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View Full Version : VGA screen Vs. The rest.


Monty Gibson
11-11-2004, 04:16 PM
I've been pretty active these last few days with postings; quite not the norm for me. But I'm just completely bewildered as to what the great deal is with the VGA screen. It’s the latest advancement; sure. But, what I’ve heard, a great deal of software won’t even “display” properly? If that is the case in point then what’s the benefit? I’ve actually tested a demo of the hx4705 at CompUSA in Tampa, Florida and it’s an incredible machine. But that was in the store with none of my applications on board. If purchasing this unit to have the “latest and greatest” including the VGA screen then having to sacrifice most albeit a LOT of the programs I use daily, then what’s the benefit?

So, I guess my questions are this:

-: Will non-VGA supported software run and display (at all) on a VGA screen?

-: If not, then which device other than the hx4705 would you choose (HP only please)?

-: Compact Flash II slot: Is it necessary now since just about everything can be accomplished via an SDIO slot?

Thank you,
Monty Gibson

OSUKid7
11-11-2004, 04:38 PM
Will non-VGA supported software run and display (at all) on a VGA screen?Yes, almost always. I haven't had a single problem yet in standard VGA mode. When you use SE_VGA to change to "real" VGA, many applications don't expand correctly. I rarely use "real" VGA mode though - the screen real estate is nice, but the font is SOOOO small.

What applications did you hear didn't work on VGA devices?

Monty Gibson
11-11-2004, 05:00 PM
Will non-VGA supported software run and display (at all) on a VGA screen?Yes, almost always. I haven't had a single problem yet in standard VGA mode. When you use SE_VGA to change to "real" VGA, many applications don't expand correctly. I rarely use "real" VGA mode though - the screen real estate is nice, but the font is SOOOO small.

What applications did you hear didn't work on VGA devices?

Thank you for your posting.

I really haven't heard of any one specific application that did not "work" properly. I have only read some forums where some users were complaining about the fact that the software was not working properly or displaying properly. I was overly concerned that alot of my medical programs would not function as they are not "VGA compatible."

That brings me to another point the "SE_VGA" is a free program that emulates real VGA correct? If so, then what do we see when we look at the naked device? Is it not VGA? That's odd.

Thank you,
Monty Gibson

Sven Johannsen
11-11-2004, 05:21 PM
That brings me to another point the "SE_VGA" is a free program that emulates real VGA correct? If so, then what do we see when we look at the naked device? Is it not VGA? That's odd.

Thank you,
Monty Gibson

Mostly what you see is the screen you are used to, potentially pixel doubled so that what was one pixel on a 320x240 screen is now rendered by 4 pixels on the 640x480 screen. The benefit in programs that understand VGA, as in all the built in MS ones is that things like letters that may have been rendered in an 8x8 matrix of dots can now be rendered in a 16x16 matrix of dots if retaining the same visual size. That makes the characters more defined and gives you the opportunity to render the character in 8x8 getting twice as much on the screen (with tiny but legible characters) or even 12x12. The promise isn't entirely fulfilled though. You need to get a screen to display it on before software types can take advantage of it though. You'd never get VGA aware apps with no available VGA screens.

As far a CF and SD slot go, it's not so much the type of slot for me, but that there are two. When you pull that SD card out to put in your GPS, where are your maps? When you pull your SD card out to put in your camera, where do you store the snaps. When you pull out the SD to put in your wired modem where do you download files too? When you pull out your SD to put in your wired NIC... Oh wait, that doesn't exist ;) The answer is of course, Main RAM or User ROM, but that's somewhat limited.

I would like to see a PPC with two SD slots. That would cover the extra memory and the peripheral requirement that for me is a simultaneous need, rather than an either or. The second SD could even be just SD and under the battery. Throw a 1 or 2G card in there and leave it. The external accessible SDIO could be for peripherals and more transient file requirements.

Monty Gibson
11-11-2004, 07:15 PM
That brings me to another point the "SE_VGA" is a free program that emulates real VGA correct? If so, then what do we see when we look at the naked device? Is it not VGA? That's odd.

Thank you,
Monty Gibson

Mostly what you see is the screen you are used to, potentially pixel doubled so that what was one pixel on a 320x240 screen is now rendered by 4 pixels on the 640x480 screen.... <snip>

Sorry for my ignorance, but is that to say that the VGA devices on the market now are really not "worth" moving from a QVGA screen?



As far a CF and SD slot go, it's not so much the type of slot for me, but that there are two. When you pull that SD card out to put in your GPS, where are your maps? When you pull your SD card out to put in your camera, where do you store the snaps. When you pull out the SD to put in your wired modem where do you download files too... <snip>


-: If you have a Bluetooth GPS and a Bluetooth enabled PPC then you would only need your 512 - 2 gig SD card.

-: If you have a Bluetooth enabled phone (I have a Nokia 6600) that has a camera, you can transfer them via Bluetooth to the PPC.

-: Again, if you have a Bluetooth phone, you may not need a modem. The only stipulation here is if you're in a hotel room that offers high-speed internet via cable only and not Wi-Fi.

I see your points; all worthy and good. My Nokia 6600 has the MMC card under the battery, so your suggestion is an excellent one. No slot, no fuss, leave a gig in there and let it be.

I do not need the CF Card slot, although I think it's good to have as many options as possible. But most everything is going the way of the SD card slot now. I'm not a huge proponent of Microdrives. I like stable solid media; call me strange. But thank you for your posting! I apprecaite all the feedback.

Thank you,
Monty Gibson

Sven Johannsen
11-11-2004, 08:35 PM
Sorry for my ignorance, but is that to say that the VGA devices on the market now are really not "worth" moving from a QVGA screen?

No I wouldn't say that at all. They may not be worth it to any particular individual. The screens are clearer and crisper. Many things do take advantage of the greater resolution both in detail and quantity of information displayable.

The potential for significant improvement in that area is there, subject only to software changes. If you don't have the hardware you couldn't take advantage of improvements. Might just be a now or later decision.

I don't think anyone would really want a direct mapping of what we have today onto a 640x480 display. That would put everything on your screen now in the top left quarter. I wouldn't be able to see it, don't know about you.

Don't know if you recall going from adventure games (Sierra) in 640x480 to 800x600. The characters and stuff didn't get tiny, they stayed the same size, but at the higher rez you could see eye movement, notice the popped up nail in the floor, count the diamonds on the tiara. Same sort of capability on the PPC.

Ekkie Tepsupornchai
11-13-2004, 05:35 AM
Sorry for my ignorance, but is that to say that the VGA devices on the market now are really not "worth" moving from a QVGA screen?
Not at all. Keep in mind that many years ago we needed 14" monitors to view VGA with our DOS / Win3.1 machines.

While everything more or less stay the same size, you have much more flexibility with document viewing and creation. For example with a QVGA screen, if I viewed a PDF document, there was no way I could clearly read the document when scaling the page to the screen. The resolution just wasn't fine enough. So I would have to zoom in and scroll up and down, left and right to see and read the entire page. With the HP 4" VGA screen, I can actually scale a PDF document to show the entire page and amazingly, I can read everything.

Another example comes with Excel documents. Previously, the smallest sized font I could use was size 7 with no ability to zoom out less than 100%. Now I can actually use size 6 fonts AND zoom out below 100% which allows me to see more of the spreading.

With regards to your medical applications though, I would contact the vendors/developers to determine if there will be any complications with WM2003SE. There were a few applications that I had that didn't quite work right, but in almost all cases, the developers had released updated versions for WM2003SE and things worked out fine.