NewtonTalk.net April 2009 archive: Re: [NTLK] OT: Casio Zoomer Z

From: Goodwin, Greg P. <GoodwinG_at_aafes.com>
Date: Mon Apr 27 2009 - 11:46:45 EDT

Wow... my girlfriend had a Zoomer in college. That is how we hooked up.
She had the Zoomer, I had a Newton. Great geek love way of breaking the
ice. (Of course it was Newton 110 that helped me get my later to be
wife to write her E-mail down.) Anyway, Newtons were a great way to
meet women from time to time. "You think this is cool eh? Well,
here, try it out, and you can enter your E-mail address while you're at
it." ;)

My girlfriend didn't use the Zoomer long. My sister got ahold of it.
She used the Zoomer, my dad got another Zoomer that was not working all
that great and gave that to my sister so she could give back the other
Zoomer. The second Zoomer was crap, but I still have it.

Suffice to say, my knowledge on the Zoomer is very limited. Compared to
the Newton 110 the Zoomer was ... OK, but a still a bit stiff in it's
reaction to commands was my observation. After a while I asked myself
why I was messing with a Zoomer at all when I had RETIRED Newtons that
were more fun.

Doc Clu

-----Original Message-----
From: newtontalk-bounce@newtontalk.net
[mailto:newtontalk-bounce@newtontalk.net] On Behalf Of Matthew Nielsen
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 10:26 AM
To: newtontalk@newtontalk.net
Subject: [NTLK] OT: Casio Zoomer Z-7000 contrast problem

Sorry for the OT discussing "the competition", but from what I can see
there is no Zoomer community still left on the internet.

I purchased a Casio Zoomer Z-7000 off ebay a few weeks ago that seems
to work fine except the screen contrast is totally gone. When you
power the unit on the screen goes immediately black in the same way I
Messagepad 110 would do if you had the contrast wheel turned all the
way up. There is a hardware contrast wheel on the Zoomer but no matter
how I turn it it doesn't change the blackness.

Right before the screen goes black when I power it on I see a glimpse
of a UI, and it makes noise when I push the buttons, so I'm guessing
the machine itself is all right.

My guess would be the contrast wheel is defective. Does anyone here
know about these parts on a Zoomer? Is the contrast wheel a
Potentiometer, a varistor or what? Is there anything else on an STN
screen like this I should check? Can anyone think of a way to test
the contrast wheel "in situ" before I desolder it from the logic board
and totally destroy this toy?

(Yeah, I'm a collector -- I started with a used 110 in high school
which eventually expanded in to a 2100, eMate, Sony Magiclink, a
Datarover and a Fossil Wristpda)

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Re: [NTLK] OT: Casio Zoomer Z-7000 contrast problem