jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
Forked from: What level of technology WON'T you go beyond with your tabletop gaming?
In the thread that I forked from, I mentioned that I am pursuing a purpose-built PC to serve as a table-top game aid. I figured that this might be a fun project to document here, in case anybody else wants to give it a go.
Step 1: Obtain a Fujitsu Stylistic 1200 tablet PC
Fujitsu is the logical brand to pursue here, as they really cornered the tablet PC market before it was hot. You can pick up old-ish Fujitsu tablet PC models new in the box on eBay for around $100 + shipping. You can get used Fujitsu tablets for as little as $20, though you'll need to also pick up an aftermarket battery (and, possibly, a power supply) if you go this route. I'm working with a Stylistic 1200 for several reasons, but it's probably best to start with an overview of the hardware specs:
The Stylistic 1200 that I'm working with has a transmissive monochrome display onboard (see footnotes). Additionally, the Stylistic 1200 comes loaded with a licensed copy of Windows 95 and Pen Services 2.0 — if I wasn't looking at this solely as a table-top gaming aid, it might also make a very fun, portable, DOS game box for those games that you can't play on your new PC.
The tablet has a battery life of around 5 hours when operated in a constant "on" state — more, I'm told, if battery conservation is implemented and you're using one with a 64 shade monochrome display (which is one of the reasons that I went that route). If you grab a pair of passive PC speakers, this might effect battery life (but I have no idea how much just yet).
To me, this seemed like a great foundation to build a table-top gaming aid on. The fact that I was able to get it brand new in the original, unopened, box for pennies on the dollar pretty much sealed the deal.
Step 2: Acquire desired hardware upgrades
The one real shortcoming of the Stylistic 1200 is that it doesn't have any native USB ports or an onboard LAN connection. It relies on integrated serial ports, a parallel port, an IR port, and two PS/2 ports to connect to other devices. The good news is that Fujitsu 1200 port replicators in brand new condition can be found on eBay for relatively little cash (I snagged one for around $20)**. The port replicator adds two USB ports, both of which will support additional USB hubs and other periphrials as you see fit to add them.
I also went ahead and tracked down a 32 MB RAM expansion module (available online for $5 to $15). As much as I like old DOS games, that's not what I'm building this particular project for — and for me, that means upgrading to Win98 SE. Win98 can run on 16 MB of RAM, but that's a minimum requirement (Microsoft recommends 24 MB of RAM). I decided that, at less than $20, there was no reason not to max out the tablet's RAM — it should allow Win98 to run completely unhindred for my purposes.
Finally, I had an old 4 GB IDE HDD sitting around. I'm going to wipe it and reformat it with Win98 SE, plus load up some other software (see Step 3). Now, if you want to order one of these, you might be in for a shock — some resellers apparently think that old IDE harddrives are like old baseball cards and have appreciated in value with age. I've seen tiny, old, IDE HDDs going for as much or more than new 500 GB SATA drives. Obviously, these retailers don't deserve your money. Shop around a bit or check out local parts stores.
Step 3: Acquire desired software upgrades
Before I went about downloading software willy-nilly (as I was tempted to do), I sat down and made a list of everything that I wanted this machine to do in terms of table-top gaming:
These are the four big things that I needed this machine to do. Everything else is gravy. I already had a copy of HexMapper, so I needed to track down an PDF reader, an MP3 player, and a dice roller optimized for Windows 98.
Here, the Old Version archive and Google came in extremely handy. I ended up snagging Fox-It Reader 1.3 and WinAmp 2.95 (remember WinAmp?!?). Finding a good, stable, dice roller was a little bit more work but, after some searching, I finally settled on Small Roller.
After acquiring apps, I made one last stop at the Fujitsu support page to grab the official BIOS flash and ANYWHERE DLL, as well as Driver Guide to snag the updated pen drivers for Win98.
Finally, there is Win98 itself — support for USB is pretty dodgey in Win95 (it is supported in later revisions, just not well). This is why I chose to upgrade to Win98. Now, I own an original Win98 SE CD with a valid install key. If you don't you pretty much have four options:
1. Buy a copy of Win98 SE. They're not too hard to find, but may cost more than you're willing to spend on this project.
2. Install Linux. Here is a pretty good guide to installing Linux on the Stylistic 1200.
3. Install another supported OS of your choice.
4. Stick with the pre-loaded copy of Win95, assuming that your tablet shipped with the OS in question.
Other operating systems supported on the Stylistic 1200 include Win95 (of course) and WinNT 4.0 — and there are claims that it will run Win2k, though I'm skeptical of that given that 2k requires at least a 133MHz processor per Microsoft.
Now, as I expand this thread, I'll do so with the assumption that you're moving forward with a Win98 SE install. If you're not, though, please feel free to add your own advice to this thread with regard to other OS installs. In fact, you may find that Linux or another OS works better than Win98. By all means, let everybody know if that's the case!
---------------------
*The Stylistic 1200 shipped with four possible display types — a TFT Color LCD, a DSTN Color LCD, a Transmissive Monochrome LCD, and a Transflective Monochrome LCD. Both of their monochrome displays handle up to 64 shade greyscale, which is quite impressive given that most modern ebook readers are limited to 16 shades.
**There is a site that walks you through a hack to add an internal USB port to the Stylistic 1200, though I wouldn't recommend going this route given that the replicators are easily available.
In the thread that I forked from, I mentioned that I am pursuing a purpose-built PC to serve as a table-top game aid. I figured that this might be a fun project to document here, in case anybody else wants to give it a go.
