Laporte, Indiana based DLI was founded in the early 1990s as a manufacturer and reseller of wireless data collection devices. The company carries mobile computers, rugged ultra-mobile tablets, handhelds, scanners and vehicle mounted computers. The DLI 9200 shown here was introduced in February of 2011 as the rugged computing industry's first vehicle-mount computer powered by a dual-core Intel Atom processor.
The DLI 9200 replaces the earlier DLI 8200 as the company's primary dedicated vehicle-mount computer. As such, the device is geared towards data collection and other tasks in a variety of industrial vehicles including forklifts, semi- trucks, police cars and emergency vehicles, as well as heavy-duty construction equipment. The platform comes in two sizes with displays measuring 12.1 and 15 inches diagonally. The 9200 line does not include a 10.4-inch model as the 8200 line did; that display size is covered by the company's DLI 8500 model.
Weight of the new 9200 models is nine pounds for the smaller 12.1-inch version and about 13 pounds for the larger 15.1-inch version. Even the 15.1-inch model is only 2.2 inches thick, making the DLI 9200 panels easy to mount almost anywhere.
The DLI 9200 isn't just a standard panel computer; it benefits from DLI's considerable experience in making rugged tablet devices by incorporating a number of features generally only found in portable tablets. There's 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi; optional Bluetooth, WWAN and GPS; and an integrated backup battery that allows up to an hour and a half of operation away from the standard DC vehicle power.
The DLI 9200 also differentiates itself in the processor department where matters are handled by a frugal but quite powerful dual core Atom D525 running at 1.8GHz. That's significantly more firepower than the AMD LX800 that saw duty in the predecessor 8200 model. In fact, performancewise the 9200's dual core Atom processor is virtually on par with several low voltage Core 2 Duo processors and
much faster than the lesser Atom chips found in most netbooks. Storage can be a 120 or 240GB shock-mounted 1.8-inch hard disk or up to 64GB of Compact Flash. The choice of storage medium will likely depend on the OS platform chosen. As is, Data Ltd offers the machine with either Windows 7, Windows Embedded Standard 7, Vista Business, XP Pro, Windows Embedded Standard 2009, or Linux 2.6 (Ubuntu).
Both the 12.1 and the 15-inch version of the DLI 9200 come with an indoor/outdoor viewable display with a strong 500 nit backlight, a resistive touch screen, and XGA (1024 x 768 pixel) resolution. The six physical buttons below the display are fully programmable and can be used for custom applications.
As shown above, the 9200 has two USB 2.0 ports with locking connectors, a DB9 RS232 serial port (optional), gigabit Ethernet, video-out (optional) and external antenna connectors.
The impact-resistant metal housing provides IP54 sealing (with the ports IP67 sealed), and the requisite shock and vibration resistance for operation in vehicles. The operating temperature range is a wide -4 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. The picture on the left shows the optional external keyboard. It's a rugged USB device that carries IP64 sealing.
DLI targets the rugged DLI 9200 vehicle-mount computer at applications in material handling vehicles including forklifts, stock pickers & motorized pallets; industrial & heavy construction vehicles; shipyard, dock side & maritime cargo facilitie; fire, EMS and emergency response command- and control vehicles, and any other area where a versatile, powerful rugged vehicle-based computing device is needed.
