Proving the Obviously Untrue - review

Nokia N95

nospam@example.com (Colin Turner) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:42:42 +0100

Just before we went on our family holiday, I went with Karen to look at new phones for me and for her. Karen liked the look of the phone, but wanted it in a specific colour and was prepared to wait to order that. I decided I liked the look of the Nokia N95. The iPhone is not an attractive prospect for me, apparently it's a poor phone, a poor camera and there even seem to be issues with its sound. So no amount of astounding user interface makes up for that. The Samsung Omnia, coming out soon, looks really interesting but it runs Windows CE, and that's a big minus for me. I'm very interested in the OpenMoko FreeRunner neo which can, among other things run my favourite operating system Debian, after the great work done at debconf. Apparently it's not however a useful and reliable phone, which is definitely a minus too. Maybe next generation, and I can't hack everything at once.

The Nokia N95 runs Symbian which is a plus. I was warned that the battery life was poor and given the choice between the conventional model with an 8 Gb card, and the N95 8Gb which has the memory totally internalised. The former also has a shutter cover for the lens, which was discarded in the latter to allow a larger battery. I wanted the cover. I got the handset from Phones4u and it's an O2 handset, who I have my contract with. It took a while to put the order though, so they gave me £50 for waiting. So, seriously, I got the free upgrade, the memory card, a screen protector and £50 in my hand. The bundled accessories are good, a USB cable (like the much criticised N800 it doesn't seem to do charging) a car charger, a tiny regular charger (same as the N800 actually) and the usual ear phones, with a small control panel on a cable for the sound.

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Debian GNU/Linux on Toshiba Portege R500

nospam@example.com (Colin Turner) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:42:53 +0100

This week I got my hands on a Toshiba Portege R500 for work. It's brilliant to have a laptop with a decent battery once again. Here are some thoughts on the hardware, and installing Linux.

The first thing I did was cut through the label on the box that makes it clear that no refund is possible for bundled software you don't want, including the operating system. This beast came with Windows Vista Business edition, which I could happily live without. For now I didn't perform a full exorcism, but only shrunk the Vista partition right back. I have some consultancy jobs which might make it handy to leave Vista there for now.

The hardware is brilliant, light (under 1 kg) while still packing quite a punch, dual core CPU, 2 Gig RAM and 160 Gig hard disk. I didn't want the extra expenditure for a solid state disk, and I wanted the space too. Some reviews mentioned the heat and fan noise, but both are hugely reduced from my Sony Vaio so I'm more than happy.

I burnt a new Debian AMD64 net install disk with the current testing (Lenny) and the second beta version of the installer. I booted off the CD and began the install, having previously so configured the BIOS from within Windows, there was no obvious key to press to change the boot, although I think F12 will do it in retrospect. First thing to note, a really long delay after the kernel declares itself ready and the installer resumes made me think it had crashed. Be patient. The main Debian install went very well, smoothly and quickly. I used the partition editor to shrink the Vista partition to 40 Gig for now. One minor quibble, Debian offers a quick solution for an entire encrypted disk, but not such an option with the remaining space. I don't yet understand that process well enough so I have left it unencrypted for now, and will do it manually later. Most of my working content is actually in SVN repositories so it's easy to rebuild from scratch should I choose to.
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Geany and other Development Tools

nospam@example.com (Colin Turner) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:28:17 +0100

I've tried lots of programming editors and ides over the years, obviously in Unix and Linux this is a Holy War, particularly between the advocates of vi and emacs. It is common for both groups to suggest that the other editor is hopelessly over-complex or clumsy. I think there's some truth in that, because essentially, they both stink.

I tend to be an emacsen user myself, but I just think emacs is slightly less awful than vi. My first action on a new install is usually to use vi to edit my sources.list in Debian, to help me install emacs. Perhaps thats strange, because I really like sed. So what's the problem with them? They both share this kind of puritanically awkward interface that works well on a console, but sucks in a GUI. They both use ridiculously arcane sequences of key presses to do anything, and I mean even basic stuff like saving and quitting. Yes, yes, you don't have to lecture me about old terminals and their limitations, been there done that, got the t-shirt. I tend to do all my systems maintenance in emacs, but when I'm programming, I've started to love the softness of a decent editor that actually makes it plain and simple to edit multiple buffers of source code, even though its a pain to use different editors for console and gui work.
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ASUS P5KC Memory / PSU Problems

nospam@example.com (Colin Turner) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 21:43:53 +0000

Ok, I spoke to soon. I thought video was my only problem.

On Tuesday I planned to work at home, to get a lot of code written for OPUS and found my computer locked. I kept restarting it, kept getting kernel panics. The temperature was fine, there was no abnormal load, I tried a new kernel or four, and apparently got a bit more stability. The graphics problems were worse than ever, and I get fed up and bought an ATI HD2600 Pro, which solved all those problems.

