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Home / I-Opener Areas / I-Opener General Posts rotating screen to portrait view does anyone know how to do this?

rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) grendel Profile I am running linux and win98se on my iopener and I was thinking it would be much more convenient for viewing web pages, typing papers, etc. if the screen could be rotated 90 degrees to 600x800 (rather than 800x600) to "portrait" mode, and then mounted sideways. I've found a program for windows called Pivot that is designed to do this for portrait monitors, but I doubt it was designed to work with the cyberblade drivers I'm using, and being the cheapo that I am I really don't want to shell out the 40 bucks for it. Does anyone know of a program for either win98 or linux that can do this? I'm a relative linux newbie (learned on my iopener), so maybe there is simple way to do this in Linux that I don't know about. I've searched the threads looking for this, but I haven't been able to find any relevant posts. Maybe I'm using the wrong keywords. I apologize if this question has already been answered, as it seems like a pretty obvious improvement to me, given the relatively small size of the iopener's screen. Thanks in advance for any help. 09-23-2000 17:15:51

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) beatniks3 Profile I have been following this forum for some time and I don't ever recall anyone suggesting this. This has potential. I used to have an Ibm thinkpad 730t. It was a tablet 486 that used a pen instead of a mouse. I remember that I switched from regular view to portrait view (under win95) by switching the values in some configuration file. I don't remember exactly what needs to be done, but I know that you can do it without buying the software you mentioned. Try searching for web sites with info on the 730t. I'll try to find my old bookmarks and post if I find the page. A note on using portrait view: Not every program likes the switch, and you might have to play with font size to make it look right, but it really does make more efficant use of space. How were you planning on mounting it in the sideways position? beatniks3 ...escalation is only a puerile game left to the military 09-23-2000 21:58:58

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile There was/is a monitor called Pivot. The whole monitor pivoted to give a portrait view. It required a special driver to do this switch to a portrait view....also only a certain few video cards were supported. If you can pull this off post about it....this would rank high on the list of neat things done to an I-Opener...maybe #1. 09-24-2000 04:15:30

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) vwbug19 Profile great idea i was thinking about that before the idea came up on this forum :) yep some monitor had either hardware or software flipping of the screen 09-24-2000 19:32:03

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) grendel Profile There was a monitor called Pivot, but it was only one of many of the first wave of desktop monitors that could be rotated physically to portrait orientation. The first software that was released to compliment this feature by also rotating the on-screen display was called PerfectPortrait. The name was later changed to Pivot. Both are produced by Portrait Displays, Inc. (http://www.portrait.com ). Pivot seems to have become the industry standard, as I haven't been able to find any other software designed to do this, and their list of hardware partners (http://www.portrait.com/pdicust.htm ) is quite long. Unfortunately, Trident is not one of them. I've written to the president of Portrait, and am awaiting his response regarding the compatability of Pivot software with the Cyberblade i7. I've read in reviews of the software that the company only claims full support on 17 video cards, but in the same reviews I've read that unsupported cards executed the software without incident. I've also checked certain less reputable (read legal) corners of the web, where there doesn't seem to be a huge demand for Pivot software. I didn't expect there would, as most monitors that are designed to do this are packaged with the software. I'm still trying, but I sense a brick wall approaching. 09-25-2000 11:41:40

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) grendel Profile Good news!! The reviews I read about Pivot software must have been pretty old, because I found their compatability pages and there are quite a few Trident boards supported. However, they are all listed by model number. The supported models are 938x LCD 9397 94x0 9660 968x 3DImage 9750 Do any of these model numbers correspond to the CyberBlade i7? I'm still waiting for a reply from the company. If any of these are the cyberblade, or if the company says it'll work, I'm thinking about purchasing a copy of Pivot. Email me if you're interested. 09-25-2000 14:23:07

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) friar Profile This is a great idea. I remember about 5 years ago I was having my daughter photo'd at a Sears, and I noticed they were using STANDARD monitors turned sideways, not specially designed monitors to do that. Of course I don't know if they were using Pivot brand software, or if they did it with a hardware hack or special video board. I have looked for info of a hack that would accomplish this and haven't found it yet. I would really really like to do this on my regular desktop computer, not just try it on the IO, so any info crumbs you hacker gods could throw I'd appreciate mightily! I'll check out Pivot, thanks. 09-26-2000 09:53:34

