So, I took it on holiday, loaded up with video.
Battery life was good, I think about 3 maybe close to 4 hours in total, enough for 2 feature films on a rather slow cross-channel ferry to France (and back).
Brightness control is something I need to investigate I think, mostly for battery life implications, but also because it's not automatically set so on some occasions (in near-dark, or very bright / daylight), it needs a tweak.
Video playback was an interesting one. VLC handles my mp4 files quite happily, no problems. I saw some artefacting, but i'm putting that down to a corrupt rips (from a no-doubt ruined kids' dvd) - i'll recheck playback on another PC. Opening DVD files was another beast; the VLC gui to open a dvd disk (that's actually video_ts files on disk) is painful.. something to investigate. (I also need to buy a 3.5mm earphone splitter, one ear each was painful, literally...)
The other thing I missed was a decent internet browser, I was using my phone (windows mobile, pocket IE and/or google maps mobile) for most quick things, but for more complex things (like, er, search), mobile browsers don't quite cut it. So, i'll be exploring how to get my PCMCIA data card working - and i'm expecting pain, it's bad enough on Windows XP.
And after that, well, maybe bluetooth dongle via GPS. But that's for the future.
Next steps, hardware buttons I think.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
screen rotation
It seems xrandr works, specifically with the -o flag.
Quite quickly too. I'll create a script to toggle it, for now, i've got two buttons; one for landscape and one for portrait, with a little widget on screen (in the panel).
I'll link that script to the hardware button.
For now, I use it in landscape mode 99% of the time, so nothing significant.
Quite quickly too. I'll create a script to toggle it, for now, i've got two buttons; one for landscape and one for portrait, with a little widget on screen (in the panel).
I'll link that script to the hardware button.
For now, I use it in landscape mode 99% of the time, so nothing significant.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Epiphany web browser
As much as I like firefox, I like a change sometimes, and I like the notion of a smaller, cleaner, quicker browser.
So I installed Epiphany (via synaptic, as usual). I quite like it, so time will tell.
Also had about 14 updates to the system last night as well, which may take some getting used to. Windows, maybe one update every 6 months, Mac, one every month or three, Linux (so far) 2 in as many weeks...
So I installed Epiphany (via synaptic, as usual). I quite like it, so time will tell.
Also had about 14 updates to the system last night as well, which may take some getting used to. Windows, maybe one update every 6 months, Mac, one every month or three, Linux (so far) 2 in as many weeks...
xvkbd..?
Installed this too, seems slightly neater than onboard, so I may swap.
Particularly as onboard doesn't seem to allow me to enter popup sudo password requests (when running things like synaptic gui)
Particularly as onboard doesn't seem to allow me to enter popup sudo password requests (when running things like synaptic gui)
DVD playback
My dock came with a DVD player, and unfortunately, xubuntu didn't come with a DVD player app (or at least, none of the standard 'multimedia' apps worked).
Quick google, and found ogle. Installed via synaptic, works a treat, with real DVD disks, or with images (ie folder full of VOBs) on disk.
Happy.
Didn't think of using vlc, but may try it.
Need to also work out how to change application/file associations, all my videos open up with the standard xubuntu one (which seems so lacking on codecs that i've forgotten it's name...)
Quick google, and found ogle. Installed via synaptic, works a treat, with real DVD disks, or with images (ie folder full of VOBs) on disk.
Happy.
Didn't think of using vlc, but may try it.
Need to also work out how to change application/file associations, all my videos open up with the standard xubuntu one (which seems so lacking on codecs that i've forgotten it's name...)
firewire / ieee 1394
Realised I had a firewire connector, so, out come the external hard disk that I usually have connected to the mac.
Mounted on desktop, managed to read and write - very quickly - with no problems. No drivers, changes, digging out vi, Just Works. Faith partially restored.
Now, how to eject using GUI...? It seems I may need to add a custom panel item with 'eject /sda' or similar. Or just pull it out...
Mounted on desktop, managed to read and write - very quickly - with no problems. No drivers, changes, digging out vi, Just Works. Faith partially restored.