Still the machine kept locking. I eventually began to suspect the memory.
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Sharp Steel Sword (SwordStore.com) redux

nospam@example.com (Colin Turner) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:28:34 +0000

My sword arrived from the USA and got caught in customs for a while, I went to collect it and pay the import tax on the 2nd January. Since then I've been looking at it quite carefully. I was relieved customs had not opened it (not because of any legal concerns, it is all perfectly legal, but because in the past I have witnessed people all to keen to play with these items, to potentially distastrous consequences).

First of all SwordStore itself handled everything excellently, with perfect courtesy throughout, and seemed genuinely eager for feedback on the new arrival. These swords are constructed in Japan with, I think, parts from both Japan and China. The sword was carefully packaged.

I carefully checked all the fittings before removing the sword from its saya (scabbard); they were all of a good standard and fitted well, there was no damage apparent from shipping. The tsuka (handle) is longer than my current sword, which is good, since my hands are quite large, the same (shark skin) is nice, and the ito (wrap) is extremely tight and well finished. It is blue silk and so the handle feels a little less bulky than my current sword that is wrapped in cotton (incidentally that sword, from Tozando in Japan, still has exceptionally tight wrap after 7 years). I am very pleased with the cherry blossom tsuba.

So, on to the blade. I drew the blade carefully (not Iaido style) to ensure everything was in good order. The blade is beautiful, with a nice pattern in the steel, the hamon is pretty, and could be polished up even more beautifully at some later stage. This sword is 2.5 shaku, a little longer than my old 2.45 shaku sword, and is heavy. Obviously it's a little longer and made of steel, but the blade has a lot of meat, the sword is fairly thick and the thickness doesn't diminish much (or maybe at all) until it reaches the boshi, just before the kissaki (tip). The balance feels further along the blade than a regular iaito, and perhaps it will be too much to wield. Having said that, every time I pick the sword up it feels lighter to me now. The blade is very sharp, and when I tried to place it back in its saya, again carefully for now sliding the mune (back) carefully into the saya, and found that the blade bound up in the saya very slightly when about 10 cm of blade was still out. After a few more insertions this problem has gone, the blade has literally cut a little of the material in the way free. The sword locks tightly in its saya when pushed fully home (importantly), and I next carefully cleaned the blade, applied fresh clove oil, and fitted the scabbard protector that had been awaiting its arrival.
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Garmin Nuvi 310d

nospam@example.com (ct) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:25:24 +0000

I bought a Garmin Nuvi 310 sat nav system over the holidays. It is a nice device, a good size, neither too small nor large, and the "d" bundle came with most of the accessories one might want, like the USB cable, carry case, mountings and so on, as well as a DVD with map information, that I haven't gone near yet. I discovered with some pleasure that at least one upgrade was installable on Debian GNU/Linux using the Java application at their site, whether or not it will be possible to avoid Windows for upgrades in all cases I don't yet know. The maps are accurate, with only a small number of very new changes not appearing on them so far, the device calculates, and recalculates routes quickly, and acquires a satellite lock very rapidly, even without the external antenna. It's a nice feature that the internal antenna turns off the power to the GPS as soon as its closed up. A comprehensive list of categorized destinations, such as restaurants, airports, hospitals and shops is very easy to access. The screen is bright and easy to control. One reason I bought this model is that it can act as a bluetooth handsfree kit for a phone, in my case a Sony Ericsson K800i. I have a headset, but this was a big draw for the extra money for me. Out of the box, I paired it with my phone quickly, and I am able to receive calls with good clarity with no problems. Beautifully the device accesses the phone books, call lists and so on from your phone allowing a nice interface to it from the device directly. I did hit one big problem, I could not dial out. None of that functionality worked, the garmin "dialled" the number but the phone did nothing. I contacted Garmin support today (their website is ... um ... awful for support navigation) and was immediately told the phone needed an update. I was surprised, and skeptical since the phone has continuously told me that it has the latest software when I have asked it to update itself. Nevertheless, I went to the Sony Ericsson website and found a Windows (yuck), Flash (yuck) program for updating the phones. They were correct, there was an update for the phone and it has done the trick. All in all, first impressions are a great device. One tiny niggle... I wish the keyboard could be laid out in QWERTY format rather than ABCDE.