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) grendel Profile Persistence has paid off, at least a little. I emailed Pivot tech support, and the email I recieved basically said read the FAQS on our site, which they recommended doing before sending them email in the first place. Typical automated response nonsense. Anyway, I checked my mail today, and the president of the company actually wrote me back. Here's what he had to say: > From: "J. Michael James"<president@portrait.com> > Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 11:04:20 -0700 > To: David<drober1@altavista.com> > Cc: growe@portrait.com, jnieto@portrait.com, ebrumm@portrait.com, sanders@portrait.com > Subject: Re: What a great idea! > > TO: David > > Portrait has not tested the Trident Cyberblade card. In 30 days Portrait will offer a free 30 day trial version of > Pivot(R) on our web site that will allow you to test the software. If it works you can purchase it. Check back by > the end of October. > >Michael So, everybody, mark your calendars. Rotating the screen image is quite a bit more complicated than it first appears. I think I'll probably let this rest until the shareware release. From the program description, Pivot is a TSR that resides in the System Tray in Windows, with switching between portrait and landscape displays accomplished by clicking on its icon there. Until the shareware release I think I'll spend some time trying to come up with a good way to mount the IO so that it can be rotated to facilitate rapid switching between the two modes. Grendel 09-27-2000 12:35:35

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) boykster Profile | Email Well, an easy way to have an easily rotated iop is to use a ball-joint mount from www.ram-mounts.com. I bought a gps mount from a marine store that works really well. I've got my iop mounted in my kitchen on the wall for easy access, and it can easily be rotated portrait/landscape and back with minimal effort. boykster 09-27-2000 14:48:55

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) boykster Profile | Email okay to follow my own post.... http://www.westmarine.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=201&prrfnbr=2013&store_num=3&store_name=Electronics&subdept_num=149&subdept_name=Boat%20Instruments&class_num=156&class_name=Instrument%20Mounts here's a link to the exact mount I bought from west marine.... cheers, rich 09-27-2000 14:53:31

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) apaulo1 Profile Nice find, that is a perfect swivel mount for the IOpener. Boykster, I guess you were able to drill holes in the mounting plate of the Ram-Mount to match the holes in the IOpener mounting bracket. It would be perfect for my kitchen hack, so I can use it from either side of the counter. 09-27-2000 15:31:07

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) boykster Profile | Email apaulo1: Actually, the mounting plate for the ram-mount is pretty thick, and already has tons of holes in it (I'm using the wider plate on the back of the io, and the round plate on the wall). I decided to take the other route, and drill 8 small holes in the back of the io case to match 4 each on either side of the ram mount. I then used ~1" bolts w/nuts to attach the plate to the io, with the bolt heads inside the case of the io. I then dremeled off the excess bolt past the nut for a cleaner look. You could clean it up more by using end nuts that cover the exposed bolt, but you'd have to have bolts that are long enough to pass through, but short enough to cap. Either way makes for a nice sturdy mount. I reinforced it all by spreading a thin layer of jb weld like epoxy on the back of the mounting plate before I mounted it. Not removeable, but very sturdy. coupled with a wireless ir keyboard (w/ receiver mounted inside io case), it makes for a very nice "kitchen computer" (that's what I'm using it for) and yes! it can be used from either side of the counter.... I've even had guests ask where they could by this neat little system...and I just grin and say "Well...." <grin> I'll try to take some pics tonite and post a link to them. cheers boykster 09-28-2000 14:17:49

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ballast Profile | Email Another place to look for a ball & socket wall mount is your local Fry's or home entertainment system store. They sell speaker mounting hardware that is designed like the marine mount above. Fry's ranged from $25 to $59 depending on the weight it was expected to carry and the style - the upper end versions support up to 25 pounds. 09-29-2000 15:58:42

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile At the local computer(used stuff) store today, I found two different rotating monitors...a Radius 15" and a Pivot mod.1700 17". Both looked in excellent condition....they only wanted $120 for the 17" version, which from several reviews I read, originally cost $950. Goes to show you how much people value these pivoting monitors, and applications. 09-29-2000 16:58:33

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) claymon Profile | Email Boykster, How do you have the ir keyboard setup ? If you can use it from either side of the counter, how does the ir receiver pick up input from the keyboard ? In any case, sounds like a cool setup ! :) 09-29-2000 17:18:01

