Fancy a tablet for Netremote: Siemens Simpad group buy?

[jeroen020]

Fellow Netremoter,

In this thread: http://www.netremote.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=270 you can read about the rising enthusiasm for the Siemens Simpad SL4. It's an attractive device as a Netremote hardware platform because:
- with 800x600 resolution, it gives you an awful lot of display real estate for your Netremote CCF, making Netremote more powerful and usable
- it's compact (8,4" screen) and lightweight (about 1 kg)
- it looks nice, sophisticated if you will (your wife/girlfriend will probably like it)
- it's based on CE and shares hardware with a lot of supported Netremote devices. it's instant on and similar to configure
- WiFi works great on this, and the battery lasts longer than a notebook. It has a universal power supply, just change the two-prong lead plug and you're set.
- Check http://www.my-siemens.com/MySiemens/CDA/Index/0,2730,HQ_en_0_product%253AHO%252FNW%252FWPD%252FS IMPADCENET%252Fdesc,FF.html for manufacturer specs

I have already purchased one for myself, and I hope Ben is able to provide confirmation soon that Netremote will run in fullscreen mode on this device. If this is the case, I'm considering to buy a bunch of Simpads to make them available for other Netremote users. So what can I contribute? Well, look at the situation:

- The Simpad is difficult to get outside of Germany and its neighbouring countries
- The Simpad is currently being heavily discounted (at 70% off), so supplies won't last long (it is no longer being manufactured)
- The vast majority of Simpads have a German version of the OS and runs HPC CE 3.0 as an operating system

So how can I help?
- I am selecting shops that are able to ship a dozen or so of brand new Simpads at an aggressive price, and have them ship them to me (I live in The Netherlands, so shipping from Germany is cheap and no extra taxes are incurred).
- I can upgrade the basic Simpad to English CE.net 4.0, which makes it much easier to use for the majority of Netremote users. I can also pre-install the latest version of Netremote and required DLL's for Netremote operation.
- If there's enough interest, I'm willing to ship Simpads to interested Netremote users on a first come, first served basis.

So what will it cost you?
- First of all, 1 Euro is about 1.12 USD
- Base price will be determined by what I pay for them. I hope to be able to get them at 350 Euro/400 USD each for a brand new unit - perhaps even less.
- Added to that will be shipping, insurance, taxes and packaging costs.
- If you like, I can carry out the upgrade to English CE.net v4 and pre-install Netremote for you
- If you are an active contributor to the Netremote community, I'll charge you just what it has cost me and do the upgrade/installation for free
- All others pay an additional 50 Euro.
- I'll accept Paypal or a direct bank transfer to my account
- I'll spend the extra money I receive on discounting a Simpad for Ben. So if I make 200 Euro, I'll give Ben a 250 Euro discount (I'll add the first 50 Euro myself) on his Simpad.

Interested? Let me know!

[sapnho]

I'll spend the extra money I receive on discounting a Simpad for Ben. So if I make 200 Euro, I'll give Ben a 250 Euro discount (I'll add the first 50 Euro myself) on his Simpad.

That is a great gesture! Bravo!

[Ben S]

That is a great gesture! Bravo!

Definitely. Thanks for the offer.

Does this unit have some kind of dock, or is it just an AC adapter?

If it had a dock it would be absolutely perfect, as you could use this whenever and then dock it when unneeded to recharge.

How long would you say the batteries last with the network active? If it beats 3 hours, I think I'm in.

[kennybroh]

Count me in. Tell me what to do.

BTW, according to the Siemens site, a charging cradle is an available accessory....

Kenny Frank

[jeroen020]

The dock was on my mind too. It is optional, as Kenny mentioned, and it does nothing but sitting there & charging. Syncing still goes through the serial or USB connector at the top of the unit (or WiFi of course). The dock does make it more practical if you have it on your living room table etc. Unfortunately, they're hard to come by - I saw one go at eBay recently at half the price of a Simpad! That's a bit steep for a charging cradle if you ask me...

You could consider making your own dock, as the power connection to the back of the Simpad is a very straightforward affair, two copper connectors are exposed and easily reachable. 1 is +12V, the other GND and you need 330 mA. I even found some schematics for this. I'll give it some more thought.

I expect the battery life will be more than 3 hours, but I have not done a rundown test. When I was working for over half an hour, continously networking, doing stuff like playing mp3's over WiFi etc, it still displayed 80% capacity. I've heard from others 7 hours of juice is possible. Since I don't know how reliable the power meter in the Simpad is, nor how linear the capacity deteriotes, I'll try to check this weekend and come back with my hands-on experience.

I'll keep you posted on finding a good place to by the Simpads, so check back for more info.

