http://www.osnews.com/story/12656/Review_The_Linux-based_Pontis_MX2020_Portable_Media_Player Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:34:06 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://osnews.com/thread?59938 http://osnews.com/thread?59938 Apart from the minor niggles the author mentions there is no ogg support. Think i`ll still go for the GP2X! Mon, 14 Nov 2005 09:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Sauron) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?59941 http://osnews.com/thread?59941 Huh??? Ogg is supported just fine! With or without firmware upgrade. Mon, 14 Nov 2005 10:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?59946 http://osnews.com/thread?59946 What is the screen like? Is it viewable when the surroundings are very bright? How does it compare against existing PDA screens?

Lots of questions about a very important feature :-) Mon, 14 Nov 2005 10:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (evangs) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?59947 http://osnews.com/thread?59947 The screen is not as good as my HP rx3115 PDA. But it's brighter than the Zaurus SL-5500's (all QVGA). Mon, 14 Nov 2005 10:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?59958 http://osnews.com/thread?59958 One question though, it says the Pontis company has been sold. Who is taking care of warranty requests now? Mon, 14 Nov 2005 11:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (apple1984) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?59959 http://osnews.com/thread?59959 Geeks.com supports the device for 1 year, if something goes wrong, not Pontis. Mon, 14 Nov 2005 11:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?59966 http://osnews.com/thread?59966 ...requires Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP Mon, 14 Nov 2005 12:55:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Michael) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?59968 http://osnews.com/thread?59968 ...requires Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP

According to the product description on the Pontis website, Linux is one of the supported operating systems. You can check it out here:

http://www.pontis.de/site_e/produkte/pl_2020_e.htm and then click on the 'technical specifications'.

I'm assuming you'll just mount it like an external hard drive, and you probably won't get to use the shrink wrapped software that comes with it. Mon, 14 Nov 2005 13:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Sean Parsons) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?59969 http://osnews.com/thread?59969 My wife and I just bought matching 30 GB iPods (the new iPod Video unit) this past Saturday (I'm jamming out to some Doobie Brothers on my iPod right now ;-).

Then again, even after reading this, we would have bought the iPods anyway! ;-)Edited 2005-11-14 14:15 Mon, 14 Nov 2005 14:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (DoctorPepper) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?59978 http://osnews.com/thread?59978 and you settled for less. It looks like some nice set of parts for only $199, hard to resist. Anyone take one apart yet, where are the real technical specifications? Mon, 14 Nov 2005 15:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Sphinx) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60014 http://osnews.com/thread?60014 I wonder what the real technical specifications are on this device? Is it runing an Arm7, Arm9, Arm11? Maybe it uses one of portal player's SoCs with dual Arm7s? I would like to know more detailed specs if they are available. It would be nice if it was mentioned in the review.Edited 2005-11-14 17:50 Mon, 14 Nov 2005 17:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (kcox) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60025 http://osnews.com/thread?60025 Huh??? Ogg is supported just fine! With or without firmware upgrade.

I hope you are right about that, but I didn't see ogg in any of the literature or technical specs. Where is this listed?

EDIT: Okay. Next time I'll be sure to RTFA before I open my mouth (keyboard)! Sorry - It's right there in the article - duh!!Edited 2005-11-14 19:28 Mon, 14 Nov 2005 19:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mlmurray) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60027 http://osnews.com/thread?60027 Apart from the minor niggles the author mentions there is no ogg support. Think i`ll still go for the GP2X!

I'm wondering why this post had a score of -2 (I had to adjust the settings to view it, then I voted it back up).

You people do realize the word "niggles" is not a "bad word", don't you? Mon, 14 Nov 2005 19:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mlmurray) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60030 http://osnews.com/thread?60030 I think it uses special microcontrollers, not ARM. The uCLinux in particular is known to support those. Mon, 14 Nov 2005 19:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60034 http://osnews.com/thread?60034 isn't ARM a special Microcontroller? It's used in all the ipods and in most mobile phones, and pdas. Why not here? I suspect it is a System on Chip from some guys like Portal Player, or maybe an asic from Broadcom or something that has an ARM core... o'well. Mon, 14 Nov 2005 19:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (kcox) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60291 http://osnews.com/thread?60291 This PMP seems very interesting, especially pricewise, however I'm wondering: does the fact that it runs Linux provides an advantage to the customer ? For instance, will it make possible to update the PMP with new video formats support or something ? Tue, 15 Nov 2005 10:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (forum) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60371 http://osnews.com/thread?60371 No. Especially because the source code doesn't seem easy to find. Tue, 15 Nov 2005 17:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60426 http://osnews.com/thread?60426 qualify that with, "at this writing", or, "today", and it might be valid. Tue, 15 Nov 2005 19:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Sphinx) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60432 http://osnews.com/thread?60432 Give it time you'll probably see a replacement os project as soon as a few are disassembled, the hardware looks much too nice not to, probably only a cross compile and a few driver changes away. Tue, 15 Nov 2005 19:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Sphinx) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60433 http://osnews.com/thread?60433 Well, I asked for the source code and Pontis does not have it. They just used whatever iUbi gave them as binaries. And the iUbi/Pontis devices are out for more than a year. If iUbi wanted to post their changes/source-code they would have done so, don't you think? Tue, 15 Nov 2005 19:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60434 http://osnews.com/thread?60434 The full hardware specs are not available. You can't port anything to it in the current form. The only solution is for iUbi to post the source code so people can start updating it. Tue, 15 Nov 2005 19:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60506 http://osnews.com/thread?60506 Got Skills? It's only a computer, hardware is hardware, as long as it's not proprietary and even then it can be deduced, really helps if they haven't ground off the part numbers but even then there are plenty of catalogs with pictures. After all we're talking rocket science not brain surgery, all you need is tools, time and two units... Tue, 15 Nov 2005 23:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Sphinx) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60540 http://osnews.com/thread?60540 Hello Eugenia,