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) friar Profile CKBONE, where's that store?!! I'm in Vacaville, I know you're not far... 09-30-2000 03:25:24

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Too bad....This is Computer Renaissance , Ballwin, Missouri. 636-207-9640 I think you've got my address mixed up. They don't have a website, but they do sell things on E-Bay, so I know they ship out stuff. The manager's name is Jim....tell him Carl from Moore sent you.......He knows me....pretty straight guy. 09-30-2000 15:26:19

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) friar Profile DOH! Thought you were in the CA bay area, Ckbone! Anyhow, thanks 09-30-2000 20:27:28

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) cantzme Profile | Email boykster, I'd love to see the pictures of your wall setup. I had a very similar idea brewing and would be interested in seeing how yours turned out. Any chance you can send pics to my email if you're not able to post them? Thanks. 10-04-2000 18:14:12

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) boykster Profile | Email cantzme: I'll try to take some pics tonite....My digital camera pretty much sucks, so they may not be too good :/ But I'll give it a shot. The overview is this. I have a "bar" separating my kitchen and living/dining room area, and I mounted the iop using the above mentioned mount at a good location to use it when seated at the bar. I cut a hole in the wall a couple inches below the mounting point to run all of the cabling through so it would be a clean install. I then pulled all the cables up from a cabinet below (had to cut hole in wall there too) and ran them through a modified face-plate to make it look clean. I then used a section of black flexible tubing (wire keeper) to keep all the wires together. I'm using a wireless keyboard (airboard, with controller mounted in case, and ir detector mounted on face of io), smc usb ethernet (also internally mounted, on second usb port), wintv usb (I have the monitor out from my tv running in here - run under the house using rg6), amd k62+ @300mhz, 64meg, and win98lite. Overall, it's a pretty slick setup.... I'll try to snap some pics and post them tonite. boykster 10-05-2000 08:56:19

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) Awol Profile In regards to the rotating monitors: The company I work for has a bunch of new-in-box 15" Radius Pivot monitors sitting in a warehouse. They have a standard VGA connector, but were designed for a special video card. If you set your regular video card to 1024x768 & 60Hz they work great. I have been playing with one using MAME & MAME32 under Win98. It's really cool to play Galaga, Donkey Kong, etc on a true vertical monitor. Would anyone be interested in playing with one? If several people were interested, I bet I could get my boss to let me sell them. E-mail me if you might want one, and I'll see what I can do, aaron@(nospam)natcom.com 10-05-2000 10:43:10

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Anyone found a driver to do this rotation? This would open up a bunch of new setups. 10-21-2000 12:12:15

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) boopalooper Profile | Email Maybe someone at the link below would be of help: http://www.ugeek.com/hwswrev/pda/netbook/netbook.htm#hardware recommend Calligrapher as a HWR solution on the netBook. In fact, the program is even more useful due to the "rotate" screen mode which allows you to rotate the Calligrapher window 90°--so you can hold the netBook by the spine and write just like you would in a notebook! 11-10-2000 11:53:15

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) numbski Profile So....have anyone tested the pivot software yet? Numbski 11-15-2000 06:30:27

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) friar Profile downloading it now, gonna check 'er out. If I start typing vertically, you know I was successful! 11-22-2000 06:10:09

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) friar Profile Hey, this is way cool! I haven't done it on my IOpener yet, but just put the Pivot software on my desktop and surfing the net is much more enjoyable. I'm running 1024x768 in High Color. Some observations on MY Pivot software installation: The first try was unsuccessful, hung. Re-executed intallation executable and it completed just fine. It might just be a trick of the eyes, but... hmmm The detail on the screen seems a little bit elongated from what it was before, I dunno, maybe my imagination. Also it seems very slightly... fuzzy? Could be because I haven't been able to sleep much the past three days (from severe bronchitis if you must know). The Pivot Software splash screen gets to be annoying a little bit, at least I think it will be after some time. Bear in mind I'm using the shareware 30 day trial version. Every time you boot up it will be there, asking if you want to pivot, register, or not register. If your screen saver activates automatically, when you come back the splash screen is there again. Call me an idiot (given, I know) but I decided to move my monitor while it was still on. It was kinda freaky seeing all the colors shifted all over the place, and in retrospect I probably should've powered down first. Anyhow, a DeGaussing later it is fine. I didn't know I was such a slob til I went to move my monitor (jeesh)! THIS is the way computers shoulda been all the way along!!!! You won't 'see' it until you SEE it yourself! I'd like to hear some other reviews of some of you that quite possibly have had a little more sleep and less cough medicine than I have in me. 11-22-2000 08:02:46