Oh, and I'm downloading CE.net 4.1 (English) as we speak, I found a helpful German guy who was willing to share this with me. It will be trickier to upgrade, so I'll see when I get around to try!

[K-Wood]

I'm definitely interested in getting in on this powerbuy. The price is right, and the Siemens would be a great addition to the server-based a/v distribution network I'm building in my house.

I'll keep watching this thread for more info.

- Ken

[xuniman]

I would also be very interested in this. Let me know what your timetable is. The added benefit of getting a device for Ben is great, not only would it be a little payback for all his hard work but we would all be assured that he had a test platform and if he really likes it maybe some special opimizations...

[grog]

You can count me in too. I've been searching a while for a tablet-type device to use with NetRemote and the Simpad looks like a great balance of functionality and cost. I'm also all for donating some extra $ to fund a unit for Ben. It's the least we can do for the great tool he's built.

Jason

[Aaron]

Count me in... of course!

I'm hoping the English WinCe 4 upgrade goes will... I do not read German :(

Also, can you see what the docking cradle costs. I'd be in if we could get both the unit and cradle for $400.

Also, it might be cheaper to ship several units into the US to one person and then ship them out from there. International shipping is expensive. I have an electronics recycling business so I'd be willing to have them shipped to me so there will not be any customs problems.

Just a suggestion if you guys want to do it it might save some serious $ on shipping.

[rob]

Hi jeroen020,

Your idea does sound very interesting. Unfortunately I have only just found this place, so I understand that I would not be elligable for your special price, but could you give me some idea of how much you would charge me for a Simpad upgraded to CE.net 4.0 and ship it to the UK? I have read that you say the upgrade was quite easy to do, and I do have a German speaking friend who could me with the upgrade if you were to provide me with some details. This may reduce your time consumed, and maybe the cost to me :oops:

Finaly, can you confirm that the simpads you are supplying do, or do not come with a WiFi card?

Thanks very much.

Rob

[jeroen020]

Wow, I'm happy to see there's substantial interest in the Simpad and some good ideas to keep the price low, thanks! I've been busy trying to locate shops, but it's a bit harder than I first thought. Siemens in The Netherlands can't really help me as it turns out. but I've had tips to try specific shops in Austria and Berlin. I just sent them an e-mail, I'll report back when I know more.

The Simpad doesn't come with a WiFi card standard, it's optional; however it is being offered bundled with an Siemens I-Gate WiFi card quite often. It will work with most other CE-compatible PCMCIA cards as well.

I was actually bidding on a cradle myself, but the price went into the stratosphere again (152 Euro), so I don't feel very confident I will be able to deliver them with cradles. I'll keep an eye out though and I've asked at the shops if they have any too.

So I'll keep you posted on my progress; if I don't succeed with a single transaction, I'll start buying them at eBay and other auctions in Germany one by one, but then it'll take a couple of weeks probably before I can get them to you all.

[jeroen020]

Forgot one thing: battery life. Tested it last Saturday. I was doing Netremote stuff for the first hour, then spent an additional 2 hours streaming mp3 over the network and play it with the media player on the Simpad, that was the most network and CPU intensive task I could come up with. After 3 hours the battery was down to 10%.

So I feel confident that you can manage at least 3 hours with normal Netremote usage; you won't get up to the 7 hours specified by Siemens when you use WiFi, but it's still pretty decent.

[grog]

Hi Jeroen,

I was doing some hunting around and found a place in the U.S. that says they have docking cradles stock and sells them for $44 US. Does this look like the right item?

http://www.buybarcode.com/search/prd_show.asp?ITEM_ID=9415&TYPE_ID=2&CLS_ID=1002

If so, that's a lot cheaper than the ones on eBay, although the shipping to Europe may be a little pricey unfortunately.

Jason

[Mastiff]

Good thing you guys won't have to buy the units from them. 1195 dollars! Phew!

[esajesa]

I'm definitely interested as well... shipping to Sweden shouldn't be too bad either.. :)

Keep one thing in mind if you're gonna ship to the US, and that's the customs... they have a tendency to pick up big packages and go through them, and then charge import duty etc. So perhaps it's better to ship them one by one.

Cheers,
Jens

[jeroen020]

Great, another one added to the list. Aaron mentioned that he was willing to have the Simpads ship to his US business address, which may ease things on the US Customs front.

I e-mailed Buybarcode, it seems the proper product yes, but shipping to Europe for the cradle is over $ 200 USD. Oops...

I haven't heard from the German or Austrian shops yet; however, Siemens Netherlands gave me another lead, mentioning that a large telecom retail chain here will start a special one-off sale of the Simpad in about two weeks. No news on pricing yet, but since it's end-of-life, I hope it's sweet and that I can find plenty! I'll keep bugging them until I know more.

