My dad is cleaning out the garage for a move, and told me that I can keep some of the technology if i can find a use for it. So, the first gadget I’ll be documenting is the HP iPAQ PocketPC 2002!
This is a discontinued Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) from a line of Pocket PCs that started in 2000. They use the Windows Mobile interface but can also (unsurprisingly) run some Linux distros. These guys were intended for use as office assistants, but can also be used as portable media player thanks to the (mini) headphone jack and ability to play media imported from Windows Media Player. As of 10-8-23, you can still download the ActiveSync (internet archive link) software from Microsoft that was used to store and transfer things from your PC to Pocket PC. There is also a surprise infrared port on the side to (i assume) communicate with other devices!
All this information makes the PocketPC look like a useful tool for its time. However, none of the email sharing/buisness functionality have any use to me right now, even if they did work. So my current plan is to turn this into a little media player and have my music saved on SD cards in the device to carry around with me! There are two issues with that plan though.
Both of these problems cost money to fix, which i’m not too keen on spending right now thanks to my recent PSP purchase. So whenever I make some progress on this project I’ll put an update here!
My teacher brought to my attention today that I could hardwire a battery instead of looking for scarce replacements. I will do more research on this eventually.
Long time no see! I've moved since I originally made this blog, and the
PocketPC has been floating around the house for two years. I'm finally
unpacking my stuff and beginning to set up my room...
Anyway, I ended up finding the PocketPC again. I decided to try a different
approach to the battery issue. Originally, (as mentioned in the last entry),
I was going to try and hardwire a battery. As of right now, I'm really more
of a software guy than hardware. I have literally no idea how to even
begin to do that. I ended up doing something I should've done originally and
just took the battery out of the system to look at the exact model number and
serial code. That's usually a thing I do but I guess I just forgot to this
time.
I found out some new useful information! I specifically have a HP iPAQ h1900 series PocketPc. I ended up finding this article (internet archive version) which was a review of the product when it first released in 2003! Super cool stuff indeed. I also found some replacement batteries online. They cost about 20 bucks not including shipping, so I've set up a few options for what I can do.
I'm leaning towards the second option because I will have all the time in the
world (hopefully) to do my techy side projects during the summer. If I buy
the battery now, I'll just be thinking about it while I'm at school and it
will drive me nuts. We'll just have to see.
I am also realizing that this gives me something to do with my childhood computer! Exciting stuff. I've decided to maybe try the email stuff once I get the battery and music fixed. (Writing that made me think of this blog by KokoScript! I found it pretty interesting.) I'll have to find an infrared reader tho, cause that's the only communication this thing has. Additionally, I'll be archiving any links I come across, as well as saving manuals and drivers. Just in case anyone else stumbles across this in the future and wants to do the same thing!
PS: I don't know if anyone is keeping up with this but I bet you thought I forgot about it! I didn't... I'm just busy and on an everchanging antidepressant cocktail. That's finally getting sorted out though so I hope to return to regular testing and updates in a few months!