Handheld VAIO Retro Modded with XP Tablet Edition

[@raxpyraxp]

This is impressive how it's all packed in such a tiny device. I mean, look at the CPU. It's freakin' huge for this tablet

[@gianlucaalgaler6811]

I have one😢

[@jackkraken3888]

For anyone interested, that Microoft Ink Art program looks suspiciously like an art program called Artrage, I guess in common Microsoft fashion they basically licensed out the software from the developer instead of making their own.

[@25COfficial]

True

[@Saddletramp1200]

Uncle Billy is a thief... Geo Works would have been the software but they wouldn't let anyone develop anything for the program. Trillion $ mistake.

[@TheRealDorran]

its Microsoft

[@pindvs]

it was like that with fresh paint on windows 8

[@BladeRunner21577]

Yeah because its a bad thing that Microsoft do. They see somebody elses software that works really well and they go off and pay the guys who made it and bundle it into an OS that will sell millions of copies. Meaning the creators get paid much much more money than they ever would have if they had just tried to sell it on their own because they are little nobodies after all.

[@narutosingh5239]

5 years before iPad, iPhone we had these. Tablet PC and Palmtop PC with calling. 😁

[@TalonPro]

Dude, you deserve 100,000 X more subs.

[@JanusCycle]

Hey thanks, I'll keep making good videos and we'll see what happens.

[@Unicorn7_]

That's not enough, he deserves x10,000,000 subs.

[@tredecim881]

more like a million more subs

[@tredecim881]

​@@Unicorn7_ damn, youre right

[@TalonPro]

@@tredecim881you do understand how math works, correct?

[@thisislilraskal]

just quietly bingeing the channel

[@JanusCycle]

I'll just quietly say thanks :)

[@aaravamitabhmishra8675]

Looks like Game and Watch. Nice product ever

[@JanusCycle]

I agree, that's why I'm trying to run Game & Watch games on it.

[@bramvandenbroeck5060]

For computers that boot from usb floppy (or any pc using floppy offcourse) you can use plop bootloader, which, once booted, gives you the option to boot from whatever you want, even if marsians would've hosted an xp install somewhere in the cloud, even that can be booted :p And xp can be activated over the phone, when you dial that free number, in the menu, instead of choosing 1 to activate windows, choose option 3 and off you go, you can fully activate windows xp in 2023!

[@smarttseluvka]

This is the most adapters I’ve seen in one video

[@sphenops_]

Nice video.I tought it was a vide of a guy with 100k subs.Its a shame though that you are only at 100s good quality keep it up!

[@enigmamyth]

Keep grinding, hope the KZbin algorithm picks it up quick. You deserve more subs.

[@JanusCycle]

As long as I make video that you enjoy, I'm sure things will work out in the long run. Thanks!

[@alastairpreece6908]

I've never seen on of these before, fascinating. It might be an idea to add chapters for the video in the description especially with longer vids.

[@MuhammadAwais-cj9bz]

Nostalgia ✨ beauty of your videos

[@jackkraken3888]

Very cool. I remember reading about these in magazines years ago. I think they still hold a place in many people's hearts even though the GUI wasn't nearly usable as a modern smartphone or tablet. There also other special software for XP Tablet edition such as the experience pack and the Powertoys for Tablet Edition. Maybe worth checking out?

[@JanusCycle]

Thank you, the experience pack looks interesting. I really like XP Tablet and I'm keen to get back into it sometime.

[@RowanBird779]

I kinda wish modern UMPCs existed, like lower-end AMD APU in a tiny computer, I would probably use something like that since I can't carry a laptop with me everywhere but a smartphone is a bit too limiting for me. EDIT: I think I just described the Steam Deck...

[@jackkraken3888]

@@RowanBird779 And while I love the concept too, but I can't really find a good reason too when we could probably get by with a 7 ish inch Android with a built in keyboard. Android is pretty mature now so the only other issues I see is from niche software and IO ports.

[@RowanBird779]

@@jackkraken3888 That's fair, to me though having x86 support is kind of important since I use virtual machines and video editing software pretty often

[@adameichler]

@@RowanBird779 or GPD Pocket/GPD MicroPC.