Now, how to eject using GUI...? It seems I may need to add a custom panel item with 'eject /sda' or similar. Or just pull it out...
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
on my ease of use criteria
Having now had a look at the gok user manual, it seems indeed very powerful.
However, that's perhaps the problem - it's too powerful. I want to click a button/widget, and have an on-screen keyboard appear (something I have setup now with onboard).
Secondly, I should not have had to look at a user manual to work out how to get a qwerty keyboard on screen...
I've still a funny feeling something isn't quite right, since nothing besides the main menu (3x3 grid) actually appears. So thirdly, it should Just Work, and it doesn't seem to.
I'm afraid gok, like to many other linux features, don't, or at least, 'don't well'. It's no surprise there's so much talk of linux acceptance on the desktop... even if I am using a tablet, not a true desktop.
However, that's perhaps the problem - it's too powerful. I want to click a button/widget, and have an on-screen keyboard appear (something I have setup now with onboard).
Secondly, I should not have had to look at a user manual to work out how to get a qwerty keyboard on screen...
I've still a funny feeling something isn't quite right, since nothing besides the main menu (3x3 grid) actually appears. So thirdly, it should Just Work, and it doesn't seem to.
I'm afraid gok, like to many other linux features, don't, or at least, 'don't well'. It's no surprise there's so much talk of linux acceptance on the desktop... even if I am using a tablet, not a true desktop.
onscreen keyboard #2
So, it's automatically logging in. Now, for an on-screen keyboard.
Onboard (and onboard-settings) were installed by default (in /usr/bin, thus in $PATH). Ran the settings first, nice little dialogue, didn't do much obviously. Ran onboard from command line, segmentation fault. Hmm.
Can't be getting into a crazy core dump debug session, run up synaptic, and reinstall it; the same.
Ok, try out gok. That pops up with a 3x3 grid, a rather complex set of preferences (~8 tabs?!) and after 5 minutes tinkering, I saw no keyboard. Off.
Next, install orca. That pops up with a grand window, talking to me. As with gok, lots of tabs and speech and braille and all sorts, no keyboard. Off.
Run onboard again, feeling more desperate. The biggest keyboard I ever saw appeared, with a weird keyboard layout - so some progress... Open up settings, choose a new layout, don't do much else, then when I get the keyboard, it's qwerty.
It can be resized via gui handles easily enough, and seems to remember position & size. Set up a shortcut in top xfce launcher panel for easy access. And it works well enough with firefox.
I think i'll need to tinker with placement, size and things, it seems to get in the way a bit...
I may also consider xvkbd too...
[in summary, I don't know why it didn't work first time, I can only presume installing a whole bunch of stuff with orca helped out. gok is truly mystifying, so I wouldn't recommend that. all in all, a rather annoying experience for something so simple.]
Onboard (and onboard-settings) were installed by default (in /usr/bin, thus in $PATH). Ran the settings first, nice little dialogue, didn't do much obviously. Ran onboard from command line, segmentation fault. Hmm.
Can't be getting into a crazy core dump debug session, run up synaptic, and reinstall it; the same.
Ok, try out gok. That pops up with a 3x3 grid, a rather complex set of preferences (~8 tabs?!) and after 5 minutes tinkering, I saw no keyboard. Off.
Next, install orca. That pops up with a grand window, talking to me. As with gok, lots of tabs and speech and braille and all sorts, no keyboard. Off.
Run onboard again, feeling more desperate. The biggest keyboard I ever saw appeared, with a weird keyboard layout - so some progress... Open up settings, choose a new layout, don't do much else, then when I get the keyboard, it's qwerty.
It can be resized via gui handles easily enough, and seems to remember position & size. Set up a shortcut in top xfce launcher panel for easy access. And it works well enough with firefox.
I think i'll need to tinker with placement, size and things, it seems to get in the way a bit...
I may also consider xvkbd too...
[in summary, I don't know why it didn't work first time, I can only presume installing a whole bunch of stuff with orca helped out. gok is truly mystifying, so I wouldn't recommend that. all in all, a rather annoying experience for something so simple.]
