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Nanovision MiMo UM-740 and Windows Home Server
The Nanovision MiMo UM-740 is a 7" monitor that is fully USB powered. It has a built in camera and mic as well a touch-screen. The monitor is driven by DisplayLink which allows the monitor to take on the role of a primary monitor for use with Windows Home Server. This article looks at installation and uses of the UM-740 with Windows Home Server.
Installation
The installation of the drivers were very straightforward, but cannot be installed via remote desktop. One needs to be physically on the machine for the video drivers to install since it requires access to the core graphics drivers. You can read more on driver install here.
Important: If you are running an Intel Atom D945GCLF or D945GCLF2 with a 60 watt power supply (or similar low wattage system), I highly recommend plugging the UM-740 into a powered USB 2.0 hub or you will overload the motherboard and may damage it. In my case the computer locked up at the BIOS welcome screen. I had to clear the BIOS via the jumper and default to optimized defaults. The computer then started normally. Plugging the monitor into a powered USB 2.0 hub worked fine.
The UM-740 has the following specifications:
Performance:
The UM-740 was calibrated using the Touch Screen calibration utility. After the monitor was configured as the primary display, the primary monitor was disconnected. Since the touch-screen replaced the mouse, I was able to disconnect it as well. Using the on-screen keyboard allowed me to eliminate the keyboard... at least as long as I am logged in (more on this later).
One nice use for the monitor with WHS is to display system statistics. Below shows Intel Hardware Monitor application displaying power use.
The monitor could also be used for displaying a slide show of images on the Home Server.
Since Windows Home Server will normally not be logged into directly, having the Administrator login accessible to all does pose a security issue if someone were to access the computer while it is showing images or etc.. One way around this is to create a user with limited privileges on the machine and log into this account for running the slide show app or other widgets.
When one is logging in and out of the WHS, entering the username and password becomes a challenge since the Microsoft on-screen keyboard isn't available while in the login screen. The software Comfort On-Screen Keyboard Lite by Comfort Software provides a very nice keyboard. There is an option to run the keyboard at Windows startup and also show at Login screen so that it can be used for logging into WHS..
Conclusion:
The UM-740 worked well with Windows Home Server and can be used to display WHS add-ins, monitor the system or use as a picture viewer. Other cool uses would be as a touch panel control for use with automation and lighting control applets such as for X10, Infineon or Zigbee.
See Also:
DisplayLink USB to DVI Adapter review
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