October 20, 2004
12:26 AM
It's late, I'm tired, and sick (it's the flu) - but I'm on a roll so at least one more entry for tonight. I recently purchased a Toshiba M205 Tablet PC. Despite being assured that it "supported" bluetooth - it didn't. After many attempts to configure the bluetooth drivers I disassembled the tablet only to find an empty space where the bluetooth module should be. Now don't I feel stupid having reinstalled XP SP2 at least 3 times. So began my quest to discover where I could buy the module, and how much it would cost. Scene 1: The Toshiba website. PA3235U-4BTM: $152.90! Ouch!! Scene 2: Tablet PC Buzz (the plot thickens). Thats right, the only difference between the "BLUETOOTH MODULE KIT - Portege 3500 only - PA3235U-1BTM" for $83.60 and the "BLUETOOTH MODULE KIT - Portege M200 - PA3235U-4BTM" for $152.90 is the installation manual! "That must be some manual!" he said to himself. Fortunately a kind soul had already scanned and uploaded it to Tablet PC Buzz. Yes, I too smell some unnecessary price inflation. Even $83.60 sounds ridiculous. Scene 3: eBay. What's this? A Tecra M1 bluetooth module (PA3235U-2BTM) for $5 with only 2 days left? Bid. Win. Scene 4: The postman arrives. Thats a big parcel for a bluetooth module the size of (wait no, smaller than) a 20c piece. Oh, fortunately they included 5 - 30 page installation manuals for the Tecra M1. Disassemble. Install module. Reassemble. Turn on. "New USB device detected"... sigh. Well it all works. Toshiba 0 : Doug 1.
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