Advent ADV3500PC XP tablet. Has anyone looked into this?

[wodin]

Well,

I got my shipping confirmation this morning, so now it's wait for the slow boat. The free shipping option is US Postal Service Priority Mail.

[wodin]

Well, it came today while I was working, but it was sent with Signature Confirmation so the letter carrier didn't leave it! I have to go down to the post office tomorrow morning to get it! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!! I WANT IT NOW!!!

[wodin]

Originally Posted by wodin

Well, it came today while I was working, but it was sent with Signature Confirmation so the letter carrier didn't leave it! I have to go down to the post office tomorrow morning to get it! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!! I WANT IT NOW!!!

BTW, Amazon had the Jensen version of this for almost $800 earlier today, but now I can't find them on the site. But I did find it here for four hundred USD. I'm told that the Jensen and the Advent versions are identical, and in fact both Jensen and Advent are owned by Audiovox.

here are the Specifications:

Display 7" WVGA TFT LCD Touch Screen
Resolution 800 x 480 pixel
3D Graphic Support Yes
CPU 1GHz Via
Memory 256 MB DDR @ 533
Storage 1.8" 30GB HDD
Memory Card Slot Yes miniSD slot
GPS Antenna Internal SiRF III
Navigation Type Horizon with NAVTEQ Map
Wired LAN 10/100Mbps Ethernet
Wireless LAN Built-in 802.11b/g wireless LAN
System Recovery Yes
Speakers Mono
Microphone Internal
FM Transmitter Yes
Remote Control Yes
Video Output Yes
Interface USB 2.0, Mini SD Slot, Headphone Jack, Video Output Port
battery Internal Lithium-ion Battery 2000mAh
Battery Life 2 Hours (average)
Power Supply Rating Input; 100-240 volts, 50-60Hz / Output; 12 volt 4A
Weight 695g
Dimensions WxHxD 192mm x 120.5mm x 25mm
Warranty Jensen warranty

This page confirms the short battery life, they say 2 hours. That might be enough for my needs if it resumes from hibernate quickly enough.

I'm thinking if I can upgrade the RAM and HDD, I should be able to run Windows 7 with tablet extensions on the buggah.

[celtica96]

My unit arrived on Thursday and I can confirm that the main problem is the short battery life of 1.5 hours or so. Of course, the 256 MB of RAM is not ideal either.

The AC power adapter also tends to fall out of the input on the device. The DC adapter is a much better fit. I may get something like this to address the connector on the device:
http://www.amazon.com/PowerLine-0900.../dp/B000QFIS12.

Overall, it's pretty good but I prefer the SmartQ 7. The Q7 is lighter, runs cooler, and has a much, much longer battery life.

Of course, the ADV3500PC uses XP Home SP2 and that's mainly why I bought the unit. (The built-in GPS and maximum display of 1024x768 were also factors.) There are still times when I need XP for portable applications.

This unit is repackaged by Audiovox as the ADV3500PC and the Jensen NVX3000PC but it's basically the same as the Uren V1.

See the entry in Chippy's database here: http://www.umpcportal.com/products/UREN/V1.html.

The OEM site is here: http://uren.co.kr. Also, see http://www.innowell.co.kr.

The Jensen manual is online here: http://audiovox2.info/docs/jensen/ma...0PC_DOC_OM.PDF.

If anyone finds info. on where to buy an additional battery or the expansion dock, please let me know.

[wodin]

Yes, mine arrived this morning and I have been playing with it all day. The biggest issue I have is the lack of adequate RAM. Also it seem like it's got a heat issue. If I leave it laying flat on the desk it seems to overheat and shut itself off. If I prop it up with the stylus hole in the back, it's OK.

I installed Symantec End Point Protection (anti virus) and I'm now installing SP3. Until I learned the trick of propping it up, I would not have been able to install either of them before it shut itself down.

It's a shame, this little beast has potential, all that would have been required would have been to give it adequate RAM, HDD and fan out of the box and it would be a great note taker in meetings.

There doesn't seem to be a removable panel for upgrading RAM, there is one panel that doesn't appear to be large enough for a 200 pin DDR stick, but I can't get the screws out. They are tiny little torqs screws and I don't have a torqs driver small enough. I haven't decided yet if I'll take the back off and tru hacking the RAM and/or HDD.

[celtica96]

Originally Posted by wodin

I'm now installing SP3. Until I learned the trick of propping it up, I would not have been able to install either of them before it shut itself down.

Please tell us how your upgrade to SP3 goes. I wasn't sure I wanted to go ahead and do that because SP3 may "break" some installed applications. I've had this happen on other systems but, if SP3 works and plays well with the installed apps, I'll definitely make the transition.

You're definitely right that the ADV3500PC quickly overheats when the fan opening is blocked. This makes it hard to find a suitable case to protect the unit while using it.

I used the ADV3500PC to navigate from Houston to College Station last evening and it did a good job. However, I've read somewhere that the maps may not be upgradeable. I may try to install Garmin PC if this proves to be correct. The program runs around $60.

[3May]

Scored one from Buy dot-com, on a lark really. Already upgraded to SP3, fully patched. No antivir yet, might go with MS's latest offering just to see how it goes. 256Mb is not enough to properly run XP in any conditions, so I'll be opening it up and looking at expansion soon. I will say that Belarc Advisor and SiSoft can point you in good directions for drivers and chipset info... I strongly encourage others to start cataloging their driver finds.

