Hey, a comment left by Hugo Leonardo and an email from  Egistec themselves pointed me to a version of Vitakey that works with Windows 7. I still couldn’t get it to work until I uninstalled the Authentec driver (Control Panel > System). On reboot, the biometric was found and reinstalled automatically. I then installed the Vitakey “5″ update from here, rebooted and voila! It’s working!

As Hugo points out, it is actually Vitakey v6.1.46. The Authentec driver that I’m using is: v7.10.1.2.

Hey, I was contacted by someone who has a refurb V5 for sale. Here are the particulars:

“If anyone is interested, I have a newly factory refurbished black V5 for sale.  It has 4GB RAM, and 60GB HDD.  It comes with a new slipcover and a brand new Flybook briefcase ($300.00 value).  I am asking $1500.00 plus shipping.

If you are interested, please contact me at 1-877-248-3627 (W), 1-416-457-7777 (C) or email at patrick@itmedicalsolutions.com.

Thanks Brenda for all of your help!”

My V5 has returned from service (again, a rapid turn-around) and I’m very pleased.

I installed Windows 7 (off the MSDN website) on it last night (new install, not an upgrade) and everything is working except… Vitakey (the fingerprint software). Hmm.. seems like someone warned me about this… The Authentec (fingerprint) driver came through as a Windows update (but just to be sure I tried the beta driver from their site as well), and shows up as working properly in Device Manager, but Vitakey doesn’t find a fingerprint reader. I’ll contact Egistec and see what gives.

By the way, Windows 7 wasn’t aware of the touchscreen. I installed the latest Vista driver from Flybook and that did the trick.

I downloaded the latest Generic 3G Watcher from Sierra Wireless (it’s all black and deadly looking) and that worked fine right off the bat.

But oh dear… should have seen this one coming… with the new motherboard, I got the “no wireless in tablet mode” issue and none of the Vista hacks appear appropropriate for the Windows 7 Registry.

Anyone? Anyone?

When my V5 gets back from service, I plan on rebuilding it with the Windows 7 RTM. Anyone done this already and have any words of wisdom (cautionary tales) for me?

I don’t know about anyone else, but even though that one article in my last post was all I could find on the net, I did find it encouraging to know that Flybook is working on new products. I tried getting more info out of them but they are playing it pretty close to the chest. It does sound like they’ve been putting a lot of effort into R&D and that there are some neat and innovative things coming.

Innovative. I like that.  I wish there were more companies out there willing to float new ideas in products. When I first went looking for the V5, I knew I wanted small form factor, tablet, real processing, and broadband. It was the only unit I could find matching those specs (Fujitsu had something close, but it wasn’t there yet). I realize I might be a niche market, but I appreciate that someone else in the world was thinking along the same lines and actually produced it. Even two years later, they don’t have much direct competition (the Lifebook P1630 comes close once you upgrade the memory and pay to add the Broadband).

Of course, to stay in the game, Dialogue/Flybook can’t be only about a niche market. Or… at least… not just the one niche market. Netbooks do seem to be the answer for a lot of people. If anyone can create the iPhone of netbooks (what we used to refer to as the Holy Grail), I would think this company could. But here is me hoping they have a V6 up their sleeves…

By the way, I’ve also been told I’ll be on their press-release list when they are ready to announce; I’ll post as soon as I hear anything official.

(and if you missed it… my V5 is winging its way back from being serviced… yeah!  Kudos to Flybook service for the rapid turn-around!)

FWS (Found While Surfing):

DTC shows off 11.6-inch Flybook at Computex

Seems Dialogue was showing off a new unit back in June. I assuming from the brief specs that it is some kind of netbook(?) The article suggests an asking price of $400.

I’m not sure I get the bigger netbooks. If I’m going to haul something that large around, I would want it to be a fully functioning laptop (and no, I don’t want to haul something that large around).

That’s Sunnyvale, California  (not Sunnydale of Buffy fame). Recieved a UPS label and insurance document today from Paul at Flybook.com. You can believe I rushed right down to UPS and sent that puppy off. I feel naked without my Flybook.

I’ve spent 20 of the last 30 days in Seattle keeping company with my folks as one of them has been having health isues. (Yes, I was there when Seattle hit 103 degrees… UGH). Towards the end of my second trip out there my Flybook encountered a disaster and now it freezes within a minute or so of booting up.  Boy, you don’t realize how much you miss it until it isn’t there!

