"mick" <micojc@yahoo.com> hath wroth:

>Thanks again for all the time it must have taken you to reply!!!! Sorry
>to hear about your medical issues -- hope you are doing well.

Except for what's left of a cold or flu, I'm now fine. My brain is a
bit mushy but still functional.

>Intel Core Duo T2300 1.66GHZ
>80 GB HDD (7200RM Serial ATA)
>1024 MB PC5300 DDR2 667MHZ

Ok, it's got sufficient horsepower to run a PCMCIA video card.
However, I don't think it will be needed (or is even a good idea).

>This is one option -- however, some faculty would like to be able to
>walk around the room wirelessly and lecture from different points in
>the room.

No problem. How much does the Toshiblah TabletPC weigh? Digging...
Data sheet stays starting weight is 4.5lbs. Ok, take a common red
brick that weighs about 5lb and ask the perpretrator of this
requirement to hold it in a simulated TabletPC position for as long as
they normally lecture. I'll give them 5 minutes before they give up
and have to put it down. Dumb idea.

Get them one of the numerous wireless presentation pointer mouse
devices. I give ocassional lectures and it's what I use. I don't
like it but it makes more sense that doing curls with a heavy laptop.

>"The other way is to run a cable for the projector, using either the
>VGA cable or NTSC/SVideo coax, and run the internet connection via
>wireless.
>
>Sorry - I'm not following what you meant by "What do you mean by
>running a cable for the projector using VGA cable or NTSC/SVideo coax?"
>How would you use these cables?

It's the simplest system of all. The projector comes with a VGA (15
pin DE9S connector) cable. This goes to the external VGA connector
found on the laptop. Oh-oh... maybe it doesn't have one. Digging...
Whew.... It has a "RGB Monitor Port" which is the same thing:
<http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?seg=HHO&poid=356710&coid=-30603>
Plug one end into the corresponding connector on both ends. Use
wireless to connect to the existing skool wireless system, and you're
done.

The problem is that the cable may not be long enough. The Panasonic
data sheet doesn't seem to mention the cable length. It's usually
fairly short at about 3 meters. Any longer and the image gets smeared
on the screen. There are VGA extension cables up to about 100ft
available. Belkin has one that's 100ft long. However, if the
extension cable smears the image, you'll need some kind of "vga video
extender" or whatever. Something like this:
<http://www.startech.com/Product/ItemList.aspx?MLID=14&WCLID=336&WCID=277&c=US>
Due to the high prices, you might want to try the extension cables
first. With a maximum resolution of 1024x768, my guess(tm) is that
25ft total will be the limit.

>"Adding a 2nd wireless card will also work, but with some limitations.
>Typical web browsing traffic is not sufficient fast to slow down the
>wireless part of the puzzle very much. What will kill it is streaming
>video. Displaying YouTube of Google Video with two wireless
>connections or interference from other in class wi-fi devices is going
>to be a problem. If you put the two wireless networks on different
>channels (1, 6, or 11), then they can run simultaneously without
>mutual interference. The projector and tablet PC will be setup using
>ad-hoc, and NOT infrastructure to get speed and avoid self
>interference. The skool wireless to the internet is on a different,
>non-overlapping, channel. However, if you have no control over the
>skool network, this may not be possible."

>What do you mean by other "in class wi-fi devices?

It means my grammar needs help. Substitute "in the classroom". The
problem is that if there are other wireless users in the classroom,
they will interfere with the connection(s). It will have a much
bigger effect on the wireless video as it uses more airtime and
interruptions are more obvious. You might think that one could ask
everyone to disable their wireless devices, but with the dramatic
increase in devices that have Wi-Fi imbedded (MP3 players, cell
phones, PDA's, etc), I think this would be impractical.

>I think the idea
>will be that no one else in the class with have access (passwords) to
>access the network and slow it down.

That will be a good idea. However, interference from other 2.4Ghz
wireless devices will be a problem. The problem is that wireless
video needs to have almost a totally RF free environment to function.
The traffic is high bandwidth and interruptions are easily visible.
This is not the case with casual internet browsing, where
interruptions are typical, and bandwidth use is much less.

>"Content and DVDs set with DRM (Digital Rights Management) cannot
>be transmitted.Sorry, no movies in class. Unfortunately, that also
>includes
>copyrighted training videos and material. You might want to check on
>this."
>
>How is this possible? What specifically prevents the video from being
>transmitted?

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Rights_Management>
I'm not sure how the rights management works on the Panasonic
projector. I found next to nothing on the topic in the manual but may
have missed something. Apparently, the attorneys are worried that
someone might setup a neighborhood theater and broadcast copyrighted
content to the neighborhood. There's nothing in the projector that
prevents this, but the projector seems to require the Wireless Manager
Mobile Edition 3.0 software installed on the TabletPC. The DRM copy
protection is in this software. I suggest you call Panasonic and ask
the same questions.

>Part of the multimedia carts that we purchased also
>includes a stand alone DVD player. So we could just play the video from
>the player, which is wired into the projector.

Yep. That's the way to do it. Anything the DVD player will play can
be projected. Same with the DVD player in the TabletPC when connected
via a VGA cable. However, it's whether the Wireless Manager Mobile
Edition 3.0 software will allow doing the same via wireless that I'm
questioning. There's an excellent chance that the wireless video
feature might be next to useless.

>Thanks!!!

Read the docs for the Wireless Functionality Guide, under Support and
Accessories at:
<http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=9 7337&surfModel=PT-LB60NTU>

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558