[Wymoba] popular works of handheld computers the normally evolved "Sigma Marion II"

Last time, I introduced the popular work of handheld PC, "Sig Marion" ([Waimoba] popular handheld PC "Sigmarian"). As predicted in its report, this time I will introduce its successor model.

Hit by the first generation, pure orthodox evolution. Inherited the roof with the characteristics of working with zero Halliburton, the portable body size of 189x107x27 mm (wide × deep × high), the "accidentally blind typing" bond spacing of 14.1 mm, a sense of fitness of about 50,000 yen, and evolved hardware and software at the same time.

The master and CPU changed from VR4121 to VR4131. The architecture changes from scalar to superscalar, and the correspondence of branch prediction and parallel execution of instructions become possible. In addition, the clock has been raised from 168 MHz to 200 MHz. The bus changes from a subset of the ISA bus to a subset of the PCI bus, and the manufacturing process is greatly refined from 0.25 μ m to 0.13 μ m.

By the way, the VR4131 installed on the Sigmalion originally has a maximum driver of 250 MHz and has the performance of 425MIPS in Dhrystone2.1 testing. However, the actual VR4131 becomes a 200 MHz action in order to restrain power consumption. Even if you try to do it, you can really feel the performance improvement from Sigmalion.

Beside the point, the same Excel only starts in the environment, the scroll key continues to let when the 200 lines scroll during the period, Sigma é on scrolls 168lines. This is the result of clock difference.

At first glance, the appearance does not seem to have changed much, but in fact it has changed in subtle places. The body color has changed from glossy silver to slightly yellowish satin silver. Traditionally, the CF card slot has some expansion in place, but it is completely flat. In addition, the ROM replacement cover has also been cancelled.

The battery has changed from 7.2V/1500mAh to 7.4V/1800mAh and is no longer physically compatible. The terminal for FOMA connection (essentially USB) has been added in front. Although we don't know without trying to decompose, the grounding of loudspeaker and LCD has changed from the previous cable connection to a simple spring connection.

Prepare 16MB's built-in flash memory, which is also the evolution point of II. However, in the standard state, users can not fully use this capacity. Among them, including independent editing software "MP editor", mail "MP mail", transmitter "custom menu" and other parts of the independent application, as well as the Japanese input system "ATOK Pocket" custom data, the capacity that can actually be used is about 4MB.

Of course, if you don't plan to use these, it doesn't matter to delete them all, but if you only get the ontology like the author, if you delete all the content without backing up, you will never come back, so you need to pay attention to it.

The monitor has changed from 65536 colors to compatible STN LCD to the same HPA LCD. HPA is an acronym for "high performance addressing", which improves contrast and responsiveness by improving simple matrix liquid crystals. Although we don't pay much attention to it when we only use it, if we use it together with the original generation, we can see that there are fewer residual images. Having said that, the perspective is still very narrow, and it is not a level that can withstand animation playback.

Despite such a big change in hardware, what hasn't changed is the keyboard, which can be replaced with the first generation of Sigmalion and II. The author also got the first generation and II, the II is more yellow, the appearance is not good, so try to install the first generation keyboard on the high-performance II. But the II first battery life is closer, can not drive the battery for a long time, the result is that the replacement is very painful.

As the substrate of the machine is fixed on the keyboard surface, the size of the substrate and the position of the threaded hole remain unchanged and can be misappropriated. However, as mentioned above, because the voltage of the battery is different, the bottom surface that matches the slot of the battery is different. In addition, as mentioned above, the connection method of the loudspeaker and the position of the infrared terminal have also changed, and it seems difficult to replace outside the surface of the keyboard.

OS uses the "Handheld PC2000" platform based on Windows CE3.0. Web browser has almost the same function as "Internet Explorer4.0" facing PC, with increased expressiveness. in addition, the pre-installed Windows Media Player, supporting the playback of MP3 files, also replaced the popular single-function MP3 player at that time. On the other hand, the Pocket Word/Excel/PowerPoint/Access icon of the office suite has changed, but version 3.01 remains the same.

The strengths of the first generation are inherited and brushed, but weaknesses are also taken over. This is the hinge of the liquid crystal part. The so-called liquid crystal hinge generally reminds people of the hinge (hinge) structure, but the liquid crystal side of the Sigmalion hinge is such a structure, that is, the hexagonal enclosure of the lid on the liquid crystal side directly surrounds the rotating hexagonal bolt.

The problem is that due to the insufficient strength of the shell, the liquid crystal cannot be fixed because it is broken due to repeated opening and closing of the liquid crystal. Therefore, the current second-hand trading of Sigmalion/ is mostly liquid crystal can not be fixed angle of junk products.

In fact, the author used to pick up the hinge damaged Sigmalion during waste recycling in the company, and searched for repair methods on the Internet. The so-called practice is to decompose everything temporarily and strengthen the ring of the hinge into putty and resin and so on.

The hinge and chassis have been improved in the significantly changed "I", but I because the operating system has become Windows CE.NET Ver.4.1, there is no Word or Excel installed, which cannot be said to be a handheld PC defined by Microsoft. If it had improved from the first generation, it would not have appeared as junk in the second-hand market, nor would it discredit the face of handheld computers.

Fortunately, the torque of the hinge is not very strong in the Sigmalion obtained this time, which may be the reason why the hinge bracket has not broken 16 years later.

The size of the substrate is basically the same as that of the first generation, but the mounting parts are of course different. However, most of them are covered by welded copper plates, so it is difficult to analyze them in non-destructive way.

"VRC4173" is a companion chipset for VR4122 (VR4131 in this machine) and is connected through the PCI bus. Built-in LCD driver and audio, touch function, 96-key keyboard controller, USB controller and PC card controller. 15.7 million transistors are integrated in three layers of aluminum wiring in the 0.35 μ m process. However, in this machine, instead of using VRC4173's LCD driver, we use the 2D accelerator "MQ-200" made by MediaQ.

Under the copper plate on the back of the CF card slot, NEC's "Orca" series is hidden. Although no information can be found on this point, it may be used as a connection interface with mobile phones and PHS. Under the coin on the other side, the feeling of a little peek seems to be the VR4131 that hides the heart and the SDRAM made by Mitsubishi.

On the other hand, the nonvolatile memory and the melon flash memory are installed in the form of a daughter board. The former is the "μ PD23C128040L" produced by NEC, which is the same as the first generation. The latter is the "TV58128FT" produced by Toshiba, which is a rewritable NAND EEPROM.

In this era, the main semiconductors of domestic devices are almost all made in Japan, which is unimaginable for PC and smartphones today. For the writer who dreamed of becoming a NEC employee when he was a child, I hope he can do it again before he knows it.