Chapter 5 Exploring your Notebook This chapter gives an in-depth description of some of the built-in software and hardware features of your notebook
Introduction The software drivers and utility programs are pre-installed on your notebook, and are integrated into the Windows environment. If you ever have to rebuild you hard disk drive, you can use the support software supplied with the notebook to re-install the programs. Video Display The video system on your notebook comprises the flat-panel screen, the video controller and video memory circuitry, the video ports, and the video software.
Video Ports Your notebook is installed with two video ports: TV-out Port Monitor Port Figure 5-1: Video Ports Monitor Port The 15-pin external monitor port allows you to connect an external computer monitor to your notebook. You should ensure that the external monitor is capable of supporting an XGA resolution of 1024 x 768. When the monitor is connected to your system, you can select to display the notebook’s video output on the built-in screen or on the external monitor.
FN + F3 Press Once: video to monitor port only Press Again: Video to LCD & monitor port Press Again: Video to LCD NOTE: You can also assign additional keyboard hot key combinations, for switching the display, using the video software described below. TV-out Port The TV-out port is a standard RCA-type jack. You can attach a standard A/V (audio/visual) cable into this port to connect your notebook to a TV receiver, a camcorder, or a videocassette recorder.
Video Software The video software has been integrated into the standard Windows video utility. You can access the utility by moving the screen pointer over a clear area of desktop on the Windows display and clicking the right touch pad button. When the pull down menu appears, click the left button on the item Properties. This will open the Display Properties window. You can also find the Display Properties in the Control Panel folder. (Start/Control Panel/Display).
Advanced Left click on the Advanced button to display the custom display features embedded in the ATI RAGE graphics chipset used by your notebook. This will bring up a new window with two rows of tabs at the top. The two major areas of interest here are the Displays and Color tabs. Displays This area allows you to customize some settings for the video-switching feature. You can choose which devices are to be switched on and thus available for possible video display.
The Sound System The sound system includes the built-in microphone and speakers, the audio circuitry, the sound ports, and the audio software. Volume Buttons Microphone Speaker Speaker Figure 5-5: Microphone, Speakers and Volume Buttons When a sound file is playing, you can use the volume buttons to turn the raise and lower the volume of the speakers. The volume buttons are located just above the keyboard, next to the power switch.
Audio Jacks The built-in speakers and microphone ensure that you can record and play sounds at any time. However, you can improve the sound quality by connecting higher fidelity components to the sound ports on the rear side of the computer. Audio Output Audio Input External Microphone Figure 5-7: Audio Jacks Audio Input Jack You can use this jack to input stereo sound from other devices, such as a radio or tape recorder, into your notebook.
Audio Software Windows is installed with a useful set of audio utilities. Click on the Start button, point to Programs, then Accessories, then Multimedia, to display the audio utilities. They include a CD player (for audio CDs), a media player (for video CDs and audio/video files), a sound recorder, and a volume control. Figure 5-8: Audio Software Using the CD-ROM Drive This notebook is installed with a CD-ROM drive. This option is factory installed and cannot be easily switched.
To play a disc: 1. Press the eject button on the front of the drive. 2. When the disc tray opens, carefully pull it all the way out of the drive. Figure 5-10: CD-ROM Drive Tray 3. Place the disc in the drive tray with the label side up. Press the disc down carefully so that the central spindle on the disc tray inserts into the hole in the center of the disk NOTE: If your system is turned off, you can still open the tray by inserting a pointed object, such as a paperclip, in the manual eject hole.
Using the Floppy Disk The drive bay on the left side of the notebook is installed with a floppy disk. The Floppy drive uses removable 3.5”, low capacity (1.44 MB), inexpensive, diskettes. Your system identifies this disk drive as drive A:. Access to the floppy disk drive is quite slow but floppy diskettes are very useful for storing and transferring files. Figure 5-11: Floppy Disk Drive PC Card Slots This notebook is installed with two PC card slots on the left side of the system.
adapter. They can also be used as storage devices using memory chips or miniature hard disks. If you are using PC card storage devices, they will be assigned drive letters (for example E: or F:). PC Card Standards This system supports type-I, type-II, and type-III PC cards. If you are using type-1 or type-II cards (which are usually about 2.5mm high), you can install one or two cards at the same time.
Figure 5-13: Inserting a PC Card 4. Insert the card into the slot. When the card is nearly all the way inserted, press quite firmly to ensure that the card mates properly with the connector inside the slot. 5. Your notebook will emit two beeps (in rising tones) to let you know that the card has been recognized by the system. If Windows has the appropriate drivers to use the card, they will be loaded automatically.
Touch pad/Mouse Utility The notebook’s touch pad can be customized using the Windows mouse driver utility program. This program can be found in the Control Panel folder (Start/Settings/Control Panel). Double click the Mouse icon. This will start the Mouse Properties window. Here you can see different tabs that allow you to set up your touchpad/mouse features. You can change the button configuration and adjust it for right-hand and left-hand use, and also change the doubleclick speed.
Infrared Port Figure 5-16: Infrared Port To use you IR port, place the two IR ports within one meter, about four feet, of each other and either directly in line or at an angle of less than 30 degrees. Click on the Infrared icon in the Control Panel (Start/Settings/Control Panel/Infrared). This will bring up the IR software built into Windows. This software will begin scanning for a present IR device. If one is found, it will complete the connection.
Details button. Click on Direct Cable Connection. If you have not already set up the Dial-up Networking option, you will be asked to establish this as well. The Dial-up Networking activates certain network options of Windows that are necessary for using the Direct Cable Connection. Click OK to activate the new option(s). Windows will load installation files that are stored on your hard drive.
Making the Connection To establish the IR connection between your notebook and another system, you will use the IR as if it were a direct cable connection between the systems. The other machine will also need to have the software to support this connection. If the other machine is not set for Direct Cable Connection, please repeat the steps above with the other machine. Start the IR software as described above.
Before proceeding, you must set up a connection for the printer via the IR port. See Chapter 6 for information on setting up a printer, To test the printing capability of an application over an IR link to an IrDA-compliant printer, click on the Infrared icon in the Control Panel (Start/Settings/Control Panel/Infrared). The IR software will detect the printer’s IR port. Now try the Print option in an application.
