National Semiconductor WebPAD 1.5 User Manual

© 1999 National Semiconductor® Corporation www.national.com

WebPAD™ 1.5 System User’s Guide

Confidential

Nov 1999

Revision 1.0

WebPAD™ 1.5 System
The Ultimate Internet Personal Access Device

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GXLV Processor

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System consists of three pieces:
—Tablet
—Base Station
—Cradle

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9.5x11.75 inch tablet with interactive 10
inch DSTN screen (800x600 color)

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Weighs 3.25 pounds

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Preloaded,preconfiguredsoftware. Just
power up and use.

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Familiar Internet browser user interface

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Allows user to select and access
“Favorite” web sites

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Wireless operation
—Transmits over a 2.4 GHz radio

frequency signal

—300 feet range from base station

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Battery operated
—3 hours of active use

Speaker

Internal Microphone

LED

User Defined Button 1
User Defined Button 2

Power Button

LED

Scroll Pad

Cradle

DC Power

Headphone
Microphone
USB Port

Speaker

External DC

Reset Button

Stylus

USB Port

National Semiconductor is a registered trademark and WebPADis a trademark of National Semiconductor Corporation. All other products mentioned herein are trademarks of their
respective owners and are hereby recognized as such.

www.national.com 2 (Confidential) Revision 1.0

Table of Contents

1.0 UserInterface.....................................................4

1.1 GRAPHICALUSERINTERFACE .............................................4

1.1.1 QNXMenuButton ..................................................5

1.1.2 RFLinkTaskBox ...................................................5

1.1.3 VirtualKeyboardTaskBox ............................................5

1.2 LEDS ...................................................................5

1.3 BUTTONS ...............................................................5

1.4 RESETBUTTON ..........................................................5

1.5 APPLICATIONS ...........................................................6

1.5.1 TouchScreenCalibration .............................................7

1.5.2 Terminal ..........................................................7

1.5.3 VirtualKeyboard....................................................7

1.5.4 LinkStatus ........................................................7

1.5.5 MediaPlayer .......................................................7

1.5.6 RealPlayer

® ..................................................................... 7

1.5.7 Email ............................................................7

1.5.8 News ............................................................7

1.5.9 Browser ..........................................................7

1.5.10 LowBatteryWarning ................................................7

1.5.11 DECTMonitor(DECT-basedsystemsonly)...............................8

1.5.12 InternetDialer(DECT-basedsystemsonly) ...............................8

2.0 SystemConfiguration ..............................................8

2.1 BROWSERCONFIGURATION ...............................................8

2.1.1 Browser>Cache ....................................................8

2.1.2 Browser>Fonts .....................................................8

2.1.3 Browser>Colors ....................................................9

2.1.4 Browser>Network...................................................9

2.2 BUTTONSCONFIGURATIONOPTIONS ......................................10

2.3 RADIOCONFIGURATIONOPTIONS .........................................11

2.4 SOFTWAREIMAGEVERSION ..............................................11

3.0 FavoriteSitesWindow.............................................12

4.0 Setup and Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

4.1 SETTINGUPAWEBPAD1.5SYSTEM .......................................12

4.1.1 Dect-basedBaseStation ............................................12

4.1.1.1 SetupGuidelines ..................................................12

4.1.1.2 WebPAD/BaseStationRegistration....................................13

4.1.1.3 UsingTheSystem .................................................13

4.1.1.4 AddingaNewDial-upAccount .......................................13

4.1.1.5 LoginScripts .....................................................13

4.1.2 802.11-basedAccessPointBaseStation ...............................14

4.1.2.1 SetupGuidelines ..................................................14

4.1.2.2 UsingTheSystem .................................................14

4.1.2.3 AddingaNewDial-UpAccount .......................................14

4.2 TROUBLESHOOTING .....................................................14

4.2.1 Tabletwillnotpoweron .............................................14

4.2.2 RFlinkisdown....................................................14

4.2.3 Receivedanerrorwhentryingtobringupawebsite ......................15

4.3 USINGTWOORMORETABLETSFROMTHESAMEBASESTATION ..............15

4.4 REALAUDIO/REALVIDEOCONFIGURATION ..................................15

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Table of Contents (Continued)