[grog]

Good thing you guys won't have to buy the units from them. 1195 dollars! Phew!

Heh heh. no kidding! I'm in Canada so I was looking around to see if I could find something in North America to avoid the overseas shipping costs but the few I could find were all in that ridiculous price range. Oh well, at least I can get a cradle for cheap!

Jason

[Dave T]

If those cradles on buybarcode are available, I'm definitely interested. So, count me in. Let me know what I need to do.

[ericminou]

I have been reading this board for a while without posting, but I have been using Netremote for almost a year and love it. I would ber very interested in this deal as well. Let me know how much the whole thing will be.

Thanks.

-Eric

[jeroen020]

Good but brief news: I just received information from the shop in Austria. They have the Simpad SL4 (CE 3.0 version) in stock and sell them at 299 Euro and they're willing to ship to The Netherlands. That's actually lower than the going price at eBay, so it sounds like a sweet deal. For 398 Euro, you get a bundle with the Siemens PCMCIA WiFi card. Personally I don't feel its worth the extra 99 Euro, since you can get a compatible WiFi card for less.

I'm in a hurry now, but I'll start doing some calculations and hope to give you more info on actual pricing by tomorrow.

[rob]

Hi jeroen020,

Just thought I would let you know that I have sorted myself out with a pocket PC now, so I will not be requiring a tablet PC from you. Thanks for the effort that you are putting into the group buy, I hope it works out good.

Cheers

Rob

[Mastiff]

For that price even my poor ass (at least this time of year, the summer's always expensive with kids...) is interested! :D

[mikeeee30]

Please count me in. Iv've just planned where it is going to live. May need some help installing it though as this will be my first foray into this.

House is mostly x10'd and now have cinema room and decided there should be something better than a pronto in my life.

This sounds perfect

[Mastiff]

jeroen020, where are you? You finally got me interested, since the price now is right, and then you dissappear? Anyway, I want one of those. What WLAN cards can be used on it?

[jordan6]

I am interested if the price is right.

Any details on total costs, including shipping and taxes?

Pictures of the unit running Netremote would be a plus! :?:

Thanks,
CJ

[jeroen020]

I'm still here - we've had a heat wave and I've been terribly busy with other stuff (still am, but I'd like to give you guys an update).

So who's getting one? The list so far:

1. Ben (WickedEwok) - CT, USA (we're getting him one, that is!)
2. Kenny Frank (kennybroh) - location unknown
3. Ken (K-Wood) - location unknown
4. xuniman - location unknown
5. Jason (grog) - location unknown
6. Aaron - location unknown
7. Jens (esajesa) - Sweden
8. Eric (ericminou) - USA
9. Tor (Mastiff) - Norway
10. Mike (mikeeee30) - UK
11. CJ (jordan6) - GA, USA
12-14. I'll be getting another three

So if everybody still is serious, I'll be ordering 14 of them Simpads. What will it cost:
I'll take the USA as an example, and estimate for a 2 kg package (the Simpad itself is 1 kg).
I can get the Simpad for 325 Euro including shipping to me (as it looks now). This does not include the WiFi card nor the cradle (see my previous post).
50 Euro is added for Ben (see the start of this post)
Fed Ex International priority shipping from Europe to USA for 2 kg is 78,90 Euro.

So your base price will be 453,90 Euro, which is $515,53 USD (according to xe.com/ucc).
Added to that may be import duties etc - I'm not sure how much this will be for the USA, sorry, if anybody knows what US customs charges for this kind of stuff?
Aaron may help bring down shipping and import duties through his business, especially if I can send him all of the Simpads for the US in one shipment.

For EU buyers, no additional taxes will be required and shipping will be cheaper (25 Euro or less with the normal postal authorities I expect, FedEx to the UK is 54,70 Euro).

Two more things need to be addressed before I place the order:
- I want to make sure that the current version of Netremote runs properly (fullscreen, with all relevant features) on the Simpad SL4. This has not happened yet.
- I want to make sure that the company I order from can deliver 14 (or less/more depending on what people come up with in this forum in the coming days) Simpads. If they cannot fulfil all orders, first comers get served first.

I know I'm testing your patience, teasing you with this gadget but not giving you a firm date - I can just promise to do my best to make it as soon as possible! (and it should be, since SL4 supplies won't last forever...). My own deadline is September 1st, since I'll be on a 18 day holiday from September 6th and would like to have arranged everything before that.

So please respond (again) if you're still (or newly) interested in this group buy. Keep in mind that means that you'll accept the following

- The final price is not known yet, but the calculations above should give a good indication.

- You'll be responsible for any import duties and other additional costs incurred by the transaction.

- I cannot give any warranty or fomal support for the Simpad, you'll have to deal with Siemens yourself.

