Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 6

Hello. May I know who is the tester of the SmartMedia Adapter tester? Or could you provide an authentic link to the product website? I hope this is not bogus.

Thanks.

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zejune

Registered: Jun 2000
Location:
Posts: 44

the link to the website was posted some time ago....here it is:

http://www.memplug.com/product_info.html

what do you mean by authentic????

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 9

SmartMedia reader

Oh yes, this is a very real product. I've had the pleasure of "testing" one for the last three weeks. I love it. After investing in SmartMedia memory as a result of my purchase of Fujifilm digital camera, I really wanted a way to use it on my VPL. I've a 2MB, three 8MB, and a 32MB SmartMedia cards. All work!

Moments ago I received permission to talk about this product. This product will be available the middle of March from Amazon.com and Palmgear.com. Selling price will be $49.95. That may include an 8MB card! (I'm not positive on that info.)

Software includes a file mover, a backup program, a JPEG viewer, and a movie viewer. Software is upgradeable on the MemPlug unit.

The JPEG viewer allows you to take the card from your camera and go straight to the Visor for image viewing. (16 shades of gray in VDX, VPL, or color in Prism.) It's not the greatest image, but not the real reason I want this Springboard. I want more memory! This does it at minor extra cost for me.

I can write to the SmartMedia card using a USB/SmartMedia reader and the Visor reads the files just fine.
I'm pleased and know that the software will develop more fine features in the near future.

Watch for a website update next week on the site noted in the above message.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 6

Continue

How fast is the DATA transfer from the Flash mem to the reading mem in Visor? I heard it's somewhat slower vis-a-vis the 8mb module.

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zejune

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 6

same here man. Got myself a Fujifilm didi cam. Gotta make full use of the card. Memplug's the saviour.

authentic because I saw a discussion here saying that the new CF flash card adapter's website at Innopocket looks like a humbug with couple of useless links.

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zejune

Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 28

Doc Readers

Will the Memplug allow for a doc reader in Visor RAM to read docs stored only on the Memplug? Will the Memplug come with a background file mover to allow a doc reader such as iSilo to read a file stored on the Memplug?

Registered: Nov 2000
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 201

Re: SmartMedia reader

quote:

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Originally posted by ChasW
Software includes a file mover, a backup program, a JPEG viewer, and a movie viewer. Software is upgradeable on the MemPlug unit.

The JPEG viewer allows you to take the card from your camera and go straight to the Visor for image viewing. (16 shades of gray in VDX, VPL, or color in Prism.) It's not the greatest image, but not the real reason I want this Springboard. I want more memory! This does it at minor extra cost for me.

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Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Mineola, NY USA
Posts: 161

I've been testing the MemPlug too. Although I must say that testing has been somewhat of a misnomer, the module has worked perfectly throughout the time for me on my Prism and my VDX.

It's a wonderful addition to my Visor adding tons of memory, and now I can justify the purchase of those smartmedia cards, since I can use them in my Visor, my Canon digital camera and that Nomad II I've been eyeing.

There are some improvements that can still be made, for example,when I view 1600x 1200 jpegs from my camera on the Visor, they are reduced too small, smaller images tho, go full screen on the Visor. But this and some other points are more like wish list items, not really things lacking in the module. Plus, I'm pretty confident that these and other things are being worked on. Given what it does now, the price and what it adds to the Visor, it's a definite purchase.

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-Michael-

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 35

I tested one too for the last three weeks and raised that issue (about reading doc files directly from the smartmedia card) and the answer for the moment is no! There is also no background filemover at the moment. I asked specifically whether they could look into the possibility of making a version of Cspotrun to work with the smartmedia card adapter. There is namely a smartmedia card adapter for the PalmIII (Axpacc) which has a adaptation of Cspotrun which can read docfiles from the smartmedia card reader without moving them. It would be great if some programmer could make an adaptation which works for this adapter. Sourcecode for the Axpacc version of Cspotrun is available, so that it might be feasible. At the moment only the applications provided with the adapter can read things from the smartmedia card directly without moving them. So maybe the key is to install applications into the Flash ram of the module. Currently there are no general tools for doing this, but maybe some enterprising programmer can figure out how to do this.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Mineola, NY USA
Posts: 161

I agree, anton. Similarly, I'd like to see the ability to move jpegs from the card to the Visor, so they could be viewed in other programs, and larger.

Even with these "limitations" though, it's a great module, and if you own any other device which uses SM cards, seems to me it's a no-brainer to be able to add that amount of storage and see jpegs (and now movies) even if the other stuff we'd like never comes (tho I hope they will!).

