The TREK-775 is an industrial vehicle mounted
computer made by Advantech, the seasoned
Taiwanese embedded and industrial computing
maker that is seeking to expand its position in
the US and other markets. Founded more than
25 years ago by three ex-Hewlett Packard
engineers, Advantech provides a wide variety of
computing platforms, web-based technologies,
and customization services in embedded &
industrial computing, eServices & applied
computing, and industrial automation.
Advantech has over 3,000 employees and a
growing international sales, marketing and
support network. The company sells either
directly or works with third parties to provide
complete computing solutions for various
industries, including medical computing,
industrial Tablet PCs, panels, rugged handhelds,
and vehicle mounted computers like the
Advantech TREK-775 featured here.
Design goals for a vehicle mount
like the Advantech TREK-775
The Advantech TREK-775 is a computer creat-
ed to be used in vehicles ranging from forklifts
to trucks to tanks. It is not a mobile computer
that you carry around and then insert into a
vehicle cradle; it is designed to be mounted
inside a vehicle and be used there. Its intended
application is in warehouses, docks, container
yards and even freezers. Since the vehicles the
TREK-775 will be used in may operate in harsh
environmental conditions, the TREK is a
rugged device that can handle extreme condi-
tions. It’s also a premium device with a fanless
cast aluminum enclosure and sporting an
elegant industrial design.
Computers like the TREK-775 are primarily
used to run custom applications for specific
tasks. While they can support limited func-
tionality as general purpose computers (and
you can run standard Windows XP on the
TREK-775), these machines generally use
embedded operating systems such as Win-
dows XP Embedded and Windows CE, and the
TREK-775 is no exception. This means that
the machine has very modest hardware re-
quirements and generates very little heat. The
TREK-775 is able to get by with a 600MHz
Intel Celeron M or, if full Windows XP is re-
quired, a 1.1GHz Pentium M processor.
Machines like the TREK-775 also do not
need the very latest in chipsets, special fea-
tures and connectivity options. So do not
expect integrated vidcams, superhigh resolu-
tion or advanced audio. Instead, everything is
engineered for the job at hand. Operation
must be as simple as possible so as not to
distract. Controls must be large and handy.
Interfaces must be easily accessible and sup-
port whatever peripherals customers in the
field are likely to have a need for. However,
despite all that, the machine must also be able
to handle the latest technologies. Not an easy
task at all. How did Advantech go about it?
Using an embedded OS: Windows
XP Embedded and Windows CE 5.0
The key to understanding computers like the
TREK-775 and what they offer is in under-
standing the difference between a general
purpose operating system and an embedded
operating system.
General purpose operating systems such as
Windows XP or Windows Vista are just that,
designed for general purpose computing. You
can run anything you want on it and so Mi-
crosoft equipped Windows XP and Vista with
all the drivers and software and utilities users
could possibly need. As a result, they are large
operating system with numerous processes
and services running all the time, all consum-
ing large amounts of memory and power.
Embedded (also known as “componen-
tized”) operating systems are totally different.
The central idea of an embedded OS is to only
include what is needed to perform a limited
set of tasks and leave everything else behind.
This dramatically reduces the size of the
operating system and equally dramatically
reduces hardware requirements. Windows XP
Embedded is generally used for smart, con-
nected and service-oriented commercial and
consumer devices that do not need all of
Windows XP, yet can still run thousands of
existing Windows applications.
Embedded operating systems are not one-
size-fits all. A manufacturer and service
provider like Advantech will determine what a
system is for and what tasks it should be able
to perform. They then include just those
components they need (there are over 10,000
available) to create a lean embedded OS plat-
form that doesn’t take much space or
resources but still does sophisticated tasks
like multimedia, browsing, communications
or whatever an application requires. Essential-
ly you get the power of Windows XP, but
without any unneeded overhead.
Don’t ever make the mistake of using con-
ventional benchmarks to select an embedded
systems machine. Benchmarks measure raw
power, but not how efficiently that power is
put to use. A machine like our review TREK-
775 with its 600 MHz Celeron M processor and
256MB of RAM is hardly a benchmark queen,
but it's quick and responsive at what it does,
and that is the whole point of an embedded
system computer.
So why does Advantech also offer Windows
CE 5.0? Unlike XP Embedded, Windows CE
only supports a subset of the full Windows
API but it is a supremely compact and effi-
SPECIAL REVIEW
ADVANTECH TREK-775
PREMIUM CLASS RUGGED VEHICLE MOUNT PC
RuggedPC
review.com
Advantech_TREK_775:Layout 1 10/15/08 2:02 PM Page 1
(24 pages)
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