QuickPad Pro - charger

[AndyO]

I recently obtained a QuickPad Pro that's in pretty good shape, and works rather well. I came complete with a charger, and this particular model has a barrel-type connector for one. However, the charger is 240v, and while it says it's 12v DC out, and the manual says it can be used for recharging (rechargeable) batteries, it gives no indication of whether it is center + or -.

Does anyone know? I'd like to source a 120v charger, or something that will work with it, and 12v at somewhat less than an amp shouldn't be hard, but which polarity?!

 

[keenerb]

Man if they'd just added 320x200 display to these things they'd probably be my favorite retro device!

 

[AndyO]

The screen is a bit of a limitation, but far better than the Cambridge Z88 or TRS-80 Model 100. Lightweight and easy to use, but surprisingly powerful and a good keyboard too. I was chasing one for a year, then ended up with two including this late model unit with charger and modem.

For me, they're pretty good evidence that the simplest solution to a problem is often the best.

There must not have been many of them made, or perhaps they were too easily disposable because there just don't seem to be that many out there.

 

[matrix]

I also have a QuickPad Pro with the barrel connector but without the modem. Mine appears to be tip positive. There aren't any markings on it, but my multimeter shows continuity between ring on the barrel and the spring in the battery compartment.

While I was in there, I noticed all the power barrel, usb, serial, and modem are all on one board connected to the mainboard via a dual row pin header. My expansion board has the unpopulated pads for the rj11 connector and space for a lare 64 pin IC which I'd guess is some integrated modem on a chip.

I wouldn't be surprised if any QPP could have the charging capability added by adding the connector and any missing support circuitry. Might even be possible to add a second serial port in place of the missing modem.

When I first got the QuickPad Pro, I was hoping to be able to use it as a USB keyboard at home and unplug to work offline on the go. This external KB feature seems to be exclusive to the regular QuickPad, but i'd love to be proven wrong!

 

[AndyO]

I also have a QuickPad Pro with the barrel connector but without the modem. Mine appears to be tip positive. There aren't any markings on it, but my multimeter shows continuity between ring on the barrel and the spring in the battery compartment.

While I was in there, I noticed all the power barrel, usb, serial, and modem are all on one board connected to the mainboard via a dual row pin header. My expansion board has the unpopulated pads for the rj11 connector and space for a lare 64 pin IC which I'd guess is some integrated modem on a chip.

I wouldn't be surprised if any QPP could have the charging capability added by adding the connector and any missing support circuitry. Might even be possible to add a second serial port in place of the missing modem.

When I first got the QuickPad Pro, I was hoping to be able to use it as a USB keyboard at home and unplug to work offline on the go. This external KB feature seems to be exclusive to the regular QuickPad, but i'd love to be proven wrong!

I haven't opened mine up to have a look around inside, but I will do that and see how it compares - I can also compare it to one that doesn't have either the power connector or modem.

You can use the QPP as a USB keyboard on-the-go, and then upload documents to your computer later via USB. Simply type on it, and save the document(s). When you're ready to upload, connect the QPP to a computer via a standard USB cable, open any application that can accept keyboard input - obviously, a word processor typically, but SimpleText/WordPad/NotePad will do. On the QPP, then go to the list of documents you have saved, cursor to the one you want to transfer, then press the Send File key.

It's not fast, but you should see the text being written into the open application on the PC/Mac.

 

[matrix]

I haven't opened mine up to have a look around inside, but I will do that and see how it compares - I can also compare it to one that doesn't have either the power connector or modem.

You can use the QPP as a USB keyboard on-the-go, and then upload documents to your computer later via USB

I've attached an image of my board for reference. There are 4 empty white rectangles on the board I labeled in blue:
RJ11 - Where the phone jack goes
64 PIN MODEM - I am pretty sure this space is for a 64 pin modem chip. If your board matches mine, we can lookup the datasheet of your chip and easily identify the exposed vias. How cool would it be if those pads are just a serial port we could bring out?
7pin - no idea what could go here, there are 7 pins laid out like they should have a connector here, but what?
WIEL3 - this box appears to be labelled WIEL3 on the upper right. That's all I got.

You can see the power connector (in an angle?!) in the upper right. If the layouts match your board without the power circuit, we could identify any extra components for people to upgrade.

The Quickpad has a mode where it functions as a real keyboard in addition to just sending files as kb input. You type and it's passed through to the computer, function keys and all, interactively. It's listed in the QP manual and works well (you can navigate in the BIOS, etc). It is even supposed to work over IR, but I don't have the QP IR reciever to test.

The QPP doesn't seem to have this mode -- it's not activated the same way and not mentioned in the QPP manual.

Back to power: can you tell the barrel measurement? I don't seem to have anything that physically fits in my box-o-warts