Earlier this year, I finally took the plunge and joined the growing crowd of PDA owners when I purchased an iPAQ 3765. Over the past several months, it has become my constant companion, both in the office and in my personal life. What's most amazing about the iPAQ is that it is quickly becoming a general-purpose computing platform. "Home base" is still my laptop, but the iPAQ is its major satellite.
I owned a Palm several years ago. It was too limited for my taste. I stored my Rolodex in it, and attempted to keep my schedule in it, but it never replaced any of the other low-tech tools in my life. I still carried a paper notebook to most meetings. The Palm quickly became excess bulk to be carried around, so I stopped using it years ago.
The iPAQ, though, is truly mobile, not just portable. It integrates tightly enough with my main desk-bound environment that I can get rid of my paper notebook, but it has enough computing power and expansion capability to be more than a paper replacement. The iPAQ has been a success because it's a small, general-purpose platform that happens to have been brought to market as a personal organizer. I don't think we've fully begun to appreciate the effects of widespread devices with such a high power-to-weight ratio, but I see it more clearly every day. Need a wireless analyzer? The iPAQ is a powerful handheld platform to build on, and it's easily portable, which makes a great deal of sense for wireless network tools.
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Spreading the computing power of so many StrongARM chips far and wide will make the world a much different place, but I'm drifting away from my original purpose, as you might guess from the title. My iPAQ is as important to me as my laptop these days, and I keep discovering add-ons that make me more beholden to it every day. The newest arrow in my computing quiver is Margi Systems' Presenter-to-Go card, which turns my iPAQ into a serious presentation tool.
Sometimes, you do something really embarrassing, and the whole world knows about it. One of the problems with public speaking is that the audience can easily see your flaws, and they tend to be projected onto big screens so that nobody will forget them soon. (Least of all you.) I just finished up a seminar series on wireless security, which was threatened early by my own packing incompetence.
For the first seminar, I walked out the door of my house without the AC adapter to my laptop. I had intended to put some final touches on my presentation on the plane on the way to the destination. As it turns out, I got to the airport early and started fiddling with my slides at the gate. With about 15 minutes to go before boarding, I rifled through my case looking for the AC adapter to top off the battery.
That's when I realized the AC adapter wasn't there, and I'd just cavalierly used a whole lot of battery power keeping the screen nice and bright while editing my presentation, even though I really didn't need the brightness. Audiences are usually pretty forgiving, but I didn't want to test the patience of a large group of people by ending my presentation at whatever point the battery would happen to run out.
After a brief moment of panic, I pulled out my mobile phone and dialed my hosts to see if they had an AC adapter. Unfortunately, their standard laptop is a Toshiba, and my laptop is a Dell, so they couldn't help me out with an AC adapter. They did, however, offer to work on tracking down a loaner laptop for me. I finished off my presentation and saved it onto a USB flash disk for easy transfer. My situation was now the stuff nightmares are made of. Showing up for a presentation without electrical power is not as bad as showing up without pants, I suppose, but it's definitely up there.
Now, I have to go on a little detour. As part of my seminar, I'd planned to show off a PocketPC-based wireless network analyzer. Many people use Microsoft's Remote Display tool for Windows desktops, but I have always been frustrated by the update speed, especially for applications you would like to see in real-time. I went looking for better solutions, and decided on Margi Systems' Presenter-to-Go card, solely for the ability to do display. I considered other solutions, but I knew that I needed to retain the ability to display "live" data that might be gathered with a sensor on a PC Card, so I couldn't opt for a format that restricted me to one slot in an iPAQ expansion sleeve.
Sitting in the airport lounge, I realized that the Presenter-to-Go was more than just an external display tool. It includes software that will compact PowerPoint presentations into a form useful for display on the iPAQ, and I had all the components installed and with me in the airport. I also had an AC adapter for my iPAQ, which I could use during the presentation. (Since the iPAQ cradle charges it, I'm free to stash a second adapter in my bag, where it doesn't get left behind on trips.)
To make a long introductory anecdote shorter, I processed my presentation with Margi's software and gave a successful presentation the next day. After the formal question-and-answer session, I received almost as many walk-up questions on the Presenter-to-Go as I did on wireless LAN security!
In the box, you get the Presenter-to-Go card, a VGA dongle and gender adapter, software for both the iPAQ and your desktop, and an infrared remote control. The card is available in several common form factors, and the one you pick depends on your PDA and its expansion options. I bought the PC Card version, but it is also available as a Sony MemoryStick, a Secure Digital (SD) card, both type I and type II CompactFlash (CF) cards, and as a Visor module.