Friday, May 16, 2008
onscreen keyboard
One of the reasons I was going to approach this part next was for the login screen. There's a lot of topics and threads about how to get this going. The old xkbd is mentioned a lot, as is SOK, now renamed onBoard - which is an annoying title, merely because of the false hits you get in google...
Nevertheless, onBoard seemed to be what I wanted.
Then it struck me that what I really wanted to do was avoid any kind of login altogether, have it done automatically on the one user account that exists. That way, I need not bother with any hassle of having an onscreen keyboard early (i.e. at login time), and I could call it up when I needed it, when browsing for example.
So, a quick check in the login settings panel, automatic login, choose user in pulldown, done. No login window ever again; straight to desktop after turning it on. Lovely.
Now, at this stage, I could pretty much leave it as-is; I can turn it on, click on firefox, click on bookmarks and that's all I need. Or click on a video, watch video, done.
Except, onBoard doesn't seem to be resident, at least, running it from /usr/bin doesn't do much. Hardware buttons don't work, and they're nice, particularly for page scrolling and right clicks. Standby and hibernate seem a little er, not working. All in all, nothing critical, I could stop here, but it's feels kind of half baked.
Nevertheless, onBoard seemed to be what I wanted.
Then it struck me that what I really wanted to do was avoid any kind of login altogether, have it done automatically on the one user account that exists. That way, I need not bother with any hassle of having an onscreen keyboard early (i.e. at login time), and I could call it up when I needed it, when browsing for example.
So, a quick check in the login settings panel, automatic login, choose user in pulldown, done. No login window ever again; straight to desktop after turning it on. Lovely.
Now, at this stage, I could pretty much leave it as-is; I can turn it on, click on firefox, click on bookmarks and that's all I need. Or click on a video, watch video, done.
Except, onBoard doesn't seem to be resident, at least, running it from /usr/bin doesn't do much. Hardware buttons don't work, and they're nice, particularly for page scrolling and right clicks. Standby and hibernate seem a little er, not working. All in all, nothing critical, I could stop here, but it's feels kind of half baked.
touchscreen works
So, headed over to ubuntu forums and downloaded the patched fpit driver that ace214 posted. Exploded gz and copied .so file into /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input - renaming [moving] the existing one (to have a .old extension, just in case...). Restart.
It kind of worked, at least, it didn't crash and the pointer moved about when I touched the screen.
After some xorg.conf tinkering, the following seem to be required in my xorg.conf
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Touchscreen"
Driver "fpit"
Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
Option "BaudRate" "9600"
Option "MaximumXPosition" "4096"
Option "MaximumYPosition" "4096"
Option "MinimumXPosition" "0"
Option "MinimumYPosition" "0"
Option "Passive" "true"
Option "TrackRandR"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
EndSection
I have yet to test the screen rotation, so I may revisit the TrackRandR section.
I also commented out the (default added) Synaptics Touchpad section, which refers to /dev/psuax, and therefore the ServerLayout section (at the end of xorg.conf) refers to Touchscreen (as above) and not Synaptics.
Not putting BaudRate made the cursor jump wildly; although it could be me adding Option "BaudRate" with no parameter was the problem.
I also tried various combinations of (previously posted) variations on Max/Min X & Y, and found that max = 4096 and min = 0 is perfect - it tracks the pointer perfectly.
Next steps; button panel - mostly to enable right clicks and screen rotation (although i'm not too bothered about that)
I also need to try it undocked minus keyboard and mouse, i've a niggling feeling that since my mouse is the core pointer, something may occur. I hope setting touchscreen as core pointer will work too...
I'll post my xorg.conf when it's 100%
It kind of worked, at least, it didn't crash and the pointer moved about when I touched the screen.
