Rebirth of the HP tc1100- a few bumps in the road
I mentioned yesterday that I was feeling the urge to get the old faithful HP tc1100 Tablet PC out of mothballs and give it a go. Last night I made good on that urge; I pulled the tc1100 out and started assessing what I needed to do to make a serious run with it.
The tc1100, with its hybrid design, makes it a stellar mobile computer that can handle virtually any task I might throw at it. The keyboard turns it into a full notebook-type of computer and the ability to pop the screen off and carry just the slate can’t be beat.
The tc1100 is currently running Vista Ultimate, that’s what my step-daughter has used since Vista was released and it’s served her surprisingly well. I’m not too happy with the pokey nature of the device under Vista so I’m pretty sure I’m going to be changing that. I haven’t decided if I’m going to restore it to factory conditions with Windows XP Tablet Edition or step up and install Windows 7 on it. I’m going to do some research online to see how many have successfully gone the Win7 route and see what issues that might create.
My short time with the tc1100 has led to the discovery of some problems that I need to solve. The A/C adapter will power the Tablet but will not charge the battery unless the device is off. I left the tc1100 off all night, plugged in, and the battery was 100% charged this morning so I thought the battery was OK but the adapter might need replacing. Unfortunately when I unplugged the device and started using it sans power the battery went from 100% charged to 7% in just 5 minutes. Uh-oh, could be the battery. I have a second A/C adapter and battery for the tc1100 around here somewhere so the first step to solve this is to find those and see how they work.
The other problem I’ve encountered is that I can’t find the XP recovery disks that shipped with the tc1100. I have not used (nor seen) the device for a couple of years (while the kid was using it) and those disks are nowhere I can find. That might force me to go the Win7 route anyway. I intend to get this baby fully up and running and will continue to share this journey with you as it unfolds. One thing I have already discovered: You can still buy these Tablets on eBay for around $300 and they are far more capable than any netbook out there. Of course, you have to make sure you get the real deal on eBay and not junk. There are full accessories for the tc1100 online, too.
Depending what you plan to use it for…. Ubuntu would service you well.
Kind of makes it useless as a tablet though…..
@Gordon ?? i got mine running as tablet in ubuntu…
http://blogs.tech-recipes.com/seamonkey420/2007/12/26/video-ubuntu-710-on-my-tc1100-wtablet-and-digitizer-working/
The problem isn’t that you can’t get the digitizer working in Ubuntu, from what I understand that’s pretty easy. (A liveCD on my Dell XT of 9.04 immediately recognized the digitizer). The problem is there’s no software to take advantage of it. Unless you’re using it solely for very simple notes in xournal, there’s not really much of a point.
I have hovered over the “Bid” or “Buy It Now” button for a TC1100 on eBay many times now. This post makes me wish I would have. But it always seems like the “real deal” for a TC1100 with better specs and in decent condition can still pull closer to $500! Speaking of specs…if one were looking to purchase a TC1100 are there some minimum specs to looks for (processor? RAM? etc)
Happy to copy and send my reinstall disks, just email me.
I managed to get Windows 7 beta running on mine. It worked quite well and required very little hacking to make it work. Google will turn up the hints/tips required to install the Q menu software but other than that it just worked. And worked quite well at that.
I’ve installed Windows 7 Ultimate beta on a TC1000 (not a typo) and it runs quite well — as a laptop. I can’t get the Finepoint driver to work, so no tablet use, yet (Every so often I try to find a work around). The performance is decent, I’ve turned off all the aero stuff (which did work with the default VGA Win7 driver, not with the TC1000’s NVidia driver), to improve performance. If I can’t get the tablet functionality by the time the beta expires — I’ll probably replace with Ubuntu.
Off Topic ALERT:
THE IPHONE WILL GET CUT & PASTE !!!
AND STEREO BLUETOOTH !
AND MMS !
AND MORE…this summer around June…time to party.