I told Flybook not to worry about anything on the hard drive as I’ve been planning to wipe it and install the Windows 7 RTM when I get half a chance. Anyone playing with 7 yet? Hmm… maybe that’s a different post. I also asked if I could get a V5 keyboard installed (the last time it was repaired they stuck a different keyboard on it which was *supposed* to be compatible but ended up with some misguided Function keys).

My flybook was in its neoprene casing sitting on a low table and I bumped the corner and down it went.

It comes up and I can even do about a minute of tasks (like getting mission critical data off of it) and then it locks up – the keys, the lights, the screen, everything locks.

I *think* what is happening is that the fan isn’t coming on and it is overheating. As an experiment, I held it up to a household fan and was able to run it for several minutes before the locking up occurred. The fan remained “stopped” during the entire experiment.

So now to find out… since Memphis closed… where to send the little bugger? I’m going to submit a trouble ticket on the Taiwan website (but if anyone has info to give me, please chime in!).

Due to flamers, I changed the settings on this blog over a year ago so that posts by others are not automatically published. I will use my own discretion in what to publish and what not to (hey, it’s my blog) but I certainly won’t post if the email given is invalid. Please note: your email address does not show up on your post – that is something that only shows up to the blog owner. I am also not in the habit of giving out email addresses to a third party without written permission from the owner of the address.

Thank you so much to Egistec Customer Support who posted comments on the Flyblog today to let us know about the upgrade to Vitakey (which just came out today, so kudos for the timely information). The good news is, it now works with IE8. The bad news, for those of you who used the “protected files” feature – that’s been abandoned and you’ll need to extract your files from the protection before installing and using the new version or you won’t have access to those files.

I have installed the upgrade and it appears to be working well.

You can find the update here. (http://www.egistec.com/download/update-vitakey5.html) (note: this is a 52MB file)

Per the instructions:

Please follow these steps to install the Patch:
1. Unprotect all your protected files
2. Uninstall previous VITAKEY from control panel and reboot PC
3. Install this Patch and follow the steps on screen
4. Reboot PC

I would add to that being sure to check the box to backup you user data file during the uninstall process.

Unlike in the past, you do*not* need to enter your serial number again.

This updated build is only for VITAKEY 5 users which carried the AuthenTec branded fingerprint sensor.

How to check the sensor brand?
1. Go to ‘Control Panel\System and Maintenance\System’
2. Click on ‘Device Manager’
3. Right Click ‘fingerprint coprocessor’ under ‘Biometric’ and select ‘Properties’
4. Find the Manufacturer brand name in the ‘General’ tab

So it is a gorgeous day in Indianapolis and I have a day packed with meetings… sigh. However, I did toss (gently) my V5 in my backpack and cycled to my 8a meeting. Nine  people in the room (my client and *their* client) and the room’s PC (connected to a projector) wasn’t connecting to the internet.  Flybook to the rescue… whipped it out, connected up via AT&T, switched the projector cord from their PC to mine, plugged in their Logitech USB dongle for the keyboard and mouse and we were good to go. Few people even blinked, but hey, *I* felt good about it; these meetings are hard to schedule and the billing rate of the people in the room was sky-high.

Right now I’m sitting in the Starbucks on Mass Ave. taking a break between meetings to do some general web surfing (Flyblog / Facebook / Email / LEED Credentials).

Have I mentioned recently how much I love this little unit? Seriously… best business purchase I’ve ever made. The only con right now is that I would be outside in the sun if   had a unit with an indoor/outdoor screen. Ah well…

Has it really been that long since I last posted? I’m not one to just rattle on to see my own words in print, but I probably should check in with the world now and again. Hopefully, I have kept up with approving posts in a timely manner. I’m annoyed by the whole approval process, but it is necessary as people insist on posting items that are off-topic to my site (not talking about spam exactly – WordPress’s spam cather does a remarkable job with those).

Since the burglary in January, my little V5 has seen some HEAVY usage. I’m trying to remember to do the “run it all the way down a couple of times” routine with the battery at least once a month, but I think I’m starting to see some battery aging – it ran out on me durng a client meeting yesterday (luckily, at the tail end of the meeting). I’ll need to do some testing to see where I’m at on battery life.

One bit of paranoia to come out of the burglary – I do notleave home without my Flybook; not even to run to the drug store on the corner. In my line of work, being without a computer, even for a few days, would be a career killer. It certainly confirms to me that I don’t want a unit that would be any larger and/or heavier. I’m always amused (and, admittedly, irked) by people who complain at the cost of the V5 because they can buy a 17″ laptop for much cheaper… uh… yeah… so? For me, the point of the unit is its size (ok, and the touchscreen). Trust me, I would not be hauling a 17″ laptop to tai chi class!

