Winterm Wireless 2930

Wyse's new windows terminal is awireless and keyboardless wonder

A lot of products come and go through the Windows NT Magazine Lab. When we receive a product that grabs our attention, you can be sure the productis unique. Wyse Technology's Winterm Wireless 2930 clearly falls into thiscategory because it is the first device we've seen that offers mobile,keyboardless access to existing DOS, 16-bit Windows, and 32-bit Windowsapplications.

With the Winterm Wireless 2930, you can walk around your office buildingwhile you gleefully cruise the Web. Medical professionals can use the terminalto update patient information as they make rounds in a hospital. Quality controlengineers can use the terminal to track production in large manufacturingoperations. Anyplace you want computer access but cannot reasonably put acomputer is a good place for the Winterm Wireless 2930.

To deploy the Winterm Wireless 2930, you must build a supportinginfrastructure using the following components:

You can buy these items individually, or you can purchase a starter kit fromWyse that includes a terminal, a wireless hub, a copy of WinFrame, and theCruiseConnect software.

Putting the Piece in Place
I evaluated Wyse's starter kit, which included the Winterm Wireless 2930, aProxim RangeLAN2 Access Point (model 7520) wireless hub, and version 1.6 ofWinFrame with five user licenses. The CruiseConnect technology is integratedinto the Winterm Wireless 2930 (no setup or configuration required) and comes ona CD-ROM for the server side of the link.

The first step in deploying the Winterm Wireless 2930 is to installWinFrame on a server. Wyse does not modify the WinFrame software it provides inthe starter kit--you can use an off-the-shelf version of WinFrame 1.5 or 1.6.WinFrame is based on Windows NT Server 3.51, so make sure you install it on aserver that contains components, such as video adapters, that NT 3.51 supports.I overlooked this point and ended up swapping out my network and video adaptersfor NT 3.51-friendly adapters. For additional information about WinFrame, seeMark Smith, "Thin Is In," September 1997.

Installing WinFrame is as easy as installing NT 3.51, although you need totake a few extra licensing steps. After you install WinFrame, you must applyadditional WinFrame Service Packs (SPs). Never install Microsoft NT SPs on aWinFrame system, always use the WinFrame SPs that combine the NT SPs withWinFrame-specific modifications. Wyse provides documentation on which SPs you'llneed, and includes them on CD-ROM.

If you plan to use the Winterm Wireless 2930 in an all-IP networkenvironment, forget it. The current combination of the Winterm Wireless 2930,the wireless hubs, and the CruiseConnect software rely on IPX as the networkprotocol. (Wyse Technology claims that as of this writing, TCP/IP has replacedIPX.) Under the Wyse wireless network design, the WinFrame server uses theService Advertising Protocol (SAP--part of the IPX protocol suite) to broadcastthe server's availability on the network. The Winterm Wireless 2930 picks upthose broadcasts to identify which servers are available.

I connected my WinFrame server to a 10Mbps Ethernet network. I enabledsupport for both TCP/IP and IPX. I didn't need the TCP/IP protocol for theWinterm Wireless 2930, but I wanted the manageability that comes with TCP/IP(e.g., support for ping, FTP, Simple Network Management Protocol--SNMP). At thispoint, I had to install the CruiseConnect software on the server using theWyse-provided documentation and CD-ROM. This operation was painless anduneventful.

After I had the WinFrame server in place and humming, I moved to the nextstep--installing the wireless hub. The Proxim hub I received in the starter kithooked into my Ethernet network with ease and supported connections within a500-foot radius. If I needed additional coverage, I could have deployedadditional hubs in overlapping zones. The Proxim hub supports IP and IPX, so youcan integrate into an IP-managed network. However, because I was using only IPX,I ignored the IP configuration of the hub. In a real IP network, you want to atleast set up the IP address of the hub so you can manage it as part of your IPnetwork. Because I could ignore the IP configuration of the hub, all I had to dowas connect the hub to my network and a power source, and turn it on.