- The deal will not go through before Netremote has proven to be compatible with the Simpad.

- Should I be unable to find enough Simpads to help everyone, the people who posted their interest first in this thread will be served first.

- You accept my payment conditions (Paypal or bank transfer) and understand that I will ship the Simpad only after I have received confirmation of the payment.

I'll keep you posted on developments; as soon as I have confirmation Netremote runs on the Simpad and enough Simpads are available to me, orders will become final.

Thanks,

Jeroen

[Dave T]

I'm still interested. Manchester, MA - USA (outside of Boston). I would like to know before ordering if those cradles are the right ones, though. Has that been confirmed?

[Ben S]

The deal will not go through before Netremote has proven to be compatible with the Simpad.

Jeroen - You've got mail. I've sent you a list of .dll's that NetRemote is looking for. I've also sent you a version of NR compiled differently. I'm hoping we can find the appropriate dll so I can stay compiling for "mfc in a shared library".

I'm confident we can get NetRemote running on it, the question is what resolution we can run in.

What I'd like to do is allow any resolution, but not allow NetRemote to "scale" the interface. IE: You will need to run a 800x600 ccf, not a 640x480 scaled up to 800x600. This is a result of the new alpha code, and the performance hit from scaling alpha.

[jeroen020]

Dave T, added you to the list.
If you refer to the buybarcode cradle: based on the specs on that site, I'm 99% sure it will fit. I haven't tried it myself though, so no guarantees.

Ben, you've got mail too! The new netremote.exe v 0.99 now works, be it still in 320x200 resolution.

Having a CCF that fits the native resolution of the panel is no problem to me at all, I mean, having more screen real estate is what this thread is all about.... So requiring a 800x600 CCF for optimal use of Netremote on the Simpad sounds like a valid choice.

Regards,

Jeroen

[sapnho]

[quote]I'm confident we can get NetRemote running on it, the question is what resolution we can run in.

This is more exciting than the countdown to Star Wars Episode One...

[xuniman]

I'm sorry to say that due to some unforeseen costs related to a recent family crisis I will not be able to join in on the fun. I would like to thank you for your efforts.

Xuniman

[maxtrash]

I don't want to make things even more complex for Jeroen as they already are but I would think that when exporting from the european union to a country outside the EU, no VAT has to be payed.

e.g. take a look here:
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/account/vat-non-eu.html

VAT is 20% in austria and it's 19% in the netherlands. That means I think it might be better if the austrian shop sends the simpads directly to the US (could be done through Jeroen but then I guess he would need to have a business himself (to have a VAT-number)).

Maybe Aaron could be of help here?

ps. I'm still hesitating if I want one myself...

[jordan6]

Looks like I'm off the list for now. :cry:
I just heard from Kenwood that my DVD changer arrived "TRASHED". Apparently, UPS :twisted: had some fun with this package. I need to get this settled before I more forward with a remote control.

Thanks,
CJ

[grog]

Hi Jeroen,

I'm still interested. It'll end up costing me a little more than I had hoped to spend, but what the heck, we all need our toys! BTW, I'm in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada (near Toronto).

Thanks,
Jason

[jeroen020]

Yesterday I visited a shop in The Netherlands (Primafoon) who are rumored to start offering the Simpad soon, but no clue there unfortunately. Austria is still our best bet.

Xuniman, Jordan6: I understand, no problem.
Jason (grog): great!

Maxtrash, you're quite right, I didn't think about it like this... I do have a business myself, however it's a fiscal thing (personal holding) mostly and it will make my administration a lot more complex if I run an import/export business on the side... Also, my Paypal account is a personal one, and I guess for US buyers Paypal is easiest.

So to get the VAT 'discount', it might indeed be a better solution for Aaron to import them straight from the shop to his business, that way you're sure you're not paying European VAT in addition to any American taxes. Let me know if you'd like to me to find out if the shop in Austria is willing to ship to the US. They told me they'd accept a bank transfer to their account and then ship it from The Netherlands (normally they only ship to Germany and Austria). So, if there's anyone willing to arrange this out of the US, I'll try to help (and keep the spirit of getting one for Ben alive!).

[Aaron]

I'm in for helping as long as the taxes and customs are avoided. Otherwise, the pads end up being too expensive for me.

[jeroen020]

We'll do our best, Aaron! Glad you're willing to help.

I received another response in the Simpad forum in Germany, there's another company in Austria with 9 Simpads in stock that sell them at 299 Euro each, but this time they include the I-Gate WiFi card from Siemens (which will work out of the box, no driver issues etc). Elsehwere the best price for this combo is 399 Euro, so it's becoming better value!

They'll contact me within the next couple of days with more details and I'll ask if they can ship a couple of them to the US.