The card functions like a second video output, and is controlled from the software on the iPAQ. Having a separate video controller is advantageous because the VGA port can display at a separate resolution from the 240-by-320 iPAQ screen. The controller on the Margi card can display images at resolutions up to 1024-by-768 with 8-bit color (256 colors). According to Margi, the Presenter-to-Go will display in color, even if you have a black-and-white iPAQ, but I wasn't able to test it. You connect the card to a video port with an included dongle. The kit comes also comes with a second video cable so that you can connect to either male or female video ports.
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| Figure 1. The Presenter-to-Go PC card and dongle. |
With the included IR remote control, you can control the slide show through the PDA's IR port. The remote uses the PDA's IR port, so if you don't have an IR port, the remote does not help you. Plus, the range and performance of the remote are limited by the PDA vendor's design decisions. Most IR ports are designed for short-range PDA-to-PDA transfers or PDA-to-desktop synchronization and consequently have a relatively narrow cone in which IR is received.
Three software components are included. On your full-blown desktop or laptop, you install a PowerPoint plug-in and printer driver that create compressed versions of presentations for use on the PDA. The PDA gets the Presenter-to-Go application that reads and displays the compressed presentations, plus the Mirror application, which displays the PDA screen through the video port.
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The biggest strengths of the Presenter-to-Go come from the underlying PDA platform. PDAs are attractive because they start instantly, and eliminate a fair amount of waiting that is generally required while setting up a presentation. I can pull out my iPAQ, put the card in the expansion slot, and be off and running in less than a minute. (Try doing that if booting a laptop is required!)
The obvious plus with the Presenter-to-Go is the ease with which it integrates with PowerPoint. After a painless initial software installation, I was able to convert my slides from PowerPoint into the Margi format in seconds, and transfer them to the iPAQ. The procedure is simple. Margi adds a plug-in to PowerPoint, so all you need to do is click on the plug-in to generate the compressed slide show. Margi also adds a "printer" to the system that can create a slide as output from any Windows application. Once a presentation is created in the iPAQ presenter application, everything you would expect to see in the slides is there. My animated slide describing the WEP frame processing stayed intact and worked exactly as it would on a laptop. The only sign that the slides were not being presented off a laptop was the iPAQ sitting on top of the projector.
The Presenter-to-Go card is a second video controller that is independent of the primary system video controller. It is capable of displaying the presentation externally at resolutions up to 1024-by-768 with 256 colors, even though the iPAQ screen is much smaller and may not even support color. While you are displaying the presentation to the external video port using the controller on the card, the iPAQ video controller is free to display something else. You can use it to display a compressed bitmap of the slide currently being projected, or you may also use it to display the speaker's notes. While I appreciate the theory behind this feature, I have been unable to use it while standing in front of a crowd without a podium, since I tend to walk around a fair amount when I talk.
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| Figure 2. Presenter-to-Go in action on the iPAQ. |
Plus, the Presenter-to-Go software is much easier to control than a general-purpose laptop. Unlike the increasingly complicated video drivers packed into today's laptops, which can display on multiple monitors at different resolutions and refresh rates, controlling the external video signal is easy. You go to the settings, and pick the resolution and refresh rate. You can even let the Presenter-to-Go card detect the monitor's settings and adapt appropriately. The cleaner handling of video signals alone saves me a great deal of hassle before presentations.
Some people may note that the Presenter-to-Go requires a supporting expansion pack on the iPAQ, and call that a disadvantage. I consider it to be an advantage because it preserves the flexibility of the computing platform. Frequently, I need to show off an application running on the iPAQ, which may require a supporting card. At the time I purchased it, only the Margi card was able to coexist with a second PC Card supporting a second application during the presentation. As a result, I can use the included Margi Mirror application to display the PocketPC screen on an external monitor, while using a second card to support the application I am displaying.
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| Figure 3. Presenter-to-Go in mirror mode. |
The remote control is a great idea, especially for a presenter that wanders around the stage a lot. I tend to move around a lot when I talk, so it's relatively common for me to be advancing a slide when I'm nowhere near the projector or my laptop. Many LCD projectors attempt to address this by including a wireless "mouse" that passes through the projector and into the PS/2 port on the presentation machine. I've always had poor luck with them. Different laptops behave in different ways when an external mouse is connected. In the best-case scenario, both mice work. In the most common scenario, one or both do not work. In many cases, I've found that it just isn't worth the effort to attempt to figure out the mouse control. Bundling an integrated remote that just works with the software is an excellent idea. It's a second way that Presenter-to-Go cuts way down on presentation set-up time.
