Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 23

Wouldn't it be great to have a "projector module" which allows to store, for instance, 32 MB of a Powerpoint presentation and has a standard monitor port to interface with a projector or an external monitor? That way you won't have to carry around a laptop for conferences/presentations etc. And you could show your neighbor at the lunch table your fancy new business idea without having to pullout your laptop, starting windows/mac_os (yawn!), starting powerpoint...

One obvious obstacle is, of course, screen resolution: very likely it would be necessary to store the powerpoint file in its original screen resolution (e.g. 1024 * 768 pixels). Some clever software/hardware would adapt this for display on the visor screen or for display via a projector/external monitor. Hmm, sounds almost like a mini-version of a VGA-card...
Now, I am NOT a hardware/software engineer and I have no clue if something like this is technically possible. Not to mention if it wouldn't cost a fortune. But still, I am damn sure that a lot of people would jump for this! What do you think? Anything like it in the pipeline?

Joerg

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

quote:

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32 MB of a Powerpoint presentation

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Good god, man! What kind of PPT presentations are you putting together? 32 mb!?

The problem with a lot of PPT presentations is that they can be processor intensive (full color, high resolution, fancy-schmancy transitions and animations, etc...)

I'm not too sure if the current Palms could handle it.

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Midwest
Posts: 232

Nice idea. I've had to lug computers with me to make presentations, so I think the concept is a great one.

It kind of suggests a completely other product though. I can picture a Visor sized "black box", with a USB port (for getting presentations into it), an IR port (for controlling the presentation), and a VGA port. The guts could be a hard drive with a little circuitry, and it would have a Lion rechargeable battery that would recharge thru the USB port when hooked to your computer. Maybe a smallish LCD display to help you cue up and find the presentation you want to play. NO visor needed.

Of course, then we'd be carring TWO visor sized products around. It might as well be the VISOR making the presentation.

Sigh. ;-)

Dave

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Registered: Aug 1999
Location: Inverness, FL
Posts: 428

In my first interview with Jeff Hawkins, back in 99, he said the following about his dream Springboard:

"I would like to see a presentation style Springboard. Imagine �printing� your PowerPoint presentation to the Visor," Hawkins said. The presenter could then connect the projector, monitor or TV straight to the Springboard and control the presentation on the Visor. "You wouldn�t be able to edit the show, just display it," Hawkins added.

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<B>Marcus Adolfsson</B>
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Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 100

Per Marcus's post, I think it would be nice to have the ability to save the information from PowerPoint presentations (although since it's a Microsoft product, MS may very well provide such a feature for its Pocket PC first/instead).

When I give PowerPoint presentations, I just use File | Pack and Go and save my presentation to disk. I've yet to find anyone who can't provide a rudimentary PC/overhead set-up for me.

In addition to a Pack and Go, it would be great for PPT to have a feature like "Pocket and Go" or something that saves plain text slides for a Palm. Of course, then it would be a PPT issue, and not a Springboard module.

...that is, unless a third-party developer can figure out how to extract the data from a PPT slide...

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Registered: Sep 1999
Location: at work...
Posts: 736

This was also discussed a while back in this thread:

http://discussion.visorcentral.com/...p?threadid=8773

Unfortunately, there's been no news since...

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 23

well, looks as if someone is already working on such a module. Just saw in the March issue of Laptop magazine a description/ad of a springboard module which allows you to present powerpoint files (and others) via a VGA port on a monitor or a projector. They refer to http://www.presenter-to-go.com for further details but it seems to be not yet activated. More news are supposed to come on Monday 02/12/01. Hope it's not vaporware...
Looks like an interesting product but it would be even better if one could display powerpoint files also on the Visor screen. Also, it seems that one has to rely on the Visor's free memory for storing the Powerpoint files. At least with my type of Powerpoint presentations (up to 20MB) that's unfortunately impossible.

Joerg

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 23

And Dave, a similar device you were imagining in your reply is also described in the same issue of Laptop. It's called AVerEPack from AVerMedia.

Joerg

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 103

I occurs to me that there is no reason that this couldnt be used to feed data to a heads up display. That would be a nice application of video output from my visor. I am sure that cheap lcds from childrens games could easily be used to display text and crappy visor graphics.

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Bane

Evil Geniuses kick ass.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Olympia, WA
Posts: 16

Hmmm....

