Ipaq Slim Keyboard FA141A#ABA not much good?

MrT

I thought I would get the HP Ipaq keyboard for my 5550 as it would be easier than fiddling with the Stylus in the car.

Maybe I am unlucky but this keyboard seems to cause more problems than it gives benefits. Has anyone else a similar experience?

1. It covers the fingerprint scanner so you cannot use that. If you want to remove the keyboard to use the scanner to logon and have a larger battery (see 4 below) you cannot.

2. It has poor electical contact with the USB plug so unless you really push it on hard, you may not be supplying power to the Ipaq, or you may have power then lose it if you move it. The USB connectivity or keyboard keys do not seem to be affected.

3. The keyboard if you connect it after power on sometimes needs you to go into the programs/slim keyboard to enable it or disable then re-enable it.

4. With anything other than the slim flush fitting battery, you have to remove the battery before you can add or remove the keyboard.

5.There is no way I have found to access menu items at the bottom of the screen in the task bar e.g. "New".

6. The "joystick" or "hat" button is covered and not replicated on the keyboard, although you could use the separate arrow keys.

lbendlin · Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2003 2:30 am Post subject:

Let's turn this topic a little bit in the direction of GPS - there is one more thing to worry about when you use this kind of keyboard - the keyboard driver is permanently occupying COM1 so you cannot connect a serial GPS and have the keyboard driver running at the same time. (The driver also runs when the keyboard is not attached)
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Lutz

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MrT · Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2003 10:43 am Post subject: New driver

A new driver has been released in the last few days for the slim keyboard. It has the side effect of disabling the "joystick" button when it is active.

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