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New toy …

I recently purchased a ProGear from SonicBlue. Very cool toy. It’s a web tablet, basically. A small, flat computer (see photo) that has a built in wireless card. Overall, I’m impresssed. A few observations: — Mine didn’t come with a USB keyboard, which you have to have to set it up. I went out and […]

I recently purchased a ProGear from SonicBlue. Very cool toy. It’s a web tablet, basically. A small, flat computer (see photo) that has a built in wireless card. Overall, I’m impresssed. A few observations:

— Mine didn’t come with a USB keyboard, which you have to have to set it up. I went out and bought one from Happy Hacking to do the job.

— The screen is incredible. Very bright, easy to read.

— The computer is slow overall. Some of the forums I’m reading suggest downloading a product called PC Lite that removes a lot of the overhead that Windows 98 puts on the computer. I’m going to try that to see if it works. The Linux version might have been a better bet, but I’ve never mucked around with Linux and went for the Windows 98 version instead.

— Setup was easy, once I got the keyboard. I did have to poke around a bit to get the ProGear onto my wireless home network, but now that it’s there, it’s a breeze to use.

— Why buy it? It’s not really a substitute for a good laptop. I like to keep it around when I want to look something up on the Web quickly or if I just want to surf around. It’s convenient to use, and the touchscreen is pretty cool. It has a virtual keyboard that you can use to type text in (kinda cumbersome, but good for URLs, etc., and if I want to do more intensive typing, I can always plug in the USB keyboard. It’s a neat device to keep near the TV. If you are watching a movie and want details, just pick up the ProGear and search the Web for information.

A few forums with more details:

Yahoo forums

ProGear Hacking