My company uses it, and it SUCKS ASS. It's probably the second worst program I have to support, and the first is a custom web app written in VB.Net by someone who doesn't really know VB.Net, and using an Access(!) database.
Here's one example... some updates that were released in January appear to require.NET Framework 3.5.
But, does anything tell you this? No.
It just assumes 3.5 is there, and updates.
Then, the program just closes out without an error when you try to start it.
I ended up going through multiple uninstalls and reinstalls before I finally found the problem.
Yup, anything with a letter for the series (T, A, X, R, G, and Z) has a TrackPoint IV, which has a scroll button in the middle (I think IBM's buzzword for it is "Internet Scroll Bar." Hold it down, and in most apps, it acts as a four-way scroller. Without the TrackPoint driver, it acts as a middle button.
Crank the sensitivity settings all the way up. (Both pointer speed and TrackPoint sensitivity.)
Now the pointer will launch across the screen without too much input. Sounds like it reduces precision, but let me get to my next point.
At work, we deployed a bunch of ThinkPad X61 Tablets, which don't have a touchpad. Many of our users had never even seen a TrackPoint before.
Most of these users started flicking it. Flick, flick, flick. They'd launch the pointer 100 pixels at a time, and were very annoyed.
Rest your finger on it, and apply light pressure in the direction you want to go. THAT works. Then, lift your finger when you're done, or it'll autocalibrate. (If you were using an older machine, though, TrackPoints have been known to wear out sometimes. Then, the overcalibration is overly sensitive, which results in unexpected (and usually completely opposite to the direction you want to go) movements if you want to move far at all.)
It takes advantage of the features of a touchpad, to allow you to perform gestures - pinching and stretching to zoom out and in, rotating a finger around your thumb to rotate, stuff like that.
I'd still rather have a TrackPoint, but that's a touchpad that I could actually tolerate.
Partially because a split ergonomic design increases the distance you have to move to get to the TrackPoint, and partially because the market doesn't want that in enough quantity.
Note that NON-ergonomic trackpoint keyboards are a serious niche market.
There should be another USB port over there, for a total of three.;)
(I've got an X61 Tablet, which is basically just a heavier X61s with a swiveling screen and a built-in Wacom. Oh, yeah, and the screen can be 1400x1050 on the tablet.)
Except Lenovo's beginning to gun for THAT market, too.
Well, not EXACTLY that market - not the hipster "OMG MY LAPTOP HAS SEVEN APPLE LOGOS" market, but the "I'm an executive, and I make more money than you, therefore I have this laptop" market.
What else explains the ThinkPad Reserve Edition, which is just a high-end X61s for more than twice the price, wrapped in leather, and therefore not being able to be used with an UltraBase (so only USB optical)?
Slashdot Mirror
Be glad you can't use it.
.NET Framework 3.5.
My company uses it, and it SUCKS ASS. It's probably the second worst program I have to support, and the first is a custom web app written in VB.Net by someone who doesn't really know VB.Net, and using an Access(!) database.
Here's one example... some updates that were released in January appear to require
But, does anything tell you this? No.
It just assumes 3.5 is there, and updates.
Then, the program just closes out without an error when you try to start it.
I ended up going through multiple uninstalls and reinstalls before I finally found the problem.
It actually makes sense for iTunes to be that way on the Mac.
iTunes integrates with QuickTime, which deeply integrates with the graphics subsystem on Mac OS.
Except the device connector for CF is rather fragile...
Except Silverthorne's architecture is a lot like the C7's, and Isaiah (which is what we're discussing) is a lot like the Core 2.
Fat Girl Angle Shot.
Basically, a shot that fatties take to hide their fatness.
Because that's not the actual URL for his blog? That's a Coral Cache link, which is quite useful to prevent Slashdotting.
.nyud.net:8090 to get the real URL.
Remove the
Problem with that is, it's stupid easy to pirate THAT as well.
I just have one question for the moderators...
Because Slashdot memes were mentioned in the story, are Slashdot memes exactly off-topic?
The idea is that you don't meet her in person.
A FGAS implies hipponess.
And if you're lucky, you'll get a FGAS.
If you're not lucky, you'll get a real pic.
But DirectShow (the core of Windows Media Player) is the Windows media subsystem, too.
What about EvDO?
Not the greatest option, but still an option.
Also, T1 providers are common. Certainly not anywhere close to cheap, but common.
And XPe is getting that niche, now, too.
It all comes full circle...
It'll either be packing an X3100 or the successor to the X3100.
It's not bad for integrated graphics, but it's certainly not discrete graphics.
I'll note that I have a 1400x1050 12.1" screen on my X61 Tablet.
Then again, I am a bit of a resolution whore.
Variable speed? Check.
Horizontal and vertical at the same time? Check. I'll admit that the TrackPoint's scrolling is done using a hack that not all apps support, though.
Yup, anything with a letter for the series (T, A, X, R, G, and Z) has a TrackPoint IV, which has a scroll button in the middle (I think IBM's buzzword for it is "Internet Scroll Bar." Hold it down, and in most apps, it acts as a four-way scroller. Without the TrackPoint driver, it acts as a middle button.
Crank the sensitivity settings all the way up. (Both pointer speed and TrackPoint sensitivity.)
Now the pointer will launch across the screen without too much input. Sounds like it reduces precision, but let me get to my next point.
At work, we deployed a bunch of ThinkPad X61 Tablets, which don't have a touchpad. Many of our users had never even seen a TrackPoint before.
Most of these users started flicking it. Flick, flick, flick. They'd launch the pointer 100 pixels at a time, and were very annoyed.
Rest your finger on it, and apply light pressure in the direction you want to go. THAT works. Then, lift your finger when you're done, or it'll autocalibrate. (If you were using an older machine, though, TrackPoints have been known to wear out sometimes. Then, the overcalibration is overly sensitive, which results in unexpected (and usually completely opposite to the direction you want to go) movements if you want to move far at all.)
It takes advantage of the features of a touchpad, to allow you to perform gestures - pinching and stretching to zoom out and in, rotating a finger around your thumb to rotate, stuff like that.
I'd still rather have a TrackPoint, but that's a touchpad that I could actually tolerate.
Partially because a split ergonomic design increases the distance you have to move to get to the TrackPoint, and partially because the market doesn't want that in enough quantity.
Note that NON-ergonomic trackpoint keyboards are a serious niche market.
Someone at Lenovo LEAKED information, Lenovo didn't announce it.
Look on the left side of your X61s.
;)
There should be another USB port over there, for a total of three.
(I've got an X61 Tablet, which is basically just a heavier X61s with a swiveling screen and a built-in Wacom. Oh, yeah, and the screen can be 1400x1050 on the tablet.)
Except Lenovo's beginning to gun for THAT market, too.
Well, not EXACTLY that market - not the hipster "OMG MY LAPTOP HAS SEVEN APPLE LOGOS" market, but the "I'm an executive, and I make more money than you, therefore I have this laptop" market.
What else explains the ThinkPad Reserve Edition, which is just a high-end X61s for more than twice the price, wrapped in leather, and therefore not being able to be used with an UltraBase (so only USB optical)?
The JTAG port being harder to access is actually the point.
If the device cannot be restored to function via the normal interfaces (JTAG is not a normal interface,) then it's bricked.
Sounds like stockholder rights management. ;)