The guys who posted previously don't know jack squat about the benefits of a Tablet PC.
First of all, taking notes with a laptop is not the same as taking notes with a tablet pc.
In my economics class or my Psychology class, I take notes as the prof speaks and I'm able to keep up with 95% of the words that the prof. utters. Combined with Microsoft's OneNote recording feature, I have the whole lecture in audio and text. I'm able to INLINE graphs and diagrams as the prof draws them on the board and it's easier to organize them because I don't have to freak'n rewrite my notes after class - Just cut and paste them.
Install the Office Tablet PC extensions and you can INLINE drawings in MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint and such. All my notes are in Word and I INLINE diagrams. Also, it's AWESOME especially in Powerpoint where ALL my Computer Science courses are done in Power Point. I can directly write on each slide and print them later. (Imagine that you can circle and add questions marks, notes to a powerpoint slide and save it)
To answer your question, Toshiba's latest tablet pc is the most powerful and best in the market.
Things to consider when buying a Tablet PC:
1) Screen - Almost all are 12" except for Acer's 14" clunky monster. 12" XGA screens are 1024x768. With MS's virtual desktop manager, you can 3 additional screens and it's great. The reason Toshiba's the best is because it has an SXGA+ which sports 1400x1024 resolution, but still 12". It might be too small.
2) CPU - get a centrino based 2nd generation Tablet PC model. The 1st generation just sucked and Pentium III and crusoe chips... My 1.4 Pentium M blows my desktop away.
3) Get 1 GB of RAM if your doing development. They're coming out with 512MB as standard. My Tablet is my development station so I have alot of things running from apache/mysql, iis/msde, eclipse/visual studio.net...etc. 512mb should be enough for most other application. 1Gb is specially nice when doing art work.
4) Video Card - Most centrino models come with Intel's eXtreme video card that's part of the centrino brand, but once again Toshiba blew the competition away by shipping their Tablet PCs with Nvidia's GeForce 4200 mobile card.
5) Size - most are 12" and that's a really good balance between weight and size. the 14" Acer is huge and heavy. Any other will be very light and mobile.
6) Hard Drive - 2nd generation Tablet PCs now ship 40GB+ to 60GB (Mine is 60GB).
7) Wireless - Centrino will have either the 802.11b or g. the Fujitsu and Toshiba both offer 802.11g cards.
Like I said Toshiba has the best screen and video card. My fujitsu is great and matches the toshiba feature for feature except for the screen and video card. I wish I waited 2 more months(I got my in Sept, Toshiba released theirs in Nov.)
2nd generation Tablet PCs simple rock! They're not a desktop replacement but they're very powerful laptops nonetheless.
I'll be returning to school this summer to finish up my degree... I'm not returning without a tablet PC.
Current generation of tablet PCs are not powerful enougth to be my main machine(at least for me) but I'm still willing to shell out $2000 for it. I heard that Acer already has their 2nd generation tablets out and their 3rd generation is coming out in the winter. Other manufacturers are will be coming out with their 2nd generation tablets very soon.
Tablet PCs give the perfect medium to take all the notes you'd ever want.
1) It's great for liberal arts courses because you can type 60~80wpm. 2) It allows you to take notes in Math and Chemistry... 3) In addition to having your reports and personal library on hand, you can make notes directly on each article. 4) You can color code your notes without any hassle. 5) They're powerful enough for most people to use as their main machine. 6) Franklin Covey has awesome personal planners so your tablet pc can help keep track of schedules, addresses and much more~
What more could you ask for? Although there's a note-taking software, M$ is developing OneNote and more tools are becoming available.
As a student, I been trying to figure out how to effectively take notes in class. Considering the fact that I type 10 times faster than I can write with a pen, using a computer in class only seems logical. However, the problem comes when you have classes that requires the student to input/draw graphs, math equations and non-ascii characters. Classes like philosophy and english are great for plain-ol notebooks, but classes like economics and math/engineering related is just too hard without some kind of pen-input system. I'd like a system where I don't have some things in my notebook but some in loose-paper form. I hate carrying binders around...
So far, I've thought of a WikiWiki system that easily indexes and connects documents with some sort of applet that would allow for easy pen-input which would embed/insert the graphic within the Wiki page.
Tablet PC's allow the perfect medium of both worlds. Now I can take notes then doodle graphs/equations as I go and I have the perfect note-taking system. It's like the IBM-Notepad laptop but better. I don't have to buy a graphire pen-tablet either.
What do you think? I'd like to hear what other slashdotters think about my idea...
I really wish it was like you say... but reality is Korea will never be a open source computer programming center any time soon...
