UltraMobileGeek by ThoughtFix

Monday, April 26, 2010

Off-topic: Mac mini hack

In case you were wondering what I do on my rare free time now:

With a little help from Kevin in the “cutting steel” department, I fitted a Mac mini plus a Firewire hard drive into the acrylic chassis of an old PowerMac G4 Cube. I completed it last night.

Final specs:

Core2Duo 1.83, 2GB RAM, 64GB Solid State SATA hard drive. 750 GB hard drive over Firewire, slot load DVD/CDRW combo drive still works. UV lighting in back. Colored lighting on the underside.

In chronological order. Facebook links work even if you don't have a Facebook account. If you’re easily bored, just click the bottom link.

Friday, July 03, 2009

Moblin 2 Beta!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Moblin v2 beta is here from Intel. I'll be installing it soon. I can't wait to play with that new Clutter interface.

Friday, May 15, 2009

SSD Failure: Any other stories?

Last night, I suffered from a corrupted hard drive in my MSI Wind. No amount of repair (including putting it into a new computer, repartitioning and attempting to reformat with Linux, etc) would repair it. The drive errors in /var/log/messages told me the interface was reset and not ready. In short, it died.

It's a 64 GB Patriot EP Warp2 and only four months old. Has anyone else experienced this?

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Viiv S5 makes an iPod cry

I love watching Dynamism's site for the latest new toys from around the world. The Viiv S5 has been getting a lot of attention lately as a super small form factor XP machine. Given the specs (Atom CPU, 60 GB HDD, 1GB RAM, 4.8" display) I had a hard time deciding what I would personally do with it. The price point (US $599) makes it more expensive than some current "netbook" class machines as well.

Then I looked at the iPod touch. It has 32GB storage, a much smaller, lower resolution display and can only play music and movies after translation from iTunes. It can do some limited web browsing, but without Flash. Any media downloaded over the web has to be Quicktime to play back. The MSRP is $399.

For another $200, the Viiv S5 gives:

The ability to run a "real" operating system
Almost twice the storage
A larger, 1024x600 display
Access to PC software and peripherals

Granted, there are disadvantages. For battery life, size, and weight, the iPod wins. For those of us stuck at a desk most of the day, the Viiv S5 is worth all those sacrifices. I wonder if the other "desk shackled" workers among us will consider the S5 as a way to stay entertained through the work day. It looks like it'd be good for it - plus catch the eye of the other office nerds and make them jealous. (picture borrowed from Dynamism. Hope they don't mind.)

For extended Viiv S5 coverage, take a look at UMPC Portal as well.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Samsung Parts: Can't do anything right!

In my continuing saga of attempting to get restore DVDs for my Samsung Q1U-V UMPC: This time they sent me an XP Tablet restore disc instead of the Vista restore disc. Probably a better OS, but not the one I paid for.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Samsung: Repeating the same mistake

That last post about Samsung was a chuckle. Today's update is a crying shame.

The parts distributor sent me a replacement copy of both DVDs. the exact same problem was present. The discs showed up as "My Disc" when inserted and had a single .NRG file. Do they not realize that there is a difference between burning a disc image and simply dragging the disc image on to a new DVD?

I contacted them again. We'll see.

Friday, February 06, 2009

Samsung and Quality Control

Edit: It happened again.

Here's an absolutely hilarious, true, and sad story of my attempt to buy a pair of restore DVDs for a Samsung Q1 Ultra:

Find discs on samsungparts.com (a company actually called J&J International)
Order. $11.75 each (there were two) plus shipping. Cheap - considering Lenovo wants $50 for a restore disc for an old Thinkpad X41.
A few days later, get shipment confirmation
A few days later, get discs
Discover that the discs are not actually bootable recovery discs, but DVDs burned by samsungparts.com incorrectly. Instead of using Toast to actually burn the disc, they simply dragged the toast .NRG image to the disc and burned it. I don't have Toast, so I couldn't correct this error for them.
Contact J&J with this information.
Got this response:
I will send you out new copy's but the CD were tested and working before it was shipped to the customer .

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email us at customerservice@companyname.com or call us toll free at 800-627-4368. If you need to make any changes to your order, please call our sales department prior to shipping.
Companyname.com? Really? Grammar errors? Lying about testing? Referring to me, the customer, in the third person? I decided Samsung should know how bad samsungparts.com is. I sent a message to Samsung's customer service line. Here's the response:
Thank you for contacting Samsung Electronics. We appreciate your interest in our newly released line of Notebook PC's.

Thank you for informing us of your situation. I will forward this information on to the necessary parties to help avoid future incidents like this has happened.

If you should have any other question or concerns you can either reply to this e-mail, or call us at 1-800-SAMSUNG (726-7864).

I don't think Samsung understands what I want, why I contacted them, or even what to do about it. I think everyone involved could use some English/grammar lessons.

Above all - I think Samsung customer experiences should be researched by consumers before they consider buying another Samsung product.

Monday, January 19, 2009

M is for Mobile, MID, and Moves

If you don't know MID Moves, you should.

It's a recent collaborative effort of several Mobile Internet Device bloggers (and we already know their names) focusing on the MID "movement" in mobility.

Many mobile MIDS mean many mobile masses masterfully manipulating miniature machines, making more meaningful messages. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Don't Fear the Penguin

It's time to weigh in on the much-reported (and much-discussed) story of a Wisconsin girl dropped out of college because her new laptop had Ubuntu instead of Windows.