After some xorg.conf tinkering, the following seem to be required in my xorg.conf
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Touchscreen"
Driver "fpit"
Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
Option "BaudRate" "9600"
Option "MaximumXPosition" "4096"
Option "MaximumYPosition" "4096"
Option "MinimumXPosition" "0"
Option "MinimumYPosition" "0"
Option "Passive" "true"
Option "TrackRandR"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
EndSection
I have yet to test the screen rotation, so I may revisit the TrackRandR section.
I also commented out the (default added) Synaptics Touchpad section, which refers to /dev/psuax, and therefore the ServerLayout section (at the end of xorg.conf) refers to Touchscreen (as above) and not Synaptics.
Not putting BaudRate made the cursor jump wildly; although it could be me adding Option "BaudRate" with no parameter was the problem.
I also tried various combinations of (previously posted) variations on Max/Min X & Y, and found that max = 4096 and min = 0 is perfect - it tracks the pointer perfectly.
Next steps; button panel - mostly to enable right clicks and screen rotation (although i'm not too bothered about that)
I also need to try it undocked minus keyboard and mouse, i've a niggling feeling that since my mouse is the core pointer, something may occur. I hope setting touchscreen as core pointer will work too...
I'll post my xorg.conf when it's 100%
Monday, May 12, 2008
serial port for touchscreen
Ok, first thing then, serial ports (for the screen) not being picked up.
Load up synaptic and install setserial.
Run
So, step one complete. Now i'll need to upgrade the fpit driver, and I beleive a patched one is out there.
As an aside, i'm still not sure how/if setserial has indeed setup the serial port on everyboot. I've a funny feeling I need to tinker with /etc/rc.local to make sure it's called. I didn't take too long debugging, the setserial was a quick test (which seems to have passed) so i'll look later.
[update: I think I copied that same config into /etc/serial.conf - nothing else - and it seems to be keeping things working upon reboot. So either running the command above set it forever, or, setserial has installed itself somewhere (rc.d?) and picks up /etc/serial.conf every boot. Either way, it works as expected, so i'll leave this for now (until it's really bugging me..)]
Load up synaptic and install setserial.
Run
/bin/setserial /dev/ttyS0 irq 4 port 0x220 autoconfigPoint the xorg.conf touchscreen section to /dev/ttyS0 and restart X11. Everything appears normal, mouse works. Touch the screen, screen crashes and goes all knackered; I take this to be a good sign - at least the touch part is getting to the X driver (which then fails).
So, step one complete. Now i'll need to upgrade the fpit driver, and I beleive a patched one is out there.
As an aside, i'm still not sure how/if setserial has indeed setup the serial port on everyboot. I've a funny feeling I need to tinker with /etc/rc.local to make sure it's called. I didn't take too long debugging, the setserial was a quick test (which seems to have passed) so i'll look later.
[update: I think I copied that same config into /etc/serial.conf - nothing else - and it seems to be keeping things working upon reboot. So either running the command above set it forever, or, setserial has installed itself somewhere (rc.d?) and picks up /etc/serial.conf every boot. Either way, it works as expected, so i'll leave this for now (until it's really bugging me..)]
Thursday, May 8, 2008
video
My #2 use-case, after #1 of 'sofa browsing', is video playback.
I copied over a couple of large mp4's easily enough - I plugged in my old Win2k 20Gb disk in the caddy. It mounted it on the desktop, open up, copy, paste - easy.
Double click a movie, the default Xubuntu video player chokes. Maybe not the best, but hey, I prefer VLC anyway. Open up synaptic, search for VLC, click, go.
Reset video files' 'open with' to VLC, double click, opens nicely.
Plays really nicely too, smooth, even when fullscreen, sound works too. Happy.
Why better than Win2k? Well, it could be the new disk, which is 5400rpm not 4200rpm like the old one (I think). Most of me thinks it's Win2k bloat; it just didn't seem to be able to get the video in and out fast enough, hence the pausing to catch up. Generally, Xubuntu does seem snappier and more responsive than Win2k, so it passes the smaller = better test for me. 512Mb RAM seems more than enough - postpone memory upgrade.
I copied over a couple of large mp4's easily enough - I plugged in my old Win2k 20Gb disk in the caddy. It mounted it on the desktop, open up, copy, paste - easy.