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) numbski Profile Ah, but have you tried DIAGONAL as the web site suggests? :) Numbski 11-22-2000 09:09:37

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) Tackhead Profile friar: There's a reason why books show their pages in portrait view, and why newspapers are in columns. And why many web sites display their pages in tables that are effectively in portrait mode. Do a keyword search on line length and readability. The only reason monitors look they way they do is because the first ones in the mass market were glorified television sets. Given the number of people who use "full-screen mode" for every application they use, it's a real shame that portrait-mode monitors never caught on. (FWIW, I never use full-screen mode for anything, if I'm typing on an xterm, I usually have two of 'em, 80 columns wide, side-by-side, and as tall as they can be - sometimes 70 columns tall. MS-DOS windows are in 7x12 font and 80x50 mode. If I'm using a web browser, I have it taking up about half the screen horizontally, and all the screen vertically. I find I can read about 10-20% faster with this setup than the conventional "80x24" modes or the "full screen mode" for web browsers.) 11-22-2000 11:12:22

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) thnkgrn Profile How about a link for the Pivot demo software? It does not seem to be on their webpage. Thanks, Thnkgrn 11-22-2000 11:53:56

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) Programmer Profile it's in the purchase software now section the first step is download and try for 30 days... 11-22-2000 13:02:56

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Unbelievable....IT WORKS!!!!!! I just downloaded the trial version. I works perfectly in ME. I'm typing this looking at the screen sideways. IE 5.5 never looked so good. I just flipped the I-Opener over while running...no problems. It sits well on it's side with the standard base. Now we need to figure an easy way to make a rotating mount. Costs $50......Gotta think this one out. Crazy......... 11-22-2000 18:04:07

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile http://www.portrait.com/ 11-22-2000 18:12:58

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile I just put together a slide show using vertical photos only. It's unbelievable...would make a perfect digital picture frame in this vertical orientation. I had to change wall paper...the one I was using didn't convert well to a vertical. MS games don't work...I guess they use DOS. All the other apps I tried, work ok. You all got to try this........ 11-22-2000 18:41:32

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Here's my proposal for a rotating/tilting mount using the I-Opener's own stand, using the 4 torx (or whatever) screws, and not requiring a single hole or modification to the stock case: This may be difficult to explain, but I'm doing this before I try any construction, in order to get any input on possible problems. Cut a piece of metal (1/16" should be ok) exactly the size of the I-Opener back mount(the plastic piece that says Netpliance).Using that back mount as a template drill the four holes, countersink them so the screws will sit flush. Drill a single hole in the center for the pivot bolt. Using a flathead machine bolt, countersink the hole on the inside of the plate, so this pivot bolt will sit flush. Cut a piece of hardwood (3/4" thick) slightly larger than the back mount. In the center drill a single hole to match your pivot bolt. Bolt this metal plate you cut, and the piece of hardwood together, using a large nylon washer (thin) between the plate and the wood. A lock nut should be used, the nut on the wood side. This should tightened so the two pieces will pivot without too much force. Screw this assembly to the I-Opener case back using your four stock screws (metal plate of course against the I-Opener case back). Using the I-Opener back mount again as a template, drill four small holes in the wood (not all the way through). Start four small flat head screws (not countersunk) in these holes. Then attach the whole I-Opener mount/base to the wood piece using four small screws. That's it. The I-Opener will now pivot to vertical, by tilting it forward slightly(to clear the base during the pivot). There is only one problem to be solved: In the vertical position, the USB slot does not have quite enough clearence, for a cable to be inserted. A right angle USB cable (connected to your device, or hub), will be needed. (Maybe some other solution). Is there such a cable or adapter? This mount should work fine, and look completely stock from the front. All the cables should clear in both orientations. Should there be any tendency to tip forward, some weight may need to be added to the stock base...but I don't think it will be needed. Comments, improvments, flames, etc. accepted...The I-Opener looks and works well in the vertical position. I suggest a fan on the cpu because the air flow will be reduced in the vertical position.(Feel free to sell this on E-Bay) 11-23-2000 11:54:44