[Mastiff]

I'll be all for that one! The price is right, so please hook us up with those! :D

[ericminou]

I am still in for that price.

-eric

[Aaron]

If we can keep the price around $400 US and we can run NetRemote on it, I'm in!!!

[kennybroh]

I'm still in too. That sounds like a good deal.

Kenny Frank

[Promixis]

jeroen020,

I am not sure if you need a commitment now or are just waiting to see what you can arrange at this time but I am interested and will follow the thread to see what the final deal is.

Mike

[mikeeee30]

Hi, I'm still in especially if the price is coming down. If it is 299 euro including the wifi card and shupping to the uk is 30-40 euro what else do I need in addition to the 50 euro software charge for Ben. Does it include charger etc.

I suppose I may need to take days off work to get it to work!!! as I said before this will be my first attempt at anything like this.

Mike

[brianblank]

Count me in IF it will work on 120V.


Brian
Colorado, USA

[brianblank]

Add me to the list if it is not too late.

Brian
Colorado, USA

[kennybroh]

Hi Jeroen--

Any update on your progress? Do you have any idea when you'll be able to pull something together?

Kenny

[jeroen020]

Hi guys,

I'm still working on it, I think I should be able to get some Simpads at the right price. Your interest has been noted and I'll award it on a first come, first served basis.

However, before finalizing anything I want to make 100% sure that Netremote runs properly & fullscreen on the Simpad. Ben is working on this, so I hope we can overcome this issue soon.

As soon as I get the thumbs up from Ben, I'll order a bunch and start distributing them to the people that have expressed interest. If anyone is willing to coordinatie a direct European-shop-to-American-business import, I'm happy to assist too; otherwise I'll just buy them privately and ship them to you guys.

I'll keep you posted!

[Nicholasp27]

Apparently, Datavision sells the Simpad in America. Here are the numbers for two sales reps. Terry is on vacation this week, so Muriel is the one to speak with. She was busy at the moment, so I couldn't ask her how much. Maybe somebody can get through and find out how much the simpad sells in the US. I'm sure they mark it up to 600+, but there is a chance it'll be cheaper for us w/out having to pay VAT and shipping.


The numbers:
Muriel at 1 215 442 7400 x1187
or
Terry at x1102


here's a review of the pad: http://www.pocketpcmag.com/May02/SIMpad.asp

it looks very nice

[jeroen020]

[drum roll] I've got news for you. Ben has once again proven to be a great programmer (or at least a skilled hacker) - he sent me his first 800x600 build, and it worked straight away on my Simpad!!! Thanks, Ben!

My 800x600 CCF appears in full glory, so it seems the resolution issue is now tackled. I'll have to stop working on it now I'm afraid, but I'll try to be back tomorrow with some more details and reports how it works in actual Netremote practice.

[Mastiff]

Woo-hoo! Gimme my Simpad! :D

[gregmo]

If it's a discontinued product, what happens if it breaks? Throw it away? Can it be serviced in the US?

[Ben S]

Yes, Jeroen and I got this working in fullscreen. Theoretically this would allow an enterprising individual to run it fullscreen on any of the newer ViewSonic tablets, as well.

We have a little cleanup work to do to make it look 100%, but it's safe to say that NetRemote will run like a champ on the Simpad.

I'm wrapping up a few things for the next beta, I hope to have it for you folks by Sunday night/Monday morning.

[Aaron]

I spoke to datavision several weeks ago.. they want over $1000 for it!

yeah, right, not with my money!

[Nicholasp27]

lol@over $1k for an oversized pda

for that price, you could buy a new 1ghz convertible tablet pc w/ winxp tablet edition on ebay

[Aaron]

here's the link!

http://www.buybarcode.com/search/prd_show.asp?ITEM_ID=9465&IREF=DPI

[jeroen020]

People, I'm about to order 10 Simpads in Austria. I hope to receive them somewhere next week. They'll be slightly cheaper than I calculated first, and they'll include the official WiFi card for the Simpad.

I would like to complete this transaction before I leave on holiday on Sept 6; when I get back on the 24th, and if there's additional interest, I may consider doing another batch, since they still have 100 in stock. They are not willing to ship to the USA directly though...

I'm off on a business trip for two days, be back on Thursday.

[Mastiff]

You've got a PM.

[ericminou]

same here...

[jeroen020]

Hi People,

Thanks for all the PM. I don't have time to answer each and every one of them personally, so I'll try to answer all questions in one post here.

