Weird Surplus Cyberdeck Thing - MobileDemand xTablet T7200
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ย. 2024
- I'm a sucker for oddball computers, so when I saw this gizmo show up at a surplus sale I just had to have it!
The MobileDemand T7200 is a Windows 7 device, running on Intel Atom processor with fairly old specs but lots of accessory options. There are ports all over, an add-on keyboard, pen input, camera, barcode scanner, etc.
I've tried a few things like field programming radios, maintaining cameras and 3D printers, and general tablet "stuff", but still haven't found an ideal use for the thing. If anyone out there has a suggestion for how to use this, let me know in the comments! If I like your idea it might show up in a future video. Otherwise I'll be hoarding this for when I eventually need a handheld tablet with a serial port!
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I still see those mounted to forklifts in warehouse sometimes. That barcode reader can read from quite far!
I think I've seen those used as inventory management tools in grocery stores.
A quick ebaying around reveals this and similar cyberdeck looking industrial computers tend to be called "vehicle-mounted computers/terminals" and are usually mounted to forklifts and inventory pickers, and often have built in barcode scanners. Most of them have fairly potato specs for a PC, with this model actually being modestly high end for those since it's able to run vanilla windows, most use some oddball architecture and windows CE or a custom environment. They're pretty cool looking.
I use to manage inventory for grocery stores, inventory machines just look like glorified calculators
My local grocery store had one of these bolted to a forklift in the warehouse section in the back of the store. You usually see smaller units with a barcode scanner handle and keypad screen on top in the store itself, and these units in industrial warehouse and receiving settings.
@@supahvaporeon I was a receiver at the time
Dear Saint Paul,
Take the cyber deck thing to In-N-Out Burger.
Stand out in the parking lot with a lanyard on it around your neck and pretend to take orders from people in the parking lot. Collect their credit cards and nod your head.
I always come so close to buying random electronic gizmos and niche computers id have no use for, but I never have : (
So cool to see how they function and actually work!
I don't even know where to find 'em. So much cool stuff out there...somewhere.
Tell that to my growing collection of arduino and pis (and equivalents). Needed one for a uni project, now they keep on piling up
We kept about 200 of those around in all three distribution warehouses. They were almost indestructible, most of the issues that we experienced had to do with screens, and or unable to reinstall the operating system. It wasn't very often considering the abuse those things got. Amazingly most people didn't opt for the keyboard. They said it was too clunky and hard to use. Great work horses though. they became obsolete when our erp system got upgraded and the small device software was improved. One thing to mention since it had a full operating system there were several people that never used it as a mobile device but just plugged it into a dock and used it as their work station. Cool beans if you ask me.
Oh and I forgot to plug On Demand. They're not actually fly by night. They continue to have a substantial business when it comes to practically indestructible data collection devices.
That form factor is exquisite. Even if it was fully dead you could use it as part of a sick cyberpunk con fit.
I like your SDR idea. I think that would be a perfect use for this device.
Bought several mobiledemand tablets for the agency I worked for a decade ago. They were pretty much bulletproof for the six or seven years they continued to use them. Heavy, but in a pleasantly chunky way.
The outdoor brightness was a big selling point, as our staff were working in remote locations in direct sunlight.
Edit: use case was data collection / data entry about industrial equipment in a large area with some significant environmental (heat and water) concerns. They ran a custom application that made using stylus entry easy.
I think it looks WONDERFUL.
If there was a pre-Star Trek Enterprise TV series.
This might fit right into it.
☮
I didn't even notice that, it's extremely Star Trek-ish.
Some Stargate SG-1 vibes, for sure.
Im agreeing with a lot of other comments here, the touchscreen + pen would probably make a good car SDR, since it also has a keyboard. Big plus is that as you said in the video, you can diagnose radios also. Although if its heavy maybe a small laptop is just better. But it does have major nerd factor! Which is a big plus in my book
It'd be very handy for calibrating your moisture vaporators and keeping an eye on your Astromechs / Gonk droids around the farm...
Gonks are such a hassle. At least, we have the audible Gonks so we have a chance of figuring out where they wandered off to.
Yes. The neuron farm at least
Why did the farmer hire a Gonk droid? Because it had the perfect talent for "crop" jokes!
The fact these are actual words with sound sentences is crazy, we live in the future.
I had one of these for when I worked for Dish Network. It was to have customers sign paperwork and bring up jobs.
Back Emden I had my laserdisc collection, this thing would be perfect, Scan barcodes, store them in a database, easily peruse and track collection. Great home media inventory tool for sure. I could see this prefect for a small brick and mortar vinyl store
I was thinking the same for keeping track of my tools, bits, and consumables, in my garage, and workbench area. It might also do ok with programming my quadcopter, while I'm doing test-flight, in the field.
Reminds me of the old Microslate computers. These are data terminals used for inventory control. Many times they are custom made for individual companies that want custom equipment. If you could find the proper drivers it might run faster. Still have my Microslate computer but it runs Windows 3.1 or DOS which is not a problem considering I used it for programming radios that used DOS programs, ENJOY THE TOY!
