Subject: Should I buy a 120 or 150?

From: "mikewarns" <mikewarns@...>
Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 04:01:35 -0000

If I want to hack it, that is.  My Office Max has a pile of both so,
after comparing appearance (identical), features (identical), and
price (identical), I bought a 150 on its merits of having a bigger box
and a higher model number.  It's going off to Mom, anyway, if it
passes the ease of use and setup tests (ie: my brother can set it up,
a critical test since this is the guys who has caused Mom to not be on
the internet because he can't manage to pull a busted modem and pop in
a new one), but I want one for my own self to, you know, PLAY with.

I searched this forum and found few clues to the difference beyond
suspicions that it is in the software.  Is one model better for
hacking than the other?

---

From: "John R. Hogerhuis" <jhoger@...>
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 23:29:06 -0700

> suspicions that it is in the software.  Is one model better for

I have a 150 and a DET-1. The 150 can probably be loaded with new
software througn reflash on the parallel port since it uses the same
protocol as the older units. Unfortunately there's nothing safe to flash
to the 150 just yet. For the DET-1 there is though. Same goes for the
120 from what I understand.  The problem at the moment isn't really the
model # on the unit, it's the version of firmware that's installed on
it. Some things have moved around in newer versions relative to where
mboot expects things to be.

Soon hopefully.

-- John.

---

From: "Cyrano Jones" <cyranojones_lalp@...>
Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 17:49:05 -0000

> price (identical), I bought a 150 on its merits of having a bigger 
> box and a higher model number.  

At this point, it is known that the current mboot.rom
does *not* work with the NEW 150's.  I expect it also
does not work with the old 150's, or the 120 (old & new)
or the 200 or 250.  And if it doesn't work, and you flash
it anyhow, you will need a soldering iron and a prom 
programmer to fix it.  I expect that the flood of
these models from Officemax will mean a new version
sometime in the near (???) future, that works with the
120 & 150 (I bought a pile of them myself.)

For now, it works with the real-old brown non-ergonomic case
models, in particular firmware versions 2.22r, 2.53yr,
and 2.54.  I think also one of the 3.somethin' models
is known to work.  I would only use it with one of
the firmware versions known to work, and wait for
a new mboot.rom for any un-tried firmware versions.

Now, maybe you are wondering what I mean, "old & new"?
Well, I opened up a few of them, and there are at least
two different circuit boards in both the 120 & 150.

The major difference I can see is that the newer 120/150's
have a different LCD.  It has a distinctly blue tint to it
(the dark pixels), where the older one was black.  And it
is not just the color, it has fewer conductors in it's cable.

The cpu/ram/codeflash/dataflash looks to be the same in
all that I have opened.  The modem circuitry is definitely
different from old to new.

The old 120 & old 150 use identical hardware, as far as 
I can tell.

The new 120 & new 150 are also identical (almost), but diferent 
from the older.  

The only differnce I can see between the new 120 & the 
new 150, is the part# on the main PCB, and where the 
Underwriters Lab logo is placed.

And of course, the firmware is different in all four.

From my small sample, it appears that the old 120's are in the
thinner boxes (approx 2.5" thick), the case is violet 
(or purple???), and they say "MIVO 200 CIDCO MODEL DET2"
on the bottom of case.  Box sez "DET1E", same as new 120 box.
(I think they reflashed mivo 200's, and called 
them "mailstation 120".)  Black LCD.

The new 120's are in the bigger box (approx 5" thick),
and the case is dark grey (top is same color as the 
bottom), and it says "MAILSTATION 120 EARTHLINK MODEL DET1E"
on bottom.  And they have the new blue LCD.

I only have one "old 150", and I think it was in a thin box
(this is the one I got fall 2003, free after rebate at officemax).
Black LCD, says "MIVO 150 CIDCO MODEL DET1B" on bottom.
(hardware essentially the same as Mivo 200 or the old 120.)

All the 150's I saw at officemax this month were in big boxes, 
and the couple I opened were "new" models, with blue LCD.
On bottom: "MAILSTATION 150 EARTHLINK MODEL DET1D".
 
> suspicions that it is in the software.  Is one model better for

Bottom line is that there are only slight differences in
the hardware between *any* of the models up to 200.
It's just a matter of finding time to get around to the 
newer models.  If you want to start playing today, you
should use one of the oldest models.

--
CJ

---

From: "mikewarns" <mikewarns@...>
Date: Mon, 02 May 2005 15:10:31 -0000

--- In [email-masked], "Cyrano Jones" 
> them "mailstation 120".)  Black LCD.

The 120s my Officemax has are in a shallower box while the 150s are in 
a deeper box.  By all appearances, I cannot begin "playing" today, 
whichever I buy for myself, but more people appear to have 120s so I'm 
assuming that will be the first to get the new mboot.rom.  Therefore, 
since there doesn't appear to be any compelling reason to buy a 150, on 
my way home from work I will buy a couple shallow-box 120s, one for 
playing and one for family email since my wife objects to anybody in 
the house actually using any of our computers ("You just waste time!").

---

From: "Neil Morrison" <neilsmorr@...>
Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 09:55:51 -0700

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "mikewarns" <mikewarns@...>

....
> one for family email since my wife objects to anybody in

Isn't that the purpose of computers?

BTW, it is possible to reprogram the MailStation at least in part by email,
so if we could figure out that trick ..... !

N