Jan 31, 2007 | blog
As some may know, I’ve been a longtime PPC user, actually starting with the old “Palm-size PC” back in 1998 or so. But the topic of this post is the parent operating system of the Pocket PC (and Windows Mobile for that matter) called Windows CE.
So we’ve been working on some Windows CE based devices for our warehouse management system at work. The goal, of course, being a fast-booting, lightweight client device to use for a web-based WM tool.
The main trouble with the devices we had, was really the WinCE operating system and its ability (or lack thereof) to be able to use EAP-TLS to secure the wireless network. Eventually a network stack update from the manufacturer did the trick, but it was frustrating to have everything configured correctly, but have the damn software not be able to connect up.
So, it’s one more chapter in alternate operating systems. If it’s not this it would be something else, perhaps Linux of some flavor. I’d actually like to have the ability to work with a Linux system at work – I think there is a huge potential for the OS in what we use PCs for. But that’s another story.
Fortunately its almost over – its been kind of fun, writing some scripts and such. Scripts are something that I don’t get to write as much. We use most tools right out of the box (or try to), so there is as little custom work as possible. Still, once in awhile a need comes along for a good script, and this was one of them for me. 🙂
As much as I’ve liked Windows CE based systems in the past, I’ve had about enough of them at this point. Working with these systems has brought the operating system’s deficiencies to the surface, and they are not pretty.
Jan 30, 2007 | blog
Today is a blogging day using the Pocket SharpMT blogging client for Pocket PC. I’ve used the software before, but had not really pushed it’s limits yet.
So here today, I’m using it for a few posts – and to make good on my last post about not writing about more day to day items. Like what I do at the real job (it is daytime isn’t it?)
The main interface of SharpMT on the Pocket PC is the post creation interface that frankly is quite bare. Its out of necessity of course, there is very little space on a QVGA screen for all the fancy buttons and options normally shown on a WYSIWYG editor that most blogging clients have. All the basic post creation tools are here – bold, italic, links, etc…
The biggest thing that I had a problem with was getting the picture embedded. There as no obvious tool available to do this until I dug a bit deeper. Then I found the functionality to specify a file to upload – I just hope I set it up correctly. 😉
So that’s it for now, I’ll probably post a bit more on SharpMT as I use it more. This was mostly an experimental post to see what I can and can’t do with the tool. The one last test was adding the Technorati tag info at the bottom of the post.
UPDATE: I did have to manually tweak the tags below – it got all goofed up. Kind of cool though.
Technorati tags: pocket+sharpmt
Jan 23, 2007 | blog
I pulled the trigger this evening and upgraded my blog to WordPress 2.1, which you can download here. Along with a reported 550+ bug fixes, there are several new features built into the new version – some listed below.
- Autosave makes sure you never lose a post again.
- Our new tabbed editor allows you to switch between WYSIWYG and code editing instantly while writing a post.
- The lossless XML import and export makes it easy for you to move your content between WordPress blogs.
- Our completely redone visual editor also now includes spell checking.
- New search engine privacy option allows you take you to indicate your blog shouldn’t ping or be indexed by search engines like Google.
- You can set any “page†to be the front page of your site, and put the latest posts somewhere else, making it much easier to use WordPress as a content management system.
- Much more efficient database code, faster than previous versions. Domas Mituzas from MySQL went over all our queries with a fine-toothed comb.
- Links in your blogroll now support sub-categories and you can add categories on the fly.
- Redesigned login screen from the Shuttle project.
- More AJAX to make custom fields, moderation, deletions, and more all faster. My favorite is the comments page, which new lets you approve or unapprove things instantly.
- Pages can now be drafts, or private.
- Our admin has been refreshed to load faster and be more visually consistent.
- The dashboard now instantly and brings RSS feeds asynchronously in the background.
- Comment feeds now include all the comments, not just the last 10.
- Better internationalization and support for right-to-left languages.
- The upload manager lets you easily manage all your uploads pictures, video, and audio.
- A new version of the Akismet plugin is bundled.
Technorati tags: WordPress 2.1, WordPress Upgrade
Jan 15, 2007 | blog
So, I’ve found the Pocket SharpMT mobile blogging client for Pocket PC. I’ve been on the hunt for an offline blogging client that I could use from my PPC for some time.
I’m not sure how I’ll incorporate this into my blogging schedule, as I like to see how everything looks on a PC’s screen before publishing a post. Probably I’ll write drafts as I’m on the go, and then publish them after polishing them up a bit later on.
Of course, the ability to have a quick method for creating and posting is a great improvement over needing to write posts in Pocket IE on my WordPress admin site – it never goes well, and always skews what it looks like until I get back to a PC. It also takes way too long in PIE, mostly because PIE is a piece of … you know what.
Jan 13, 2007 | blog
I’m just going to give out my recommendation as a blanket statement to everyone. When you start seriously thinking of upgrading to Microsoft’s Windows Vista, simply plan on buying a new computer.
In the long run, you will be much, much happier with the result. Unless you just bought a new computer and have the “coupon” for the Vista upgrade, upgrading aging hardware, migrating your data and dealing with some hard to find drivers will be a painful experience.
So, I strongly recommend just going and buying a new PC when the time is right. Instead of spending additional money on upgrading RAM, disk, video, etc… just put that cash aside for a new computer.
With that said, my second recommendation to go with Vista is to forget desktops. Look at purchasing a laptop instead. Yeah, yeah, yeah this doesn’t accommodate all the gamers out there, but you guys know what you need anyway. I’m talking about the average computer user who is served quite well in the sub $1,000 market for laptops. Trust me, there are literally dozens of options among the 1st and 2nd tier vendors. Laptops are starting to head below $500 now for the low-end, but you’ll find the machine to fill your needs somewhere between $600-$1,000 at this time.
Another option to consider is the latest in mobility, a UMPCs that will provide the utmost in mobile computing convenience.
Just remember that Vista is a new experience, and the slow or troublesome computer you’ve been putting up with will be a great backup web browser, but not a good candidate for a Vista upgrade.
Disagree? Well, let me know in the comments!