5.0 UpgradingTabletSoftware .........................................15

5.1 REMOTEUPGRADES.....................................................15

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WebPAD™ 1.5 System User’s Guide

1.0 User Interface

The WebPAD™ system’s tablet user interface is simple
and easy to use. It consists of an interactive touch screen,
scroll pad, and several user-configurable buttons. Speak­ers and a microphone are built in. Additionally, two ports
have been added to the side of the tablet to allow for con­nectivity to USB devices (i.e., external keyboard, head­phones, external microphone, etc.).

The main way to interact with the tablet is through the
touch screen. Links and menus are accessed by touching
the screen directly over their titles. Additionally, the touch
screen is sensitive enough to allow for handwriting recog­nition software to be used as a means of inputting charac­ters. The touch screen on the tablet works w ith any type of
pointer, from a stylus (included) to the simple touch of a
finger.

All of the buttons on the tablet, including the scroll pad,
are user-configurable, except the power button. The user
can change the definition of the buttons by entering the
system configuration mode (see Section 2.0 “System
Configuration”). Some of the buttons suggest clearly
defined operations, like the scroll pad, but the definitions
are changeable.

To input text, whether for an email, search criteria, or to
enter a URL, a virtual keyboard is available. The keypad
works the same as a normal keyboard and is accessed

from the QNX menu button or the Vir tual Keyboard task
box at the bottom of the screen. The user touches the
screen just above the desired key and the letter appears
next to the cursor.

1.1 GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE

When the tablet finishes booting, the graphical user inter­face (GUI) is started, as shown in Figure 1. The GUI con­tains a window area and a task bar. The background of
the window area contains an application launcher. Touch­ing either the icon or button beneath the icon invokes the
desired application. When applications are invoked, their
windows reside in this area.

The task bar contains a menu button and boxes for each
of the tasks currently running. The menu button is labeled
“QNX” and offers the user another method of launching
applications. To use the menu, touch the QNX button and
then the desired application.

Two tasks are initially started up when the tablet is booted:
RF Link task and Virtual Keyboard task. Touching any of
the task boxeson the task bar brings that task’s window to
the foreground (See Section1.1.2 “RF Link TaskBox” and
Section 1.1.3 “Virtual Keyboard TaskBox”).

FIGURE 1. Application Launcher Screen

QNX® Menu Button

Invoke
Email Reader

Invoke
News Reader

Invoke Web Browser

RF Link Task Box Virtual Keyboard Task Box

Task Bar

Window Area

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WebPAD™ 1.5 System User’s Guide

1.1.1 QNX Menu Button

Touch the QNX pop-up menu button to view the menu of
available applications. To invoke an application, simply
touch the name of the application.

1.1.2 RF Link Task Box

The RF Link task displays the status of the radio link and
battery. Selecting the box on the task bar will invoke the
Link Status application (see Section 1.5.4 “Link Status”),
showing the user the strength of the radio signal from the
base station, the amount of charge left on the battery, and
the operational status of the link to the base station (“RF
Link Up”) or not (“RF Link Down”). Refer to Section 1.5.4
“Link Status” for more details on this task.

1.1.3 Virtual Keyboard Task Box

Touching the Virtual Keyboard task box invokes a soft­ware keyboard which allows the user to interact with the
system. The soft keyboard is the main method of entering
URLs, responding to emails, etc.

1.2 LEDS

The tablet contains two LEDs (one amber and one green).
The amber LED is on the left side of the tablet, just above
the two user-defined buttons. It is a charge indicator. If the
LED is on, the battery is fully charged. If the LED is blink­ing, the battery is being charged. If the LEDis off, the sys­tem is running off the batteries.