Double click a movie, the default Xubuntu video player chokes. Maybe not the best, but hey, I prefer VLC anyway. Open up synaptic, search for VLC, click, go.
Reset video files' 'open with' to VLC, double click, opens nicely.
Plays really nicely too, smooth, even when fullscreen, sound works too. Happy.
Why better than Win2k? Well, it could be the new disk, which is 5400rpm not 4200rpm like the old one (I think). Most of me thinks it's Win2k bloat; it just didn't seem to be able to get the video in and out fast enough, hence the pausing to catch up. Generally, Xubuntu does seem snappier and more responsive than Win2k, so it passes the smaller = better test for me. 512Mb RAM seems more than enough - postpone memory upgrade.
wifi
Now, the tablet has a built in wifi, with a little switch on the back (on/off).
It's a prism chipset, so it was found ok.
I don't rate the wifi settings panel(s). The big network panel (in settings) has a 'enable roaming' (which is a really stupid term if you ask me), but when [un]set, I can choose my [E]SSID, but only have a choice of 2 WEP and 2 WPA. I'm lazy, and live in the middle of nowhere, so my wifi is open (with access control, etc). No go.
[and it's confusing to have wifi and wlan0 in the panel - which is which eh?]
Toggling the roaming bit lets me choose an [E]SSID on the top menu bar wifi, and that lets me choose 'None' for security.
That connects happily, but no IP addresses, or traffic, etc. Here, I decide that the inbuilt wifi is too much hassle, so dig out my D-Link DWL-122 USB wifi key - which i'd been using with Win2k anyway - it seemed to be more stable.
[update: it seems the inbuilt wifi on/off switch was in fact off... ahem. Turning it on allows the inbuilt wifi to connect. Saying that, it only gets 1 bar, while the USB stick gets at least 3. So it's fixed, but not the best anyway... Of course, i'd expect a switch set to off to kind of 'vanish' the hardware, but hey...]
Plug in USB wifi key, wait. It appears as wlan0, enable roaming, enter details in the top panel widget, and it works. Connected up, all DHCP'd, good.
Load up firefox (3, beta 5) and i'm browsing. Good.
Run up the update manager, and it tells me ~18 things need updating. Off it goes, all done. Good.
It's a prism chipset, so it was found ok.
I don't rate the wifi settings panel(s). The big network panel (in settings) has a 'enable roaming' (which is a really stupid term if you ask me), but when [un]set, I can choose my [E]SSID, but only have a choice of 2 WEP and 2 WPA. I'm lazy, and live in the middle of nowhere, so my wifi is open (with access control, etc). No go.
[and it's confusing to have wifi and wlan0 in the panel - which is which eh?]
Toggling the roaming bit lets me choose an [E]SSID on the top menu bar wifi, and that lets me choose 'None' for security.
That connects happily, but no IP addresses, or traffic, etc. Here, I decide that the inbuilt wifi is too much hassle, so dig out my D-Link DWL-122 USB wifi key - which i'd been using with Win2k anyway - it seemed to be more stable.
[update: it seems the inbuilt wifi on/off switch was in fact off... ahem. Turning it on allows the inbuilt wifi to connect. Saying that, it only gets 1 bar, while the USB stick gets at least 3. So it's fixed, but not the best anyway... Of course, i'd expect a switch set to off to kind of 'vanish' the hardware, but hey...]
Plug in USB wifi key, wait. It appears as wlan0, enable roaming, enter details in the top panel widget, and it works. Connected up, all DHCP'd, good.
Load up firefox (3, beta 5) and i'm browsing. Good.
Run up the update manager, and it tells me ~18 things need updating. Off it goes, all done. Good.
sorting out X
This was a bit of a faff.
At first, I was worried that my /etc/X11/xorg.conf was rather sparse.
Running sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg asked one question about kernel mode, then a whole bunch of stuff about keyboards, then stopped. Er, what no driver questions? No monitor questions?
After some digging around, it's clear that X seems to be rather clever, so don't worry about an empty looking configuration file.
More importantly, adding
Driver "i810"
to the 'Device' section in xorg.conf works. Nothing else, one line.
Reboot and I get a nice - working - screen, at 1024 x 768 with (what seems to be) a reasonable colour depth. I'm not going to quibble, looks good for me.
And the mouse works. The PS2 one, and a USB one. Can't say I tried the wheel or buttons 3 & 4, but left & right click are ok, which will suffice, particularly as I intend to use the pen normally...
At first, I was worried that my /etc/X11/xorg.conf was rather sparse.
Running sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg asked one question about kernel mode, then a whole bunch of stuff about keyboards, then stopped. Er, what no driver questions? No monitor questions?
After some digging around, it's clear that X seems to be rather clever, so don't worry about an empty looking configuration file.
More importantly, adding
Driver "i810"
to the 'Device' section in xorg.conf works. Nothing else, one line.
Reboot and I get a nice - working - screen, at 1024 x 768 with (what seems to be) a reasonable colour depth. I'm not going to quibble, looks good for me.
And the mouse works. The PS2 one, and a USB one. Can't say I tried the wheel or buttons 3 & 4, but left & right click are ok, which will suffice, particularly as I intend to use the pen normally...
install, using alternate CD
Second time, using the alternate CD. It's worth saying that i've got a PS2 'gb' (UK) keyboard connected to the dock via a USB/PS2 keyboard mouse dongle - it works ok.
This was much better, off it goes via the nomal install steps; partition, users, apps, pop out disk, reboot.
Up comes Xubuntu splash, with a nice blue progress bar. All good.
Then, screen goes crazy weird as before.
Ah.
This was much better, off it goes via the nomal install steps; partition, users, apps, pop out disk, reboot.
Up comes Xubuntu splash, with a nice blue progress bar. All good.
Then, screen goes crazy weird as before.
Ah.
install, using Live CD
Pop the tablet in the dock - remember to slide the catch down fully - pop in the Live CD, and turn on.
New disk is recognised easily enough, after a quick think, CD spins up and you get the Xubuntu install options.
I checked the media, and the memory - all ok.
Run the installer, and after a fashion, the screen went all weird. This, I presume, was the graphical installer...
Abandon this plan.
New disk is recognised easily enough, after a quick think, CD spins up and you get the Xubuntu install options.
I checked the media, and the memory - all ok.
Run the installer, and after a fashion, the screen went all weird. This, I presume, was the graphical installer...
Abandon this plan.
replace disk
Swapping the disks was easy too. Earthing straps required.
The plastic drive compartment cover on the back of the tablet was held on with 3 small phillips screws, and a slightly larger recessed one in the corner. Once undone, the cover then slides towards the side, and lifts off.
Inside, the disk itself is in a whole bunch of silver shielding. It's held onto the case with 4 smaller screws*. Undo them, then carefully lift off the IDE connector from the chassis, which links - via a small curvy IDE ribbon - to the disk. Lift out the disk / silver case thing with a bit of leverage at one end.
Once outside, you'll see the silver shielding is held in place with 2 small strips of metal (one on each long side of the disk) which also attach to those screws* above. So, undo the 2 screws on each strip and they come off.
The IDE connector just slides off, mine was quite tight...
The silver shielding part - it's almost like a tin-foil bag for the disk itself - isn't attached, so pull out the disk.
Reverse those steps with the new disk, and you're reassembled. Easy.
The plastic drive compartment cover on the back of the tablet was held on with 3 small phillips screws, and a slightly larger recessed one in the corner. Once undone, the cover then slides towards the side, and lifts off.
Inside, the disk itself is in a whole bunch of silver shielding. It's held onto the case with 4 smaller screws*. Undo them, then carefully lift off the IDE connector from the chassis, which links - via a small curvy IDE ribbon - to the disk. Lift out the disk / silver case thing with a bit of leverage at one end.
Once outside, you'll see the silver shielding is held in place with 2 small strips of metal (one on each long side of the disk) which also attach to those screws* above. So, undo the 2 screws on each strip and they come off.
The IDE connector just slides off, mine was quite tight...
The silver shielding part - it's almost like a tin-foil bag for the disk itself - isn't attached, so pull out the disk.
Reverse those steps with the new disk, and you're reassembled. Easy.
new disk
So, it already had a 20Gb disk with Windows 2000 on it.
Being the cautious type, I wanted to keep that, and so looked to replace the whole drive. I chose a nice Seagate 120Gb from ebuyer, product 124241, which I got for just over £30 (ex. VAT) as a special.
Specs wise;
The 'safe' bits are that it's more or less the same spec as the Tosh that was there already, specifically, ATA-100.
I have an external USB 2.5" caddy, so popped it in there, and I 'initialised' it with Windows XP quite happily.
Being the cautious type, I wanted to keep that, and so looked to replace the whole drive. I chose a nice Seagate 120Gb from ebuyer, product 124241, which I got for just over £30 (ex. VAT) as a special.
Specs wise;
| Product Description | Seagate Momentus 5400.3 ST9120822A - hard drive - 120 GB - ATA-100 |
| Type | Hard drive - internal |
| Form Factor | 2.5" x 1/8H |
| Dimensions (WxDxH) | 7 cm x 10 cm x 9.5 mm |
| Weight | 102 g |
| Capacity | 120 GB |
| Interface Type | ATA-100 |
| Data Transfer Rate | 100 MBps |
| Average Seek Time | 12.5 ms |
| Spindle Speed | 5400 rpm |
| Buffer Size | 8 MB |
The 'safe' bits are that it's more or less the same spec as the Tosh that was there already, specifically, ATA-100.
I have an external USB 2.5" caddy, so popped it in there, and I 'initialised' it with Windows XP quite happily.
how to boot installer
Luckily for me, I had a dock with a DVD drive.
The BIOS checked that first, so all was good.
Step #1 done.
The BIOS checked that first, so all was good.
Step #1 done.
in the beginning....
I bought a Fujitsu Siemens Stylistic ST4110P tablet PC from ebay, for about £150. It came with nice dock - with a DVD in it too, I was expecting a CD, power supply, and pre-installed with Windows 2000.
My use case was for basically browsing off my sofa. I've got the house all wifi'd up, but I was finding it annoying to either:
a) browse on my mac from the study (too 'lonely', can't chat with wife, etc),
b) browse via wii on the TV (wife watching said TV),
c) use work laptop (keyboard gets in the way, too big),
d) use my Nintendo DS (browser not quite there yet),
e) use my Windows Mobile and/or Palm Centro phone (screen too small).
Sooo, a tablet PC seemed like a good idea.
It worked out ok, wifi was ok (the inbuilt one isn't the best, used a DWL122 dongle), it wasn't snappy, but 'ok'. I installed VLC on it, to watch videos; a 10" screen is quite nice for that. Oh dear... stuttery, jumpy, nasty - Win2k or the hard disk couldn't keep up with it.
Time for linux... Xubuntu seemed a sensible choice, although I did consider OpenSUSE. Or maybe Puppy or DSL if I was desperate.
My use case was for basically browsing off my sofa. I've got the house all wifi'd up, but I was finding it annoying to either:
a) browse on my mac from the study (too 'lonely', can't chat with wife, etc),
b) browse via wii on the TV (wife watching said TV),
c) use work laptop (keyboard gets in the way, too big),
d) use my Nintendo DS (browser not quite there yet),
e) use my Windows Mobile and/or Palm Centro phone (screen too small).
Sooo, a tablet PC seemed like a good idea.
It worked out ok, wifi was ok (the inbuilt one isn't the best, used a DWL122 dongle), it wasn't snappy, but 'ok'. I installed VLC on it, to watch videos; a 10" screen is quite nice for that. Oh dear... stuttery, jumpy, nasty - Win2k or the hard disk couldn't keep up with it.
Time for linux... Xubuntu seemed a sensible choice, although I did consider OpenSUSE. Or maybe Puppy or DSL if I was desperate.
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