FYI, the Flybook Taiwan Member’s Club is listing several new drivers (dated 2007/12/10) for the V5 including the following (for Vista):
Audio Driver 6.0.1.5497
Display Driver 7.14.10.1329
Bluetooth 5.1.0.186
56k Modem Driver 7.47.0.50
LAN Driver 6.198.1003.2007
Note: while there is a new Touch Screen Driver for XP, the one for Vista is dated 2007/04/13
There is also a new ChipSet Driver (8.3.0.1013) with the text “the version information of “Onboard ChipSet Driver” can not be read by Windows O.S. So we use the file name to differentiate the version.” Uh… it appears they do that for all of their drivers… anyone know what they are talking about here?
Now the things is… I’m having so much trouble with the recent Vitakey upgrade that I’m wary of installing any of these (“if it ain’t broke…”)
Don’t supposed anyone else feels like taking them for a test drive…?
Update 2007-12-12
Wow, they have added even more drivers:
WWAN Driver and AP / HSDPA model Bootloader / HSDPA module firmware (applies to both XP and Vista) also dated 2007-12-10:
3G WAtcher: R2.0.0.3 Build 1437; Bootloader: H1_1_4_0MCBT; Firmware: H1_1_8_3MCAP
Flybook Utility ver 2.4.0.25 2007-12-10
adds Fingerprint button??? Ok, I’m curious… how do you add that to the Flybook Utility (I’m assuming that’s the Flybook Control Panel?). It also says “compel wireless to turn off in tablet mode to follow FCC – only in North America” – uh… I sure hope that means it times out or something – it would really suck if it wouldn’t do wireless while in tablet mode (??)
Update 2008-01-26
Added a “V5 Vista Drivers” Page (tab at top of blog) to track updates
Newt's Flyblog 
I’m game for this…. I was planning to do a fresh clean out of my vista drive soon anyways, what harm could it do 🙂
Will let everyone know in the next few days, I’ll do one at a time.
Great! Looking forward to your report.
They always seem to sneek these upgrades in right after I check their website (haven’t checked in a few days). I’ll install the upgrades but I am a little leery about the whole shutting off wireless in tablet mode (stupid FCC – what difference does it make?!?). I’ll let you know what happens.
The only thing I can think of is that it has to do with the fact that you usually hold it in your hands when you have it in tablet mode… radiation exposure???
Or… maybe it now has one “button” on the Flybook Utility that turns off all wireless antennas? Like the physical button that you have access to when in clamshell mode? I could live with that… but the way they worded sounds like wiress turns off when you swivle the screen around and that would just not do. I’ve sent off a quick email to Patrick at Flybookus.com to see if he has the skinny. If not, it sounds like Rob and Tom are willing to be test subjects.
Here’s how far I’ve gotten guys.
In this Order
Video – Without a hitch, no problem at all – Had to reboot.
Chipset – Again, no problem, no reboot required.
Audio – This one was weird. When you run the installer, it tells you it’s going to remove the old Drivers. Ok Fine I thought. It removes them, requests reboot, and advises to run the setup again once reboot is complete.
When I rebooted, vista automatically re-installed the old drivers (New Hardware Found), and when I ran the setup again, it had to remove the drivers again. This could’ve been a vicious circle.
If you do this, run the audio setup as soon as your computer reboots, don’t let the add new hardware wizard do its work.
Then I had to reboot again. WLAN is next.
Wlan = no problem as well. It removed the old software, installed the new software, and I didn’t have to reboot.
Thanks for testing these out (and the tip with the audio driver). Do you notice any difference post-updates? Are you going to do the HSDPA firmware and Flybook Utility updates? Patrik of FlybookUS.com was going to try to talk to the people in Taiwan about the Utility update on Friday, but I haven’t heard back from him yet. He’s very good about getting back, so I assume he doesn’t have info yet.
Here’s the latest – installed all of the updates.