My biggest complaint is with the remote. By relying on the PDA's IR port, the remote is subject to trade-offs made by the PDA vendor. As a result, the range of the remote with my iPAQ is short and limited to a very narrow line of sight. In my presentations, I've found that the remote is limited to a few feet. If I'm within one step of the PDA, it generally works well. At a range of two steps, I can generally get the command recognized in a few tries. At three steps, I generally need to move closer. The vertical sensitivity is also quite limited. At one presentation I gave where the iPAQ rested flat, I resorted to pushing buttons on the iPAQ to advance slides. At times, there can be quite a lag between commands that are received and the desired action. Fortunately, the software places a small red dot in the corner of the screen when an IR command is received, which helps minimize sending duplicate signals. The red dot also tells you when you're just not pointing the remote correctly.
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| Figure 4. The remote control is a good idea, but unfortunately, it doesn't have much range. |
I've hated dongles since they first showed up on Ethernet cards. Dongles are fragile and easily broken. I'm especially conscious of the Presenter-to-Go VGA dongle because of its size and the weight placed on the dongle by the hanging video cable. In most cases, you'll be able to support the weight of the cable by placing the PDA on the projector or on a table so the cable rests on something solid, but that can make it hard to demonstrate software to the audience. Whenever I need to use the Margi Mirror to demonstrate software on the iPAQ, I have to remember to support the dongle with my hand, which can be awkward for long periods of time. Some reinforcement would be much appreciated.
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| Figure 5. The expansion pack on the iPAQ. |
The dongle also keeps the PDA stationary. More than anything else, I'd like to use the PDA as my own crib sheet during the presentation. If the PDA has a dongle and must remain attached to the projector, I need to keep looking over my shoulder at the screen, and the ability to read speakers notes on the PDA while projecting the presentation loses a great deal of its luster. It would be much better for me to keep the PDA, and thus the slides and speakers notes, in my hand at all times, and use the PDA to control something closer to the projector.
In theory, the card supports VESA DDC (display data channel) communications to automagically discover the maximum resolution and refresh rate and adjust accordingly, but I found it to be problematic, especially when switching between the Presenter-to-Go application and the Mirror application.
I'm hoping to see some improvement in the remote control in the next iteration of the product. Clearly, the factory-default IR port makes unacceptable trade-offs for a presentation remote receiver. One obvious suggestion would be to include an "IR dongle" in addition to the video port, so Margi's engineers can build a remote that is far less persnickety about aim. While they're messing around with the remote, I'd like to request a second change. I tend to use a laser pointer for explanations of complex technical slides. It's yet another thing for me to forget. I'm hoping it would be possible to integrate a laser pointer into the remote control so it's the only thing I need in my hands.
As an alternative to building a better remote, give me wireless display capability, so that I can use my iPAQ as the remote, controlling a base station that sends video into the projector. (That would also make the speaker's notes more useful, since I'd have them in front of me, and I wouldn't need to glance over my shoulder to look at the slides.) As it is, I get a large number of questions simply because the solution is so out of the ordinary for a presentation. If there was a solution that could send the screens to the projector wirelessly, well, that would make a vendor the talk of the conference, right?
This is an excellent product for anybody who presents frequently. I use both a laptop and an iPAQ, and as I learn more about the iPAQ, it becomes my first choice for more tasks. It is instantly available when I want it, far more portable and less demanding of my shoulder, and it provides nearly all of the mobile functionality that I previously relied on a laptop to provide. The iPAQ doesn't provide the full power of a laptop, but it provides much quicker access to the set of functionality I need when I'm away from my desk. Margi's Presenter-to-Go gives me one more reason to leave the laptop behind.
Matthew Gast works in the Office of the CTO at Trapeze Networks, where he works on product architecture and industry standards. He is a voting member of the IEEE 802.11 working group, and serves as chair of 802.11 Task Group M. At the Wi-Fi Alliance, he chairs the Wireless Network Management marketing task group and the Security technical task group. In 2007, Matthew was a founder of the OpenSEA Alliance, a group which supports the development of open-source network security solutions. He currently serves on the engineering steering committee and on the organization's board of directors.
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