[@sadev101]

awesome lil device... and as usual your video is fabulous

[@JanusCycle]

Thank you, and hopefully these videos are also getting better over time.

[@ES457]

17:47 so fast that even the Blue bars didnt get any time to come out

[@JanusCycle]

XP on SSD :)

[@Ayleen_Hazar]

Oh, poor Vaio was working without a back cover while you were installing the operating system. On this computer, the back cover is a heatsink. Pentium M are excellent processors, in my opinion. because Vaio survived this violence. Thanks for the video, it was really interesting. I subscribed to your channel^^

[@Jackpkmn]

If you run into a stubborn computer like this that won't boot off USB or USB CD drives you can use something called plop boot manager to make it boot off those things. You can even boot computers off USB that don't have native USB at all like early Pentium era machines it's pretty great tool to have on floppy.

[@JanusCycle]

I would like to learn more about plop. Some of these early machines are a real struggle to externally boot.

[@DangerousPictures]

@@JanusCycle plop is really awesome. I Can't count the times it helped me boot stubborn laptops

[@Mr.WahidProduction]

That thing was way ahead of time

[@Psythik]

Video ended too soon. Where are the benchmarks? And I wanted to see you try some games on this thing!

[@OkamiiSenpai]

First time I've seen someone use a box cutter in place of a plastic spudger

[@JessicaFEREM]

the on screen keyboard showing up on the login screen for no reason is still a problem with windows

[@echonomad94]

Mine is coming in the mail.

[@JanusCycle]

Nice, I hope it goes well, these are great.

[@echonomad94]

@@JanusCycle it should come tomorrow.

[@echonomad94]

@@JanusCyclewhich one is the mouse joystick? I know where it is on my VAIO UX, but not on this!

[@memriloc]

Haha, quick glance at the thumbnail and I thought it was a game and watch 😊

[@DonvW]

I remember back in 2008 when I had a Toshiba M200 tablet PC and needed to reinstall Windows that I had to use TFTP/PXE to boot it from any external source... I only found an image for Windows Vista, which the laptop could barely handle graphically, but I felt very accomplished afterwards

[@new-channel-xrwwia]

For real a upgrade makes it feel fresh and new

[@jugandoclasicos]

If these devices had been on sale these days they would have more sales than those junk Android tablets.

[@f1ggyc]

That Microsoft "Ink Art" is a rebrand of ArtRage 2 lol, the same program was bundled with my Wacom in 2010 or so I recognise it

[@ToniMorton]

protip Janus you can still activate WINXP on their phone activation system using the key the OS gives you.

[@snowball3396]

Dude your channel is so underated..keep ot up brother..new sub from me..love from sri lanka.. 🇱🇰

[@lezoriq]

Did you manage to get all the extra buttons working? Just got mine in mint condition with the box and all the extras but it comes with Japanese windows... I wonder if I should reinstall it.

[@JanusCycle]

I didn't get the extra buttons working. I have a huge archive of VAIO drivers and might have the correct application. But they are not named or sorted well. Definitely back up that hard drive. The critical software such as the Special Button Utility should be able to be extracted from Japanese Windows and installed on another Windows install. If you extract the drivers and application, I could try them on mine.

[@lezoriq]

@@JanusCycle i'm sorry for asking a stupid question but how do I extract such things? I will gladly do that and send you the files if you tell me how. Regards

[@JanusCycle]

There are no stupid questions when learning. You can use software such as Double Driver to backup drivers. m.majorgeeks.com/files/details/double_driver.html The Sony applications are in the C:/Program Files folder. You might be able to copy these folders and get them to work on another install. There is some software than might help, but I’ll need to find the name for you. Let me know if you need more help.

[@Old_Dean-78]

Oh man, that was a highlight back then, where you only had to open a flap to change the RAM or the hard drive.

[@Lampe2020]

You can still activate WinXP using the phone activation service as that seems to be up still.

[@EngQuielLopes]

KZbin indicated my video through its

[@antontansu]

Do the Rotate and Zoom button work once you finish with the installation? Would you happen to have copies of the utilities/software (not the drivers) from Sony? Any chance you could share it here? Thanks!

[@JanusCycle]

The utility we need is called 'Special Button Utility'. I have asked someone for a copy and I will let you know when that happens.