Installation issues:
When I installed the audio update it did indeed remove the old drivers and have me reboot. But when it rebooted the “automatic” windows installer popped up before I could stop it. Apparently though, it searched through the files I had on my computer and installed the updated drivers from my new audio download instead of old ones. Then I went in and ran the setup program again and it installed without asking to remove the old drivers. So, long story short, it appears to have installed the update without my having to stop the auto-installer on reboot.
Had some issues with the 56K modem installation. I ran the setup program and nothing popped up – just my harddrive clicking away. Then after several minutes a notification window popped up stating that it may not have installed correctly and I could either select that it did install correctly or I could reinstall with recommended settings (whatever that means). Anyway, tried it a couple of times with the same results so I finally just selected to install with “recommended settings”. Everything appears to have installed correctly and I checked my driver version in device manager and it does indeed display the new driver version so I’m guessing that it installed ok. I don’t have a dial-up number to test it out with but it appears to be working correctly.
I think everything else went ok essentially without a hitch or only minor hiccups. Just remember to extract all the zip files you download before trying to install them.
Performance Issues:
So after I installed the updates I have noticed the following performance enhancements. I can definitely confirm that the voice quality when using the phone is better – both with a bluetooth headset and with the speakerphone. There’s not nearly as much echo as there was before and it generally seems to sound a little cleaner on both ends when in a phone call. And, you can finally switch between bluetooth headset and speaker phone while in a call! They’ve been claiming you can do this ever since I got the Flybook but I’ve never been able to get it to work until now. Unfortunately, it still does not seem that the Flybook can use all the functionalities of a bluetooth headset as a true bluetooth headset. By that I mean that with a regular phone, you can ususally use certain button presses on the bluetooth headset to redial the last number called, answer a call by pushing the “main button” on your bluetooth headset, and hang up a call by doing the same. You still cannot do this while using a bluetooth headset with the Flybook – have to manually click on the phone buttons on the 3G Watcher program. I had e-mailed them about these issues a while back (in addition to numerous others with the phone functionality of the Flybook) but sadly it does not seem that they’ve fixed this (which is sad because it’s not a hardware issue – just a matter of a programmer writing the correct code to use these functions).
I will say that the bluetooth audio is MUCH better. You can finally listen to music with a pair of bluetooth headphones without ANY skipping in the audio. Before it was like pulling teeth to get a song to play all the way though without skipping, even in “middle quality” mode. Now, you can play in “high quality” mode without any skipping (these are options that become available when you pair a bluetooth headset and then click on its properties). It’s possible that the audio in general is a little louder and less “tiny” but haven’t used it long enough to know for sure.
Haven’t noticed much difference in display quality or functionality with the new display drivers. Same thing goes for WLAN.
The only difference I noticed with the 3G Watcher program is that you can finally delete the default data settings it assigns and it stays deleted. For example, the default data settings it came up with for my AT&T connection were wrong. I had to manually create a new profile with the correct settings and then it would connect. However, each time the 3G Watcher program was restarted it would still try to connect with the default profile (even though I had deleted it during the previous session) so I would have to go in again and click on the profile I had created to connect. With the upgrade the profile I created is the only one available so it automatically uses that profile to connect. I never did have any issues with the CHAP/PAP thing like they talk about fixing with the update – I always had the option to choose between CHAP or PAP authentication so I’m not sure what was upgraded there. Other than that, 3G Watcher is the same minimally functional program it always was (they could do so much more with this and really make the Flybook a usable phone – enlarge the keypad for touch dialing for one).
