When it comes down to a long-term typing run, either prose or code, I'm an addict to my Kinesis Ergo. Finally broke down and bought one for myself at work (couldn't get the office to buy one for me after years of polite requests).
When I got my first Kinesis, I also went Dvorak on it. I had used Dvorak back in the Apple II days, so I was somewhat familiar.
The interesting thing is how my mind has the two separated. If I sit down at a Kinesis, my fingers flow out Dvorak... QWERTY is impossible. I go to a flat, and Dvorak is nearly impossible. This is the perfect combination for a sysadmin/techie who needs to sit at everyone's machine every so often. Plus, no one can use my workstation.
It's not the speed. I type the same speed on either. It's the comfort. You simply don't move the fingers as much on a Dvorak layout. Also, I'm much more 'proper' about which fingers do what on the Kinesis Dvorak. It's not arbitrary, like I am on the flat QWERTY I learned at 4 years old.
Cheap laptops may be an oxymoron, but there are low-end PII laptops real cheap. Even if you don't expect internet connectivity, connections between the workstations is important.
My idea... Van with a pull behind trailer. Get a couple of E-Z Up tents, folding chairs and tables.
Securing the laptops is the biggest problem I see...
Did anyone else see the Red Herring 'Open Letter' (not yet online, got the dead tree yesterday), saying "Quit Carly Quit" in no uncertain terms?
HP. HP had a powerful business. 'Scopes, testing equipment, laser printers, calculators. People paid for that brand name. Like IBM, no one ever got fired for buying a LaserJet.
Guess what, those days are *GONE* and gone for good. I blame Fiorina, and a lot of other folks do to.
Sure... I can think of a use. Knowing which 'ducks' are carrying lots of cash. Useful for..
a.) Street criminals
b.) Their brethren in Southern State Highway Patrols who rake in more money from non-trial seziure than from state budget allowances. Now we go from Driving While Black to Driving While Black with > $200.
As a semi-frequent Greyhound rider, I can tell you that this would be ineffective on the Dog. On Greyhound, no one is keeping track of you. You buy your ticket with cash, and it won't have a name. With a standard ticket, you can ride any bus you want between those cities within the next year.
Moreover, a federal court decided (1999 I think) that Greyhound luggage could not be searched without a specific warrant. They determined that an airline customer may expect their luggage to be examined by x-ray, but that a Greyhound passenger does not have such an expectation.
The day I started rent on a new apartment, May 1, 2000, I call up SWBell, get phone service and order the slower version of enhanced DSL. Service call set for 25May. Two weeks later, I get my static IP addresses in the mail... spiffy. Then, the installation day comes, and I still haven't gotten a DSL modem by UPS. No problem, since the installer didn't come anyway. Call up... "Sorry Sir... your order is nowhere to be seen". Great. Install set now for 12June. Modem arrives... I wire it up... nothing to that. No connection, but I expect that. 12 June... no one.... fine... I call at 3:30pm... am on hold till 6pm... at which point the recording says "Our Business hours are from 8am to 6 pm M-F...".
Next day... get through... install set for 15 June. Great. Installer comes. Looks and says... "yep... it's sure plugged in". Notices that there's no connection. Calls in. He's placed on hold for a while. He looks anxious. He says.... let me go to my truck and get something. He drives away. About a hour later, I realize he's not coming back.
The next morning... all the green lights were green. My static IPs work. Great. At this point, I'm thrilled. I call once to complain about the installer. They have no record of me anymore. Fine.
Three billing cycles come and go... no DSL bill. Of course I'm happy. DSL itself is great, speedy enough and reliable.
About a week ago, the bill finally arrived. They charged me for the "ultra-enhanced" service for the last 4 months. Along with the $150 for the runaway installer and the like... I have a $1000 phone bill. Call to complain. The first person I talked to told me he couldn't help and hung up on me. The second, Oscar, was really nice. He said he'd email me the same day. He didn't. Third call... 2:00 pm. At 6:00... I got the "Our business hours..." speech again.