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile I finished the beta version of the rotating mount. This is also the final version. I changed from my original plan only slightly, mostly due to what materials I had on hand. For the metal plate which is screwed to the back of the case, it's aluminum, 8 1/4" x 1"x 1/16". I did not counter-sink anything, instead used a thicker washer for clearance for the screw-heads during rotation. The wood part is oak, 8 1/4" x 1" x 3/4" thick. In order to make the whole setup more stable I used an 8mm bolt, the head cut very thin on a grinder. I used a bolt that had an un-threaded section about 3/4"....The wood actually pivots on this part....The hole size you drill in the wood is critical...It has to be a snug fit, so there is no wobble. Where the wood part pivots past the USB port, I relieved the wood with a cut 1 1/4" wide x 3/8 deep. This still is not enough clearance for a USB cable, but I think I can cut/modify a cable enough to fit ok. Completely assembled the I-Opener sits exactly 1" further forward than stock. This makes it un-necessary to tilt it in order to do the pivot...just enough clearance. No extra weight is needed in the base. When I get the whole thing finished, I'll post some pictures. FWIW...a very similar IBM rotating LCD monitor (just the monitor), goes for about $1200. This setup cost almost nothing....took about six hours, including the plans/calculations. Go for it...... 11-24-2000 15:03:20

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile One correction....The wood part is actually 1 1/2" wide, not 1". The wood and aluminum pieces are standard sizes, available at hardware stores......they are only cut to the right length. I used a drill-press to cut the holes...much more accurate. The pivot hole in particular, has to be perfect. When assembling the mount, coat the pivot bolt and washer with vaseline. If anyone uses these plans, I'd like to see some pictures. Mine is almost completely together....looks good. 11-24-2000 17:06:52

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile More info....This pivot program is neat. Without any configuration at all, if you shutdown in vertical mode, it automatically starts up in vertical. Windowed DOS programs work in vertical...only full screen DOS won't flip to vertical. The right angle power plug had to be trimmed slightly to clear during the pivot...no sweat. Still haven't come up with a USB cable solution in the vertical. No problem of course in horizontal.I'll get pictures soon. 11-25-2000 09:42:47

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Here is the first batch of pictures:http://photos.yahoo.com/ckbone63123 You can also see my screen protection....plexiglass with an oak trim boarder. 11-25-2000 13:22:16

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ASPguy Profile | Email ckbone, great work, but is it really better and worthwhile flipping the iopener screen around? It would seem as though once flipped 90 degrees, you can no longer fold the iopener together easily or tightly since i need to in order to fit it into a backpack to take to work. If this becomes popular, maybe we can get a deal with portrait.com's president in getting this at a huge discount for mass purchase. something like $20/copy. -aspguy 11-26-2000 02:29:20

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile ASPguy.....This particular mount was never designed to be portable, in the sense a laptop is portable. For a portable setup(I use a Thinkpad), I would remove the back-mount completely, and construct a separate stand of sorts, that would support the I-Opener in either orientation. It wouldn't be hard at all....a piece of curved crown molding...a triangular piece to support the rear of the I-Opener....both pieces attached to the I-Opener by velcro. Bingo... I haven't decided what to do about the software..it is expensive. But it works so well, I'll bite the bullet and buy it unless another solution is found. Another thing about the software....When you switch to vertical, the mouse tracking direction changes also. The pivot software is not a video driver...it uses your own driver (in our case Trident), and just adds the pivot ability. Pulling this whole thing off was quite a feat....no wonder it's expensive. I'm sure they don't retail very many copies. The pivot driver is normally bundled with pivoting monitors....very rare by themselves. 11-26-2000 04:13:34

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) friar Profile (Egads, feel much better now with antibiotics and some sleeeep!) I was wrong about how the text looked fuzzy and elongated on my desktop (non IO) PC. I had my monitor unsupported so it was pointing slightly up which created that illusion. CKBONE: nice work, I'm considering copying you! 11-26-2000 06:26:41

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ASPguy Profile | Email I don't know about anyone else, but at first thought i said to myself why would anyone want to turn their monitor to the side only to just get more viewable space? Well the view is a huge difference. I have the portrait program on my desktop and the monitor is on its side. awesome. i also did it for the iopener too, but haven't figured out how to mount it yet. still there is more viewable and scrollable space for the net and other applications now. Thanks guys. now if we can only get the program at a low price then it would be great. 11-26-2000 18:16:00