Now for the most disappointing part. I did go ahead and install the new Flybook Utility program and the new WWAN drivers. First of all, the firmware version that they claim is an upgrade for the WWAN is the same firmware that I already had installed so I don’t know what they’re talking about there. I will say that I think I may have 1 or 2 more bars of signal strength than I used to with the upgrade. IT DOES, HOWEVER, CAUSE BOTH THE WWAN AND WLAN TO TURN OFF IN TABLET MODE. As soon as you flip the screen and lay it flat both wireless functions turn off and you can’t turn them back on until you’re in laptop mode again. This is the silliest thing I have ever heard of – it’s OK to use WiFi or Cellular functions if it’s a laptop but not if the screen is turned around?!? What’s up with that? The FCC in the US has got to be one of the dumbest organizations of the US government (not that some of our other branches are too bright either). So, being very disappointed by this, I figured I would just uninstall the upgrades and go back to the way it was (when it didn’t matter which way the screen was facing in order to use WiFi and make a call). BUT IT DIDN’T WORK! Now, my Flybook is in permanent FCC lockdown in tablet mode. I think it would take a complete reinstall of Vista in order to take it back the way it was. I’m not sure which driver update was the one that made it this way but simply unstalling the updates and reinstalling the old drivers/programs does not fix it. SO, I figured hey, what if I’m in Canada or Europe where the stupid FCC doesn’t exist and want to use my WiFi while in tablet mode? I went into my regional settings in Vista and changed my location to Canada and rebooted and still no dice – WLAN & WWAN still turn off in tablet mode. DARN YOU FCC!!!!! I sure hope Dialogue fixes this issue with the FCC. I intend to write Dialogue and tell them just how unhappy I am about this.
As far as the Flybook Utility program goes the only thing that’s different with it is there’s a Fingerprint button now just above the CAM button. When you click it it just opens up the VitaKey control panel (big whoop).
Well these are my observations so far. I let y’all know if there’s anything new I find out.
TOM! Thanks for giving this one a go, I was a little nervous when I read about “compell wireless/wwan to turn off in tablet).
How computer savvy are ya? I’d like to know if you’re wireless works outside of windows when you change to tablet mode, this way we can tell if its the flybook software doing it, or if it actually fully changes the firmware :).
Try and ubuntu live CD. It should pick up your wireless, you don’t have to install anything, just run the live cd, and see if you can connect. I’d love to assist, if you need anything, just let me know. I run Ubuntu on mine, and I’m loving it… the only thing I can’t get working is the touchscreen, camera, and fingerprint reader, but there is someone out there working on drivers for us!
Rob –
Downloading the iso file now. By the way – do you know of any free or free trial software that can read an iso file and make a disk from it. I tried several but couldn’t really get them to work right except for Nero (but it’s a huge app and only comes as a free trial version). Once I get it downloaded and make the CD I’ll reboot and let you know. I’ve seen the talk about Ubuntu and people trying to get it to work right on Flybook but have never used it before or had any experience with it.
I’ve got this for ya…. I’ve never used it before, but looks to be pretty good.
http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm
Where can I get a driver for the radeon display for Xp. Recently downgraded from Vista but can find adriver to alter display resolution.
Thanks
Here in Italy we have the same problem. Dialogue TW has released a new version of FBCCenter, after my feedback, but new version NOT solve the problem. I sendt another feedback to Dialogue Tw. I think that previous version of FBCCenter patch the firmware of the WLAN/WWAN module or patch the BIOS. Any news will write here. Bye to everyone. Mauro – Sanremo(ITALY)
I know that’s a problem in US but….Flybook TW wrote as a note in new version of FBCCenter, “Fix: turn off wireless in tablet mode to follow FCC standard in all area (V5)” ….FOR ALL COUNTRY!!! All areas ws affected!!
I SOLVED !!! With these steps:
1) Uninstall old FBCCenter (2.4.0.25)
2) Install new version (2.4.0.33)
3) Reinstall WWAN Drivers and Firmware
4) Reinstall WIFI Drivers
Wireless, now, DON’T shutdown in tablet mode and worjing fine….in ITALY…
Bye.
Mauro – Sanremo (ITALY)
I tried the solution of installing the newer flybook center but then nothing work. it still cuts off my wireless in tablet mode. Are there any work arounds?