I just transfered the money to the shop, I hope they'll ship me the Simpads by the end of this week so I'll receive them next week and am able to send them out to those of you who are lucky enough to be in this first batch. I'm keeping 3 for myself, so I'll have 7 available for distributing to the people here. The following were the first to confirm in this thread to my conditions of the sale:

1) Ben (Connecticut, USA)
2) Dave T (Manchester, MA; confirmed 8/11)
3) Grog (Richmond Hill, Ontario; confirmed 8/12)
4) Mastiff (Norway; confirmed 8/14)
5) Ericminou (USA; confirmed 8/14)
6) Kennybroh (confirmed 8/16)
7) Mikeeee30 (Oxford, UK; confirmed 8/18 )

US price including Fed Ex shipping, 50 Euro for Ben but excluding taxes/duties will be $487 USD (450 Euro). Within Europe, the price will be slightly lower, depending on where you live exactly, between 400 and 425 Euro probably). Ben gets it for free.

If you're on the list above, please e-mail your full address details to me at jeroen -at- elfferich.nl before Sunday, then as soon as I've received the Simpads I'll ask you to transfer the money by Paypal. After I receive your payment, I'll ship the Simpad to you as soon as possible. If I receive both the Simpads and your payment before Thursday Sept. 4, I should be able to handle all 7 shipments before my holiday. Bank transfer is fine too, but may not make it in time, so I recommend Paypal.

I found out it's very easy to upgrade the Simpad to CE.net 4.0 yourself if you use the supplied WiFi card, so unless someone really is unsure about this operation, I suggest I leave the Simpad new in box and ship them straight through to you. Of course, with help of Ben, I'll supply instructions on how to get NR running properly on the Simpad.

If you're on the list below, sorry, it looks like you won't make it in the first batch. I hope you can respect this. I'm not making money on this, and decided 10 Simpads is doable, shippable and the amount of risk I'm willing to take at a time. If this deal is succesful and if everybody is cooperating, I'll be more than willing to do another group buy for you guys first, as well as new enthusiasts that have signed on in the mean while. This will be after my vacation - I'll return September the 24th. The shop I get them from currently has about 100 in stock, so don't worry, they won't disappear overnight.

On the spare list:
Brianblank (Colorado, USA; confirmed 8/19)
Aaron (it will be more expensive than what you indicated as your maximum)
Govnah (expressed interest by PM)
Esajesa (waits for final price)
Mjcumming (expressed interest)

That's it for now - I'm off to a conference in London Tuesday and Wednesday, so I'll be back online for sure next Thursday.

Thanks people!

[esajesa]

Hey,

I'm pulling out of this one.. I've decided to get a car, and that's kind of expensive, so right now I can't afford this. Sorry 'bout that!

Cheers,
Jens

[jeroen020]

I'm back from London and the shop has received my payment - they'll ship 9 of the Simpads to me tomorrow, so I should receive them early or middle of next week and shipping them out the people that have confirmed their interest should be feasible!

I hope to be able to work a bit on my 800x600 CCF this weekend (I'm pretty excited about it), and upload it, so other (future) Simpad users can use it to their advantage!

[Mastiff]

Cool, dude! Can't wait to get that show on the road! :D

[mikeeee30]

I see younow have the simpads on the way which is great. As you will not be doing the CE 4.2 update could you briefly explain what I wil need and how to do this.

Thanks

Mike

[ericminou]

Jeroen,

I sent u an email last Wednesday, but never heard back from you. Are you still getting these Simpads?

Thanks.

-Eric

[jeroen020]

Hey people, the Simpads are confirmed en route to mi casa. I expect to receive them by Thursday latest, which gives me two days to process everything, which is just enough time!

Everyone in the group has confirmed, so this first shipment is accounted for. I have everybody's shipping address, except mike (mikeeee30). I will contact everyone by e-mail about the details.

Regarding the upgrade: first of all, the only easy upgrade is to English 4.0; a CE.net 4.2 release does not exist for the Simpad as far as I know. I can provide instructions on how to do this yourself, but be prepared that the default OS is in German, so while it's a straightforward affair regardless, I'll ask you by e-mail whether you feel comfortable in upgrading yourself (and keeping the box sealed) or letting me do it for you.

Also I upgraded my Paypal account to be able to receive credit card payments; however, this means I'll be paying about 4% on US transfers and 3% on European transfers. I will add this to the final amounts I'll be e-mailing to you tonight.

Thanks!

[Mastiff]

Just wanted to tell you that I haven't got any e-mail yet. Perhaps you didn't have time to send it yesterday, but just in case you did, and my e-mail just didn't arrive, I don't want to be left out! 8)

[jeroen020]

Ben, Dave T, Ericminou, Grog, Kennybroh, Mastiff, Mikeeee30: you've got mail!

[jeroen020]

I have good news: there's a stack of 10 Simpads in my office, nice and shiny!