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) vwbug19 Profile cool! i put pivot on my io and yep looks good hmmmm... anyone got serial# code from serial lists ? :) or not :( they make browsing web easier as a regular typed paper less scrolling :) 11-26-2000 22:21:41

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) numbski Profile Well, we *could* approach them with a group buy. Say if we got 10 people willing to buy at $30 for our "laptops", then perhaps they would concede and sell? Numbski 11-27-2000 14:16:02

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ASPguy Profile | Email people on this board won't pay $30 for it. but they would buy at $20, and i think it's good business for portrait seeing how many of us would buy it from them. okay i'll give them a call. 11-27-2000 14:48:09

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile How to turn your I-Opener into a 15" monitor: Rotate it. Rotated to vertical the I-Opener has a screen 8" tall....just happens to be the same vertical height as a 15" monitor. Working in photoshop, for instance, on a portrait view you have in effect, a 15" screen. Viewing a vertical photo slide show, you have the same view as a 15" screen. It goes on like this. You want a standard view, rotate back.....suddenly the screen looks smaller....it is. Try this out...you'll want a rotating screen, guaranteed. I tried this software on three different computers....worked perfect on all three. I tricked some people at work with it. Performed a rotate....then in paint rotated the wall-paper so the screen looked normal, moved the taskbar to the bottom, it all looked normal except the icons were all sideways and the mouse was screwed up....ho, ho, ho. (nobody figured it out) On the way home from work tonight I bought a used Radius pivoting monitor (15"). Works good. When rotated, the vertical height is the same as a 19" monitor. You can rotate this thing while running....it does an automatic de-gauss, and the screen is ok. Pretty neat toy....still don't know what to do with it........ There are at least two possible solutions to the blocked usb port. You could de-solder the port from the m-board and relocate it......or you could cut up a usb cable and shorten the plug. I'm going to try the sccond solution ...think it'll work. If you space the I-Opener any further forward, with a larger spacer washer, the mount becomes unstable, wants to tip forward. That's why I only moved the case 1" forward. Anyone with any other ideas, please reply. 11-27-2000 19:01:16

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile If you are very careful, you can cut a USB cable plug down enough to expose the four wires. At that point you can create a 90 degree bend. The shield will at that point have come loose from what's left of the plug. This should be re-attached to the metal part of the plug to make a good shield/ground....probably necessary. After you are sure it will clear during the rotation, I would recover the four wires and the cut-up plug with silicone rubber. This will privide support/protection for the now fragile plug. Anyway it works for me. I like the setup....can't really think of any improvments to this mount assembly. I used a single edge razor blade and a small side-cutter(nipper). Don't cut yourself. 11-28-2000 18:37:25

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) bystander Profile BTW this pivoting package has a nifty utility -- WPFLIP.EXE that rotates the screen 180 degree. Not sure if it helps with IO (...well may be instead of rotating the base around vertical axis you could just flip the screen on the other side) but it allows me to position a laptop with PC CARD slot up and placing the keyboard on the right side. Depending on OS it is placed in different folders. Search for it. bystander 11-29-2000 04:55:33

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile This is strange....I've been using the Pivot 5.0 software for about 10 days, and the countdown on the splash screen still says I have 30 days left in the trial period (it hasn't changed). Hopefully this is a minor bug in the program which may allow use of the software beyond the trial period, maybe forever. If you're thinking about this program, get it now, before this bug is fixed. FWIW....Photoshop works great in vertical, but some of the plugins I use, cause a crash in vertical, not in horizontal. Some photo-editing programs refuse to work in vertical at all, won't even open. IE5.5 and Netscape 4.76 also work great. This BBS for instance, is much easier to read in vertical...you'll have to try it to see. 12-02-2000 06:37:23

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ASPguy Profile | Email It also grabbed my attention that the pivot program would continuously say that there are 30 days left of trial each tim ethe pc restarted. i doubt if this is a bug though, probably just too advance for them to have it update itself. we will soon see come the 30th day, you'll be the first to experience this. do post. anyhow, the portrait view is awesome for seeing more just a problem, there are webpages that won't fit so i'll have to scroll horizontall to see them. since the iopener highest resolution is 800x600 or in the pivot case 600x800, i guess we can't make it bigger. by the way, i just remembed i use msn explorer and it takes up space. later all. -aspguy 12-02-2000 19:58:27