And still not compare to what’s exciting about the Pre. :p
Back on topic, I saw one for $210 last night, including the “combo docking station” but no mention of keyboard so I don’t think it includes it, (but if that’s the case I can buy it separately for $50-70), and no OS (preferred for me anyway) and I pulled the trigger.
The ebay I bought it from is giving a 30 day warranty, plus Paypal’s protections, so I feel safe with regards to that.
And as for the specs, 1GHz, 512MB ram, 40GB hard drive. I’d probably have preferred the 1.2GHz, but for the price I saw I couldn’t resist. Anything else I might upgrade later on. Besides that, it’ll mainly be used as a more portable version of my main tablet, a Dell XT and for eBook reading, so the speed isn’t too important.
Hi, i´m still using my tc1100, of course with no battery at all. At home as a good tablet with XP with software of its age, and in my VW Touareg, as a good internet-tv-divx-google maps and GPS offroad´s device. So i can´t see a better use for this incredible HP mini computer. It will be perfect someday when someone sells an affordable solar charger panel that gives the needed juice for slate use outdoors on a weekend. Sure you know what i mean.
Windows 7 runs fairly well on the TC1100. There’s a couple drivers that you’ll need to manually install, but no big issues – except for one: no hardware acceleration with the Nvidia 420M. Gotta turn it off or it bluescreens. No DirectX 9 means you lose a number of other things as well.
I haven’t seen a better form factor for what I use in the mobile world. I’ve had a fujitsu convertible and currently have at Sahara for my work mobile, but neither of them meet the tc100 for it’s flexibility and comfort in slate mode.
I still have my tc1100 running XP at home. It’s my last non VISTA computer. It is also the only one I have at home not run a 64bit OS. It’s the only one I can use for my GPS running watch and Amazon video syncs. I also use it to keep an old Palm alive for my Hood-to-Coast (192 mile relay run) software going (they haven’t come out w/a WinMo version).
I gotta wonder how this compares to the Always Innovating Touch Book thing. Similar form factor and price, regardless of the hardware/software differences…
The TC1100 is a fantastic buy on eBay though, thats for certain.
Dang $300 that is a netbook price. I might have to look into this device.
James;
Welcome back to the wonderful world of the TC1100. Its because of your documented experiences that I got one off eBay. If HP would keep the form factor/design and upgrade to more current technology they’d sell a ton of these.
Under Windows 7 Build 7000 everything except video hardware acceleration and the SD card works (it installs and works until you reboot). You may need to use compatibility mode to install some of the original drivers.
In the forums on GottaBeMobile and TabletPCBuzz its said that HP will send out original CDs for a modest fee.
I’ve been running the Win7 beta on my TC from the first day the release went public beta. Just follow the driver install instructions at techwiki.ca for Vista on a TC; same procedure. All hard and soft buttons will function fine. In fact, I’m writing these comments on my TC1100 running Win7.
Forgot to mention: Windows7 runs significantly better on the TC compared to Win XP Tablet edition and far more “snappier” than Vista business.
Definatly the best OS for this device.
TC1100 and Windows 7 are made for each other,especially after testing the 7057 build. Too bad that video acceleration is not available. Anyway, with the modded forceware 91.47 and 3d acceleration turned off, everything is MUCH smoother than with the 2003 hp drivers. You may use VLC player to watch videos.. Don’t need to watch vi And standby works flawlessly now (that was an issue with the previous builds).
I also had to install wacom pentablet drivers from their site to make the pen work.
Other than that, it’s snappier than ever, and still my main working and studying platform.
Wow, I received my tc1100 today and I mostly love the form factor (more on that at the very bottom) I agree. Surprisingly, for $205 ($230 shipped) I received it in a day, the screen is in perfect condition, and I got a keyboard AND the docking station with it. Now, the only issue is installing any type of operating system, which is made a little difficult by the fact that it appears the DVD drive in the docking station might possibly be dying. (The Windows 7 disc I tried gave an input error. It might’ve been a bad burn or something too, but regardless, I absolutely never use discs anymore though, so that’s not a concern for me once I get an OS installed.
