Installation of the Pertelian X2040 is a breeze. You simply plug the unit in, install the software and it's pretty much ready to go. By default all of the "core" plug ins are enabled, so you may want to go to the plug-in screen and disable any you don't want, and configure those that you do. If you take a look back up at the list of features you'll see a lot of features that most all LCD's of this type support like displaying system stats, info from Winamp etc. But some of the coolest features of the Pertelian X2040 go above and beyond your average plug in.

Forum Watcher is a plug in that will let you know when a new post has been made on a forum (assuming there is enough of a change in the page displayed for the Pertelian to pick up on it.) Configuration is simple, you go to the plug in screen of the software, choose forum watcher and click configure. Enter a name that you want to use to identify the forum, then enter the URL you want it to monitor as well as the interval you want the unit to check for changes. Once set up any time there is a change to the URL you provided the X2040 will flash and will display (NEW) next to the name of the forum with the changes. Pressing the appropriate hot key will cause the browser to open to the page that is being watched.

eBay Auction monitor, this plug in does exactly what it says. You can set it up to monitor any auction on eBay. It can tell you when you have been outbid, when an auction has ended, or send you an alert when an auction is near it's end. The funky letters in the first line are due to the scrolling of the text, they look normal when note frozen by a camera.

IRC plug in, this plug in is basically an IRC client. Once you have set the plug in up on the configuration screen you can log into AND chat on an IRC channel using the X2040 LCD, no need to tab out of your game to reply to that urgent message from your friends. Due to the small size of the screen you wouldn't want to use it on a busy IRC channel, but for quick messages it is ideal. We use an IRC chan at work, not to chat but for tech to notify each other what they are working on, most times all that is said by a tech in our chan is the name of whatever server they are working on, in this case the Pertelian X2040 is PERFECT! That's one less application open on my desktop that I have to look at.

Instant Messenger support, the X2040 also supports instant messengers in much the same way it does IRC. You are able to send and receive instant messages on the LCD as well as reply to them using the LCD. This is a great feature for gamers that use Yahoo IM, AIM or Gaim since it will allow you to use your chat programs while never leaving your game. Unfortunately I use Trillian so I didn't test it out, however it wouldn't surprise me to see a plug in for Trillian pop up soon.

Another gamer centric plug in is the TeamSpeak plug in, the only configuration required is starting up TeamSpeak and logging into a chan. Once in the chan any time someone talks in TS it will display their name on the LCD screen. I'm a gamer, and we use TS (and Ventrilo) for a lot of things, I cant always recognize who is talking by their voice and having to look over at TeamSpeak and try to catch which little yellow dot lights up next to someone's name can be a serious PITA. With the Pertelian X2040 it is right there, no need to try and catch whose talking, it will tell you.

POP e-mail checking, this is another feature I don't know if I could live without now. You can set this plug in up to check multiple POP3 e-mail accounts, any time there is a new e-mail it will display the number of emails beside the name. You can then use the pre defined hot keys to "drill down" to that e-mail account and the LCD will display the headers for the new messages in that account.

Of course there are several more plug ins available but those were the most unique, and IMO the most handy features that you'll get "out of the box" The openness of the software makes it easy to add new plug ins, unfortunately the plug in community hasn't gotten going in full force on the Pertelian X2040, but I think that will change soon. Below are some a few pictures of some of the other things you can do with this unit.

Final Thoughts

Yes, there are a lot of LCD's out there on the market that are able to do most of the things the Pertelian X2040 can do, but the X2040 takes things a step further and adds quite a bit more interactions in the form of the IRC, eBay, IM and Forum watch plug ins. Like I said early on, I have never owned an LCD before, but in my quick search around the net looking at other LCD unit's the Pertelian X2040 was the only one I found that offers these types of plug ins, and it does it at a significantly lower cost when compared to other 4 x 20 LCD's.

The fact it is a self contained unit and USB powered means you can take it anywhere and as long as you have a USB port available (and the software of course) you can use it. The plug in community is rather small right now, but if you take a look at their forums the community that is there is thinking big. The core plug ins available shows that ForeSight Systems is thinking outside the box so to speak, and really showcasing what a device like this is capable of. If your handy with .NET 2.0 maybe you could write your own plug in that is the "next big thing". They are working on other voice chat support options (like Ventrilo) and have had some great suggestions like more integration with Outlook (Tasks, calendar etc.).

I've been using this device less than a week and already I don't know how I got by without something like it before. When it comes to useful gadgets, this one is at the top of my list.

We'd like to thank both CrazyPC and ForeSight Systems LLC for making this review possible. You can purchase this unit direct from CrazyPC who we fully recommend as a reliable retailer.