I'll probably be building a Wiki on this, just to see if we can get this to run Win XP Tablet Edition, for one thing; maybe Ubuntu or Fedora for another. Having good drivers will be key and I doubt we're going to find them, so we may be forced to extract them by hand from an operating system first. STRONGLY recommend taking HDD images before doing anything to these; no re-imaging discs were included and unless we can locate a person who understand Korean, we may be SOL on many fronts.

-3May

[k1m]

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Mine showed up on thursday and have been playing with it ever since. I had to update to service pack 3 in order to get the pc to talk to my wireless (I use wpa2), I downloaded the service pack onto a usb thumbdrive and then ran it from the drive.

I found that, considering the specs, I have no issues with start up times and as the last poster noted, the dashboard is prompt. GPS signal is decent, I tried it on the second floor of a three story house, about 50% of the time I get a green signal (meaning 4 or more satelites locked in). I am not very happy with the Navteq software included, it is very counterintuitive and difficult to navigate. At some point I will be trying out different software.

Apparently, through a lot of searching the web, there are no drivers available for the computer if the drive crashes, something I think is entirely possible considering the fact that 1.8 drives do not have as many safeguards as their bigger cousins. I highly recommend a drive image be made. I have done that using apricon EZ gig II.

As an aside, I installed Hava player on the computer and with the stream bitrate setting on 4Mb/s. I have a clear and stutter free image. I have a Hava titanium HD wireless for the sending unit.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by celtica96

Please tell us how your upgrade to SP3 goes. I wasn't sure I wanted to go ahead and do that because SP3 may "break" some installed applications. I've had this happen on other systems but, if SP3 works and plays well with the installed apps, I'll definitely make the transition.

You're definitely right that the ADV3500PC quickly overheats when the fan opening is blocked. This makes it hard to find a suitable case to protect the unit while using it.

I used the ADV3500PC to navigate from Houston to College Station last evening and it did a good job. However, I've read somewhere that the maps may not be upgradeable. I may try to install Garmin PC if this proves to be correct. The program runs around $60.

As the last two posters reported SP3 upgrade went well, here really isn't much to break, the nav software, the Advent dashboard, and the virtual keyboard. Anyway, I have SP3 installed an all patches, and everything works.

Please keep us updated on the hardware hacks. WINXP in 256 (it reports 196) MB just doesn't hack it. I'm thinking with a gig or two of RAM and an 80 Gig hdd it should run Win 7 and all tablet extensions like a charm.

I loaded up Franklin Covey PlanPlus, and it's just too much of a resource hog to run on this. I still need a good digital ink note taker. I'm not familiar with the whole digital ink thing, and I'm wondering if MS Office 2007 supports it. Ahhh another reason for more RAM.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by 3May

STRONGLY recommend taking HDD images before doing anything to these; no re-imaging discs were included ...
-3May

Yeah, I noticed that too, they did include a vanilla copy of XP home, but if there are driver issues well ...

[celtica96]

Originally Posted by k1m

Apparently, through a lot of searching the web, there are no drivers available for the computer if the drive crashes, something I think is entirely possible considering the fact that 1.8 drives do not have as many safeguards as their bigger cousins.

Using Google Translate (Korean-->English), I have found some drivers in Korean that may be downloaded. See http://translate.google.com/translat...own_driver.asp.

The original page is http://www.uren.co.kr/customer/down_driver.asp. You can enter this url in the box here: http://translate.google.com/?sl=ko&tl=en#.

Korean software drivers may be better than nothing.

Are there any ADV3500PC buyers out there who are able to read Korean?

Perhaps those users could look at the pages related to the drivers and download the items for safekeeping?

Thanks in advance.

[celtica96]

So far, I have downloaded and installed MobiPocket Reader, FBReader, and FoxIt on the ADV3500PC.

FoxIt works well within the constraints of the ADV3500PC but FBReader is not doing what I expected it to do.

When I use FBReader on a Linux Internet Tablet (the SmartQ 7), I'm able to read non-DRM MOBI files and the illustrations display perfectly.

When I use a later version of FBReader (0.10.7) on the ADV3500PC to read the same file, the illustrations are not available but the information at http://www.fbreader.org/ indicates there is full support for non-DRM MOBI files.

When I use MobiPocket Reader on the ADV3500PC, the illustrations display properly.

The example I'm using is the illustrated version of Treasure Island in MOBI found at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/27780.

Can anyone explain this?

Thanks in advance.

[tin1]

I've been messing around with mine the last few days as well. I've tried eboostr on it because of the lack of RAM and it seems to work ok. I'm pretty sure it isn't running USB 2.0 with my usb stick and that is why it isn't as good as it could be. The RAM chips are soldered on and can only be replaced if you have them removed and new chips soldered on. I'm going to try the mini SD card next and see if it offers any better performance.

Windows 7 has readyboost built in. It may work as well.

[celtica96]

Originally Posted by celtica96

When I use a later version of FBReader (0.10.7) on the ADV3500PC to read the same file, the illustrations are not available but the information at http://www.fbreader.org/ indicates there is full support for non-DRM MOBI files.

I have signed up to report bugs at fbreader.org and checked the bug list.

Nate the Great from here (the Mobileread forums) reported this bug on May 24, 2009.

It's still an unresolved bug as of today (June 28, 2009).

Thanks, Nate the Great.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by celtica96

When I use FBReader on a Linux Internet Tablet (the SmartQ 7), I'm able to read non-DRM MOBI files and the illustrations display perfectly.

When I use a later version of FBReader (0.10.7) on the ADV3500PC to read the same file, the illustrations are not available but the information at http://www.fbreader.org/ indicates there is full support for non-DRM MOBI files.

I've noticed that as well on WinXP+FBReader. I already reported it as a bug.