I Picked up an older version of this in a flea market. Ran windows 98, 40GB platter HDD. Upgraded it to XP! Mine had been used in a long haul truck. Very heavy but pretty cool to have an XP tablet in 2002. Mine was a different brand, but similar button layout and chassis.
I'm more impressed by the screen than anything. Reflective as in it reflects light and works well under direct sunlight vs transmissive as in it transmits light through LED so it works in low light. I've never seen a screen that's both.
Great machine. Had one for years. Give us the link to the place you got it. I would get one. Whatever you want to know about, just ask.
Thanks! I think it was a one-off auction of a closed business. When I got there they just had boxes of stuff in the back of a storage unit and they couldn't find the power supplies for anything. Only had one of these things and the rest were generic office PCs.
As for the serial cable: windows can't recognize them, as there is no pre-defined "identity" commands or something, its all fully custom by the manufacturer of the device you plug into. With USB devices identify themselves in a standardized way even without drivers, so windows can look up drivers for that device ID.
Oh boy that moment you feel nice to be watching ❤
What do you want on your Tablet sir?
*EVERYTHING*
Sometime, TH-cam does things right, like showing me that video and that channel.
This looks like an impractical, overbuilt where it does not matter, under developed where it should, piece of waste of space...
I love it with all the fibers of my being.
thank you for your video
It's definitely impractical and kind of annoying to use, but it's still fantastic 😂
7:11 That's the definition of a specialized tool ^^
I remember back in the late 1990s/early 2000s returning rental cars at the airport, and the agents had those for checking the car back in, etc.
looks like something warehouse staff would use to check inventory.
It was the "Raspberry Pi 7" forming in the minds of humanity.
An interesting tablet PC, you can still do a lot with it. I'm excited to see what else you come up with. A wooden 3D printer, that's something new for me. I'm seeing it for the first time.
It looks like a cool movie prop. Like a UI for an atomic missile 😮
I think I've seen that in a delivery company. It wasn't one of the big ones, but more a local delivery company when the city was too large for bicycle message carriers.
Channel is so wholesome tbh
Useful for industrial sensors motion and vibration
Crazy this thing is made for windows 7. This almost seems like a prototype for a panasonic CF-U1, which came with windows xp.
I’ve seen Verizon employees in (actual stores) use tablets that are similar to that one. They use the tablets for scanning barcodes, looking things up online, looking up customers accounts, signing them into appointments and so on!
That thing really is super cool
Crawl out through the fallout baby! Make this into a pipboy!
I feel like when i was working at Walt Disney World Parks they had cast members would pick random guests to do surveys with guests about how their experience was at the park. They used a lanyard and propped it on their waist to carry the weight.
Now I'm picturing Donald Duck pulling out a tablet and asking some 6-year-old for statistical monorail data 😛
This is an amazing cyberdeck. Use this as an OBD car reader so you can diagnose your car or see live temperatures and engine speeds.
I would load up a live Linux distro on a usb and run modprobe. It would be interesting to see what results this kicks out to be cross referenced. 🐧
Oooh! It would make a cool SDR!
My god, it's beautiful.
It would make a good prop for a movie. Very blade runner.
Fun fact, "Wacom" is actually pronounced "overpriced" in American English and "overrated" in British English
Ive seen these in warehouses and in the field for various companies they used to always have that stuff before the newer touchscreen phones and tablets.
It definitely looks like its designed for use in a warehouse or industrial environment with purpose build software to use all the hardware buttons so super niche so no wonder they didnt keep making it
2:39 if it's 2.5" there is hdds that size, for laptops, even if you don't see them much anymore. And there is smaller hdds but they can get really expensive since they are pretty rare
Man i love this thing!
I'm sure you already know this, but just in case. If you can't 'reach' the close window button in Windows to close a program - just press 'ALT' + 'F' which will open the file menu, and then either use the curser keys to select 'Exit' or hit 'X'. Virtually every Windows program since Windows 3.11 will have this.
I bet this would be great at a library for tracking books.
Perfect for autocom and or vida dice or such OBD 2 car diagnostic
Combine it with a flipper zero, put linux on it, and add a few esps to the mix and I see a lotta use for pentesters.
We already make cyberdecks with most of these features as it is.
Would pay for something like this with an sbc internal, upgradable/modular IO and better buttons.
Now I'm convinced you're a decker...
My initial thoughts was that this is a rugged, mobile tablet for field technicians. The design lends itself to the rugged aspect (in case it's dropped) and the ports indicate that it is intended for a variety of I/O devices. It probably wasn't designed for a specific use case, but depended on the customer to install their own software. I'm interested in whether or not the screen itself is a rugged display though.
I'm not familiar with that specific model, but tablets of that kind are frequently used in warehouses and factories for running ERP software. It allows you to make inventory adjustments and complete shipping processes without having to carry around a full size laptop, or do it on a tiny scan gun type device.
I love seeing weird computers. I bet it'd feel so awkward trying to play a video game on this thing!
seen them used in trucks for electronic logging.