Cruising the Lab with the Winterm Wireless 2930
With my infrastructure in place, I picked up the Winterm Wireless 2930 andturned it on. The terminal is 9.8" tall and 10.6" wide and weighs 3.2pounds. It's a lot bigger than a palmtop but a lot smaller than a laptop. TheWinterm Wireless 2930 runs off a NiMH battery for up to 3 hours. Protectiverubber housing runs around the edge of the unit, so if you drop it, it mightsurvive. (I did not try this drop test.)

The Winterm Wireless 2930 felt comfortable in my hands when I walked aroundwith it. Using it on the fly requires a skill set similar to using a clipboardon the fly. So if you can't write on a clipboard while you're standing, chancesare good that you won't be able to use the Winterm Wireless 2930 either.

The display on the Winterm Wireless 2930 is a VGA-compatible LCD screensimilar to a screen on a laptop computer. Note that I said VGA and notSuperVGA--the difference between the two display implementations is importantbecause VGA limits you to 16 colors; you won't be walking around with theWinterm Wireless 2930, admiring photos you've scanned in. (Wyse Technologyclaims that a 256-color client software upgrade will be available by the timeyou read this review.)

The Winterm Wireless 2930 includes a stylus to simulate onscreen mouseclicks. The left side of the terminal includes a number of push-button controlsthat you can use to configure the unit, control the display brightness andcontrast, activate the onscreen keyboard, change between right and left-clickmouse emulation, invoke two macro key functions, enable and disable sound, andput the terminal into sleep and suspend mode.

When you turn on the Winterm Wireless 2930, it searches the network forcompatible servers. If you installed your infrastructure correctly, you will seethe name of your WinFrame server appear. Simply use the stylus to select a host,and press the Connect option. The Winterm Wireless 2930 will then connect to theWinFrame server, and the next thing you will see is the WinFrame logon screen.You can log on by activating the onscreen keyboard and pressing the appropriatekeys, or you can preprogram your username and password into the macro buttonsand press them to log on.

Once you're connected to the WinFrame server, using the Winterm Wireless2930 is just like using a Wyse windows terminal, except you don't have aseparate keyboard. Because the stylus emulates a mouse, you can press it to thescreen to simulate a right or left mouse click. When you need to press specifickeys, just pop up the onscreen keyboard and press the keys you need. I could notfind any keyboard or mouse activities that I couldn't simulate on the WintermWireless 2930, but some operations were clearly easier than others.

For me, the best test of the Winterm Wireless 2930 was when I downloadedInternet Explorer (IE) 3.0 for NT 3.51 and cruised the Web. The Winterm Wireless2930 provided a very natural interface to the Web--I could touch the stylus to ahotlink to move forward, or I could press Back to go back.

I would love to have this terminal nearby for Web access--you can hold itin your lap, sit back, and cruise with Web with grace and ease. However, I wouldnot use the Winterm Wireless 2930 for word processing or spreadsheetapplications because keyboard-intensive applications are not a good fit withthis technology.

A Wyse Future?
While I was using the Winterm Wireless 2930, I kept thinking of cheesyscience fiction movies where someone reads a newspaper on a digital tablet orone engineer presents a digital tablet for another engineer to look at. I washolding that device in my hand--I could use the Winterm Wireless 2930 to readUSA Today via the Web, to run Performance Monitor, or to access anyother application on my WinFrame host.

The Winterm Wireless 2930 impressed me. I recommend it for any mobileapplication that has minimal keyboard interaction.

The Winterm Wireless 2930 does not pose a threat to traditional desktopcomputers--then again, traditional desktop computers pose no threat to theWinterm Wireless 2930. These two different types of devices are designed fordifferent applications. I'll never write a review using this terminal, but I'llnever put my desktop computer in my lap to cruise the Web. My universe certainlyhas room for both types of devices.