[@luisalbertovalleramirez9577]

@@JanusCycle Hello Janus, do you were able to make it work? I am in the same boat with my Vaio U50. Thanks!

[@JanusCycle]

@@luisalbertovalleramirez9577 I did get some new driver packs a few months ago. But I haven't tried them. Because I've been working on other projects. Here they are if you want to try and let me know drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qcs0f63zPy5c3MjZ4_VQr5JDjj_s0lo-

[@Ventrux]

You know. I have one of my own with the full Vaio software, I can make a copy for you if you want.

[@nooname88]

Long time no seen zune desktop theme 🥰

[@andrasszabo7386]

I have an old, small Acer laptop that needs Tablet Edition to use the provided WACOM pen.

[@frstwhsprs]

18:52 I think you can still call for activation, surprisingly, despite the end of support

[@podlinux]

You didn't compressed air the fan in there???! and you need one of those thin metal spudgers.

[@celebrityrog]

I have never been so bored yet so interested in something that is so completely worthless, old, obsolete, outdated and extremely difficult to modernize. I cant stop watching it's so entertaining. It's also amazing someone knows how to get old stuff working again.

[@JanusCycle]

Thanks for watching me mess about with retro gear :)

[@bhasitl]

Have you tried pressing F10 to see if you can boot the VAIO Recovery Utility if the Recovery Partition is still there ?

[@TheButtercool]

Where did you get the install for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition?

[@JanusCycle]

There is a backup of the iso on archive.org archive.org/details/all_windows_dvd The trick is to use your Tablet XP serial key. If you use a standard XP key then the Tablet components will not install from the ISO and it will be standard XP.

[@Vishes_Global]

Bro just got a job in NASA

[@DTS__]

I love this generation of technology from a few years ago. It was all so creative and unusual, compared to modern apple style tech.

[@ireallydontknowifiamhonest]

Apple is sadly leading the future with their "innovative" vision and the "confident" designs, every company wants a piece of that Apple Pie, even they had more unusual stuff back in the day in likeliness of other companies, those were so cool

[@dantan205gaming2]

free windows license key lets goo

[@Dtr146]

Seeing the port for the charger on that device aggravates me. Because that is a similar design to what Lenovo used to use. There's like several laptop makers that share the same port across the years. Acer sharer toshiba's connector there for a while Dell shared HPs but had a third cable to tell that it was a Dell charger, Lenovo and apparently Sony used the same plug. But I do know a couple of laptop manufacturers use the same plug but reverse the goddamn polarity. Fuck those companies. It made buying aftermarket chargers a pain in the ass

[@Dtr146]

Oh I forgot. Dell still sometimes shares the HP plug. But they still have that third wire in it to wear if you use an HP on a Dell it throws a error message and doesn't charge the battery. But if you use a Dell charger on an HP laptop it works just fine.

[@Nanoha3972]

Just out of curiosity, do you know of a source for replacement rubber stick covers for these?

[@dragostutealca8201]

🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@fifaworldcup1994]

TIL there was a way to load the Windows XP setup with floppies

[@johnbillings5260]

Wish I had one!

[@dronszell]

Definitely subscribe material

[@sadev101]

wouldnt the cf card be slower? or am i mistaken?

[@JanusCycle]

You could be right. There seems to be a majority opinion that the SD card to IDE adapter is slower than the drive it replaced in a different video. Giving some disadvantage to the benefits of an SD and CF SSDs. This will make a good video segment comparing HD, SD and CF speeds next time I do a drive replacement in a vintage machine.

[@AuntyM66]

I just thought of something , what about the O2 joggler running linux or raspberry pie.

[@MrBAlllON]

Cool device🙃

[@greygoose3936]

Did you end up figuring out how to bypass the windows activation? xD

[@JanusCycle]

I asked the Microsoft support virtual assistant which said it's not possible, then directed me to the support forums where I found a post from last week indicating that the XP activation servers are still online in 2019. answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/why-is-there-so-much-confusion-about-the-current/439e2764-81fb-40d2-9e6a-f9e8ddbd4116 This requires Service Pack 3 and I'm running XP Tablet SP2 though which makes this method a deal breaker for me. I have two weeks to go and I may end up editing the registry entry to bypass the WPAEvents timer in the name of retro history preservation.