Extract the drivers with double driver and try Windows 10 😂It's always funny seeing Windows pop up in places you wouldn't expect!
Good prop for a sci-fi, military or spy film.
this would be great for tuning cars
Saw these being used for retail-inventory years ago.
I used to go down that old tech rabbit hole... especially back when I was on a limited budget... I eventually learned that I ended up spending more money and wasting more time. Like in this example a cheap celeron netbook or a windows tablet with a full sized USB port would have been cheaper, faster, easier and better.
However... can you imagine this on the set of an Aliens movie...
For my money, the best use of this would to set it up in your man cave and have it monitoring your IP cameras. Or since it is easy to view outside it could be a funky car media player using one of many car media player front ends.
Love all the vids keep em coming !!
May could use it for Software Defined Radio.
Yooo you could use it as a parts inventory system. You could put barcodes on trays and boxes. You could add a datasheet and picture database. You could add a markings lookup box.
used one of these exact devices when I was a cable tech
it probably has an intended use as an outdoor inventory scanner.
I buy weird rugged electronic devices like this whenever I see a cheap on on eBay. It's become a bit of an obsession.
Looks similar to inventory management hardware I used working at supermarkets, obviously supported by the barcode scanner.
Tricorder project?
Could you drive a satellite antenna rotator via the serial port?
Maybe! I have some more serial port things on the to-do list.
For radio, you can plug an SDR and show the spectrum, while pointing/customizing an antenna maybe ! this could be useful if the antenna is on the roof.
That is a pretty sweet tablet for radio/sdr work with the satellites.
I know the PERFECT use for that beautiful computer!!! I don't know if you like video games or not, but there was this guy who created a 6-8kb version of game called No Man's Sky and that game is called, "Low Mem Sky." It would be so cool to play that on your Droid friend there, especially if you can map each button to a different function in the game. Press the yellow button to open inventory, blue button to access fuel for biohazard suit, etc, etc.
Thats what I'd do, video games X)
I haven't heard of that one, could be fun!
Definately a pip boy! Great find.
This looks like something i'd use with an ir camera attachment in a ghost hunting video 🤣🤣 way too specific but itd be fun
It looks useful as an OBD scan tool
They are still around, still making new stuff. But that being said I had to support them for a warehouse environment.
This is for field work for industry. Usually with a proprietary OS for specific applications.
That kinda reminds me of my Xybernaut MAV
Would be interested in hearing how well Linux would run on this. This feels like it would be a nice little device for Pen testing.
Use it to take invintory of all of your spare parts, intigrate a bar code system, shipping &receiving, walk around Walmart scanning things & walk straight into the back eat someone's lunch & leave .
I think my company had something like this for field work a few years back.
4:33 for a second I thought it was Cody mining in his father's/grandfather's mine (Codyslab)
I like following Cody's mine, I was hoping he'd do some tunneling at Chickenhole base, but it seems like his sandstone is harder than ours.
Looks great 😸
Looks like it could have a military use for soldiers in the field.
Get hold of a black Crown Vic. Wear a suit. Park up in front of a friends house tapping away on that, close enough to be seen but far enough away that they can't see your face. Should make a good prank. 😁
i fucking LOVE your beard, man
wow thats really cool actually
ATAK installation and/or field guide for flora & fauna? That's what I'd use it for (both) as an offline field tool.
I need to find something just like that for programming radios on the go, my a few of my Motorola's still use serial cables, if only it had a better keyboard.. Might have to look into one though
I'd just get an old thinkpad - if you want more of a tablet style, get one of the yogas that you can fold the screen over backwards and put it in tablet mode
632: yeah, usually called transflective. A few better windows tablets had that for a time, especially for the rugged ones, but had an option even for non-rugged ones too, like Fujistu-Siemens Stylistic series. Great for readability, atrocious colors, so probably that's why we no longer see it sadly.
Drone controller.....WINTAK terminal with an external GPS......Terminal for portable digital HF......see if you can add an SDR USB to track ADSB while portable......Yeah I can think of some other radio and tactical stuff to do with it.
Looks like it would work for running the targeting system on your gigawatt laser project.......
Phonicks Sheriff: come here often?
This is fuckin' beautiful! I need one!
Use it for a toilet tablet.
You know all that technical fanciness that would make a nice prop for a costume
Throw Kali on it and turn it into a Great hack/SDR box.
It is for inventory control.
This Thing clearly was build for a a Warehouse, beeing able to acces SAP in the actual Warehouse instead of running Back to the PC and fix stuff
Yo, this is sick
Saw this video in my recommended for no reason and misread "17 hours ago" as "17 years ago"
Ha, I don't think the tablet is even that old! This would have been a pretty sweet rig in 2006!
Wonder if or how well WSJT-X will run on it to do FT8 other digital modes. Might make a good field computer for playing radio.
isnt this pretty much the perfect pc for music youtube and such for on your boat
since it is somewhat waterproof and also has a great screen that is usable in direct sunlight .
also there is way to use a pc as a chartplotter too so there you have it a couple actually useful ideas for it
It might work for the boat, although I've had some trouble getting certain software to install.