I have bad news: the easy, online upgrade to English CE.net 4.0 is currently not available, and Siemens doesn't know if they're going to re-instate it. Luckily, I have an image of CE.net 4.1 in English, but this upgrade will be more difficult to carry out (through the serial port, not over WiFi), so I wouldn't recommend this anymore to anyone that doesn't speak German. CE.Net 4.1 will give you the most state-of-the-art version of any Windows OS ever to be available on the Simpad though....
Tonight I'll work on it and upgrade as many Simpads to 4.1 as possible so those of you getting them in this first batch can actually understand the OS...

I'll try to ship them Friday (tomorrow) to David, Jason, Tor and Ben (thanks guys!); if I receive payment from the others before Friday 9 AM Central European Time, I'll ship those too.

Any questions? You know where to find me!

[fladda]

Just read through this interesting thread, on my Simpad SL4 naturally;-)

Supplies of cheap Siemens Simpad SL4s appear to be drying-up fast in Germany and now in Austria. I note that Niedermeyer in Austria are no longer showing the SL4 on their website - so I assume that they're all sold out. I suggest that you were lucky to get your batch of SL4s just in time.

Anybody else wanting a cheap SL4 will have to be quick. SL4 prices on Ebay appear to be steadily increasing as the laws of supply and demand take their toll. New demand is created when people demonstrate their SL4s to their friends !

Screen brightness makes a big difference to battery life. Also SDRAM contents are lost if the SL4 is left 'unattended' for about 2-3 weeks. There is a constant drain on the LiIon battery, even when the SL4 is swithced off. Beware. Make frequent backups using ActiveSync.

Ralph

[jeroen020]

Hi Fladda,

Good to see another SL4 user on the forum, we can't have enough! Today I shipped 5 SL4's to 4 countries, the remaining two will follow later this year. Let's just hope the amount of Simpad users will make it relevant for NR to support us, but now that Ben will get his next week, I expect we should be okay!

Anyway, I'm off to a holiday, will be back on the 24th and look forward to an expanded group of NR/Simpad users. Good luck and I hope everything will work out for you guys!

See you the 24th,

Jeroen

[Aaron]

I can get a few Simpad SL4 for $500 (no wireless card, shipping extra).
I'm planning on getting one and wanted to let you all know that I can get more if anyone is interested. I'd like to do a group order to save on shipping (we will split shipping costs evenly).

These are NEW and come with a CD with the English CE 4 version to install on them.

Please email me ASAP as I plan to order on Monday. They will take about 10 days to get.

my email addr:
aaron
@
tekrecycle.com

[Dave T]

Got my Simpad. (Thanks, Jeroen!)

Now, I need something to charge it with. Buybarcode is now out of the desktop chargers. Anyone know where else to find one?

For the charger cord that comes with it, I need an adapter so I can plug it into US 2-prong outlets. Anyone know where those can be found?

- Dave

[Mastiff]

I would guess that this is something Radio Shack has on their shelves.

[grog]

Hi Dave,

The power supply that comes with the SIMpad handles 110 voltage so all you need to change is the cord itself. Those cords are fairly standard - I used one from an old laptop adapter. Or, worse case scenario you can go to Home Depot and buy a US 2-prong plug and cut the European one off and replace it.

Hope that helps.

Jason

[Dave T]

Thanks Mastiff. That's what I was going to try, too.

Bummer about the cradle, though. I really wanted to have a rigid charging cradle that would hold it vertically. Now it'll have to be lying on its side somewhere.

- Dave

[Ben S]

Luckily I had a cable already plugged in for my external cd burner, and was able to use the same one.

That is a bummer about the chargers, I was looking forward to one, as well. Does it say they are going to get them back in stock at some point? Or are they out forever?

Some good news/bad news on the Simpad front. The good news is that I will have a version that works fullscreen ready in the next few days. I had to disable alpha support for now because it wasn't working, but I should be able to resolve that. And with grog's setup instructions, it's exactly the same as the PPC version (that's good news for me).

The bad news is that from my testing thus far, performance is less than satisfactory. It's not instant response when drawing the interface. Pressing a button enacts the -action- immediately, but the "down" version of the image doesn't draw right away.

I'll keep working. There are some things I can try to do to increase rendering performance.

[Dave T]

Hmmm. That's too bad about the buttons, but to me, it's minor if the responsiveness of the MJ interaction is ok. What's making it slow? Isn't it a simple BitBlt()?

WRT the chargers - I contacted buybarcode.com, and they said that it was out of stock, and discontinued. In other words, SOL. I didn't see any on ebay, either. Now I'm thinking of building something out of wood. That'll never happen....

Hopefully, someone will come up with another source for them.

- Dave

[Mastiff]

Hey, I've been thinking about building something out of wood myself. Maybe somebody on a Simpad forum has done that before and can give us pointers? Anyway, I will probably get it done, I need mine to be upright so I can see it from the couch.