[@MasterH2005]

I would love to get my hands on one of those, but they’re so hard to find. Does anyone know a site to get that mini PC?

[@JanusCycle]

Apart from watching eBay for months, searching the different model numbers u50, u70, u71p, u8p until something good appears. You could try searching Yahoo Japan Auctions. Or outside Japan a proxy service for Yahoo Japan Auctions. Mine was cheap because it didn't come with recovery discs, the extra front buttons still don't work without the right software. I still have not found Sony's 'Special Button Utility' for any of these models online. I still love owning this thing :)

[@MasterH2005]

@@JanusCycle I’ve searched Yahoo Japan auctions, and for some reason, nothing came up. I’ve also tried eBay, but the prices are way too much for me to afford. I wish there was some sort of vintage tech site that sells them for a more reasonable price. I get it that those things are rare to find, but there should at least be a site that sells them for a more reasonable price. I too am a big fan of old tech, so I’m trying to find one that’s not so big and bulky… like a Toshiba libretto.

[@kudryavchik]

@@JanusCycle I have all the drivers, if you need. I have 4 U. One U50 totally new and fully factory packaged for about 1000 bucks, U50 used, U70 used and U71p used (with full box).

[@JanusCycle]

@@kudryavchik Yes please! I would love a proper set of drivers and applications/install CDs for the u71p. Your collection sounds impressive. I'm completely intrigued and would love to know more. I would also like to make another U video soon.

[@kudryavchik]

@@JanusCycle My collection is: 1. Sony VAiO U. 4 units. One U50 completely new in factory package (never used after production, was stored in warehouse in Japan). One more U50, U70 and U71p (full box) 2. Sony VAIO UX. 4 units. 2 UX1XRN (one almost new), 1 UX280p with modification (64 GB SLC SSD), 1 UX91NS - japanese blue model 3. Sony VAIO C1MHP 4. Sony CLiE NZ-90. Bought new in 2003. Heavily used)) 5. Toshiba Libretto 50CT (with PATA enterprise SSD) 6. IBM Thinkpad 560Z. Modified with P2 400 MHZ, Pata enterprise SSD and 192MB RAM 7. HP Jornada 720 8. Nokia N-GAGE. bought new in 2003 9. Casio Cassiopeia FIVA MPC-501. Totally new, old stock 10. etc

[@patricks5686]

A Game and Watch XP :D

[@metallurgico]

i love these retro videos!!!

[@g.adrian2369]

I got one boxed for 69 dollar 💲 and i replace thermal paste with artic mx-5 and hdd with ssd 32 GB, battery still holding :D and easy for me to install windows xp with my vaio x505, share same chipset and cpu, to complicated for me to try this :)) and i found drivers and apps from arhive.

[@JanusCycle]

Great score, well done. I hope you enjoy it. Were you able to get all the special buttons working?

[@nokiaforever1363]

Oh wow

[@xatzis5000]

Nice tablet. Sony made really nice devices back then. Did you clean the fan?

[@duplicake4054]

Can you th windows 8.1 on it? (Use registry to bypass restrictions)

[@JanusCycle]

I had a look at doing this. Windows 8 requires CPUs with PAE and No eXecution features that this VAIOs CPU doesn't have. There is a way to bypass this and get Windows 8 running on this CPU though. It's worth trying sometime.

[@SOTP.]

@@JanusCycle if you force pae and bypass noexecute it should work

[@19AKANE92]

how many adapters you can use ?.... YES!

[@Manny_News_Blogs_Tutorials]

It looks like a Nintendo Game and Watch.

[@JanusCycle]

Yeah, I have also though the same thing. One day I'm going to run some Game and Watch simulators on this and make a huge Game and Watch.

[@adameichler]

There might be workaround for installing Windows for such devices. You can boot Plop Boot Manager from floppy disk and from that you can boot other installer from USB.

[@foch3]

You are the adapter master!

[@wattlefox]

great video mate, keep up the great work

[@krzysiek_2137]

You can activate every version of windows using phone activation.