SM2442

nospam@example.com (ct) — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 09:03:19 +0100

I used to have a very simple clock, synced to the atomic clock at Rugby. It took a single AA battery, warned you when the battery was low, had a snooze, and basically it worked well. Unfortunately when Aimee was very young she broke it. So I looked for a replacement and couldn't really find one. In the end I found a Science Museum clock that was real overkill, it used batteries and mains and was rather big. I got it as a Father's day present last year (but all that follows is my fault, I picked it). I ended up sending the following to the Science Museum:

This clock is appalling. It frequently fails to sync with the radio signal, in a position that worked for a similar clock for years, and having failed to sync resets the time incorrectly by minutes, hours, and sometimes whole days. When it attemps the sync - it does it midnight and 1 AM. During that time, and it takes a long time, the clock vanishes and is unusable. If that isn't enough it beeps loudly for every button press, so setting the alarm with a partner asleep is a nightmare. You need to flick a switch to turn the alarm off in the morning, and it can be easy to forget to switch it back on. It is sadly a masterpiece of poor design. I hope other SM products I have bought as gifts have not been as poor.

To their credit I got this reply

Thank you for your email. I'm sorry to hear you have been disappointed by the performance of your clock. Our buyer was very concerned to hear of your quality issues, and appreciates you taking the time to write to us with your comments. If you could send the item back to me at the address below, I will certainly replace it and contact the supplier for their feedback regarding any production problems. I am also happy to offer you a full refund, including any postage costs incurred. We take quality and safety issues very seriously, and do test our products thoroughly, but with 1200 different lines it is not always possible to monitor on an ongoing basis. The buying team would like to pass on their apologies and hope that this experience does not deter you from visiting the museum and shop in the future.

Could be more accurate

I think I should take them up on this kind offer, since the photo attached shows that it synced three hours off the correct time last night .

More about the rabbit

nospam@example.com (ct) — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 23:42:03 +0000

I've had some more time to play with my Rabbit (Nabaztag/tag) now, and can say a little more about my findings. The hardware is lovely, well constructed and solid feeling. The rabbit sits around 20 cm in height. It has a slightly curved bottom so that you can see the pulsing violet glow that tells you it is connected to the internet. It has three large multi-coloured LEDs in its abdomen, and one in its face. It also has a microphone for voice recognition. The ears are on magnetic clips and are therefore easy to replace. The service / software side is still a big problem. I finally found out that only the secure http website was down, the normal one was still running. I've finally been able to make configuration changes that stick, but there are still many issues:

many services just don't work at the minute, including most RSS feeds;
there seems to be some serious flaws in the website, time values in 12 hour clock don't seem to work well;
there may be a timezone problem too.

On the other hand, it has spoken, and the speech synthesis and messaging is astoundingly good. The mp3 functionality works well. I have got it flashing as a weather forecast, doing Tai Chi and so on. Nice... The voice recognition currently is deactivated. When you hold the button on the top and talk, an LED indicates the device "hears" you. It's just that nothing happens with that yet. All in all, very rough around the edges (although I'm pretty used to that), but great potential.

Nabaztag / Tag

nospam@example.com (ct) — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 23:37:32 +0000

My new Nabaztag / Tag arrived today. This is the second generation wireless rabbit, and I hope it will be fun. So far, it's been an ambivalent experience. I had trouble connecting the beast (BTW, you will require not just a wireless network, but a wireless enabled PC or PDA (I used my Palm T|X) from which to configure it). I had a frustrating half an hour trying to connect it. It uses clever pattern flashes to tell you how far it is getting, but the problem is that this vital troubleshooting information isn't "right in front of you" when you look. Seems to be my exotic setup that's the problem: my linux server is my DHCP server, not the router, so I gave the beast a static address. Great, so it connects, much to my delight, and I get into my.nabaztag.com from which all the configuration is done. Wow, this is a disappointing website, it is painfully slow and rather unintuitive. On many pages it says I can't do anything since "I don't own a rabbit" which clearly I do. I try to send messages to my own rabbit, but can't since I've asked for parental control. I try to add myself as a contact for myself, but can't see how to do that. I disable parental control and send myself a voice message. Much to my delight the rabbit moves and flashes, but no voice emerges. I try again, it's just the same. Now, after a frustrating attempt to configure my profile where the settings don't seem to "stick" the site has gone down for maintenance. Argghhh! So I can't do anything anymore. I've had this device an hour and more and haven't enabled it to do anything interesting at all . Hopefully when the site comes back up things will be smoother. --- Update Two hours later I'm giving up. The site is still off-line and I can't do the most rudimentary of testing without it . Let's hope tomorrow brings better service! --- Update Wow. Over 9 hours later the site is still off-line. I finally (sending an email to the device) got it to speak a few words! Tried to send it an mp3 with no luck so far. I'm now finding a disturbing amount of correspondence on the users' website indicating that virtually none of the services are working. I don't mind beta testing, but I prefer to know up-front that nothing works yet! It seems voice recognition doesn't work (it is to be enabled "soon"), the RFID detection doesn't work (coming soon). So far, I'm impressed with the hardware, but not at all with the software services .