http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Sun, 16 Oct 2005 15:25:14 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/16/152514.php MiniMageI spent three weeks getting to know the deliciously tiny Fujitsu P1510d, a convertible touch screen notebook. Here, then, are the observations of a mobile tech addict who has been spoiled by working on an active digitizer tablet for over a year. General Hardware Notes My first thought when I looked at it was, "why does its lower lip stick out like that?" Recalling the IBM ThinkPad X41T I'd seen a couple of months earlier, I realized that this must be an extended life battery. My suspicions were confirmed not much later. I must say that 7 hours (the published rating) is a lovely battery life. My best portable (not counting my PDAs) has only 3.5 hours to give, which is the rating for the P1510's normal battery. True, it's reported that the Electrovayas can stay up for nine hours, but the P1510 is still doing better than the average Tablet.I was surprised to see that the processor was a 1.2gHz Pentium-M, but after experiencing the heat that little machine (it sports an 8.9 inch display and is a real load-lightener at 2.2 pounds) puts out, I could understand why the processor wasn't any faster. The system can hold up to 1 gigabyte of memory; the device I used had 512 megabytes installed. The 60gb hard drive was more than sufficient for leaving the original XP installation on one partition and installing Windows Vista Beta 1 on a second partition.I found the locations of the USB ports (one on either side of the keyboard) to be smartly placed. I appreciated and used the Secure Digital slot, but was disappointed that I could find no way to make the device boot from an SD card. I found myself wishing for a PC Card slot, instead of the Compact Flash slot. I have plenty of CF cards, but I have an adapter for them, as well. I tried, but never actually made use of, the fingerprint sensor.I rarely used the port replicator. In fact, I was surprised that it didn't seem more substantial. There was actually more to it, but in handling it, I got the impression that it was no more than a simple, light piece of plastic. Video The P1510 is a widescreen device. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that instead of the 800x480 resolution I'd resigned myself to seeing, I was actually viewing at 1024x600. The resolution could be increased to 1280x768, but this would force the viewer to pan around to see everything. I admit I don't have a lot of experience with evaluating LCDs, but I found the screen to be a thing of beauty, bright and clear. It was even legible in sunlight, though I'm not in any way stating that it should be purchased for outdoor use. Audio The device uses RealTek™ AC'97. I didn't spend a lot of time with audio, but I and some others listened to a song on it, and we agreed that it had a very nice sound for such a tiny device. Input Being that the device is small, the keyboard is, too. At 5'3" tall, my hands are proportionate for my frame, which means they are small, and I found that I had to swing my wrists outward to place both my hands on the keyboard with the fingers on their proper home keys. I used to have a wonderful working relationship with StickPoints, but I haven't had one for a while (my TabletPC does not have one), and I found it much more difficult to use than a touchpad.I found the pen to be a bit strange and a bit too small for comfort. Since the P1510 uses a touch screen, rather than the active digitizer, one is not limited to using that pen, so I'd recommend heading out to the nearest high-tech office supply store and grabbing a bigger stylus, maybe even one of those 3-in-1 or 4-in-1 types. Or, if you're like me and have several older Fujitsu tablets, rob one of those of its stylus.For the most part, the screen did not register when my palm rested against it; a few times a day, however, my bent pinkie would graze the screen, and any input I was involved in would be affected. Interestingly enough, a rather large technician found that the screen completely ignored his forefinger, so normal-sized individuals might not find this as much of a problem as I did. One thing the touch screen means for the average user is that there is no cursor tracking, much like on a PDA. Dragging/dropping and resizing of items sometimes had to be attempted more than once, since I could not see where the cursor was until after the pen touched the screen. I was thrilled, however, to see that the calibration utility uses six points, rather than the four I normally see. Right-clicking is achieved by enabling it within a Fujitsu utility and tapping the resulting icon on the taskbar; this works well in, say, explorer or a program, however, I often use right-clicking within the Start Menu to re-arrange items or pin them, and for these tasks, I had to revert to the keyboard. It was announced last month that these devices will ship with the TabletPC Edition of Windows XP, and that means that they will have the Tablet Input Panel, so owners of the P1510d will not have the same text input concerns I did. However, the unit I received came with Windows XP Pro installed, so input with a pen involved using the On-Screen Keyboard, which a TabletPC aficionado really can't abide. Although I'm quite happy with EverNote's RitePen, and I did eventually discover that RitePen came on a CD that shipped with the device, I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to take another look at PenOffice. Other than some issues with alignment when using the pen as a mouse (I had to turn recognition off to select items or navigate though the Start Menu), I wasn't disappointed. Though RitePen and PenOffice are similar, I still prefer the handwriting recognition and correction method of RitePen, but I love PenOffice's lite version of PenCommander. Networking I never tried the modem. I used the wireless (Integrated 802.11a/b/g Atheros Super AG) quite a bit, and there were no problems there. The same goes for the Ethernet (Integrated 10/100 Base-T/TX). The device has no bluetooth, nor had I any need of that. Vista Beta 1 on the P1510d Wanting to experience the P1510 as a Tablet PC, I grabbed my copies of Microsoft Windows Vista Beta 1 and installed it. I tried two different builds. I was aware that Vista makes many more demands of hardware than its predecessor, and I had concerns that the 512mb of RAM wouldn't suffice, but I found I had no unexpected performance issues whatsoever (there were some device driver problems and application compatibility issues, but this was expected in a beta, and I reported it to Microsoft). I can honestly say that using the Vista Tablet Input Panel on the Fujitsu was a better experience than using the TPCE 2005 TIP on my beloved ViewSonic V1250. Conclusion If I hadn't been using an active digitizer for a year and a half, I'd be sold. For those