As of yesterday, I think I have resolution to my billing. The phone co. said to pay the full amount, but the Internet wing said they'd send in a reduce order of $800. The Bell people literally said "Pay quickly, or you'll ruin your credit rating".
When lynx users can browse anything again. Slashdot does well, as does CNN, but beyond those, a *lot* of the net is gone today (at work at the Univ. of Kansas, 100 metres from where lynx was written)
Around my university labs. Had a room of seven... for the Abbott and Costello fun of it, they are who, what, where, why, when, which, and how. Have another room (12) with Chinese Zodiac signs. Though not the reverse-name, I love the ability to 'telnet cock'. Didn't some university have a lab where all the machines had STD names (syphillis, gonhereea, etc)?
What they failed to mention was that the bowtie was ignored because it fell more than a standard deviation of fun above any of their knots. I picked up a whole passel of bowties a while back. Once I figured out how to tie them, I've never looked back.
My favourite bowtie is one from H-P back in the day with "schematic" caps and resistors on it.
So, yeah... last big dress-up thing... I'm all about fun retro... Khakis, white shirt, blue jacket, Art Deco bowtie, khaki socks and Birkenstocks, and a wool Hound'stooth fedora, and my mid-back Jesus-style hair and a UNIX lover's beard.
Though I understand the baldness consideration (I should be plenty bald in 10 years), I am REALLY enjoying the Long-hair and suit thing. And, yes, I have the UNIX-beard (me young RMS... grunt). Nothing quite like it for comfortable non-conformity.
I do admin a few HP-UX boxes... definetly my least favourite of six I keep here.
My question is, what does this do for the part of HP that made their best product ever, the HP-48GX calculator. I always used to love going down the calculator aisle and laughing b/c of how great my HP was. Now, I will concede that TI (the TI-92) has caught up to the power of the 48G series. Will they innovate the handheld computing market again? Please? I need RPN... and I don't know an engineering mind who doesn't carry an HP.
Slashdot Mirror
When it comes down to a long-term typing run, either prose or code, I'm an addict to my Kinesis Ergo. Finally broke down and bought one for myself at work (couldn't get the office to buy one for me after years of polite requests).
When I got my first Kinesis, I also went Dvorak on it. I had used Dvorak back in the Apple II days, so I was somewhat familiar.
The interesting thing is how my mind has the two separated. If I sit down at a Kinesis, my fingers flow out Dvorak... QWERTY is impossible. I go to a flat, and Dvorak is nearly impossible. This is the perfect combination for a sysadmin/techie who needs to sit at everyone's machine every so often. Plus, no one can use my workstation.
It's not the speed. I type the same speed on either. It's the comfort. You simply don't move the fingers as much on a Dvorak layout. Also, I'm much more 'proper' about which fingers do what on the Kinesis Dvorak. It's not arbitrary, like I am on the flat QWERTY I learned at 4 years old.
Cheap laptops may be an oxymoron, but there are low-end PII laptops real cheap. Even if you don't expect internet connectivity, connections between the workstations is important.
My idea... Van with a pull behind trailer. Get a couple of E-Z Up tents, folding chairs and tables.
Securing the laptops is the biggest problem I see...
Did anyone else see the Red Herring 'Open Letter' (not yet online, got the dead tree yesterday), saying "Quit Carly Quit" in no uncertain terms?
HP. HP had a powerful business. 'Scopes, testing equipment, laser printers, calculators. People paid for that brand name. Like IBM, no one ever got fired for buying a LaserJet.
Guess what, those days are *GONE* and gone for good. I blame Fiorina, and a lot of other folks do to.
Sure... I can think of a use. Knowing which 'ducks' are carrying lots of cash. Useful for..
a.) Street criminals
b.) Their brethren in Southern State Highway Patrols who rake in more money from non-trial seziure than from state budget allowances. Now we go from Driving While Black to Driving While Black with > $200.