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) Arguile Profile (the first part doesn't apply much to i-opener as it's LCD) I tried Pivot on my older Win2k box and it almost made me sick. Our visual acuity in the sides of our eyes is poor as it's meant primarily for motion detection; and even the high refresh rate I normally use caused a headache in seconds. Just a warning to those about to try flipping their normal monitor (good ones aren't nearly as bad). For the I-Openener however I love it. While I haven't finished my rotating mount yet, I've made a small switch that connects to the parrallel port (network printing so I wasn't using it) that automatically switches the pivot software between modes. "But it's just a click anyways," you say. Well yes but it's fun. If anyone is interested I'm thinking of making it a USB dongle (a normal cable w/ a fat part). If I get a few people who would be I'll take the time to design it right and make up some proper software. Too bad it doesn't work in linux or Be(what I normally run on it). 12-04-2000 03:09:39

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) Arguile Profile And to reply to myself. You can get rid of the splash screen in the registry. (Just the startup). HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Portrait Displays\WinPortrait\CTRL_SPLASH Just set it to 0. I doubt they'd be so simple as to put the timeout in the registry... but there are some interesting keys someone might want to experiment with. 12-04-2000 03:20:02

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ASPguy Profile | Email There isn't anything in the regedit that is "ctrl_splash" can you please check again? the portrait splash screen comes up each time the io reboots. 12-06-2000 12:24:11

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) parasyght Profile | Email Is anyone willing to do a group buy and distribute the program? I will only keep it on my i-opener for 24 hrs, honest!! 12-07-2000 17:19:45

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ASPguy Profile | Email group buy? not me, i'm out. heh 12-07-2000 18:04:55

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) wb8nbs Profile | Email Apparently screen rotation can be done in XF86 V4. The following was posted in Chicago Linux User group mailing list recently. Subject: Re: [LUNI] Starting X Sideways Hey I know it's been a while since you asked, but I just ran across an answer to this by accident and remembered you. Check out this thread in the xf86 mailing list (if you haven't already by now!) http://www.xfree86.org/pipermail/xpert/2000-November/003283.html Someone else was asking for the same thing, and later in the thread someone wrote a patch to include rotation with the framebuffer. Can't say that I've tried it or even plan to. Good luck! ~Jeremy Herbie Herbert wrote: > > This may seem like an odd question, but is there anyway to start X sideways on your screen? Or is > there a window manager that allows you to do this? I can't sem to find any command line options to > do this, no -rotate 90 or such. > > Herbie > 12-09-2000 19:53:27

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) bit_flipper Profile | Email Anyone interested in a byte patch to eliminate the 30 day 'bug' in Pivot? 12-15-2000 21:06:15

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) apaulo Profile | Email I am. ppachura@home.com 12-16-2000 08:14:38

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) parasyght Profile | Email Has anyone tried the patch for pivot? Does it work? is it safe? 12-18-2000 01:14:46

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) El_Kabong Profile | Email Patch you say? URL please. 12-20-2000 11:48:40

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Here's the deal....I used up my 30 day trial period, and sure enough, the Pivot software recognized it(even though I uninstalled and reinstalled it 2 weeks ago). The good news: it continues working normal. The bad news: there will be a nag screen that pops up while in use, I don't know how often...haven't seen it yet. More to come......... 12-24-2000 05:27:03

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) friar Profile Feel free to flame me, I have my flash suit right here... but the programmers and Pivot really SHOULD be paid for their efforts in making this program. I DO wish they'd lower the price a bit, though... [dons his flash suit] 12-30-2000 09:15:03

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile I haven't bought the program yet...still working on a "fix" for the annoying nag screen.....it pops up every 10 minutes or so. I tried a program called Click-it....which can be configured to click the close botton on pop-up screens....it didn't work with the Pivot nag screen, however. If anyone finds a program that works like Click-it, let me know and I'll try it. I too, feel $50 is too much......... 12-31-2000 10:40:50

RE:rotating screen to portrait view (modified 0 times) El_Kabong Profile | Email That nag screen is starting to bug me. Any progress towards it's removal? And, yes the programmers *should* be paid, but $50? Nope. $20 maybe. 01-21-2001 00:53:41

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