Step 1: Obtain a Fujitsu Stylistic 1200 tablet PC
Fujitsu is the logical brand to pursue here, as they really cornered the tablet PC market before it was hot. You can pick up old-ish Fujitsu tablet PC models new in the box on eBay for around $100 + shipping. You can get used Fujitsu tablets for as little as $20, though you'll need to also pick up an aftermarket battery (and, possibly, a power supply) if you go this route. I'm working with a Stylistic 1200 for several reasons, but it's probably best to start with an overview of the hardware specs:
- 120MHz Pentium Processor
- 16 MB RAM (upgradeable to 48MB RAM)
- 2.1 GB IDE HDD
- 640 x 480 VGA LCD Display
- 8" LCD monitor w/ backlight*
- Sound Blaster Compatible audio
- External Video Support up to 1024x768, 256 colors.
The Stylistic 1200 that I'm working with has a transmissive monochrome display onboard (see footnotes). Additionally, the Stylistic 1200 comes loaded with a licensed copy of Windows 95 and Pen Services 2.0 — if I wasn't looking at this solely as a table-top gaming aid, it might also make a very fun, portable, DOS game box for those games that you can't play on your new PC.
The tablet has a battery life of around 5 hours when operated in a constant "on" state — more, I'm told, if battery conservation is implemented and you're using one with a 64 shade monochrome display (which is one of the reasons that I went that route). If you grab a pair of passive PC speakers, this might effect battery life (but I have no idea how much just yet).
To me, this seemed like a great foundation to build a table-top gaming aid on. The fact that I was able to get it brand new in the original, unopened, box for pennies on the dollar pretty much sealed the deal.
Step 2: Acquire desired hardware upgrades
The one real shortcoming of the Stylistic 1200 is that it doesn't have any native USB ports or an onboard LAN connection. It relies on integrated serial ports, a parallel port, an IR port, and two PS/2 ports to connect to other devices. The good news is that Fujitsu 1200 port replicators in brand new condition can be found on eBay for relatively little cash (I snagged one for around $20)**. The port replicator adds two USB ports, both of which will support additional USB hubs and other periphrials as you see fit to add them.
I also went ahead and tracked down a 32 MB RAM expansion module (available online for $5 to $15). As much as I like old DOS games, that's not what I'm building this particular project for — and for me, that means upgrading to Win98 SE. Win98 can run on 16 MB of RAM, but that's a minimum requirement (Microsoft recommends 24 MB of RAM). I decided that, at less than $20, there was no reason not to max out the tablet's RAM — it should allow Win98 to run completely unhindred for my purposes.
Finally, I had an old 4 GB IDE HDD sitting around. I'm going to wipe it and reformat it with Win98 SE, plus load up some other software (see Step 3). Now, if you want to order one of these, you might be in for a shock — some resellers apparently think that old IDE harddrives are like old baseball cards and have appreciated in value with age. I've seen tiny, old, IDE HDDs going for as much or more than new 500 GB SATA drives. Obviously, these retailers don't deserve your money. Shop around a bit or check out local parts stores.
Step 3: Acquire desired software upgrades
Before I went about downloading software willy-nilly (as I was tempted to do), I sat down and made a list of everything that I wanted this machine to do in terms of table-top gaming:
- Read PDFs (this was pretty essential)
- Play MP3 audio (not so essential, but nice)
- Roll dice (again, not so essential, but nice)
- Display my HexMapper maps (essential)
These are the four big things that I needed this machine to do. Everything else is gravy. I already had a copy of HexMapper, so I needed to track down an PDF reader, an MP3 player, and a dice roller optimized for Windows 98.
Here, the Old Version archive and Google came in extremely handy. I ended up snagging Fox-It Reader 1.3 and WinAmp 2.95 (remember WinAmp?!?). Finding a good, stable, dice roller was a little bit more work but, after some searching, I finally settled on Small Roller.
After acquiring apps, I made one last stop at the Fujitsu support page to grab the official BIOS flash and ANYWHERE DLL, as well as Driver Guide to snag the updated pen drivers for Win98.
Finally, there is Win98 itself — support for USB is pretty dodgey in Win95 (it is supported in later revisions, just not well). This is why I chose to upgrade to Win98. Now, I own an original Win98 SE CD with a valid install key. If you don't you pretty much have four options:
1. Buy a copy of Win98 SE. They're not too hard to find, but may cost more than you're willing to spend on this project.
2. Install Linux. Here is a pretty good guide to installing Linux on the Stylistic 1200.
3. Install another supported OS of your choice.
4. Stick with the pre-loaded copy of Win95, assuming that your tablet shipped with the OS in question.
Other operating systems supported on the Stylistic 1200 include Win95 (of course) and WinNT 4.0 — and there are claims that it will run Win2k, though I'm skeptical of that given that 2k requires at least a 133MHz processor per Microsoft.
Now, as I expand this thread, I'll do so with the assumption that you're moving forward with a Win98 SE install. If you're not, though, please feel free to add your own advice to this thread with regard to other OS installs. In fact, you may find that Linux or another OS works better than Win98. By all means, let everybody know if that's the case!
---------------------
*The Stylistic 1200 shipped with four possible display types — a TFT Color LCD, a DSTN Color LCD, a Transmissive Monochrome LCD, and a Transflective Monochrome LCD. Both of their monochrome displays handle up to 64 shade greyscale, which is quite impressive given that most modern ebook readers are limited to 16 shades.
**There is a site that walks you through a hack to add an internal USB port to the Stylistic 1200, though I wouldn't recommend going this route given that the replicators are easily available.
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