Just got my first palmtop - 200LX

[Waon Shinyoe]

I knew the famous palmtop PC for a long time. The first time I tried to bought one on TAS was quite a nightmare: It cost a lot. And the USPS shipping package got lost. (Damn USPS!) I waited for months and it never came. Then the consolation time was expired and I never got my money back...

Now I'm happy to get a 2MB version of 200LX (again!) from TAS. It's quite new, yet the keys are somewhat soft, not as good as the keyboard of my 42s.

I have just installed Derive on it. But the contrast of the command line is quite low. There are articles claimed that the gray-scale mapping mode is adjustable, but I can't find any information about it. I will be very glad if anyone can answer my question.

Thanks.

[rprosperi]

(09-13-2014 10:14 AM)Waon Shinyoe Wrote:  I knew the famous palmtop PC for a long time. The first time I tried to bought one on TAS was quite a nightmare: It cost a lot. And the USPS shipping package got lost. (Damn USPS!) I waited for months and it never came. Then the consolation time was expired and I never got my money back...

Now I'm happy to get a 2MB version of 200LX (again!) from TAS. It's quite new, yet the keys are somewhat soft, not as good as the keyboard of my 42s.

I have just installed Derive on it. But the contrast of the command line is quite low. There are articles claimed that the gray-scale mapping mode is adjustable, but I can't find any information about it. I will be very glad if anyone can answer my question.

Thanks.

If you mean contrast adjustment, hold down [ON] and press [+] or [-] to increase/decrease contrast.

Also, there is a PDF of the manual here (I found it yesterday!)

HTH

[Leonid]

Here's OCR quality HP 200LX User’s Guide:
http://www.filedropper.com/hp-200lx-user-manual

[Dave Frederickson]

The User's Guide is also available from HP, here.

[Dave Britten]

Some other important hot-keys:

You can use Fn-Space (zoom) to adjust the font size for DOS programs. For the zoomed-in modes, use Fn-Arrow Keys to pan the display around. There's also a command line program that will turn on/off automatic cursor tracking in the zoomed modes.

Also, press fn-* and fn-/ to select from a couple different "color" palettes for CGA emulation. This helps immensely for some programs. One of those key combos inverts the display, and the other selects a different mapping of colors. I forget which is which.

You may also want to preemptively reinforce the right hinge, as they are prone to developing hairline cracks with repeated use. These cracks gradually develop into something decidedly less hairline... On mine, I cut a small piece out of a metal 3.5" floppy disk shutter, and super glued it firmly over the location of the tiny crack that was developing. If you're willing to tear the machine apart (not terribly easy), there are less-visible fixes possible from the inside, but this works fine for me.

I'd also suggest getting a book on Lotus 1-2-3 release 2.4 from some place like Amazon. It's a remarkably powerful and efficient spreadsheet.

[Waon Shinyoe]

Thank you guys Especially Dave Britten!

(09-15-2014 07:43 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Some other important hot-keys:

You can use Fn-Space (zoom) to adjust the font size for DOS programs. For the zoomed-in modes, use Fn-Arrow Keys to pan the display around. There's also a command line program that will turn on/off automatic cursor tracking in the zoomed modes.

Also, press fn-* and fn-/ to select from a couple different "color" palettes for CGA emulation. This helps immensely for some programs. One of those key combos inverts the display, and the other selects a different mapping of colors. I forget which is which.

That's exactly what I wanted: switch the color mapping for CGA emulation. Unfortunately any of the hot-keys Fn-Arrow, Fn-* and Fn-/ doesn't work on my 200LX. ON-/ does invert the display( which is documented in the PDF manual), but ON-* doesn't work as well.

[Dave Britten]

(09-16-2014 01:16 PM)Waon Shinyoe Wrote:  Thank you guys Especially Dave Britten!

(09-15-2014 07:43 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Some other important hot-keys:

You can use Fn-Space (zoom) to adjust the font size for DOS programs. For the zoomed-in modes, use Fn-Arrow Keys to pan the display around. There's also a command line program that will turn on/off automatic cursor tracking in the zoomed modes.

Also, press fn-* and fn-/ to select from a couple different "color" palettes for CGA emulation. This helps immensely for some programs. One of those key combos inverts the display, and the other selects a different mapping of colors. I forget which is which.

That's exactly what I wanted: switch the color mapping for CGA emulation. Unfortunately any of the hot-keys Fn-Arrow, Fn-* and Fn-/ doesn't work on my 200LX. ON-/ does invert the display( which is documented in the PDF manual), but ON-* doesn't work as well.

Oops, you're right; it's On+(hotkey), not fn+(hotkey). That's what I get for typing that up without my 200LX nearby for reference.

Corrected list:

Fn-Space: Zoom (text-mode programs)
On-/: Invert display
On-*: Switch "color" palettes (the effect is subtle if you aren't using a program that really benefits from it)
Menu-(Arrows): Pan text-mode display while zoomed in

[Waon Shinyoe]

(09-16-2014 01:48 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Corrected list:

Fn-Space: Zoom (text-mode programs)
On-/: Invert display
On-*: Switch "color" palettes (the effect is subtle if you aren't using a program that really benefits from it)
Menu-(Arrows): Pan text-mode display while zoomed in

Works fine! Thanks!
(And I wonder where do these keys documented? Maybe I'm a careless reader of the manual...)

[Dave Britten]

(09-16-2014 02:26 PM)Waon Shinyoe Wrote:  Works fine! Thanks!
(And I wonder where do these keys documented? Maybe I'm a careless reader of the manual...)

Looks like it's hidden way back on page 25-16: "Controlling the Appearance of a DOS Display".

There's also On-=, which I forgot about. That moves/hides the on-screen annunciators for Shift, etc.