[@angelking07]

How many adapters you have 😂😱

[@wiwingmargahayu6831]

happy ramadhan fasting

[@PURO-l6r]

2:06 So this portable PC will turn into a normal PC

[@bariltrailette]

100 MHz upgrade it is really a difference?

[@Maxim_Borusa]

Hello. please tell me how reliable CF is as an SSD? How good is cf to use every day? how fast cf will break when used every day?

[@JanusCycle]

In my experience I used a compact flash card as an SSD every day for over six years without any problems. That old VAIO is still working today though I don’t use it much anymore. Also check the next video with the Fujitsu upgrade for an alternative SSD method that also works when replacing these ZIF hard drives.

[@Maxim_Borusa]

@@JanusCycle Thank you very much for your response. I love Sony vaio and collect them. I consider them good laptops, but I like to do good things even better:)

[@JanusCycle]

@@Maxim_Borusa You are welcome. Please feel free to ask more questions or just to let me know how your VAIOs are going. I like hearing about VAIOs being fixed or improved and the favorite models people like to collect, if you wish to share. I have a few more VAIO models myself that I am fixing and hope to make videos about one day. Including the C1 Picturebook which I believe was the world's first laptop with a built in webcam.

[@suli2310]

hows the battery holding? 21:07

[@williamorangeofjuice7804]

Plop boot loader for usb boot?

[@garyproffitt5941]

What's going on and I'll bet it's a digital clock 😉👍

[@LDTV22OfficialChannel]

Subbed.

[@JanusCycle]

awesome!

[@hirandom100]

use plop boot manager from floppy then you can try to boot to cdrom from plop wich would be on the floppy

[@JanusCycle]

Unfortunately Plop doesn't support booting from secondary USB CD/DVD drives, only IDE. I have found the 'correct' way to boot this recently, new video coming shortly.

[@donglelife2299]

Dongle Madness :D

[@BladeRunner21577]

You could always deply XP to the hard disk rather than install it

[@JanusCycle]

I'm not sure how to do that. Windows XP can be picky about where it's installed from.

[@BladeRunner21577]

@@JanusCycle Is it possible to use an adapter and cable... The hard disk interface is IDE so should support 2 drives on it. Did you try that?

[@BladeRunner21577]

@@JanusCycle There is another tool called SaPrep that removes the HID portions to make servers headless, but it can be used for other things to do with what you want to do too if you want.

[@BladeRunner21577]

@@JanusCycle Did you get hold of a Windows XP OPK CD? You will need SysPrep from that to install XP just like Sony did to get the OS on the machine when they built it. Or did you think Sony installed Windows onto every machine they build :)

[@iSamYTBackup]

the same upgrade works on 4th gen ipods

[@sadev101]

ink art .3 looks a lot like yhe modern art rage app

[@jessicasandy5188]

How r u bro?

[@pikaru2007]

Nintendo switch XP edition

[@iulianispas8634]

Upgrade from 30Gb to 8 so slow after those adapters

[@Notepad69]

How to activate XP? Use a phone! It's free and working for me!

[@berathortum]

wow,

[@brenty4110]

What's funny is that the minimum requirements for Windows Server 2022 are only 512MB RAM haha

[@eadweard.]

It's 2gb.

[@user-lw3to9hn9q]

You can call Microsoft and activate windows xp I tried it b4

[@marcinxsinski]

Wow you do clevel😀

[@TheRealDorran]

thought he would say Motherboard

[@piyalighoshpuchumomi]

Then put 1.900 GB in this machine

[@Omar-f5f4p]

Wow is windows xp

[@semodgamingstore8055]

WTF. Tablet Pc is running on intel Pentium processor.

[@luminousfractal420]

They should never have bailed on tablet xp

[@38911bytefree]

Looks like a nitendo game and wach on stereoids !!!

[@foxyfan1336]

i want one

[@holyhelga]

10 need atleast 8 gig of ram to run properly

[@mariofan_kinoko]

DSのタッチペンを使っているね

[@JanusCycle]

I don't have the original stylus, well spotted :)

[@dreamteams]

интересный девайс сейчас можно такой же экран собрать на raspberry pi

[@shadow20482]

Theres a xp activation key that is just a bunch of ones, should theorically work

[@firstsurname9893]

XP keys are alphanumeric, it's the original release of Windows 95 that accepts all ones as a valid key.