It would certainly be more convenient to have a doc reader in the module (like the jpeg viewer), but with 32 meg on a card, it's not really a problem to swap some less often used programs/documents from your Visor to the Module, and copy over a novel so that you can read it

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-Michael-

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Plant City, FL
Posts: 385

Re: Re: SmartMedia reader

quote:

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Originally posted by critic


Sounds fantastic, but the question I have is this: Are the SmartMedia cards treated as "drives" (as with the CF adapters) and limited in their use, or can you freely read/write to the cards, as with the 8MB module?

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<ul><li>Dave Kessler<br>President - Kopsis, Inc.</li></ul>

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 30

Does the bump on the back of the module preclude fitting it into tight cases like the Vaja for Prism?

Thanks,
Ken

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 20

To all testers,

What, if any, is the affect on battery life, i.e., did you notice any shortening of the battery life?

TIA,
Rock

Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 70

I'm a tester too!!

Battery life was similar to that of the MatchBook drive. Any time you are copying large amounts of data onto any module (even the 8 or 16MB flash modules) you have increased battery drain. But the software works flawlessly, and this has become my permanent module when not online using OmniSky. There are two SMALL bumps on the back that allow for a better viewing angle of the screen while lying flat on your desk, but my platinum with the MemPlug fits fine in my Vaja case. I have not ever found a module that provided so much functionality at this price point, and doubt one will come along for a while. This unit was so good from the start that there have not needed to be ANY hardware modifications during the Beta period at all. When they hit the major sites, run, don't walk to this one!

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"Whoever said bigger isn't better...Lied!"

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 35

Battery life and backup remark

I too noticed some decrease in batterylife, especially after I switched to rechargeables (NiMh's). I decided to keep track of batterylife after I switched first back to alkalines to see whether they were affected too. I got about 12 hrs of use from a set of not completely fresh alkalines and about 9 hrs of use from the rechargeables. I leave my adapter in all the time. According to Portable Innovation Technology (the makers of the adapter) their adapter consumes 1000-2000 times less than compact flash.
Other beta testers did not comment on the backup capability of the drive. It does one-click incremental back-ups and since the software resides on the module, you can do a full restore after a hard reset by just putting the smartmedia card in the adapter and lauching the restore software. I only had to enter a few preferences afterwards. This makes a backup module obsolete as far as I am concerned.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Them Twin Cities
Posts: 1758

Why is the word "Test" in quotes or a misnomer?

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Mountain View, CA
Posts: 211

Really Exited!

I've got a couple of Q's. Does the SM card stick out when inserted? Also is there any way at all to hotsync pics from the SM card to the desktop? If so that would be helpful when travelling and I want to E-Mail people pictures. It would eliminate me needing to lug around the SM card file transferr thingy-ma-bob. Is viewing pictures W/ The built in Viewer good quality? 16 bit? Can it view TIFF files? Are there any zoom/scroll features and does it display in thumbnails? I'm mainly going to be using this to view pictures and replace my Backup module(Anyone want a clear Backup Module after the Memplug comes out?) , so I would like the pic viewer to be at least halfway decent. But anyways I can really see myself buying this thing and using it often. Do you have any 'official' day it will be released? I am leaving for London Later this month and would like to know if it will be out before then so I can take it with me. Thanks Alot!

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Mineola, NY USA
Posts: 161

Of course, the really good thing about the back up is that you can get an inexpensive 8mg card for back up of the Visor and then slip it out and store the card separately and still use the module with aother card for daily purposes.

Speaking of back up, I'd been using the Noah Lite dictionary and had it stored on my 8mg flash card. I had wanted to install the bigger 5mg dictionary, but had balked at deleting almost everything from my Visor to be able to install it on to the Visor before moving it to the card. With the MemPlug I backed up then deleted everything on my Visor and then loaded the bigger dictionary file onto the Prism. I then moved the bigger dictionary file to my 8mg flash card, and restored my Visor.

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-Michael-

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 9

Re: Really Exited!

quote:

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Originally posted by Visor Guy2
I've got a couple of Q's. Does the SM card stick out when inserted?

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Last edited by ChasW on 03-02-2001 at 06:14 AM

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Alive and well on VisorCentral.com
Posts: 861

Can I assume that you can also use a standard USB smartmedia reader/writer to copy data from your pc to the smartmedia card with having to hotsync it to the visor first? (please say yes)

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