Looking forward to hearing some announcements out of Dialogue/Flybook… over a year and a half since the V5 became readily available…

When it opens to the main page, there is a long legal thang that pops up. A “Prohibition of Trademark or IPRs Infringement.”

I’m assuming there is a story there someplace.

(btw. DTC stands for Dialogue Technology Corp. )

You know, when you see stuff like that you think… hmmm, wonder if my Flyblog needs a legal disclaimer (which I just added to the About Me page), or hmmm… could anyone take issue with my blog masthead? Tell you what, DTC… if you take issue with my masthead, please tell me and I will immediately replace it. Sound fair? Legal stuff… scary!

Francesco asks:

Hi, does anybody know anything about the upcoming V6, V8 and V9?

Good question! Not that I’m tired of my V5 mind you. Just, you know…. curious…

<grin>

Well, it sounds like Flybook Memphis no longer exists. One reader actually drove to the location but found it all closed up. Another reader is leaving messages at Dialogue.com.tw and not getting a response.

Most of the vendors who previously sold the V5 now have comments up “while supplies last,” “limited availability,” “out of stock.” Not good.

This is really sad… Dialogue has a great product, but they really seem to be having trouble with the business side of things.

For those of you needing support and assistance, I’m afraid I don’t have any answers – I’m in the dark as much as you are.

Update 2009-02-10:

Hey, we’ve heard from Flybook. Roland Pinto sent me an email and would like to sit and talk a bit about where Flybook is going, but as I’m still all wrapped up in the whole burglary thing I’m going to have to put it off for a couple of weeks.

However, Barron of Flybook posted the comment below (but in response to a different blog post). I thought it worthwhile to repeat it here:

Barron, on February 9th, 2009 at 1:11 pm Said:

Hello there to all that have posted questions about our support facilities. Yes, we have decided to close down Memphis.

We are servicing systems out of two places now. One is in the midwest and one on the west coast. Depending on where your Flybook resides, when you request service, it will be sent to one of those two facilities.

Should anyone have any issues or problems with the Flybook that you own, please, send us an email to nasupport@flybook.com and you will get an immediate response from our technical support resources.

Thank you all for owning Flybook as we continue to build and grow our company here in North America. We will also start to monitor this wonderful blog and start to involve ourselves in the blog entries that our wonderful users are leaving. So, please, ask anything and we thank you very much for your love of our products.

Again, long delays between posts. Basically, nothing new to report. Although I do have to mention that the Flybook once again saved the day. While out of town for work last week, my house was burgled. While they got my main computer (ugh), I would be dead in the water without my V5. It’s currently hooked up to a 19″ CRT monitor (yes, you read that right… a CRT that a friend brought from the back room of his office).

Word to the wise – they ransacked the place and found my backup drive (obviously, not so cleverly hidden).  I’m ok, however, because I use an on-line backup system called Carbonite. It’s kind of slow – it took 2 1/2 days to get my 33 GB of data back, but hey… I have it and I’m working . The cost of Carbonite is only $50/year for unlimited data (but they will only back up data and only on internally connected hard drives).

Oh, and I have since activated the bios password and will do so on any future machine.

On the topic of the stupidity of thieves… they took the printer, but not the printer power supply; the 4 year old 17″ widescreen tv (not HD), but not the power supply; the wireless keyboard and mouse but not the communication element/mouse charger. And it isn’t like I had all that much to begin with (they had no interest in the 20-year-old stereo or the 15 year old tv)… I’m thinking, “you risk prison for THIS?” Really??

On the topic of security systems… <grin>

Ok, so I haven’t posted much recently but really, what is there to say? System continues to work great… uh… any questions?

I’m doing a photoshoot of Indiana Underground Railroad sites and it’s one more time when I’m thrilled with the Flybook. I was able to get connected in some of the most remote sections of Indiana.

Personal Computer World has a competition (drawing) to win a free Flybook with a 128GB Samsung SSD drive.

“Competitions are open to residents of the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the Irish Republic. “

I am a very pleased owner of a Flybook V5 (from Dialogue Technology). When I started looking at the unit In July of 2007, there wasn’t a lot of information available. I set up this blog to not only connect with other Flybook Owners, but to provide real-world experiences for anyone else looking into purchasing this ultra-portable laptop. Please let me know if there are any questions I can answer for you, and welcome to the Flyblog!