For professions who require mobility, like real estate and health care, staying connected outside the office is not a perk, but a necessity. So when a device like the ProGear from frontpath comes along, it would be adviseable to find out what it's all about. Frontpath describes the ProGear as a "high performance, Linux-based Information Appliance that comes in a portable form factor."

The ProGear is targeted towards vertical markets, instead of the early-adopter consumer population new devices usually try to appeal to. In fact, the whole market of Web tablets in general aims for industrial or enterprise-level users over consumers. But the philosophy behind marketing the device isn't important; what the device does is.

This is a Linux-based tablet, using the Linux 2.4 operating system. It runs on a Transmeta Crusoe TM3200 400MHz x86-compatible processor. The Crusoe supplies the Progear with more horse power than your average web tablet and low enough power consumption to run on standard Lithium-Ion batteries for 3 hours. The extra processing firepower helps generate good image quality and high resolution on the 10.4" 1024x768 polysilicon TFT display. Optional is a 10.4" 800x600 SVGA TFT display. Besides the Linux operating system, the ProGear ships with Netscape version 4.74 browser, Real Player, Adobe PDF, Macromedia Flash, and a Java 2 Virtual Machine. All of these software components point to one thing - Internet connectivity. Yes, the ProGear can be Internet-enabled. A PCMCIA Type 2 slot will accept a 802.11b card for browsing at will, but chances are the batteries won't last three hours with the extra wireless connectivity options.

Because the ProGear is not exclusively meant for Internet browsing, of course, it comes with other software. The Xfree86 v3.3.6X11 server software will also support screen rotation, so users can select landscape or portrait. Speaking of screens, for data input via the screen, the ProGear is equipped with Motorola Handwriting Recognition software and a touch screen virtual keyboard. Besides basic utilities and diagnostics applications, other software applications are customizable by the user.

Memory on a portable device is fairly important, and frontpath didn't want to leave this element out. While the configurations are customizable, ProGear comes with 64MB (up to 128MB) of system memory and either a 6.4GB hard disk drive or a Flash memory drive. Besides the PCMCIA card slot (that doesn't have to be used for a wireless connection card), inputs and outputs include one USB port, and IrDA v1.1 port, microphone and speaker, earphone and microphone jacks, and a Varapoint joystick pointing device with center select.

The magnesium case enclosed device is 9" x 11" x 1" thick and weighs 3.0 lbs. without the battery and 3.2 lbs. with it. Other optional features include a Lithium Ion 6 cell battery for 6 hours of usage and a docking station.

Pricing and Availability

The ProGear is currently available to frontpath partners for an average price of $1,500.

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