who are new to penabled computing or who have been using PDAs and wishing for something that can do and show more, I have little doubt that the P1510d will deliver. A way simply needs to be found to make the device run cooler. Specifications for the P1510d can be found here: http://www.computers.us.fujitsu.com/www/products_notebooks.shtml?products/notebooks/tech_specs/p1510d_ts Other reviews: Laptop Magazine http://laptopmag.com/Review/Fujitsu-LifeBook-P1510D.htmLaptop Notebook Review http://laptop-notebook.blogspot.com/2005/10/fujitsu-siemens-lifebook-p1510-review.htmlMobileWhack http://www.mobilewhack.com/reviews/fujitsu_lifebook_p1500d_notebook.htmlMobility Guru http://www.mobilityguru.com/2005/10/05/fujitsu/index.htmlPC World http://pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,122261,00.asp Culture37996@blogcritics.org Sun, 16 Oct 2005 15:25:14 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/06/28/221834.php MiniMageIn an earlier blog entry, I briefly mentioned that I use Agilix GoBinder for taking notes and organizing documentation on the job. Now, I want to go into some detail, and explain just how I use GoBinder (and therefore my TabletPC) in my work.Some people think that we computer techs know all the answers (at least, that's what they will often tell us). True, lots of times we know immediately how to install the software or hardware a user needs, or how to diagnose and fix operating system issues, but when a tech doesn't know right away what to do, a good one knows where to look for answers. When it comes down to it, other people look to me to provide the answers to their problems, and since they can rarely pick up their PCs to come to me, I need to be able to take my answers to them, whether that means a vendor's instructions for installing or troubleshooting a custom software package, lengthy Microsoft KB articles for resolving an issue with the OS or an Office product, or some gem of advice gleaned from a Google search. I don't want to have to search through hundreds of documents in various document folders on my hard drive. I've done that, and it's a waste of my time, my employer's time, and my users' time. I also learned to dislike keeping printouts lying around waiting for the next time they might be useful, even if I did keep them alphabetized in a 3-ring binder.This is why I find the Binder aspect of GoBinder to be the most valuable. Don't get me wrong, the synchronization of Outlook tasks, appointments and contacts is neat and convenient, and so is the ability to take handwritten notes on customized paper types -- I've cobbled together a few paper types, myself. One of the neatest things about GoBinder is its virtual printer. Yes, I mean something similar to the Acrobat Distiller, Microsoft Journal Note Writer, or the Microsoft OneNote printer. It's easy enough to import Word documents, Adobe PDFs and web pages from within GoBinder, itself, but if I'm searching the web, reading email, or combing my group's shared documentation on SharePoint or Exchange and I find a useful tidbit, I can simply use the File Print dialog, and choose the GoBinder printer, and the document will be dropped right into GoBinder. If GoBinder wasn't open at the time, the doc is queued to wait until I run GB. If GB is already running, it will drop the document copy into the current folder and/or tab; or if none have been selected, the note will be created in the first folder available for note creation/editing. Once my info is in GoBinder, annotation/highlighting is as easy as selecting a pen type and scribbling to my hearts content.... In the picture above, we have a shot of my GoBinder Work database (I also have one for playing at home with my other computers, and an experimental one for eBooks). GoBinder defaults to having tabs for Calendar, Contacts (the People tab), Syllabus (well, it IS geared toward students and other members of the academic community), Notes, and Courses. I hid the Syllabus tab and created my own tabs, such as one for my notes on issues related to clinical applications and hardware, and one for non-clinical. One department in particular has a great deal of specialized software, so it has a tab all to itself. On the left--and this was the selling point for me--I have folders within my tab and folders within the folders, basically a vertical explorer-like listing. I can expand/collapse where needed. If I need a refresher on how, for example, to get somebody's PocketPC to synchronize again after XPSP2 has been installed, I know I can find my answer in the Microsoft\PocketPC folder in the Non-Clinical Apps/Hardware tab. Initially, I thought I had no need for the Outlook synchronization feature of GoBinder (they refer to it as "Mobilization"). Eventually, it occurred to me that it might be handy to have contact info in the same place as my documentation, especially since my documentation might instruct me to combine my effort with another support group. Rather then opening up another application, I can just switch to another tab to locate that programmer's phone number or that sysadmin's pager number! If I don't already have the needed content info, I can just write (and I mean write, as the illustration above shows, not type) the info in after I get it, and I can mobilize it into Outlook whenever I am ready. The last picture demonstrates how I use GoBinder to submit forms. After 6 years as a PC tech, I am still flabbergasted by the amount of paperwork with which we have to deal. Honestly, I thought paperwork was for other people! At any rate, I show an example of a sort of checklist we fill out when we have to re-load the OS of a PC. The purpose is to let the user know what we will and will not back up and restore, and to remind us not to leave something out. Once a form is filled out by the user and me, and the job is done, I email a copy directly from GoBinder to my supervisor. We have a very similar form for PC replacements. I also have forms for inventory changes, for requesting time off and for off-site re-location of campus equipment. I'm still trying to convince our office assistant to let me fill out mileage forms in GoBinder!There are a couple of ways to have these forms in GB. The easiest way is to import or print blank forms into GoBinder and fill them out. I prefer to create custom paper types, which isn't easy yet, but it looks better for forms with tables (the last time I checked, the note-taking apps had problems with tables displaying as desired). I grab a screenshot of the desired document to use as a background image, then copy and modify another paper type, which is defined in an xml file located in the GoBinder program folder. Switching to another paper type is quick and easy. So that's enough on GoBinder for now, but you should see it mentioned again, when I discuss my efforts to go paperless. Sci/Tech31745@blogcritics.org Tue, 28 Jun 2005 22:18:34 EDT