I tried to boot Win 7 off USB, and had issues with that as well, and then as I was starting to get annoyed, luckily I found these instructions to use PXE Booting with a USB drive and it’s installing now: http://mobilepcwiki.com/mpc/index.php?title=HP/TC1100/Windows_Vista_Installation_Notes#Installing_Windows_Vista_without_external_CD.2FDVD_Drive
The screen has absolutely no marks on it, the sides and back of the tablet are a little scuffed up, but no major issues there, and so far its working well. I’m very impressed with it, and it’ll make a very nice second tablet other than my Dell XT.
If I had to come up with one little nitpick though, and it’s not that huge a deal, it’s that the bezel is a little large…
That, and a major one-time annoyance at the form factor that I mentioned above.I was trying to install XP to see if it was the Win7 disc I burned or the drive, and it got to the setup, and then wanted me to hit enter to continue the install. Well, as I’m sure all of you who own one know, if you’ve got the tablet in the dock (necessary to boot off a disc), there’s no way to use the keyboard, so it was impossible to hit enter, so I had to give up on that and use another method.
Oh, and I’m very happy that I got lucky and the included 512 MB of RAM is a single card in the internal slot, leaving the user-accessible one for me to throw in another GB at a later date.
You can use the keyboard when the tablet is docked, try to stuff the thing in the socket in laptop mode and it will eventually fit. And you can press enter in tablet mode as well, just press down the jog dial on the power switch side. NOOB!
Amazing deal for all that stuff! And try harder with windows 7, it’s really worth it. You may want to grab a copy of xp tablet if you want to experience full video hardware acceleration, though.
Hmm, I tried the jog dial to do enter, and it didn’t seem to work. I don’t care about video acceleration since it’s a secondary tablet.
And it seemed like I’d break something if I tried to jam it in there lol.
Anyway, I’m in Windows 7 now, just messing around with the drivers to get it working decently.
Oh, and according to BatteryBar (great freeware mention by the way) the battery is half worn out, which still gives me around an hour and a half. MUCH better than I expected for it used, though if that ends up being an issue maybe I’ll buy a new battery too.
Two other pleasant surprises, I didn’t expect the wireless to be A/B/G, and I didn’t expect it to have Bluetooth, both things that the seller didn’t mention on eBay.
The digitizer feels much different than the one on my Dell XT though, (Wacom vs N-Trig)… though that could possibly be the pen or the nib. It doesn’t seem to recognize as a tap or writing if I glide it over the screen, but I have to put more pressure on it to recoginze. Are the nibs for the pen it came with replaceable? I might replace the pen anyway, because it’s the non-eraser model. The one with an eraser, does that still fit in the normal pen bay?
Do visit the HP forum at tabletpcbuzz.com, the 1100 has been vibrant topic for past year and every question imaginable has answers.
Glad to see more TC1100 users out there. I still have one of the original TC1000 Transmeta beta units I use to ahow pictures off it in my living room. I like the big screen.
So much I went on ebay bought all the different parts and now have a TC1100 for the past several months. I call it my FrankinTablet. I have WIN7 RC1 installed and it runs great. I prefer it over a netbook.
I also have a TC4400 for work.
-ron
just bought a tc1100 on ebay w/ 1gig ram, 30d warrantee 40gig hd, etc. It has Windows tablet but doesn’t come with discs. If I upgrade to Win7 can the touch screen and pen still work?
I’ve been having the EXACT SAME problems.
Out of experience I can tell you NOT to install windows 7, nor vista. I’ve installed them both, and even though vista sort of works, they both lack drivers for the geforce, so all you get is slow, slow, slow video. Even crashing windows 7. I tried installing several less-then-legal versions of xp tablet edition, and I ended up hunting down the original CDs (If you want, I have ISOs. I don’t see a problem since you have a license for them anyhow)
Also, I replaced my pen, which was completely worn down.