As a semi-frequent Greyhound rider, I can tell you that this would be ineffective on the Dog. On Greyhound, no one is keeping track of you. You buy your ticket with cash, and it won't have a name. With a standard ticket, you can ride any bus you want between those cities within the next year. Moreover, a federal court decided (1999 I think) that Greyhound luggage could not be searched without a specific warrant. They determined that an airline customer may expect their luggage to be examined by x-ray, but that a Greyhound passenger does not have such an expectation.
The day I started rent on a new apartment, May 1, 2000, I call up SWBell, get phone service and order the slower version of enhanced DSL. Service call set for 25May. Two weeks later, I get my static IP addresses in the mail... spiffy. Then, the installation day comes, and I still haven't gotten a DSL modem by UPS. No problem, since the installer didn't come anyway. Call up... "Sorry Sir... your order is nowhere to be seen". Great. Install set now for 12June. Modem arrives... I wire it up... nothing to that. No connection, but I expect that. 12 June... no one.... fine... I call at 3:30pm... am on hold till 6pm... at which point the recording says "Our Business hours are from 8am to 6 pm M-F...".
Next day... get through... install set for 15 June. Great. Installer comes. Looks and says... "yep... it's sure plugged in". Notices that there's no connection. Calls in. He's placed on hold for a while. He looks anxious. He says.... let me go to my truck and get something. He drives away. About a hour later, I realize he's not coming back.
The next morning... all the green lights were green. My static IPs work. Great. At this point, I'm thrilled. I call once to complain about the installer. They have no record of me anymore. Fine.
Three billing cycles come and go... no DSL bill. Of course I'm happy. DSL itself is great, speedy enough and reliable.
About a week ago, the bill finally arrived. They charged me for the "ultra-enhanced" service for the last 4 months. Along with the $150 for the runaway installer and the like... I have a $1000 phone bill. Call to complain. The first person I talked to told me he couldn't help and hung up on me. The second, Oscar, was really nice. He said he'd email me the same day. He didn't. Third call... 2:00 pm. At 6:00... I got the "Our business hours..." speech again.
As of yesterday, I think I have resolution to my billing. The phone co. said to pay the full amount, but the Internet wing said they'd send in a reduce order of $800. The Bell people literally said "Pay quickly, or you'll ruin your credit rating".
Hi.... I'm pissy a bit.
When lynx users can browse anything again. Slashdot does well, as does CNN, but beyond those, a *lot* of the net is gone today (at work at the Univ. of Kansas, 100 metres from where lynx was written)
Around my university labs. Had a room of seven... for the Abbott and Costello fun of it, they are who, what, where, why, when, which, and how. Have another room (12) with Chinese Zodiac signs. Though not the reverse-name, I love the ability to 'telnet cock'. Didn't some university have a lab where all the machines had STD names (syphillis, gonhereea, etc)?
What they failed to mention was that the bowtie was ignored because it fell more than a standard deviation of fun above any of their knots. I picked up a whole passel of bowties a while back. Once I figured out how to tie them, I've never looked back.
My favourite bowtie is one from H-P back in the day with "schematic" caps and resistors on it.
So, yeah... last big dress-up thing... I'm all about fun retro... Khakis, white shirt, blue jacket, Art Deco bowtie, khaki socks and Birkenstocks, and a wool Hound'stooth fedora, and my mid-back Jesus-style hair and a UNIX lover's beard.
What a geek look.
Though I understand the baldness consideration (I should be plenty bald in 10 years), I am REALLY enjoying the Long-hair and suit thing. And, yes, I have the UNIX-beard (me young RMS... grunt). Nothing quite like it for comfortable non-conformity.
I do admin a few HP-UX boxes... definetly my least favourite of six I keep here.
My question is, what does this do for the part of HP that made their best product ever, the HP-48GX calculator. I always used to love going down the calculator aisle and laughing b/c of how great my HP was. Now, I will concede that TI (the TI-92) has caught up to the power of the 48G series. Will they innovate the handheld computing market again? Please? I need RPN... and I don't know an engineering mind who doesn't carry an HP.