Printed PdaIncluder User Guide (explaining the Includer ecosystem, usage scenarios, etc).

g) Our own CD containing PDA Freeware, eBooks to read on the PDA (PdaIncluder User Guide, farming/health/education/etc), audio-books (if it has sound), our own freeware to support the Includer ecosystem, photos, tutorials, etc.

h) Presentation box.

How does a customer buy one?

It's tempting to just design and test the collection of items, then publish the design and say to the buyer/users "Now find somewhere to buy the items yourself". However, it would be better to set up physical stores, mail-order companies, and/or online stores in each African country. So, we don't just tell people how to build their own system, we actually make it available to buy. We find supplies of old PDAs, new/old Infrared Keyboards, etc. Minciu Sodas could devolve the operation of the stores to Minciu Sodas members or whoever it likes.

Are there any other benefits?

If we use old PDAs, they would need checking or refurbishing, and possible software upgrades. We would have to ensure the PDA System in a Box includes all the things that you get when you buy a PDA new, plus some extra items. Doing this work would provide some employment, and the on-the-job training would help people to learn some of the skills required to repair/refurbish other items, like mobile-phones or laptops.

The collection of items is very adaptable, so if people don't like the exact collection we provide, they can buy a similar collection from other places, or we can provide a 'Custom-designed Includer System' service or a range of off-the-shelf options. The important thing is to make one working system available, to link people to the rest of the world. Further variants of the PDA Includer are just a bonus.

Using PDAs is one way to get some Includers to users, without needing an enormous amount of money to fund development. If we can do a mass-produced Includer later, when funds allow, that would be really good too.

I would be interested to know what people think of this approach. Does it sound like a good way to go?

Ricardo July 14, 2008 0:26 CET