Yay! I got a Zeos Pocket PC. But Oh no! How to transfer files?

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Kingeorg
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Yay! I got a Zeos Pocket PC. But Oh no! How to transfer files?

Post by Kingeorg »

I'm very excited I got a Zeos pocket PC in pretty nice condition, but unfortunately I haven't been able to transfer any files yet, Or perhaps I should say I have not been able to make it recognize any of my Compact Flash cards with a PCMCIA adapter... I have formatted them to 32MB fat 16 and still nothing.
Needless to say I do not have the proprietary serial cable, because this is a second hand unit, therefore that option can be discarded.
Also, I know there are drivers (on the software part of this website) for Tidalwave clones (like this one) to recognize Flashcards, but the question is how do I transfer these drivers to the machine if I can't make it recognize the cards in the first place?

I'll keep trying, but any ideas are welcomed.
Thank you.
Kyodai
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Re: Yay! I got a Zeos Pocket PC. But Oh no! How to transfer files?

Post by Kyodai »

On the ZEOS and generally all tidalwave clones I haven't been able to get Flash working at all. There are several problems:

- PCMCIA 1.0 Type I slots. That means 3.3 mm cards only while most flash cards are Type II (5 mm).
- No flash drivers/File system

Maybe with some combination of drivers/Filesystem you can get it running, but i never succeeded with that.

Then the actual bootstrapping problem as you already noticed - how do you get the driver onto a system that you can't communicate with. We tried alot, like the MS-DOS debug with which you could in theory "program" the driver on-the-fly, but in practical studies it never worked (Typing like 20 pages of Hex codes yields a good chance for error i guess). And as i said - i never got flash to work on the Tidalwaves.

So realistic options:

- Get the cables. Unlikely as they are incredibly rare.
- Get a PCMCIA Type I SRAM card and a laptop with PCMCIA. Unfortunately these are very expensive and can be difficult to read/write to with modern Computers.
- Get the Port replicator. I still have some of these home-made port replicators that replace the 2 cables (Serial and parallel), so with that you actually have 2 real ports.
Kingeorg
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Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2018 4:37 pm

Re: Yay! I got a Zeos Pocket PC. But Oh no! How to transfer files?

Post by Kingeorg »

:(
I see, so my most realistic option is to try to buy a type 1 PCMCIA card from eBay... You are right, they are expensive! And that may even not be guaranteed to work because of age and compatibility issues with the source PC or the Zeos.

Well, as for the option of purchasing a type 1 card, should I assume I should look for a card with less than 32mb? Do you think this one would do?

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2398754844

Thank you.
Kyodai
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Re: Yay! I got a Zeos Pocket PC. But Oh no! How to transfer files?

Post by Kyodai »

Nah that's actually a Flash card - which simply won't work (at least i never managed to get them to work).

The only PCMCIA cards i ever got to work in a tidalwave are SRAM cards. The biggest SRAM card i have is 4 MB and it's not even compatible with all palmtops, so realistically you'd get something between 512KB and 2 MB.

Search ebay for "PCMCIA SRAM" if you really want one of these. You'd also need an old notebook with PCMCIA to write to the cards. For WIndows 95 there's an SRAM driver included which actually works. For later Windows versions it can be tricky - albeit not impossible.


If you prefer serial file transfer i could sell you a home made port replicator. But you'd still need a computer with a serial ("COM") port - but i think the USB serial adapters should also work.
Kingeorg
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Re: Yay! I got a Zeos Pocket PC. But Oh no! How to transfer files?

Post by Kingeorg »

I'm glad I didn't purchase it.

Yes, I'm definitely open to your home-made cable, because I do have an old PC with PCMCIA, but as I have never done this before, you would have to walk me through ;) How much are you asking for?

Also I did find these 2 less ridiculously expensive SRAM cards, that seem to be PCMCIA, what do you think?

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2526017585

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3136823276

Thank you for your help.
Kyodai
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Re: Yay! I got a Zeos Pocket PC. But Oh no! How to transfer files?