The battery problem remains, however. The year of non-usage has somehow killed my batterylife, and it is down to 2 minutes, instead of the usual 2,5 hours I got a year ago, when I last used it. Have you found a solution for this? The problem might be in software – since all sorts of drivers went missing with the several half-assed attempts at a full reinstall, there might be a powermanagement driver which is needed and not installed… I’m going to try and see how long the BIOS screen shows with a “fully charged” battery. If that holds for a couple of hours we know the problem is a software problem somewhere, probably fixed when I do a fresh install with the original CDs (I still need to do this
)
good luck, and if you find any solution to the battery problem (also if youve bought a new one and it works), please mail me. thanks! – michiel
okay maybe im bashing windows 7 a bit, but i really need openGL to work. I’m a 3d animator.
I’ve now reinstalled windows XP from the original CDs, and the drivers from the seperate CD. The TC1100 is back to normal, everything works beatifully, it’s snappy and fast again, and get this: EVEN THE BATTERY WORKS FINE NOW, I get the usual 3 hours out of it!
So your solution is to get a hold of the original CDs, install those, and go from there. Good luck!
hey–try putting your battery in the freezer, just long enough to bring the temp down to around 40degrees… then charge it… this will sometimes bring the voltage up high enough in a low cell to initiate the charging cycle… once a li-ion battery drops below 1V they turn shut themselves down and will not allow charging. This works about 25% of the time.. read up on li-ion tech before attempting this, there are tutorials aon how to revive.
Hey guys,
Here are the recovery discs (torrent). These are legal as they work with your proprietary code. You just need to burn them. Please seed though if you download.
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4509526/HP_TC1100_Restore_CDs
Cheers,
Math
The TC1100 is great espically with windows 7.. Aero won’t work but everything else does… Me and My Friend have one… I have Windows 7 RTM(Final) Running on it and its great… I got 3D accelaeration running and All… Few hacks here and there… And I got myself a nice theme running..
For those who don’t know.. You can get evrything working on the Tablet… just download the Drivers from HP website (make sure it for XP Tablet Edition) and run them in compatiblity mode.. All install right..Except the memory card reader.. .It freezez when i put something in it.. But thats not an issue to me
I have had a TC1100 for over a year and just ordered a HP 2730p for other work. I have been using win7 on my tc1100 for almost a month and the only real problem I have is that when I calibrate the screen the cursor goes insane. I have to plug it back into the docking station to get my mouse working so I can reset the calibration data.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
-Jason
I use XP tablet, no need for Windows7’s superbar and fail gadgets.
World of warcraft runs smoothly in 1024.
Better than a netbook indeed.
hi just thought id add a few things I also have got windows 7 RTm running it is by far the best choice O.S unfortunately for me i got lumbered with the lesser model the 800mhz celeron 1.25gb ram 30gb hard drive, like somebody above said everything works fine well it shud if you follow the link above instructions.
the memory card does hang if the driver is not installed go to hp site and download and run in compatibility mode for windows xp sp3 all shud run fine
as for the O.S i see no issues whatso ever
though if someone could shine a light on a little issue im having: when i enable the wireless in the bios everything works as it shud both bluetooth and wifi but then intermmittently usb device will malfunction constantly untill i reboot which will only do the same thing or if i use the Q menu and disable/enable wireless it stops!!! it must be the bluetooth at fault as the wifi remains active and working? help any 1 can i remove the bluetooth component or just blatently disable it without the wifi too? (i dont want to use USB wifi) thanks
Ubuntu 9.04 works perfectly and i can use the pen, rotate the screen, watch videos, etc…
For writting i use http://www.ubuntix.com/xournal-aplicacion-para-tomar-notas/
I like tux paint for my daughter(3 years old).She really enjoy painting and colouring… in the TC1100 and ubuntu
I’m having the same problem that Mark is having, does anyone have a clue on how to disable just the blue tooth so it doesn’t crash my tablet while the wireless is running?
@ Mark
Ok I think I figured it out. You can’t disable the Bluetooth (or if you can, I haven’t figured it out), but you can uninstall the HP Bluetooth. I did that and it hasn’t crashed on me once yet.