Fly Fusion Pentop Computer
Encyclopedia

The Digital Pen

The FLY Fusion Pentop Computer is the second, newest version of the FLY 1.0 Pentop Computer. This pen, like its predecessor, is included with digitized paper that allows the pen's camera (located near to the pen's tip) to "read" what you write. The pen still uses the familiar "FLYcons" and can play compatible games.

As of 2009, LeapFrog had discontinued both versions of the FLY Pentop Computer. This also included a halt of all support accessories such as notepads and ink refills which are required for continued use of the pen. The inventor of the FLY Pentop, Jim Marggraff, left LeapFrog and founded Livescribe
Livescribe
The Livescribe paper-based computing platform consists of a digital pen, digital paper, software applications, and developer tools.Central to the Livescribe platform is the smartpen, a ballpoint pen with an embedded computer and digital audio recorder...

 in January 2007.

Differences From the FLY 1.0

Unlike the FLY 1.0 Pentop Computer
Fly (pentop computer)
The Fly is a personal electronics product manufactured by LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. It is called a "pentop" computer by its manufacturers, and is essentially a pen with a computer inside. The company claims it is the first of its kind....

, however, this pen has several new features. First of all, the pen is much smaller and thinner than the original FLY 1.0 Pentop Computer. Another clear difference is that this pen is not the original grey and white colour of the original pen; it is a silver color with dark grey accents. But, the most prominent change of all is that this computer can upload what you write on paper, and transfer it to a word-processing program such as Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...

. MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

 music files can also be downloaded to the pen, allowing it to double as an MP3 player, It comes with three songs on it. Plus, the calculator feature is very different. No longer does the user have to draw a "calculator" to calculate a problem. Now, the user has to simply tap the "math" FLYcon, and write the problem that they would like to calculate. The last difference is that this pen can translate an English word into Spanish, and vice versa, just by writing the word on the digitized paper.

The Pen's Problems

There are a few problems with the pen, however:

1) In many department stores, the FLY Fusion Pentop Computers, and compatible games have replaced the FLY 1.0 Pentop Computers, and compatible games. Not all games and notebooks are compatible with the Fusion, and FLY Fusion products do not work with the original FLY 1.0 products.

2) To download the software, the user must be sure that the Fly Fusion Pentop Computer's website is not exceedingly busy. The website is www.flyworld.com (also in the reference tab)

3) Be very careful about identifying what works with what. The pentop chips for the Fly 1.0 will not fit the new Fly Fusion pentop. The differences are not made clear on the packaging. The web site does not make this difference clear either and does not clearly identify the difference.

4) For instance "Fly through Algebra" sold in some stores beside the Fly Fusion pen contains a pentop chip that will not fit the new pen. The software cannot be used with the new pen.

System requirements

The system requirements include the FLY software, Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...

 or Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...

, and a Universal Serial Bus (U.S.B)
Universal Serial Bus
USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....

 port. The user must also have a Pentium III 500 MHz processor, monitor display resolution
Display resolution
The display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube , flat panel or projection...

of at least 1024 x 768, 512MB of RAM, and 300 MB free disk space.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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