There are a few things you have to remember when trying to keep your pilot synchronised with your Linux workstation. Most of these caveats are due to general Gnome 2.2 shittiness. My opinion that many open source programmers should rather go back to school has just been enforced by this opinion. :) Testing kernel setup with pilot-xfer Make sure your kernel has full support for usb and that you’ve built usbserial and visor modules as well.
First thoughts on the Tungsten E
At least judging by my experience with the Tungsten E so far, Palm has really done it again. The durn thing Just Works(tm) and will do just wonderfully as PDA, just like my trusty old Palm IIIx. It’s still a real CHORE to get it working with Debian Woody (well, with Debian stable everything always has to be a chore), but Mandrake cooker (soon to be 9.2) handles it just fine.
I love this place
Yesterday at 15:55 I placed my order for a Palm Tungsten E at The PDA Shop. This morning at about 10:00 the friendly TPG postman delivered it at my door. :) Specs in short: 320×320 transreflective colour screen, 32MB memory, SDIO slot (for extra flash and peripherals), TI OMAP (ARM) 126MHz processor, a solid collection of software and oodles of prettiness.
Decisions decisions
This is already in stock it seems. Tungsten E (approx. EUR200) or T3, what would you choose? Addendum: Thanks to Dirk Postma, we can now also keep track of the Tungsten E prices, live:
Tungsten-E approaching at high speed
Thank you, oh Register for all the fine rumours. This time, the Register boys report on a slip-up at a Palm reseller resulting in a slight leak of Palm Tungsten-E and T3 specifications ahead of the October 1 launch. See here. That Tungsten-E is looking really attractive…
61 words
Anna Wiersbicka is a Polish-Australian researcher in language semantics who is proposing that all concepts in all languages can be defined in terms of 61 basic concepts, called “primitives”. In a very interesting article in the NRC Handelsblad of Saturday, September 20, 2003, she elaborates on this theory. In short, these 61 primitives can be represented by 61 words (or word groups) in all languages. By stringing these 61 words together with a suitable mini-grammar, any concept can be explained.
A Gentle Warning
Yesterday was September 15, exactly 3 years after I officially started with my Ph.D. Time is fun when you’re having flies! This means that today I have just under a year left to go, which in turn means that the stress is beginning to pile up. I apologise in advance if I accidentally bite your head off.
Palm News
Good Old Ben just sent me this link. I am lusting after a new PDA (T2 or Zire 71), but can’t justify purchasing one because my trusty Palm IIIx (now three years old) is still performing its PDA-duties with unwavering loyalty. However, if the prices on the new modules drop significantly, the equation changes…
Handy language tips from Bob the Angry Flower
Yes children, Bob the Angry Flower explains when to use “its” and when to use “it’s”. It’s not that difficult! Now if only somebody can also educate the millions of idiot losers (most of them on slashdot) abusing the phrase “begging the question” so often. See here for the correct meaning of the phrase.
A new machine
My dual 933MHz PIII that was state of the art three years ago has now become quite long in the tooth. Fortunately, Ari has graciously allowed me to use his old workstation (since he’ll probably be spending significantly more time with his new employer). This “hand-me-down” :) has a 2.4GHz P4, 512MB DDR (soon to be upgraded), lotsa disc space, a GeForce4 4600 with 128MB ram of its own and a beautiful 18″ Dell UltraSharp LCD screen.