The green LED is on the right side of the tablet, just below
the power button. It is a status indicator. If the LED is on,
the tablet has been powered up. If the LED is blinking,the
batteries inside the tablet are low on power. If the LED is
off, the tablet has been powered off.

1.3 BUTTONS

The tablet has seven buttons:

• One power button

• Two userdefinable buttons

• Four buttons that form the scroll pad
The power button is in the upper right hand corner of the

tablet. To turn the system on, simply press the power but­ton. The system will remain powered on until the button is
pressed again.

The two user-defined buttons are on the left side of the
tablet. These two buttons can be configured by the user to
perform a variety of operations. The initial settings of
these buttons may vary,so the user should verify the initial
settings of the buttons before they are used (see Section

2.2 “Buttons Configuration Options”). Pushing both user­defined buttons at the same time invokes the touch screen
calibration application. See Section 1.5.1 "Touch Screen
Calibration" for details on this application. If the applica­tion configured for a particular button is running when the
button is pressed, the application is aborted. This includes
pressing both buttons to abort the touch screen calibration
application.

Scroll pad buttons are also user-defined. At their default
settings, the buttons are used to scroll around in web
pages. Pressing one of these buttons will scroll the screen
in that direction. The user can reconfigure these buttons
but it is not recommended. These buttons have a built in
repeat function, therefore, if they are reconfigured, the
function may be initiated multiple times with each press of
the button. Refer to Section 2.2 “Buttons Configuration
Options” for details on configuring the user-defined and
scroll pad buttons.

1.4 RESET BUTTON

The tablet also contains a recessed reset button, located
on the left edge. This button is used to perform a hard
reset to the system. This will put the system into a known
reset state. This should only be used if all other attempts
to remedy any problems have been exhausted.

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WebPAD™ 1.5 System User’s Guide

1.5 APPLICATIONS

Applications range from a web browser and email reader
to MediaPlayerand touch screen calibrator. Each applica­tion has its own function.

Table 1 summarizes the available applications and their
access mechanisms. The subsections that follow provide
descriptions of each of the applications.

TABLE 1. Applications Summary

Application Path/Command Access Mechanisms

Touch Screen
Calibration

/usr/webpad/bin/calib Terminal window

User-defined button, if configured
Pressing both user-defined buttons, simultaneously

Terminal /usr/photon/bin/pterm QNX menu: Terminal

User-defined button, if configured

Virtual Key­board

/usr/webpad/bin/keypad QNX menu: Virtual Keyboard

Ter m inal window
User-defined button, if configured

Link Status /usr/webpad/bin/alert QNX menu: Link Status

Ter m inal window
User-defined button, if configured

MediaPlayer /usr/photon/bin/mplayer QNX menu: MediaPlayer

Ter m inal window
User-defined button, if configured

RealPlayer® /usr/photon/bin/rvplayer Terminal window

User-defined button, if configured
Web browser if user establishes a RealAudio® and

ReadVideo® link

Email /usr/webpad/bin/cmail Application launcher

QNX menu: Email
Ter m inal window
User-defined button, if configured

News /usr/webpad/cvoyager-u www.dejanews.com Application launcher

User-defined button, if configured

Browser /usr/webpad/bin/cvoyager Application launcher

QNX menu: Browser
Ter m inal window
User-defined button, if configured

Brightness &
Contrast

/usr/webpad/bin/bright_contrast QNX menu: Brightness & Contrast

Ter m inal window
User-defined button, if configured

DECT Monitor
(DECT sys­tems only)

/usr/photon/bin/Monitor QNX menu: DECT Monitor

Ter m inal window
User-defined-button, if configured

Internet Dialer
(DECT sys­tesms only)

/usr/photon/bin/dialer QNX menu: Internet Dialer

Ter m inal window
User-defined button, if configured