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Running Linux On Acer's C100 Tablet PC
Christopher Coulter writes submitted a link to this detailed guide to putting Debian GNU/Linux on an Acer Tablet PC. That most manufacturers aren't leaping to provide Linux support on their tablet PCs doesn't mean it isn't possible ;)
As with most problems there is an Emacs package to solve it (strokes.el).
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
Can someone out there create a linux-equivalent to the ink applications for TabletPC?
/search/ using ink.
/not/ the same as a mouse interface.
Yes. In fact, a lot of software already exists. X11 has been used for more than a decade with tablets (Wacom, etc.), so all the pen input and character recognizer support is there. Furthermore, Gtk+ and a few other toolkits have low-level support for pen input.
In addition, the Linux-based handhelds already use pen input, so there is experience with, and support for, Linux and X11-based pen-based applications, although those are, of course, for small-screen devices.
For instance, the Journal is super cool. It lets you make notes in ink (or by text), it can translate, etc. Most importantly, you can
I have tried using Journal for taking notes. It makes for a slick demo, but ultimately, I find a keyboard (even a one-handed keyboard) more efficient. Note that few of the features in Journal are novel--similar software has been around for decades.
Note: the Ink interface is
You should tell that to Microsoft: most of the software running on Tablet PC has been very poorly adapted to a pen interface and feels like it's been written for a mouse.
But you can't really do anything important (system-config type stuff) without resorting to a CLI
Sure you can. You can use Webmin for a web-based GUI, and it lets you administer pretty much everything on a Debian system. As an added bonus, it works pretty much the same way with several other Linux and UNIX flavors.
(There are a number of other GUI-based configuration tools for Linux as well.)
www.visionplate.com
This is something what MS "ink" does;o wnloads /transcriber.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc/d
It doesn't take single line drawings and translate them into letters, it takes written words (in my crappy hand writing) and translates it.
There is also a version for the TabletPC.
This is the single biggest advantage that MS has over Linux in PDAs and tablets.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
You are misguided. nvidia's drivers are proprietary, and they won't release hardware information that would allow anyone to write open source drivers.
ATI, besides supporting Linux with their proprietary drivers, also releases hardware documentation, and there are open source drivers for their cards as a result.
Now go take that nvidia card back to the store, and let your wallet talk to the right company...
I agree- the way MS has it setup by default in Tablet PC XP is ... suboptimal. Digital Ink is stupid unless the whole OS supports it- the Newton is a good example of how that can be done well. Non-ink-based HWR works fine in an OS which wasn't built around it- you draw and it makes text. You can edit the text, and the HWR software takes care of faking keystrokes. A good setup.
:)
I've used a PC with CalliGrapher/PenOffice on it and it worked pretty well. Naturally, nothing as nice as the integration that you get with an OS designed with the pen in mind from the start, but still.
Yo're not reduced to that on the tabletPC- no reason you cannot install PenOffice. I agree that you can get soft-kbs and stroke recognition on Linux that are as good as anything like that will get.
I think the lack of real HWR for Linux goes beyond just there not being many tablets. I think there is a deeper issue, although the lack of tablet-x86-ish hardware is a factor. From my discussions on a number of forums and irc channels, it seems that most Linux developers and users don't think there is any value in connected handwriting recognition. They often think that there is no psychological difference between writing a *word* just as you'd write it on paper and having the system be intelligent enough to translate that into plain-old text and picking apart each word you want to input into letters, seperating it all into the strokes which match up with them.
I am not saying there will never be real HWR for Linux, but it is likely a long way off. For one, as I mused about above, too many Linux users and developers think that real HWR is a good for nothing "Eat Up Martha." Second, real HWR that is accurate, consistent, and fast enough on semi-modern hardware isn't the easiest thing to code. It's the kind of thing people do real research on, spending a lot of man-hours developing. Not to say that kind of work isn't or hasn't been done in the OSS community- it certainly has. It just seems to be a level beyond the majority of OSS projects. Granted, a good HWR system is a level beyond most software projects in general... I hope I'm proven wrong! It may take a number of years, but I'd love to be able to have my handwriting recognizer be open source.
Ink software is something I think will come even slower. Sure, folks will probably hack something on ala Microsoft, but creating a good Ink/Text system will require the rewrite of GUI toolkits. Who knows? Perhaps we'll see a new GUI or X11 toolkit integrate this at the ground floor, and take over within a few short years...
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad