VisorCentral.com - MemPlug SmartMedia reader/springboard 4sale in US

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VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- Springboard Modules (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=10)
-- MemPlug SmartMedia reader/springboard 4sale in US (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=12933)

Posted by alexmathew on 03-19-2001 06:23 PM:

Folders..

yes, thanks - copying directly from PC/Mac to SmartMedia through an adapter should work - excellent!

I hope memplug users can provide feedback on any problems with file resources, icons etc that are copied over and may interfere with the memplug operation.

Thanks
am

Posted by lscrep on 03-19-2001 10:06 PM:

MemPlug module arrived

Just got home from work and my MemPlug module/smart media card both arrived today. Sitting here watching it do a complete backup of my Visor Deluxe. Palmgear HQ said they shipped on the 16th, arrived the 19th Priority Mail in a lot bigger box than I thought. Memplug is in its own Handspring Springboard compatible packaging. Included is a brief owners manual, about the same as the online one I previously downloaded, a CD wirh the G moive maker software; which I havent even looked at yet. I plugged in the module per directions, inserted the smart media card and WALA instant on with icons to start working. Experimented with moving some utility files to the card, after formatting the card(which happened so fast I did it twice to believe it was done. Then went to the PIBackup program and started a total Visor backup to my 32meg card.
It appears to be working fine about 58% done as I write this.
I also have Backup Buddy installed I wonder if it will have any conflicts with PIbackup?????? Time will tell.
The smart media card sticks up just enuff to grasp, but low enuff where I expect to be able to leave it in place in my Targus belt case. Since this is my first Springboard module
I am quite pleased at this point. I do a lot of Genealogy and my existing DB was taking up 50% of my Visors total 8 meg memory.
So bottom line PalmGear HQ is shipping, and its seems to be as good as advertised, hope you all got your today.

Posted by EricG on 03-19-2001 10:39 PM:

Everything is working better than expected except for a minor issue with PiViewer, some jpg images that have pure black in them show up as pure white.. the other colors are fine, it just looks like the black areas had all the pure black drained from them (i.e. leaves pure white blotches in it's place, just looks funny).. this only seems to affect images with really dark areas.

__________________
"One of the most important things you learn from the internet is that there is no �them� out there. It�s just an awful lot of �us�." -- Douglas Adams

Posted by dvIceT on 03-20-2001 12:45 AM:

WALA = new acronym?

quote:
Originally posted by lscrep
I plugged in the module per directions, inserted the smart media card and WALA instant on with icons to start working.

LOL

I don't want to be a language nazi, but is WALA an acronym I'm unfamiliar with, or did you mean the French word "Voila!" meaning "there it is."? Just trying to prevent the unnecessary turning over in their graves of millions of deceased Francophones.

Posted by kpochert on 03-20-2001 01:45 AM:

What a great bunch of people buying these MemPlugs!

voi�l� (vw�-l�) interj. Used to call attention to or express satisfaction with a thing shown or accomplished: Mix the ingredients, chill, and�voil�!�a light, tasty dessert. [French : voi, second person sing. imperative of voir, to see (from Old French; see VOYEUR) + l�, there (from Old French la, lai, probably from Latin ill�c, by that way : illa, that, feminine of ille; see al-1 below + -ce, deictic particle).]

Got mine today as well. As advertised. The jpeg viewer and the gMovie leave much to be desired on my Visor Deluxe but the backup and file mover are what it's all about from my point of view. Fine product at a good value.

Kurt

Posted by Vinny on 03-20-2001 02:10 AM:

Grrr! Why don't we have a CF solution as nice as this! A shame my digicam is CF (and my Zio USB CF Reader) keep me from switching over to SM.

__________________
-Vincent

Posted by joshieca on 03-20-2001 03:29 AM:

Got my MemPlug today...have mixed reviews....

...the back up worked great!!

The other programs need some work.

The PIMover gave me two already fatal errors....ONE so bad I had to do a soft reset.

I just hope that programs will start to take advantage of this card so files can be accessed from card itself.

Posted by ajcross on 03-20-2001 05:17 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by joshieca
Got my MemPlug today...have mixed reviews....

The PIMover gave me two already fatal errors....ONE so bad I had to do a soft reset.

I just hope that programs will start to take advantage of this card so files can be accessed from card itself.

First, did you have any hacks or other system "adjusting" software running?

I wrote Handspring and got this back:

quote:
Thank you for contacting Handspring Technical Support and thank you for your feedback.

At this time, we are leaving programming support for memory (and other modules) to the module developers. Our primary focus is on the unit itself.

As the memory solutions you mentioned become popular, more and more software developers will build their software around these solutions.

Please contact us again if you have any more suggestions.

Regards,
Handspring Technical Support

--- Original Message ---
To: technicalsupport <[email protected]>
Subject: Other Inquiry

COMMENTS: Will Handspring offer any programming support for memory modules?

I just bought a MemPlug springboard and one question that I see a lot is:
Can I run program X from springboard Y?
or,
Can I open database or document Z from springboard Y?

I've seen this asked for your Flash module, the MemPlug, MatchBook's CF adapter, Innogear's CF adapter, and the MiniJam. I see memory as one big advantage of Handspring over Palm right now.

Ideally, a patch from Handspring would have a simple call to have a springboard check for programs and files available. And another to tell the springboard to run or load the file(s). The springboard developer would then be responsible for handling these calls against their memory.

At MemPlug, they are modifying CSpotRun to view DOC files and already had other programs doing this. Its a place to start.

You could use this as a selling point on your Springboard feature.

Thanks,
Andy Cross

So it looks like no common standard for all applications on all springboards.

Its too bad. I would really like to treat static memory like static memory like static memory from any Springboard.

Posted by EricG on 03-20-2001 06:10 AM:

All in all I like it..

Now if PiViewer was fixed, and GMovie had sound like Teal Movie, I'd say this is almost the perfect springboard module.. (if it could autorun programs from the smart media card wouldn't hurt either! )

My reasons..

1. Low cost ($49.95 w/o media) - you can use the media cards you may already happen to have around, reducing cost.
2. Uses industry standard format (fat) can use 3rd party card readers/writers - does not require proprietary readers/writers
3. Included applications run from the springboards memory (don't require Visor ram to operate)
4. Module performs more than one function (i.e. it's not a single function module aka mp3 player), and the module can assist with the usability of other programs/modules outside of it's own functions (i.e. Geode map files, iSilo documents, etc..)
5. Some applications can access data directly from the media card not requiring it to be copied into the visors memory. (currently pictures and gMovie files, but soon doc files as well)

I think other module developers should take a cue from the memplug springboard module.

__________________
"One of the most important things you learn from the internet is that there is no �them� out there. It�s just an awful lot of �us�." -- Douglas Adams

Posted by PiDeveloper on 03-20-2001 07:11 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by joshieca
Got my MemPlug today...have mixed reviews....

...the back up worked great!!

The other programs need some work.

The PIMover gave me two already fatal errors....ONE so bad I had to do a soft reset.

I just hope that programs will start to take advantage of this card so files can be accessed from card itself.

I am rather shocked after reading your post, as we have throughly test our module before release, though we may not be able to cover all applications available in the market. PiMover should be in a stable state already when it is release.

Can you send more information to our support email, so that our software team can follow up this case.
In case other users have any problem and recommandation.
Could you kindly send to
[email protected].

Thanks for your kindly recommandation and report.

Posted by TheOne on 03-20-2001 07:33 AM:

Crash after moving files

Indeed, PalmOS is not a files moving friendly OS. Here is the reason

PalmOS gives you the ability to patch some APIs and the code has to be in a fixed address. It is OK if you are not going to move the PRC and PDB in a Palm device. However, if you remove the PRC/PDB or move PRC/PDB from one memory area to another, the patched APIs will no longer work, hence PalmOS may crash.

This situations appear in any memory modules, like 8M module, InnoPocket and MatchBook Drive when they are moving those PRC/PDB that patch any APIs in PalmOS.

Indeed, in case you are going to move(in particular remove) these files, I strongly recommend to disable these kind of APIs patch. Here are some applications that I know will patch the PalmOS APIs, Hack master, CJKOS and ChineseOS

TheOne

Posted by kpochert on 03-20-2001 03:05 PM:

My MemPlug is great. For those who would like to pursue more on the jpeg viewer and movies, MGI PhotoSuite has a Mobile Edition, supporting the PDA in general, to investigate. www.mgisoft.com

Everything about the MemPlug lends itself to nothing but a brighter future in using SmartMedia to expand the Visor's functionally. I look forward to a true live memory expansion module, not flash memory, to be worked on in the future. A separate battery, lithium coin cell, might be used to maintain the memory for years. Just thinking...

Kurt

Posted by TheOne on 03-22-2001 04:21 AM:

Japanese MemPlug

My Japanese friend told me that MemPlug in Japan sold for 7500 to 10000 yen(about $60 to $80). It is more expensive than in US. Does anyone know any difference between US and Japanese version?

TheOne

Posted by EricG on 03-22-2001 06:14 AM:

Despite a few quirks with PiViewer, I really like my MemPlug alot.. it makes using the Prism more flexible, I can put things in/out of memory as needed.. that makes a huge difference in using my Visor from day to day, I no longer have to try to cram everything I might need in memory "just in case"..

__________________
"One of the most important things you learn from the internet is that there is no �them� out there. It�s just an awful lot of �us�." -- Douglas Adams

Posted by Potus on 03-22-2001 03:24 PM:

Potus

Is the MemPlug Mac compatible? Is compatibility even an issue with memory devices?

__________________
When I get a little money I buy books; if any is left, I buy food and clothes.

Posted by mpkirby on 03-22-2001 03:31 PM:

Mac compatability...

The module itself doesn't have to be Mac compatible, as all the software is on the module itself and you don't need a computer at all to use it.

SmartMedia cards are cross-platform, as far as I know. If you have a SmartMedia card reader for the Mac, I'd imagine it would read/write data to the card fine.

I just checked at www.genericmedia.com, and they have versions of gMovie Maker for both PC and Mac. I believe both versions are on the CD included with MemPlug, but if not you could download the Mac version and use your included serial # to unlock it.

-kirb

Posted by Potus on 03-22-2001 03:49 PM:

re: Mac compatibility

Thank you for your quick and exceedingly useful response. Have a great pdAY.

__________________
When I get a little money I buy books; if any is left, I buy food and clothes.

Posted by anton on 03-22-2001 07:54 PM:

Re: Mac Compatibility

quote:
Originally posted by Potus
Is the MemPlug Mac compatible? Is compatibility even an issue with memory devices?

As the previous poster pointed out there is no issue of compatibility if you only access the smartmedia via the Visor. If on the other hand you copy files from the Mac to the smartmedia card directly, by mounting the card on the desktop, then you end up with some desktop database files which the Mac automatically creates for any mounted drive, but which are invisible on the Mac. Pimover will however shows these files. This is only a minor nuisance (and the way of life if you use any kind of storage on both a Mac and a PC). You can ignore the files or delete them with piMover.

Posted by hamiltondj on 03-22-2001 08:32 PM:

Memplug Review - My $0.02

Ok...Here's my short review of memplug....

I ordered the day it went on sale and got it 2 days later with a 64MB SM card cost = $150 from plamgear.

The SM card came tapped to the memplug box (kinda cludgy) but that's plam gear, not memplug. I realize I could have gotten the SM cheaper ordering from somewhere else, but I went for the easy way of doing it all at once....

Anyway, as reported memplug comes in a box with gMovie software disk and a small manual.

The module is a bit bigger than the backup module. It also has 2 "feet" on the back that prop the visor up at an angle when layed on a table. Kinda cool but may be a problem in the visor edge adaptor (someone should try this....)

All in all installation as advertised...true plug and play

Software interfaces are nicely done.

Performance...is it me or does the memplug write to SM really slow? The comparison I used is 1 100K file. Using a CF adaptor it took < 1sec, using memplug about 20 seconds.
PiBackup also took a really long time.

gMoview works as advertised....

I still haven't decided if I'm gonna use this or the CF card. The deciding factor is if any 3rd party developers start supporting one or the other (wordsmith docs straight from the module..too cool). Until Memplug's version of cSpotRun comes out, I guess it will sit in my case more than not since the CF module is faster at copying files...

Posted by akur on 03-23-2001 12:59 AM:

Re: Memplug Review - My $0.02

quote:
Originally posted by hamiltondj
Performance...is it me or does the memplug write to SM really slow? The comparison I used is 1 100K file. Using a CF adaptor it took < 1sec, using memplug about 20 seconds.
PiBackup also took a really long time.

why memplug is slow when making a new directory or deleting memory?
It's took about 17 seconds. Is it because the software or the hardware? When I try to make a directory or deleting a directory on my innopocket CF Adapter, it just take 1 second.

Overall, I like my memplug.

Thank's

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