Post by Kyodai »

The first link you posted clearly says "Flash" AND SRAM on like the 3rd photo. Never had something like that, so no idea if it works or not. Maybe it'd be mounted as 2 drives. But no clue if the Tidalwave can handle that. But from the looks I'm not sure if this is TYPE I, but maybe the plastic case is just distorting the edges....

The second link seems to be indeed real SRAM. No capacity marking, but model name sounds like a 1MB unit.

Keep in mind though that this is a "rechargable" card so it has a rechargable battery built-in. While on first glimpse rechargable sounds great the drawback is that if the battery is dead then the card is dead since you can't replace them afaik. From the photo it seems the production date is february 2010 and they are sold as "new", so you can be sure the battery wasn't charged in the past 8 years. Most rechargable batteries would turn into a "brick" after such a long time, so probably a bit of a gamble to buy this one. I never had a "rechargable" SRAM card myself (All mine have replacable normal 3v button cells), so I can't really tell.

So far i always charged around 40 bucks for the home made port replicator - including insured shipping with tracking and safe packaging. If you're from Europe i could probably go a little bit lower due to the lower shipping cost.
Kingeorg
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Re: Yay! I got a Zeos Pocket PC. But Oh no! How to transfer files?

Post by Kingeorg »

No, I definitely don't want to "gamble" with a rechargeable card (wow, I'm definitely learning about old hardware here).
I'm from the US. But let me think about the interface for a while. I'm having fun with my recently acquired Sharp G850VS pocket computer, so I'll have to think if I want to spend $40 more in this Zeos pocket PC.
One more question though. I noticed the 2 AA batteries last for about 12hrs, and I would like to see if I have an AC adapter I can use instead, but I can't seem to find the voltage, or a manual with it online. Do you happen to know the voltage for this Zeos or any of the Tidalwave clones for that matter?
Kyodai
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Re: Yay! I got a Zeos Pocket PC. But Oh no! How to transfer files?

Post by Kyodai »

The original Tidalwave power supply is 9 Volt.

The batteries last significantly longer if you lower the CPU speed and turn off the serial/parallel ports (which you can't use right now anyways).

If you wanna haggle then drop me a PM. After all I'd love to see these port replicators in the hands of people who really use them. Personally i find it to be a big advantage to be able to plug in a serial mouse - but it depends on the games or appz you use of course.
Kingeorg
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Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2018 4:37 pm

Re: Yay! I got a Zeos Pocket PC. But Oh no! How to transfer files?

Post by Kingeorg »

I've been thinking about it and I think I'll probably try to sell it on eBay, I didn't think it was going to be that complicated to be able to put GWbasic, Rogue and maybe a few more KBytes on it... I might try to get an HP LX200, 100 or the 1000, with far better compatibility than this Zeos. (PCMCIA type 2 for starters).
I know, I know; I should've read your posted pros and cons about this device before buying it... But oh well, I'll tinker around with something else meanwhile and/or try to find a 386 or 486 palmtop online somewhere.
Thank you very much for your help.
You are a fountain of knowledge as usual.
;)
Kyodai
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Posts: 232
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Re: Yay! I got a Zeos Pocket PC. But Oh no! How to transfer files?

Post by Kyodai »

Well for most Palmtops it's great to have an SRAM card and a (networking and USB enabled) laptop that can read and write them.

I do love the HP series (minus the 95LX) because they include Flash drivers and file system, so most Flash card directly work out-of-the-box. Also most CF+PCMCIA-Adaptor combinations (Smaller and older CF cards) - which makes file transfer very convenient if you have a CF reader in your main PC.

Imho the biggest drawbacks are the keyboard (one of the worst ever) and the proprietary serial port. While it's pretty realistic to get an adaptor for the serial port you'll have to shell out extra money for that - and the HP machines are usually quite expensive without these already. No parallel port and the display is quite small. Battery life is excellent.

I love the pocket quicken on the 200LX. If you don't need that you can also get a 100LX or 1000CX.

If you can live with these flaws then the HP is definitely for you.



Always glad if i can help a fellow enthusiast. :)
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