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BOOT CAMP 147
LINKING TO PORTABLE DEVICES part
1
You would think that by now someone would have cracked the
apparently simple task of linking desktop PCs with portable devices and gadgets,
like handheld PCs and organisers, digital cameras and MP3 players, but if our
experiences -- and those of a fair few dotcom.telegraph readers -- are anything
to go by, it is still only one step removed from witchcraft, made worse by the
fact that there is little or no standardisation, It’s not unknown for
compatibility issues to arise between products in a manufacturers model
range.
Of course there are exceptions and some lucky users manage to
get their cameras and organisers talking to their PCs without a hitch but we
know of a lot of people who have spent hours tinkering with settings or seeking
guidance from help lines, only to give up in despair.
Unfortunately there is no immediate prospect of the situation
improving. Most problems can be put down to software and configuration conflicts
that increase with the age of the PC and its operating system, and how well used
it is. As soon as you load programs, connect to the Internet and add extra
hardware to your PC, changes occur behind the scenes that can interfere with
critical communications and networking settings.
Boot Camp this week looks at the various ways computers
communicate with portable devices, next week, in part two, we’ll look at some of
the many things that can go wrong, and a few troubleshooting tips. Note that
we’re not talking about networking PCs and laptops (see Boot Camps 67/68, April
8th & 15th), but dedicated one-to-one hook-ups between a desktop
computer and a portable device like a camera or organiser, the kind of widgets
that are supposed to work with any up to date PC, straight out of the box,
without the need for any additional hardware…
We’ll begin with a run-down of the most commonly used systems
for moving data and files between PCs and portable devices, they are: hard-wire,
card readers, infrared and wireless.
A hard-wire connection simply means the device is physically
linked to the PC by cable either directly, or indirectly via a ‘docking
station’. There are four main types of hard wire connection: serial, parallel,
USB and FireWire. Since virtually all PCs have them, serial and parallel
communications ports come closest to being a universal solution, but data
transfer rates are comparatively slow, the multi-pin connectors are large and
cumbersome plus there’s huge potential for configuration problems and conflicts
with other devices. The USB or Universal Serial Bus is increasingly popular with
PC peripheral and portable device manufacturers and is now fitted as standard to
most desktop and laptop computers made within the last three or four years. USB
is fast, flexible and usually easy to set up and use with Windows (Win 98 and
later). It supports multiple connections and devices can be ‘hot plugged’ (no
need to switch off or reboot the PC). FireWire (aka iLink and IEEE1394) is a
fairly specialist high-speed serial connection system, fitted to a few high-end
laptops (mostly Sony models) and available as an add-on for desktop machines.
It’s early days yet and so far it is mainly used for demanding applications,
such as digital video connections between camcorders, VCRs and PCs.
Card readers are supplied with a growing number of portable
devices that use removable, memory cards, such as digital cameras, MP3 players
and some palmtop PCs. Card readers plug into the PCs serial, parallel or USB
socket and the supplied software usually designates the reader as an extra disc
drive. Files and data can be quickly and easily copied to and from cards loaded
into the reader using normal Windows drag and drop techniques, or via bespoke
file management software. There are four styles of memory card in widespread use
though there’s little practical difference between them in terms of what they
do. Memory cards are available in a range of capacities, from 4Mb to over 100Mb.
The smallest ones are postage stamp sized Multimedia Cards (MMC); Compact Flash
(CF) modules are slightly larger; Smart Media cards are about a third the size
of a credit card, and Memory Sticks are roughly the same size as a stick of
chewing gum. Cards can also be read directly on PCs and laptops; floppy disc and
PC-Card adaptors are available for MMC, CF and Smart Media and several Sony
laptops have built-in Memory Stick slots.
Cordless infrared is a moderately fast serial communications
system. It is generally reliable over short distances; it’s a well-established
industry standard, created by the Infra Red Data Association (IrDA) and IR
sensors are fitted to most recent laptops, palmtop computers and organisers.
It’s mainly used for linking mobile devices to suitably equipped mobile phones
(see Boot Camps 117 & 118) and there are a few IR capable office printers
and video printers (used with digital still cameras). Unfortunately very few
desktop PCs have IR communications facilities, adaptors are available but they
tend to be fairly expensive and not very widely distributed.
Wireless data communications systems have been around for a
while but until recently they’ve been too costly and complicated for consumer
use and mostly confined to PC networking applications. However, a new generation
of wireless devices, under the generic banner ‘Bluetooth’, has been developed.
It allows all kinds of electronic gizmos to communicate with one another, using
plug-in adaptors and built-in ‘transceivers’. The first Bluetooth devices have
only just gone on sale and it could be a while before the technology works its
way through to the mainstream market.
Next week – Linking to portable devices, part 2
JARGON FILTER
MP3 PLAYER
Similar to a personal cassette stereo, plays compressed audio
files -- stored on removable memory modules – in the MP3 (Motion Picture Experts
Group, Layer 3) format. Music files can be downloaded from Internet sites, or
‘ripped’ from audio CDs
PARALLEL PORT
Transmission system whereby data is transferred several bits
at a time along multiple conductors
SERIAL
Transmission system whereby data is transferred one bit at a
time along a single conductor
TRANSCEIVER
Combined transmitter-receiver
TOP TIP
We know that the FreeCell and Minesweeper games included in
almost all versions of Windows have a devoted following amongst dotcom.telegraph
readers and some may consider what follows as heresy so if you’re a purist avert
your eyes now because we are about to reveal some simple cheats and
enhancements.
In FreeCell you can win instantly by holding down Ctrl +
Shift + F10, choose Abort from the menu that appears and drag any card to the
top.
To switch off the Minesweeper timer, position the mouse
pointer on any grey part of the game window, press and hold the right and left
mouse keys and press the Escape key.
We haven’t actually managed to get this one to work yet in
Windows 95/98 versions but apparently if you type ‘zyxxy’ after starting the
game, then press shift + enter a mine indicator in the shape of a single black
or white pixel appears in the top left hand corner of the screen as the mouse
pointer moves over the squares.
Finally, you can add some simple sound effects to Minesweeper
by opening Windows Notepad (Start > Programs > Accessories) select All
Files then open the ‘Winmine.ini’ file in the Windows folder (you might want to
make a backup copy, just in case). Add the line ‘Sound=3’ to the end, Save and
exit Notepad. If you add a subsequent line ‘Tick=1’, you’ll hear a bleep as the
timer counts up
NEXT
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