[Ben S]

This is a crosspost from the other thread about the Simpad. I may take Mastiff's advice and make a Simpad area for Simpad related questions. Maybe I'll make a PPC, Win32, and "other" area?

Cross post below
Okay folks. You can download an update here (http://www.netremote.org/dl/NetRemote-15-Sep-2003.zip) that allows for fullscreen (800x600) on the Simpad or any other WinCE device.

Performance is not quite as fast as I'd like. Just for kicks I did the following:

* Set the taskbar to not always on top
* Set the RDP client (Remote Desktop) to not show the connection bar
* Logged into the HTPC via the simpad.
* Ran NetRemote

It runs great. Super fast.

Two problems with this approach:

1) Powering off the Simpad with it connected to the HTPC and then back on doesn't reconnect automatically.
2) RDP with Windows XP logs out the local session on the HTPC. This can be resolved with an application called WinConnect Server that allows for multiple sessions. It's a bit pricey, though.

[Dave T]

Awesome!

The Remote Desktop option also sounds cool. Unfortunately, it's not an option for those us us who don't have XP on their HTPC's.

- Dave

[Mastiff]

OK, I tried again, now with my work computer, and I could run programs pretty good, but there was an hourglass in the middle of the window all the time, and I could not write on the PC. No letters came through.

Good show on the new SIMpad version, Ben! I agree that it's slightly slow, but I'm sure you have a few ideas. And it is very much useable even in it's current speed. I have a new set of screens constructed, with ZoomPlayer and all my IR units, I may post it. But it's 1,5 megabyte of size... Thanks for your hard work, man! :D

[Ben S]

Yes, a little annoying, huh? I'm wondering if we need to patch CE 4.1 already. You can get rid of the hourglass by hitting the keyboard key, hitting control-escape and then clicking back to the session. The hourglass will disappear.

As to the keyboard letters not going in, my does that too! Weird!

I'm wondering if CE .NET is too much for this 206mHz device, or if NetRemote is? Even in 240x320 mode it seemed slower than my 206mHz PPC.

I'll keep looking around, though. Thanks Mastiff!

Dave - The WinConnect Server software can run on any version of Windows ( I believe ). It's expensive, though. $100 per client.

[Dave T]

Regarding WinConnect - I haven't tried it, so I don't know exactly what it gives you. Is it basically remote control software? What does it give you that VNC doesn't? Can it connect to/run individual apps rather than the entire desktop? Can the client run at a different (lower) resolution than the server, without scrollbars?

[grog]

Hi Ben,

Can I ask what is probably a stupid question? :? I installed the new NetRemote version on my SIMpad and 800x600 is working now (cool!), but how do I modify the driver settings in this new version? I get this list of drivers and they each expand to show the driver instance, but how do I modify a particular instance? Right clicking doesn't do anything for me. Also, how can I add a new instance (such as a 2nd Media Center host)?

I'm sure I'm missing something basic but can't seem to grasp it at the moment.

Thanks,
Jason

[Dave T]

I think you want to expand the tree to show the driver id (-3, etc), and then right click on the id.

[Mastiff]

Nope, that does not work. At least not on my SIMpad. You need to use a registry editor for now, I believe. At least that's what I do. I'm sure Ben will find a solution (a button for "edit instance" or something).

[grog]

Yeah, right clicking in general is pretty flaky with CE 4.1. I wish it used the click-and-hold style used by PPC 200x. I searched around for a utility to make it behave the same way but couldn't find one. The best I could find was a utility called TapRight that installs an icon in the system tray that you click once to go into "right click mode". Not much of an improvement but still better than trying to hold down the stupid ALT button and clicking. The SIMpad designer must've been left handed or something.... :?

[Ben S]

I finally figured out the right click button placement. It's not that the designer is lefthanded. They assume you're left arm is under the unit with your hand wrapped around to hold it. So it's actually in the right place. Unless you're holding it with your hand on the left.

Can you post a link to TapRight for us here, Grog? Meanwhile I'll need to figure out if I can fake a right click easily.

On the MC tree it's easy, just click right on the nav circle to bring up the menu, and again to select. Left to escape.

Unfortunately in the config screen it assumes a right is a return (which means exit config).

[Mastiff]

Ben, TapRight is a blind alley. I downloaded it yesterday, but it didn't want to install (it said it didn't support this unit type).

[Ben S]

Okay. I'll need to find some other way to emulate it. Maybe I'll just add button(s) back onto the config screen on Win32 and Simpad.

[grog]

In case you still want to experiment with TapRight you can download it here: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~peterept/#sw_tapright

[z.mash]

If anyone is still looking for these, I ran across a batch on eBay for $400 delivered (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3447194319&category=39980). They had 7 as of the time of this post.