Thread: Comparing Motion LS800 Tablet PC to again Lilliput 8"

No, no power switch. I keep meaning to check the bios to see if there's an option to power on with return of DC. Who knows.

The auto-shutdown could be done either with an extremely short sleep timeout when on battery or I'm pretty sure it could be done with a USB->serial convertor and the UPS functionality built into XP. I wonder if that approach might also allow it to turn back on too when the DC comes back.

Keep adding more and more reasons why this is such a good approach. I might have to hack my car soon and install the LS800 + dock temporarily to try it out for real hooked up to my audio... Given the amount of driving I do I doubt I'll even need to charge it more than once a week so I can do without a proper power solution for now too!

are you removing it every time you park?

It's not really installed currently. I just rest it in front of the Lilliput and drive home admiring how easy to see the screen is and pretending it's the one really playing the music. But I should have some spare time coming up soon to try making a more permanent install.

My plan is that I'd remove it and put it in the glove box whenever I park anywhere dodgy. At the moment I am completely paranoid about the lilliput attracting the attention of thieves and had been trying to work out how to build a nice looking shroud with a built-in roller blind type thing to hide it somewhat from view. With the Motion and it's dock, I just hide the entire computer in the glove box or under the seat (since I'd imagine thieves that still targetted my car would look in the glove box as a matter of course).

So, yes & no. Being able to is one of the *big* plusses of this approach in my mind that more than offsets the non-stock appearance.

... if you take it out most of the times anyway... really startup shutdown wouldn't be so bad if you have to just press the button...

to get it to really work fully automatic I think you'd have to crack her open & solder to the switch.... you can get it to shut down serial easily enough, startup I think you'd have to open it...

Possibly. I was going to send motion a line and ask them to include an auto-resume when DC is plugged in option. . You never know, they might agree.

how would that apply to the one you already have?

how would that apply to the one you already have?

Motion Computing would have to offer a downloadable BIOS/firmware update. That's probably a long shot, but I admire Arathranar's moxie.

Arathranar, thank you for starting this thread and posting those pics. It was only about a weak ago that it suddenly occured to me that I could install a computer... in my car. I'm not sure how I had been ignoring this painfully obvious way to spend money, since I'm both a computer geek, and a mild car nut.

Anywho, I was mulling over all my choices, and bemoaning the relative lack of daylight-viewable screens, when I saw this thread. Tablet computers! Brilliant! Again, why didn't I think of that? I checked out the specs on your LS800, but was quickly seduced by wonderfully large LE1600. Yummy. As it turns out, I've been hankering for a tablet computer for a lot longer than they've actually existed. (Remember the one in 2001: A Space Odyssey?) But dang me, they're so darn expensive. But now I have the perfect rationalization. I can use it in the car, and in the house. Sold.

I think I found a pretty good deal on a fairly loaded LE1600 with the "View Anywhere" screen. I'll need to call tomorrow to confirm. After I get mine, I'll let you guys know where to find them.

Here's the pros and cons, as I see 'em:

Pro

• Super nice 12.1" Hydis display, one that's been tweaked with a transreflective backplane. This should be about as good as it gets.
• Digitizing screen surface. This one's also a "con", because you have to use a stylus. But since there's no resistive touchscreen layer, the screen should be even brighter and sharper. (Similar to a capacitive touchscreen?)
• It's portable. Like, really portable. I'll probably use it almost every day outside my car.
• The microphone array thingie. It uses multiple microphones and fancy-schmancy algorthms to "lock in" on anyone speaking, and can filter out tons (15dB) of background noise. Awesome if you wanted to use it for hands-free cell use or voice control/recognition in, say, a car.
• Built in Bluetooth. I'm seeing a new cell phone in my future.
• Built in just about everything else. WiFi, decent integrated graphics, gigabit ethernet, fingerprint reader(?!), borderline beefy CPU, memory, and hard drive config.

Con

• The normal "laptop" issues. Hard to upgrade. Hard to make start up automatically.
• Kinda big. Big is nice, but in-dash mounting isn't really an option.
• Easy to steal.
• Unlike the LS800, the LE1600 doesn't have a nice mini-dock. It has a big desktop dock, and a clip-on keyboard dock thingie, but nothing that could be easily mounted in a car. There is a "car mount", but it doesn't include a port-replicator. I think I'll be able to get by just connecting power and USB, but a dock would be better.
• You gotta use a stylus. Might be a bit of a PITA while driving. It does have several hard buttons, however. I'm hoping that whatever front-end I use can take input from them.
• Expensive. (Almost $1,600, best case) However, I had pretty much decided I wanted a big (at least 10") transreflective screen, so that was going to be painful no matter what.

So, unless somebody talks me out of it in the next 12 hours, (Don't tell my wife!) I think I'm gonna order this bad boy. I've got pretty much zero room in my dash area, so I'll probably be going with one of those RAM Mount arms bolted to the passenger side of the transmission tunnel.

Far be it for me to try to talk you out of buying a TabletPC, but wait a while and do a little more research. There are several dual input (passive/active) tablets coming to market that also have decent screens, but I don't know of their dock capabilities.

I have been waiting to upgrade to one of these as soon as I find one with a decent dock that has line-in and power switch. This will eliminate the need for an external sound card and allow for a shutdown controller mod that doesn't require opening the case.

Also, W3bMa5t3r has a laptop startup/shutdown module that he sells that is probably the best we're gonna get.