There are a few things missing in this story:

Don't universities have a computer lab where students who cannot afford laptops can work?
Why don't we hear any stories of other students dropping out of college because they cannot figure ou their laptop? Or is this one special because it runs Linux?
Where are the stories of the students who can overcome this girl's shortcomings and actually use Ubuntu successfully for college?
Why didn't she ask for help BEFORE she dropped her courses?

It's painful how sensational a story can become when it has media hot-button tech trends like "Linux" in them. People already "fear" Linux enough without stories like this. It's time we find mass media stories about the "other side" of the Linux adoption trend.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Ultramobilegeek: The neglected blog

The post count has been dropping off sharply on this here blog. When I have time to write, I generally post over at TabletBlog.com or try to make guest appearances elsewhere.

I also must announce that I cannot cover CES this year as my new Silicon Valley "day job" has a rush season in January and, as a primary Systems Administrator, it's my job to make sure the developers have all they need. The upside is that I am physically not far from some of the great movers-and-shakers in the mobile tech industry and will try to get more hands-on with things as they develop.

Ultra-mobile PCs as we know them are evolving into either MIDs, Netbooks, or super high-end phones. I don't know if a "UMPC movement" will revive, but I'll resume work on UltraMobileGeek when significant news in this space inspires the urge. In the meantime, I can be stalked on TabletBlog or Twitter.

Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Intel buys OpenedHand, cements position as Linux softare company

The media is abuzz with Intel's purchase of OpenedHand. This makes sense as the divergence from Canonical on Ubuntu Mobile left Intel with a gap in Linux developer partnerships.

One thing is certain: Microsoft must be fuming about this. A couple years ago, all home computer hardware developers had to be in bed with Microsoft to get things out the door. Recently, we've seen Intel's shift to face off with Microsoft in the software/operating system market. We live in interesting times. If we can see more hardware and software developers working on a unified Linux software distribution model, maybe mobile Linux isn't doomed after all.

p.s. If anyone knows the original source of the image used in this post, please let me know.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

It's IDF time!

Are you following the coverage?

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Why Mobile Linux is Doomed

Would you like to download this mobile software? Please select your operating system:

iPhone
Windows Mobile
Blackberry
Symbian
Linux

You have selected Linux. Please select your flavor:

Xandros (Eee)
moblin 2.0
LiMo
maemo
Andriod (beta, perpetually)
Ubuntu Mobile
etc. etc. etc.

How much extra developer time would be involved in compiling and customizing each application to every potential mobile operating system? How much extra time would be involved in integrating each application with the appropriate distribution channels? Would all that time be worth it to the small target audience of mobile Linux devices?

One thing must happen for mobile Linux to thrive: The distribution sponsors must create a consistent application pool and installation experience. They must provide developers with ease and incentive to create applications for the platform. If this is not done, every mobile Linux device will be relegated to a small pool of hobbyists and dedicated fans.

Windows Mobile and Symbian provide the developers with incentive: There are just so many darn phones of theirs out there and the owners are known to pay for the application. Both platforms are lacking dedicated (and sponsored) application directories with easy on-device browsing and purchasing.

Apple came in with the solution to that: The iPhone application store is easy for users and provides the ability to browse, download, and purchase applications directly from the device. Apple now has enough phones in the marketplace to attract a purchasing audience for the software. However, they punish developers by telling then what can and cannot be sold there. They are also under strict non-disclosure clauses in participating in the iPhone application store.

Linux has the opportunity to learn from these competitors and blow them away. Since Linux systems are fewer and most are newer and more nimble than their competiors, they can rise above the shortcomings and dominate. The problem: It would delay launch of ALL the systems and stock holders would be mad. As a result, manufacturers and mobile Linux sponsors will cave to the stock holders' demands to release early and be the "first to market."

It's a shame. I will miss the excitement of mobile Linux systems. I hope some company is strong (or wealthy) enough to provide developers with the tools, distribution channels, and incentives to provide a rich application directory for their devices. Failing that, mobile Linux is doomed.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Phoenix, Arizona meetup

I met a few offline already, but are there enough tablet junkies, mobile Linux enthusiasts, or other friendly geeks willing to get together for talks on tips, tricks, and experiences with this technology?

Leave comments and I'll see what I can put together.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Moblin shakeup: Intel switches to Fedora

While covering OSCON, The Register has an article outlining Intel's switch from Ubuntu to Fedora as a base Linux distribution for Moblin. For those who had missed it, I covered the Ubuntu Mobile and Moblin relationship previously. It is currently unclear what this decision means to Ubuntu Mobile. I'll have to ask Canonical.

The Register points to an official decision to switch from .deb package management to .rpm package management. From their interview: "Dirk Hohndel, Intel's director of Linux and open-source strategy, told The Reg there was no falling out with Ubuntu, but the move to Fedora was a technical decision based on the desire to adopt RPM for package management."

Later in the article, there is a more telling reply: "The other thing we thought about was Moblin one wasn't successful in creating this community push - having a vibrant community push is the winning factor."

This brought to mind images of Steve Ballmer chanting. It's all about the developers and the community. Ubuntu is my favorite desktop Linux, but apparently the Ubuntu team did not bring that level of excitement to the MID platform. Intel wants more. Could you blame them? This is something that needs a great deal of community drive if it ever intends to get from board rooms to shelves.

If they really want developer and community excitement, they should make a hybrid operating system and cross-compilation toolchain for Nokia's maemo platform which would allow Nokia developers to simply compile their existing source against it. In these comments, it seems Internet Tablet owners are already clamoring for a larger, more powerful version of the same thing.

The Link vs. moblin image above is from ZeldaDungeon.