I’ve had some time to properly test the iMON VFD over the past two months. It has completed my media PC and is generally very useful. Here’s a brief rundown on this pretty nifty addition to any media PC.
The iMON VFD is boxed with all necessary parts included. The package contains the VFD unit itself, a remote control with batteries, a cable to plug the VFD between the power supply and motherboard and a USB connection cable. A driver disk is included, as is a printed guide for cabling the whole thing up properly. The computer you’ll be installing this unit into will require a 20 or 24 pin power header on the motherboard (more on that later), a free 3.5″ drive bay for the installation of the VFD unit and a spare USB connection (either externally or as a header pin on the motherboard).
My media PC is based on a VIA Mini-ITX board. This board has a 20 pin power header. The standard for ATX motherboards is a 24 pin power connector. Whatever you read, don’t panic about this aspect of the installation. I did, being dumb enough not to open the case and have an actual look at what is really under hood. The supplied 24 pin connector slides apart, providing a 20 pin and seperate 4 pin connector. So you should be covered (provided you have an ATX PC)! The printed connection diagram requires some studying. I would not recommend the installation of the iMON VFD if you have never dug around the innards of your PC.
The case I am using is pretty cramped, making the installation of the iMON VFD a pretty frustrating affair. I elected to connect the USB cable directly onto the motherboard, trying to remember the sequence of wires and their colours. 
The connection of the power cable from the VFD to the motherboard is relatively simple, then connect the power switch to the VFD and its cable to the motherboard. Easy – no?
One important thing to remember: as with most USB devices, the software has to be installed prior to the actual device being connected. I had to be sure not to close the case and load up the software in my eagerness to get this done! Unplug the USB connection, start up the computer and install the software from the CD. After that, shutdown, reconnect the USB cable and close everything up. My media PC now looks something like this:
Batteries for the remote control unit are included. It’s an easy matter to install them. The remote control does seem to be a bit cluttered. The round cursor control button does not always offer adequate tactile feedback, so one tends to press the button more than once. A bit of practice is needed to get the feel for its operation.
The software provided with my unit was very old – I realized this once I started using it and various things weren’t working as expected. In particular, the media scanner constantly lost all information as to the location of my media files, causing lengthy scanning cycles. A download of the new software from Soundgraph and a new installation was necessary. The change in interface is quite dramatic! At least the scanning issues were resolved and the software made a more solid impression. Various settings can be made to change what the VFD displays – this ranges from weather reports to Email notifications.
If a specific display is required, this can be set or the unit can be requested to cycle through a variety of information.
I was disappointed by the initial software installation. The functionality and control over the loaded media was reasonable, but the software seemed to forget where all the media had been stored every now and then. I had to download the latest software release to fix these issues. Once the media has been loaded onto the PC, iMON is able to search for it. I prefer to organize my files manually. In this case, it is necessary to tell the software where to find music, movies and photos:
iMON builds its own internal database of media-related information. A scan of the media is necessary. Depending on the amount of data to be indexed, this can be a lengthy process. The software is intelligent enough to recognize the addition of new media content.
Once the media has been indexed, sit back and enjoy! The remote control is able to switch the PC on and off. Select the desired media…
and play…
If required, the remote control is able to emulate mouse operations. I’d use this only in extreme circumstances! Overall, an excellent product that has added a lot of convenience to my media PC. In some later post I’ll give an overview of what I’ve used to build the media PC itself.
I don’t like banks. But once in a while, they do something right. Just had a call from ABSA’s credit card division. Seems some maladjusted human gained access to my credit card number and did some shopping on the Internet. Thankfully no large amounts! 
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Going Wireless introduces mobile technologies and options for wireless connectivity. The usual suspects are discussed: SMS, wireless hotspots and 3G. Goldstuck’s style is entertaining and easy to read. Though he provides a fair amount of information, two things really bother me. The first is the fact that the publishing and possibly production of the book was made possible by contributions from 
