ActiveSlate questions

Just had two of these presented to me for installation. I've muddled through and got them working but I'm slightly confused about the (apparently) optional cabling. Can someone who's played with these explain?

1) I already have the activeboard cable on the serial port. Should I plug the cable in from the activeslate instead?

2) Do I need the serial cable plugged into the PC for charging?

3) Does the activeboard controller software need to be running to have the slate work? Is the activeboard software sane enough to sort this out itself?

There should be a jack plug which plugs in from the activ slate into the serial lead from the activboard and that is all you need to power it up it is infra red and as soon as it is fully charged you can unplug and use it around the room as long as it is pointing towards the activboard. You have to look at the activboard whilst you use the pen but the kids pick it up straight away ok just the teachers find it hard to grasp for want of a good synopsis.

Yes you need the activboard software and drivers active to use the slate.

Quote:

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There should be a jack plug which plugs in from the activ slate into the serial lead from the activboard

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No, that's not what I have. I have:

1) the original serial lead with power socket going into the back of the laptop from the activeboard.
2) another serial lead with power connector and also with a connector for the activeslate

Hi

The power supply is to charge the slate, the serial cable is used to charge the slate but also gives the option to upgrade the firmware if needed.

It does not need to be connected to the pc while charging.

Sorry my mistake have just had a look at ours and yes you are right drjturner
it doesnot have to be plugged into the pc to charge. It has it's own charger which plugs into the socket on the wall. ;)

The power cord I have needs to be plugged into the serial cable (which then plugs into the slate) to charge.

As has been stated, you can charge without a computer. You do have to connect the mains charger through the serial cable, which is the same as the serial activeboards.

You can also connect to a computer with the drivers loaded and use the slate as a graphics tablet (which is, lets face it, all an activeboard basically is).

Standalone you point at infrared in corner of board, but I agree that it can take some getting used to. The problem is that you have to look at the whiteboard as you write on the slate, whereas normally you look at what you write.

We have three and I don't think they get alot of use !!