The fact is South Korea is becoming the Gaming Mecca of the World. With PC Rooms(internet cafe's designed for lan parties and online gaming) on every corner(over 50,000), and Gaming Leagues, and Professional Gamers Leagues... today Computer Games is the most favorite past-time for Young Koreans.
The reality is virtuall all games are developed for MS Windows and the Korean Public has no reason to switch their desktop to Linux... Unless games are ported to Linux, Linux stand no chance in the desktop arena in South Korea.
So, Blizzard... Please port Warcraft 3 to Linux...
The REAL reasons that the Korean government is adopting Linux is not because they believe Linux is necessarily a better OS but because Hancom's Office Software, more specifically, Hancom Word runs on Linux.
Since the early 90's, the most widely used word processor in South Korea has been Hancom Word. Before Windows 95, it ran under DOS and when Windows 95 came out, a graphical version appeared. Even today, most universities and all government agencies use Hancom Word because of national pride and preference to software developed within Korea and by Koreans. It was a brillient move to port the software to Linux/Unix(I'm not sure which version of Unix it ran under... i believe the originally the port was targeted for Solaris) and with the sudden interest and popularity of Linux in Southeast Asia, Hancom is reaping the benefits.
100% of the Korean Government is currently already running the Windows version of Hancom's Word so it was a particularly easy decision to choose free/open source operating system over M$ Windows... Meaning, that if 23% of the annual purchase is Linux/Hancom Office, it's because 77% percent is Windows XP but running Hancom's Word Windows version. It simply doesn't matter to the Korean government what OS it runs as long as it runs Hancom Word... It doesn't have to worry that 23% of its documents will be incompatible to the rest. Since every government agency runs Hancom Word, 100% compatibility is guaranteed.
Sadly, this isn't the case outside the government and education system. The majority of the Korean public run Windows because virtually all PC games run only under Windows(In my opinion, S.Korea is becoming the Gaming Mecca of the World, but that's another story). The Korean public will never adopt Linux unless Starcraft and Fortess(a korean online game) are ported to Linux (hehehe). In other words, unless either an exact counter-part or a superior standard base/software doesn't exist... people won't switch.
Anyway, this type of move would not be as easy in other countries/governments because most countries rely on Microsoft Office products. Unlike the rest of the world, the South Korean government standardized it's office suite with a korean Office suite, which wisely ported it's product to Linux. I'm not sure if China's government is using an office suite developed by a Chinese company, but it wouldn't surprise me it it did... if that's the case, it would be extremely easy to switch the OS within the Chinese government to Linux as it was in the South Korean government.
Since it doesn't seem anytime soon MS will port MS Office so I guess we just need to develope a better Office suite.(keep up the good work guys)~
One thing I really like about Bram Moolenaar's document is that he took that time to explain the internals of vim and how each file/source code functions.
For a beginning programmer and someone who wishes to participate in open source projects, it is really helpful to have someone/creator/maintainer to sit down and explain the internals of the whole program. Not to mention the nice part about charity license which shows some of the philosophies and vision of the project as well. Most project just say "take a look at the cvs" but it would be nice to have a central document that explains the different files/source code for someone to get started and jump in and help out.
I know that you may be thinking that if I can't look at the source code and not understand it then don't even bother helping out, but the truth is I'm just concerned about efficiency/error prevention. It would seem alot more efficent for me not to have to figure out what's going on by myself but get help to see the big picture and an overview of the project. I'm not saying comment/write about every detail but a general overview goes along way to understand and make sure that anyone new doesn't misunderstand the functions.
Anyway, I think it would serve the open source community better if every project would list all the files and describe what each file handles. It would be better if unclear parts be explained and documented as well.
Part of the skepticism about watching video over the internet is due to the fact that most people haven't had the experience the convenience of watching over the internet.
In South Korea, the national broadcasting networks all have Video on Demand. Every T.V. show is stored and available for anyone to watch over the internet. They require a login for higher bandwidth/quality footage, however, it's free non-the-less. As a Korean-American, I find it extremely informative/entertaining to watch vidieos and footage from Korea. I can watch any mini-series/sitcoms, news,...etc, I want to at any time, anywhere. Even the music industry makes all their music videos available online.
Just imagine being able to watch any show you want from beginning to end, whenever you want to... That's exactly what the TiVo's for except that you can't store everything due to storage issues. In Korea, the networks and websites are responsible for the storage... thus, true VoD.
I don't know if the technology is really valid, but respond to some people who claim that they don't watch VoD even when they have broadband; You don't watch VoD b/c there isn't anything good out there... (except in Korean)...
Slashdot Mirror
Notes on a Laptop != Notes on a Tablet PC
The guys who posted previously don't know jack squat about the benefits of a Tablet PC.
