[aprssig] Winbook TW101 unfriendly for APRS

[Andrew Pavlin]

Yes, I'm aware of that. Note I didn't say it was impossible, just unfriendly.
For example, it is clearly stated in all of those Googled sources (especially the Microsoft KnowledgeBase article) that if the USB device is connected differently (ex.: plugged into a different USB hub jack), it defeats the "do not update drivers" hack. Having the system broken because I accidentally plugged the dongle into the "wrong" hub jack (or, horror of horrors, had to use a different hub) is not acceptable. Mandating Internet connectivity to Microsoft HQ before you can plug in a peripheral device is also completely unusable in a field condition; truthfully, how many of us had broadband Internet access at our Field Day sites? Especially, how many of those accesses were with enough bandwidth to download a Windows patch and legally allowed to carry commercial advertisements? Note that the last qualifier eliminates using any kind of HSMM or ID-1 type amateur radio backhaul for a Windows 10 system (since such a computer won't stop trying to download ads).

Also, since this is a new computer, it doesn't have old driver versions on it to begin with. Where is a trustworthy (i.e., not subject to attack and infection) source for the old driver version? I found several sites, but they all seemed to be individual users who squirreled away the old driver installer, not a presumably trustworthy company with IT resources to protect against intrusion and corruption of the files.

Frankly, this is not something that would be acceptable under EmComm field conditions. Since that is what I had originally considered the TW101 tablet for, I don't think this tablet is going to make the grade. I'm going to try it some more at a public service event this weekend, but I'm glad I don't have to count on it to work. Which is sad, because the tablet actually has pretty good performance (when it doesn't break entirely due to driver issues or lack of Internet connectivity), and it becomes actually usable as a computer (not just a web surfer) with the case with the keyboard and glidepad built in.
Andrew, KA2DDO

      From: KF4LVZ <aprssigZbr6 at acarver.net>
 To: aprssig at tapr.org 
 Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2016 10:57 PM
 Subject: Re: [aprssig] Winbook TW101 unfriendly for APRS
   
On 2016-09-22 19:20, spam8mybrain wrote:
> Greetings, all.
> 
> I just have had an unpleasant round of attempting to configure a TW101 tablet 
> for mobile/portable APRS.
> 
> Alas, this nice new cheap machine is cursed with pre-installed Microsoft Windows 
> 10. This makes life difficult because many of the USB-to-RS232 adapters out 
> there use the Prolific chipset. Since Windows 10 always (and without the consent 
> of the user) automatically updates drivers to the latest version when you plug a 
> device in, that guarantees that any but the latest version of Prolific devices 
> will horribly fail to install. Furthermore, even if you don't have an old or 
> counterfeit device, it still won't work until you have an Internet connection 
> (presumably to check and update driver versions) when you plug a new device in 
> (and plugging it into a different USB hub port makes it a new device).
> 
> So the TW101 is not really suitable for field operation without an Internet 
> backhaul, unless all of your peripheral hardware is new and all of it is plugged 
> in prior to taking the machine away from the Internet.
> 
> Drat.
> 
> I wonder if I can boot Linux onto that tablet.....
> 
> Andrew, KA2DDO

I assume you've already done the search to find out this is a solved
problem?

"windows 10 do not auto update drivers" in Google pulls up plenty of
pages that show you exactly how to stop it.

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