Pertelian X2040

By Brian Smith (23 March 2006)

re you a gadget guru, a tech junkie, a gee whiz kind of guy? I like gadgets, and I like conveniences. So when I saw the X2040 for sale on FlightSim.Com's Flight Shop, I was interested immediately. I sent out some emails inquiring about it. What is it? What does it do? Now I know and I want to make sure when you see this gem, you will give it try.

Although it is not specifically flightsim related (i.e. it's not a plane, scenery, or tied in any way to flight simulator), the X2040 has earned a permanent spot on my desktop. What is it exactly? Well, I am not sure the best way to describe it, but for me, I think of it as a second monitor or display, but it does a lot more. I'll get to the features in a moment.

At the store around the Holiday season for 2005, I saw a keyboard with a little LCD display on it selling for about $150. It displayed your CPU stats, and in games it told you how much ammo you had left and how much health, for example, but only in certain games. I thought it was a neat idea, but I have a keyboard and $150 for what little it did couldn't justify the purchase. I also thought, "that's cool, but how useless is it to look down from the monitor to see my health and ammo, information I already see on the game screen." It is a neat concept, but impractical. Luckily, little did I know, I would find a much better alternative. The Pertelian X2040!

The X2040 arrived in a box with a CD of drivers and installation software. It's about the size of a large pager. It has a stand that holds the device so you can set it on your desk, or you can attach hook and loop strips to it and place it where you like. I used the latter option and attached it to the underside of my monitor.

I plugged it into my USB port and Windows set it up. I checked the Pertelian web site and downloaded some updates. This was at first a problem, because when it updates, the new software didn't know where the X2040 was located. You have to tell your PC which USB port has the connection. So it seemed I lost the PnP aspect when I upgraded. Turns out the issue was my .NET files. The folks at Pertelian were so fast with a response that I almost received whiplash in the process. Now that's service.

"OK, but what does this thing do", you ask?

EMAIL

It does a lot of stuff. There are new plugins coming out for it all the time. It monitors my email inbox and tells me how many emails I have waiting. I have about half a dozen email accounts, plus my standard Hotmail, Yahoomail, and Gmail accounts. It displays a list of my accounts and how many emails are in each account. I can scroll through the list of accounts on the X2040 screen and select which one account I want to access.

INSTANT MESSAGING

It also has a screen to alert you to incoming messages on various Instant Messenger programs, (though the Trillian monitor is still pending). It displays who the message is from and the message. If you have ever been in a VA or flown with friends who use AIM or MSN Messenger to communicate, you know what a hassle it can be to tab back and forth to see what they want. And if they page you while you are on final, it is a real pain. Here is another neat feature. You can carry on your chat on the X2040. No tabbing out to chat. Now I know there is an IM program that will remain nameless that you can use "in game," but that program pops up the IM screen in the middle of your screen. You get it without tabbing out of the game, but it can easily get you killed. Not cool. Now I have the X2040 and I can chat with my guildmates/squadmates/VA members, all without having to leave the game. I wonder if we could get a plugin for SB3 to tune the radios or chat? Now that would REALLY add value for flightsim users.

TEAMSPEAK

The Teamspeak monitor feature is a big selling point for a lot of the gamers who have purchased it so far. Using the Teamspeak feature, you can change channels, and see who is talking all from the X2040, without tabbing out of the game. If you play BF2 or fly with a VA that uses Teamspeak, this is an AWESOME feature. I can't tell you how many times before the X2040 I have listened to my friends in Teamspeak and had to say, "Who was that?" because I didn't pay enough attention to the voice, or how many times I've needed to switch channels on a server and had to tab out to do it. Not anymore. Now I can scroll through the channels and select any one I want without leaving my game. In addition, anytime someone keys their microphone, their Teamspeak ID shows up on the X2040. My understanding is there is a plugin in the works for Ventrilo as well.

OTHER

Although I list these as "other," this is where a lot of the meat is on this product. These are the real selling points for me.

There is a volume control. Want to change your system volume? .Wav Volume? Itunes Volume, WinAmp Volume? All of them can be controlled from the X2040 WITHOUT having to tab out of whatever game you are playing. When I listen to Itunes in flight and ATC calls me on VATSIM (in the past I have asked them to repeat the command while I tab out and crank down the volume), I can turn down my music without missing a beat.

There is a track search feature. When I want to find a particular song or artist in Itunes, I just put the X2040 in the tune search screen and type the song on my keyboard and it displays every song that matches. You scroll through the list and play what tune you want.

Stock Ticker. Well, I am not sure how many of you play the market, but it is nice to have current price, high, low, and volume for my favorite companies anytime I need it. Without having to install a separate program or go to a web site I can see the price.

Sports Scores. Now THIS is a feature most people can appreciate. NFL, MLB, NCAA, NHL, they are all here. You can monitor the score of the game. Every minute it updates the score if there is any change. Nice feature to have during March Madness. In a recent Teamspeak session someone asked if anyone knew a score of a game, and boom, I had it up.

News Feeds. RSS is a feature found on a lot of professional web sites. A lot of the news organizations use it. Using the X2040, you enter the URL of the RSS feed into the program and you can monitor the latest headlines. I watch NPR, BBC, and CNN, along with some legal news and gaming news sites, but there are literally thousands upon thousands of feeds offered that you can monitor. Here is a better idea of how it works: On the screen it scrolls the headlines from BBC News. I scroll down to the headline I am interested in and press the select key and the webpage opens on my browser for me to read the full story. If I am playing a game, it lets me see what is going on in the world.

Weather. The X2040 displays the current weather conditions and conditions for the next 2 weeks along with the forecast. Not a big game related feature, but nice to see the current temp when you are getting ready to go out. Pertelian is constantly updating and adding features. The weather can now be viewed anywhere in the world. Going on a trip? Monitor the weather there. Fly frequently into a hub for your VA? You can have the current weather conditions scrolling on your screen before you load any of your web browsers, monitoring programs, weather generators, or flight simulator. Weather can be monitored based on zip codes for the U.S., or internationally.

PC Statistics. You can set up this feature to display any number of statistics from your system. I only really monitor two, but there are dozens to choose from. I watch my CPU % usage and memory available. There is also a network monitor. You can see your transfer speeds on the net both up and down. This is a separate screen from the PC stats.

Exclusive Introductory Offer Only At The Pilot Shop
Save $10 on the Pertelian X2040. Use coupon code "4pertlcd".
Hurry and get yours now because this Pilot Shop exclusive instant savings coupon code expires on April 25, 2006.
Some issues I had with the Pertelian X2040 were the aforementioned loss of PnP with upgrades. That was easily fixed by updating a few files on my PC. Also once in a blue moon, it has some lag and I will hit the 'next screen' key and nothing will happen, so I hit it again thinking I missed it before, and then it will catch up and page through quickly. It's an annoyance, but not a deal breaker.

Overall, I have really enjoyed having this addition to my desktop. It is a neat gadget and if you do a lot of online gaming, you will get your money's worth from it. It is one of the few devices my wife has seen in operation and said "Oh, cool!" On the other hand, it is a gadget, and as functional as it is, it is not an indispensable tool. As plugins develop for it, I think it will become a popular device to have on the desktop. Compared to the keyboard I thought about at holiday time, this is a much better and more functional alternative. I really can't wait to see what comes out next, and the developers have released an SDK for it so I have no doubt (begging here) someone will develop an interface with SB3. Then I will never have to tab out of Flightsim or have that window in my cockpit. Boy, I just can't wait!

Brian Smith
back4smith@yahoo.com

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