I've recently had my Zoomer (and two of my friends Zoomers) upgraded by
Electronics Innovations, and thought I might ramble a bit about it.
For US$66 the company based in Las Vegas, Nevada will replace your system
clock, which will double the CPU speed of the Zoomer. I sent three
Zoomers in one box, and their service was excellent, emailing me on
receipt and dispatch.
I managed to perform some crude benchmarking by compiling Marcus
Groeber's GeoRaycast in EC mode. He provides a timer that counts the
time it takes to do a "look" - a 360 degree spin. This move would require
heavy processing and a far amount of graphic display.
Before I send the Zoomer, the result was 1520.
Upon return, it was around 750. More than 50% faster.
(I'm not sure what the figure is, I think it's 15.2 seconds and 7.5
seconds. I've run the same version on a 386 and a 486 and the numbers are
less again... I would quote them but I've forgotten them.)
On the upgraded Zoomer, the only side effects I have noticed is the
doubling of the Serial speed (no big deal, a bonus really) and the
doubling of the speed that sound is played at. This is a little annoying.
You know that Hawaiian tune on the about box for Palm apps? It plays like
it's on a 45rpm. Likewise for system beeps, and the "click" pen sound.
So that's what to look out for. I recommend the Zoomer Upgrade. If
you love the Zoomer, but it's a little slow - do it today. If you think
the Zoomer is too slow, and this is bad and that is... just remember that
your attitude to the device will play a large part in it's performance.
I'm still working on an offline email reader and a chess program for
GEOS. It's taking much longer than I ever dreamed, and is still a while off.
Keith
Team GEOS
(Many thanks to MG for providing source with the GeoRaycast application.)