This thread seems a bit too timely, what with an announcement of actual (IhopeIhopeIhope) product hitting the airwaves a mere 2 weeks and a day afterwards. Not that it matters, because if the Presenter-To-Go module ships, I will be all over my boss to get one ex-post-fast-o. I dream of the day I can stomp our cruddy Wintel laptops to pieces (though I'd gladly accept a Titanium - even the cheap one!)

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Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 23

LaoTzim,

let me assure you that I have no affiliation whatsoever with this company. I am a chemist and the new threads for interesting new modules (AF/FM etc.) inspired me to think about what module I would love to have. I was very surprised (then delighted, then disappointed) to see the announcement for this module in a computer magazine.

To make this even more clear, I think that this Presenter-To-Go module is nice but I won't consider to buy one for the following reasons:
1. color output is only 256 colors
2. the slides can not be displayed on the visor which I think would be a very nice feature. It would allow you to show people your presentation in conversations before/after your actual talk (important for conferences).
3. unless the module's software succeeds in a dramatic file compression, it is of no interest to me since my presentation are typically greater than 20 MB (lots of tif-pictures etc.). Even the additional 2 MB Flash Rom in the module won't help me very much.

But I'd be curious to hear your experiences with this module.

Joerg

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 120

quote:

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Originally posted by JRocken
LaoTzim,

let me assure you that I have no affiliation whatsoever with this company. I am a chemist and the new threads for interesting new modules (AF/FM etc.) inspired me to think about what module I would love to have. I was very surprised (then delighted, then disappointed) to see the announcement for this module in a computer magazine.

To make this even more clear, I think that this Presenter-To-Go module is nice but I won't consider to buy one for the following reasons:
1. color output is only 256 colors
2. the slides can not be displayed on the visor which I think would be a very nice feature. It would allow you to show people your presentation in conversations before/after your actual talk (important for conferences).
3. unless the module's software succeeds in a dramatic file compression, it is of no interest to me since my presentation are typically greater than 20 MB (lots of tif-pictures etc.). Even the additional 2 MB Flash Rom in the module won't help me very much.

But I'd be curious to hear your experiences with this module.

Joerg

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Dallas-area, Texas
Posts: 82

I can help if someone's brave/foolish to try making the hardware. I do Windows programming with a little palm also. I'm work with 3 tech support people and have (on several occasions) had to help set up laptops and other junk just to get a preprogrammed presentation to go through. All I want is a flash-heavy module with a VGA-out. Then we can work on the conversion to Fireviewer or a custom format.

Way cool!

Tim

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Midwest
Posts: 232

Does it compress Powerpoint files?

Perhaps this is covered in another thread, but I couldn't find it...

I've been trying to convince my college to invest in the newly announced presentation-to-go module. If it could load ANY powerpoint presentation into the limited memory of an 8meg Visor it would be great. Problem is, I can't find any info on exactly what it does with the powerpoint files. Simple slides don't take up much memory, but in my curriculum (architecture) NO presentation is given without lots of pictures, and many include video clips.

You who make the Presentation module (if you're watching): What are the limits? Does it compress? What's the largest powerpoint file that can be put in 6 megs on a Visor?

Curious minds want to know.

Dave

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location:
Posts: 28

Other powerpoint options

Everyone,

There is a good powerpoint viewer for the PalmOS that allows conversion of the entire presentation, in color, along with all the notes for that slide. Go to www.ibrite.com and check out the Powerviewer application. It works great for showing others the presentation from your Prism / Palm device. So in conjunction with the Presenter-to-Go module, this could give you the portable version, and the module could give you the ability to project it in meetings. Well worth the money, in my estimation. And I mean both products..


Jason

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: at work...
Posts: 736

Re: Does it compress Powerpoint files?

quote:

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Originally posted by DBrown
Perhaps this is covered in another thread, but I couldn't find it...

I've been trying to convince my college to invest in the newly announced presentation-to-go module. If it could load ANY powerpoint presentation into the limited memory of an 8meg Visor it would be great. Problem is, I can't find any info on exactly what it does with the powerpoint files. Simple slides don't take up much memory, but in my curriculum (architecture) NO presentation is given without lots of pictures, and many include video clips.

You who make the Presentation module (if you're watching): What are the limits? Does it compress? What's the largest powerpoint file that can be put in 6 megs on a Visor?