I had 2 questions. First, you attached a QVGA (320X240) clip of the Wizard of Oz - but can the recorder support better resolutions? Can it record in VGA (640X480)?

Also, you said the picture viewing was pleasing. Did it take a long time to load large pictures individually? Were large pictures made blurry due to the screens low resolution - or were they "cropped for viewing"? My Iaudio X5L has this problem.

Thanks in advance. Wed, 16 Nov 2005 00:55:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (PolloLoco) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60548 http://osnews.com/thread?60548 No, only QVGA recording is supported, which is what you want for PDAs and for future phones. If you need bigger resolutions you need to get an Archos device instead (the Neuros 442 that I reviewed last week also does HVGA 640x240, but this res is not supported well by most media players and it makes the video look stretched). So, if you truly need big resolutions, either get a Neuros Recorder II (comes out in a few weeks, $150) or an Archos device ($350+).

Pictures are scaled down to fit on the QVGA resolution and they don't look blury. There is a 4x zoom available too. They load pretty fast. Wed, 16 Nov 2005 01:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60551 http://osnews.com/thread?60551 I appreciate the info - your 2 reviews have given me a lot to think about. The detail was great - I was considering those 2 players along with the MSI megaview and a couple others (MacVision MC3007). Wed, 16 Nov 2005 02:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (PolloLoco) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?60779 http://osnews.com/thread?60779 My MX2020 is on order and should be arriving any day. I'm hoping I can upgrade the HD to 40gig...I have a spare 40GB 9.5mm HD available. I plan to use PowerQuest DriveImage 2002 and see what happens. Has anyone else looked at upgrading the HD in the MX2020? Thanks.....(20GB is good but 40GB is better!) Wed, 16 Nov 2005 13:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (guilani) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?61043 http://osnews.com/thread?61043 no, no one tried that. I suggest you don't destroy the warranty of your order. Wed, 16 Nov 2005 21:24:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?61176 http://osnews.com/thread?61176 Can user program recording time (e.g. daily, weekly) or it only allows manual? Thu, 17 Nov 2005 00:45:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (arpa) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?61281 http://osnews.com/thread?61281 Manual. Thu, 17 Nov 2005 07:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?61718 http://osnews.com/thread?61718 If you do try to upgrade the harddrive. See if you can load the iUbi firmware on it. It looks like the interface is still all in english, even though the manufacturer is Korean. Perhaps it will enable the Wifi Fri, 18 Nov 2005 05:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?61932 http://osnews.com/thread?61932 If you do decide to destroy the warranty and do something like this. The IUBI site has a download for the complete CD that comes with the PMP2020. It includes a system resore utility that will format and reinstall everything from scratch. If you do it.. let us know how it works! Fri, 18 Nov 2005 18:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?62492 http://osnews.com/thread?62492 Well, I tried the latest firmware and other than changing logos and whatnot, it appears to be the same as the 1.01 pontis firmware...and no, the wifi and other icon are not working...also the wifi icon now looks like iubi entertainment...I wonder what their plans were for this...unfortunately I don't have a wireless compact flash card Sun, 20 Nov 2005 06:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?62495 http://osnews.com/thread?62495 sorry, iubi channel, not entertainment... Sun, 20 Nov 2005 06:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?63152 http://osnews.com/thread?63152 One benefit of this firmware might be some more improvements, it looks like on the iUbi site they have done quite a bit more firmware releases than the one that Pontis did.

Did the harddrive upgrade work? Or was that someone else Mon, 21 Nov 2005 19:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?63561 http://osnews.com/thread?63561 (this is from the original post-er of HD upgrade...)

No...I haven't tried it yet. These devices take the 1.8" hard drive, not the standard notbook drive of 9.5mm height. Higher capacity brand new 1.8" drives from Toshiba are in the range $100-160. I'll start looking for one on ebay...

TTFN Tue, 22 Nov 2005 20:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (guilani) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?64050 http://osnews.com/thread?64050 I tried the iUbi Firmware and they didn't seem to do much...the latest iUbi one seemed to bring it up to on par with the pre-loaded pontis firmware Thu, 24 Nov 2005 00:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?64060 http://osnews.com/thread?64060 Anonymous, please email me, I would like to discuss about the new firmware you tried. Thanks! Thu, 24 Nov 2005 01:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?64151 http://osnews.com/thread?64151 i am a newbie to pmp. I am having trouble playing some of the avi files on the mx2020. how can you tell rather the avi files was encoded to be compatiable with the pontis?

thanks Thu, 24 Nov 2005 07:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments