Mobile PC (Tablet PC) - Thoughts and Ideas : Windows Vista

Redemption Time for UMPC - Article at PCMag.com

wnewquay — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:30:00 GMT

Well when he writes "What the heck is an Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC)?" the rest of the article illustrates the writer's confusion. Perhaps he can be forgiven for this as he is reflecting the market place.

I think he casts too broad a net in considering many of the sub four-pound machines including the likes of the ASUS EiiPC4g. The original vision for the UMPC was a device that included a touch screen interface, running Windows Vista.

From Microsoft's UMPC Site:

The UMPC offers a display of 4-7 inches and touch capabilities, all in a package that weighs less than 2 pounds. But don't underestimate this small computer—it can run all of the same Windows Vista-compatible software you're already familiar with.

Still, it is an interesting article in that it may be an indication of the general state of perception of tiny machines. But by including so many machines in the article, I think the author just adds to the confusion around the meaning of the term UMPC.

Link: Redemption Time for the UMPC

I just spent a solid 14 days with a Sony UX380CN - hammering away at it under every possible scenario I could imagine. For me, a touch-screen or stylus input of some kind is absolutely essential in a small machine. I will be writing about that experience in the next day or so.

Use Windows Meeting Space to Mirror Your Tablet PC to a Projector

wnewquay — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:17:00 GMT

I use my Tablet PC when I do public speaking. I like to use it to display and build MindMaps using MindManager or draw diagrams with SketchBook Pro. This should be very straightforward, but it gets interesting when I want to display my Tablet PC with a projector, and to walk around the room at the same time. (Try that with at conventional laptop machine).

I have been using MaxiVista for this application for years. (see: Wireless Presentations with a Tablet PC with MaxiVista)

MaxiVista has been great but there are some issues with Vista. You can work around them, but when I got an Toshiba M700, I thought it would be worthwhile to consider some Vista based alternatives.

Just a note: MaxiVista works well on XP or in an environment where one machine is running Vista, and the other is not. You have to been running an XDDM video driver on the Tablet PC if it is running Windows Vista.

Windows Meeting Space

If you are running Windows Vista on your Tablet PC and have Vista on a desktop PC attached to a projector then consider using Windows Meeting Space to connect the two machines and mirror your Tablet PC on the Desktop PC and from there, display it on the projector. It is very quick to set up, and in my testing it has been really stable.

The quick overview:

Start Windows Meeting Space on both PCs.
Create a meeting and "join" it.
On the Tablet PC - Share your desktop

I have set out more detailed notes for this in: Windows Meeting Space to Mirror Your Tablet PC on a Projector

Technorati Tags: Tablet PC,Presentations,Teaching,MaxiVista,Windows Vista,Windows Meeting Space,MindManager

LiveJournal Tags: Tablet PC,Presentations,Teaching,MaxiVista,Windows Vista,Windows Meeting Space,MindManager

Windows Vista - Tablet & Laptop Features

wnewquay — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 03:27:00 GMT

I'm not much of a fan of YouTube, but found to link to this at GottaBeMobile. It's probably worth the time to watch.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHSANWgrPYY&v2

Thanks to AntiMatter over at gottabemobile.com http://www.gottabemobile.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3554

If the video does not play properly please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHSANWgrPYY&v2

View Video
Format: ???
Duration: 5:39

Vista Drivers for the Toshiba M200

wnewquay — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 17:44:00 GMT

Toshiba sites in Europe have drivers for Vista. These appear to have gone up around March 20, 2007.

Toshiba Vista Drivers - Toshiba Europe
(If you get an error page - big red letters - refresh the page and it might come up).

The sites are not displaying well for me, but I was able to get the links from the pages and I have posted those and some comments about using them in

Toshiba M200 Vista Installation Notes - MobilePCWiki

To V or not to V, that is the qVestion

wnewquay — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 19:24:00 GMT

I'm sold, period, flat out, no questions asked, no looking back, every machine around me that will run it, is running Vista.

Why?

Most of my machines are Tablet PCs and the improvements in the user interface for a Tablet PC user make it well worth the time it takes to adapt to Vista. See: Tablet PC Features in Vista

I had quite a debate with someone who kept trying to shoehorn Vista into a box called 'trivial eye-candy user-interface upgrades'. And that's okay, because to him Vista means a change that will trigger replacing a couple hundred machines that he's been tasked with maintaining since 2001. No wonder he's resisting the change.

Every time I

Click and KNOW that the machine 'got it',
Make multiple selections with check boxes,
See the Tablet Input Panel recognize a letter and offer to let autocomplete take over
Realize that handwriting recognition has learned something as bizarre as an email address (after one correction)
Marvel at how well the speech recognition works
Use Search from the Start Button
Use Search in a Windows Explorer window

I am glad I switched to Vista.

There are a few things that I found troublesome at first (like turning on file extensions so that I could more easily distinguish between five files with the same name), but the more I use Vista, the more I am convinced that it was better to switch than wait.

When I started installing betas and release candidates on older machines (going back some 18 months ago I guess) I was pleasantly surprised at how well things worked. I still am.

I have a Thinkpad A31p (circa 2002) that is as functional running Vista and Office 2007 as it ever was running Windows XP and Office 2000. I only mention this because that machine (that this month is probably five years old), did not require any upgrades (ok - I already had a gig of RAM in it). And as far as I can tell, I have not had to sacrifice anything for having made the change. I just mention this because at least for this venerable beast, Vista did not put it in it's grave, but renewed it's usefulness. When I gave this to a relative I had to transfer programs and data from an older machine. Using the new Vista utility to do this, the job was done in about an hour.

The interesting test was to watch as someone who 'just wants to use the computer to get things done' took to Vista very quickly. No support calls for me - thank goodness.

I think about the hesitation with which I have passed computers to older relatives. I know that I will have considerably less concern now as the next generation to move on will be loaded with Vista.

I made the switch and am delighted.

How about you?

Join me in the forums at MobilePCWorld and we'll talk.