Curious minds want to know.

Dave

---

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 23

Dave, I was sending an email to the people at Presenter-to-Go asking for the compression but didn't receive any response yet.
Jason, thanks for the link to the Powerpoint viewer! Looks great and I wish I had seen it earlier. Do you know how much it compresses Powerpoint files. oh, they have a demo version. never mind! By the way, I am pretty sure that the version of your presentation generated by this viewer won't be compatible with the module. therefore, you'd have to save two versions of your presentation to the visor which kind of sucks, doesn't it?

Joerg

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 16

I got the Presenter-to-go module

Just recieved the module and it is GREAT! I put a presentation on it which is picture heavy and it compressed it down to 2mb, which I can store on the module itself. It has to be powered though which is a pain but it's better than 7lb laptop.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 99

Can you give us some details about the original powerpoint before compression and what it did afterwards? How many MB's was the original? How many slides? How responsive is the module - does it take a long time to load the next slide? Previous slide?

Registered: Jan 2001
Location:
Posts: 28

Mini-review of Presenter-to-go

Everyone,

Just received my Presenter-to-Go module! Here are my first impressions..

The box contains:
-The module (obviously)

-A CD-Rom

-12" VGA adapter cable, with a female power plug in the VGA end and the other end plugs into the top of the module.

-A thin IR remote control

-AC adapter, with a very thoughtful sideways transformer. It looks strange, looks like a rectangle w/ the power plug near one end of it. Nice for power strips full of other stuff!

-A small VGA gender changer.

Okay, on to the module! First off, you have to plug the AC adapter in before the module is recognized. This is true all the time you use it. The Prism, however, has the ability to power the module and charge simultaneously, so you don't need the other AC adapter if the Prism is in a charging cradle or travel charger (I have to get one of these!)

Anyways, the CD-Rom installs a pseudo-printer driver in Windows. The beauty of this becomes apparent quickly.

Understand, this module displays "presentations" from either the 2MB internally or from the Visor memory. Multiple presentations are possible, limited only by memory and selectable from within the application. Once you plug in the power (either way), the module is detected and brings you into the "Presenter" application. There you will select the presentation file and then see a listing of the "slides" in that presentation. If it's a Powerpoint slide, notes may be part of that slide, which are annotated by the standard 'note' icon. Note: There is no way to actually view this presentation on your Visor! You can move it, copy it, delete it, shuffle slides and show/hide individual slides, but ya can't look at it! For that, you look at your monitor/LCD projector. And it is beautiful!

Now, to make a presentation, on the PC you go into any Windows program that you can print from. Acrobat, IE, Word, Excel, anything! You simply select the "presenter-to-go" printer and a slick little GUI pops up converting the slide(s) and allows you to append to other slides. You keep doing this until you have everything you want in the presentation. The GUI allows you to manipulate the order of the slides, view them individually or even as a full screen preview, etc. I like the preview mode! When you're satisfied, send the presentation to the "queue", which prompts you for the Hotsync name. The rest is easy, just Hotsync!

As a test, all our documentation at work is in PDF format. So I "printed" an entire Field Handbook (290K, 156 pages) PDF file to the "presenter-to-go" application. Ended up with a 2.2MB file. This is obviously due to conversion of the pages to a graphics format. Previewed it on the PC, it was really an exact match from the original PDF file! Since the pages were standard portrait layout, there were black spaces to the sides. But everything was readable! And it stayed that way on the Prism, this could revolutionize portable documentation! It takes 1-2 seconds on the Visor to go to the next slide, but it's still really good resolution.

Obviously, more memory on the module itself would have been great. Probably in a month when they release the Presenter-to-Go 2. But this is the coolest module I've ever seen. If you use the Travel Charger, you can just plug the VGA cable into the projector/monitor and then the power cable. And you're set! This is going to be a slam dunk for corporate users or engineers, teachers, anyone! Too bad there isn't a way to view them on the Visor screen or add notes to non-powerpoint files. Maybe someone can see a way, but I couldn't.

Now, all we have to do is figure out the procedure for upgrading our Visor's internal memory. Another forum....

Anyways, get this module. Do I have to post another long review to make you see how incredibly stupendous this module will make you look to your CEO and peers? And it makes the wince/pocketpc guys stutter... What could be better? (well, how about CF device support?)

Till next module...

Jason