Re: Further development on Windows?

Jeff,

Yes, the Sony UX. I don't thumb type on it, however. I have the Fitaly virtual keyboard and type on the screen with a stylus (I use Fitaly on my Palm PDA as well). Yes, one of the first things I had to figure out about it was how to enter text since it doesn't seem to have handwriting recognition. Actually I pretty much dislike the keyboard under the screen. The only thing I use it for is to enter my Windows password, and then I use a pen type stylus to enter the keystrokes.

I have large pockets in my jackets that can hold the UX. Also I picked up a nice little pouch with a shoulder strap up on SKyline Drive last summer. It is actually insulated and, I suspect, intended to carry a hiker's lunch, but the UX fits into it almost perfectly, with its power unit. 

My main issue for a long time was poor performance. The UX of course is totally solid state, no hard drive, but Sony built in a separation bgetween storage and memory and only allocated 1 GB to memory. Of course Vista needs at least 2 GB (4 is better). Eventually I discovered something called "paging" in the control panel. This is Mircosoft's name for virtual memory. I used that to allocate 3 GB of "storage" to memory, and it performs much better now.

As a laptop it is still a little slow, and it has very limited storage compared to the huge hard drives on many laptops. But as a PDA it is incredible, and with judicious use of Memory Sticks I find I have enough storage for most uses. I still do my photo editing on our desktop computer, of course, but I do all my writing and other stuff on the UX. 

I just (this week) got a new battery for it. I had it running on battery continuously with the screen lit (reading and playing online games) for three hours last night and still hadn't killed it. So I am pretty happy with it right now.

 Bert Latamore
Freelance Editorial Consultant




________________________________
From: Jeff Mitchell <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 3:55:17 PM
Subject: Re: [shadow-discuss] Further development on Windows?


On Thu, 12 Mar 2009, Bert Latamore wrote:

# The Web version would work for me since one of the reasons I have moved 
# to the Sony UX (and Vista) is for the connectivity. I think the biggest 
# issue there would be exporting to a desktop-based calendar system such 
# as Pimlical, but there are probably ways to do that.

You're using the Sony UX with the sliding screen (keyboard 
underneath, glowing blue?)

I've found that a very difficult unit to hold onto and thumbtype, 
and just large/heavy enough to not be pocketable. (Wibrain seems like a 
clever alternative, but still a little 'brick'y for me.)

I'm working on a project, building the OS user experience and 
application delivery system for this gadget; it'll be a niche gadget 
likely, but is a very interesting form factor and device for productivity 
and gaming enthusiasts both:

http://www.openpand ora.org/

See this picture:

http://tech. guysupstairs. com/wp-content/ uploads/2008/ 09/open-pandora. jpg

The size of a Nintendo DS (ie: 1/4 the size of an Asus EEE.)

Seems much more compelling than a Sony UX style, though it won't 
be running Windows since its ARM based. (Linux in this case.)

(Wibrain is a little larger than a Sony PSP, much smaller than an 
Asus EEE, and features a full keyboard and x86 based, so runs Windows XP. 
I've oftne thought the Wibrain might be ideal, but not sure how well one 
can type on it, with the keyboard split across the screen.)

Shadow Desktop runs fine on Sony UX, Wibrain and Pandora, of 
course :)

jeff

--
If everyone would put barbecue sauce on their food, there would be no war.

   

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