First of all, taking notes with a laptop is not the same as taking notes with a tablet pc.
In my economics class or my Psychology class, I take notes as the prof speaks and I'm able to keep up with 95% of the words that the prof. utters. Combined with Microsoft's OneNote recording feature, I have the whole lecture in audio and text. I'm able to INLINE graphs and diagrams as the prof draws them on the board and it's easier to organize them because I don't have to freak'n rewrite my notes after class - Just cut and paste them.
Install the Office Tablet PC extensions and you can INLINE drawings in MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint and such. All my notes are in Word and I INLINE diagrams. Also, it's AWESOME especially in Powerpoint where ALL my Computer Science courses are done in Power Point. I can directly write on each slide and print them later. (Imagine that you can circle and add questions marks, notes to a powerpoint slide and save it)
To answer your question, Toshiba's latest tablet pc is the most powerful and best in the market.
Things to consider when buying a Tablet PC:
1) Screen - Almost all are 12" except for Acer's 14" clunky monster. 12" XGA screens are 1024x768. With MS's virtual desktop manager, you can 3 additional screens and it's great. The reason Toshiba's the best is because it has an SXGA+ which sports 1400x1024 resolution, but still 12". It might be too small.
2) CPU - get a centrino based 2nd generation Tablet PC model. The 1st generation just sucked and Pentium III and crusoe chips... My 1.4 Pentium M blows my desktop away.
3) Get 1 GB of RAM if your doing development. They're coming out with 512MB as standard. My Tablet is my development station so I have alot of things running from apache/mysql, iis/msde, eclipse/visual studio.net...etc. 512mb should be enough for most other application. 1Gb is specially nice when doing art work.
4) Video Card - Most centrino models come with Intel's eXtreme video card that's part of the centrino brand, but once again Toshiba blew the competition away by shipping their Tablet PCs with Nvidia's GeForce 4200 mobile card.
5) Size - most are 12" and that's a really good balance between weight and size. the 14" Acer is huge and heavy. Any other will be very light and mobile.
6) Hard Drive - 2nd generation Tablet PCs now ship 40GB+ to 60GB (Mine is 60GB).
7) Wireless - Centrino will have either the 802.11b or g. the Fujitsu and Toshiba both offer 802.11g cards.
Like I said Toshiba has the best screen and video card. My fujitsu is great and matches the toshiba feature for feature except for the screen and video card. I wish I waited 2 more months(I got my in Sept, Toshiba released theirs in Nov.)
2nd generation Tablet PCs simple rock! They're not a desktop replacement but they're very powerful laptops nonetheless.
Good luck
I'll be returning to school this summer to finish up my degree... I'm not returning without a tablet PC.
Current generation of tablet PCs are not powerful enougth to be my main machine(at least for me) but I'm still willing to shell out $2000 for it. I heard that Acer already has their 2nd generation tablets out and their 3rd generation is coming out in the winter. Other manufacturers are will be coming out with their 2nd generation tablets very soon.
Tablet PCs give the perfect medium to take all the notes you'd ever want.
1) It's great for liberal arts courses because you can type 60~80wpm.
2) It allows you to take notes in Math and Chemistry...
3) In addition to having your reports and personal library on hand, you can make notes directly on each article.
4) You can color code your notes without any hassle.
5) They're powerful enough for most people to use as their main machine.
6) Franklin Covey has awesome personal planners so your tablet pc can help keep track of schedules, addresses and much more~
What more could you ask for? Although there's a note-taking software, M$ is developing OneNote and more tools are becoming available.
As a student, I been trying to figure out how to effectively take notes in class. Considering the fact that I type 10 times faster than I can write with a pen, using a computer in class only seems logical. However, the problem comes when you have classes that requires the student to input/draw graphs, math equations and non-ascii characters. Classes like philosophy and english are great for plain-ol notebooks, but classes like economics and math/engineering related is just too hard without some kind of pen-input system. I'd like a system where I don't have some things in my notebook but some in loose-paper form. I hate carrying binders around...
So far, I've thought of a WikiWiki system that easily indexes and connects documents with some sort of applet that would allow for easy pen-input which would embed/insert the graphic within the Wiki page.
Tablet PC's allow the perfect medium of both worlds. Now I can take notes then doodle graphs/equations as I go and I have the perfect note-taking system. It's like the IBM-Notepad laptop but better. I don't have to buy a graphire pen-tablet either.
What do you think? I'd like to hear what other slashdotters think about my idea...
I really wish it was like you say... but reality is Korea will never be a open source computer programming center any time soon...
The fact is South Korea is becoming the Gaming Mecca of the World. With PC Rooms(internet cafe's designed for lan parties and online gaming) on every corner(over 50,000), and Gaming Leagues, and Professional Gamers Leagues... today Computer Games is the most favorite past-time for Young Koreans.
The reality is virtuall all games are developed for MS Windows and the Korean Public has no reason to switch their desktop to Linux... Unless games are ported to Linux, Linux stand no chance in the desktop arena in South Korea.
So, Blizzard... Please port Warcraft 3 to Linux...
Well, I really wish you wouldn't mix North Korea's FUCKING dictator KIM JUNG IL with South Korea's President KIM DAE JUNG...
What? KIM DAE GATES... heh that's really ignorant and simply wrong...
The REAL reasons that the Korean government is adopting Linux is not because they believe Linux is necessarily a better OS but because Hancom's Office Software, more specifically, Hancom Word runs on Linux.
Since the early 90's, the most widely used word processor in South Korea has been Hancom Word. Before Windows 95, it ran under DOS and when Windows 95 came out, a graphical version appeared. Even today, most universities and all government agencies use Hancom Word because of national pride and preference to software developed within Korea and by Koreans. It was a brillient move to port the software to Linux/Unix(I'm not sure which version of Unix it ran under... i believe the originally the port was targeted for Solaris) and with the sudden interest and popularity of Linux in Southeast Asia, Hancom is reaping the benefits.
100% of the Korean Government is currently already running the Windows version of Hancom's Word so it was a particularly easy decision to choose free/open source operating system over M$ Windows... Meaning, that if 23% of the annual purchase is Linux/Hancom Office, it's because 77% percent is Windows XP but running Hancom's Word Windows version. It simply doesn't matter to the Korean government what OS it runs as long as it runs Hancom Word... It doesn't have to worry that 23% of its documents will be incompatible to the rest. Since every government agency runs Hancom Word, 100% compatibility is guaranteed.
Sadly, this isn't the case outside the government and education system. The majority of the Korean public run Windows because virtually all PC games run only under Windows(In my opinion, S.Korea is becoming the Gaming Mecca of the World, but that's another story). The Korean public will never adopt Linux unless Starcraft and Fortess(a korean online game) are ported to Linux (hehehe). In other words, unless either an exact counter-part or a superior standard base/software doesn't exist... people won't switch.
Anyway, this type of move would not be as easy in other countries/governments because most countries rely on Microsoft Office products. Unlike the rest of the world, the South Korean government standardized it's office suite with a korean Office suite, which wisely ported it's product to Linux. I'm not sure if China's government is using an office suite developed by a Chinese company, but it wouldn't surprise me it it did... if that's the case, it would be extremely easy to switch the OS within the Chinese government to Linux as it was in the South Korean government.
Since it doesn't seem anytime soon MS will port MS Office so I guess we just need to develope a better Office suite.(keep up the good work guys)~
One thing I really like about Bram Moolenaar's document is that he took that time to explain the internals of vim and how each file/source code functions.
For a beginning programmer and someone who wishes to participate in open source projects, it is really helpful to have someone/creator/maintainer to sit down and explain the internals of the whole program. Not to mention the nice part about charity license which shows some of the philosophies and vision of the project as well. Most project just say "take a look at the cvs" but it would be nice to have a central document that explains the different files/source code for someone to get started and jump in and help out.
I know that you may be thinking that if I can't look at the source code and not understand it then don't even bother helping out, but the truth is I'm just concerned about efficiency/error prevention. It would seem alot more efficent for me not to have to figure out what's going on by myself but get help to see the big picture and an overview of the project. I'm not saying comment/write about every detail but a general overview goes along way to understand and make sure that anyone new doesn't misunderstand the functions.
Anyway, I think it would serve the open source community better if every project would list all the files and describe what each file handles. It would be better if unclear parts be explained and documented as well.
John Hwang
-- goes here
Part of the skepticism about watching video over the internet is due to the fact that most people haven't had the experience the convenience of watching over the internet.
In South Korea, the national broadcasting networks all have Video on Demand. Every T.V. show is stored and available for anyone to watch over the internet. They require a login for higher bandwidth/quality footage, however, it's free non-the-less. As a Korean-American, I find it extremely informative/entertaining to watch vidieos and footage from Korea. I can watch any mini-series/sitcoms, news,...etc, I want to at any time, anywhere. Even the music industry makes all their music videos available online.
Just imagine being able to watch any show you want from beginning to end, whenever you want to... That's exactly what the TiVo's for except that you can't store everything due to storage issues. In Korea, the networks and websites are responsible for the storage... thus, true VoD.
I don't know if the technology is really valid, but respond to some people who claim that they don't watch VoD even when they have broadband; You don't watch VoD b/c there isn't anything good out there... (except in Korean)...
Why is this exactly under "ask slashdot?"