Computers

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One of the things that I think people mocking tablets, often forget is how revolutionary desktops were once upon a time.

In its context: the IBM PC and many of its close relatives were not powerful computers by any means, yet they helped change the world. The 5150 was no where near as capable as expensive time sharing systems, but it was cheap, and it was good enough.

For under ten grand you could get a pretty nice setup, and for a few grand you could get something worth using. Most early PCs ran an operating system that was a simplistic piece of crap, compared to what you would expect to find on computers costing tens of thousands, but it was enough for getting things done. Combined with the very anti-IBM approach of openness and third party support it caught on, and exploded—effectively wiping out competition from previous attempts to build an affordable ‘Good enough’, and eventually becoming more ubiquitous than the more capable machines that came before.

Remind you of the rise of Android and iOS any? In many ways the extent, and methods that exploded Android into the dominate phone OS, and a major player in tablets, reminds me a lot of how we went from computers that were too expensive to be personal, and reached a point where literally everyone can have their own computers.

You know, that kind of makes me feel more positive at Microsoft’s efforts with Metro and UWP, lol.

Random neurons firing

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My habit of preferring the wall-facing side of the bed, and leaving the open side to the comfy dogs, remind me that I never tended to write much in bed.

Trying to update handwritten notes: the net result is not having enough room to starboard to move my arm: which impacts my legibility. I.e. having to micro-manage my finger muscles, both results in crappier writing and a more exhausting experience. Which also means my tablet will have a harder time converting my writings to more useful typed text.

This kind of got me thinking: about the days I used to keep physical notebooks and binders as my modus operandi rather than computers and things. And you know what the norm was back then? Typically, I’d be found on a step stool, in front of a tall dresser, because that was the only large work surface other than the floor. Plus that dresser was in my closet, owing to the lack of space we had, and offered easy access to additional storage.

By the time I really tended to update notes from bed, I had already reached the point of sleeping draped over a laptop and vaguely wondering how the screen stayed attached, lol.

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The iPad at 10: A New Product Category Defined by Apps

As someone that’s come to rely on tablets heavily, despite avoiding the fruit company for much of the past decade, I kind of like the notion of tablets as a middle category—because that’s where most people’s computing lands.

A long time ago, I preferred laptops to desktops for the portability. Today, I don’t really believe in desktops so much for two main reasons: laptops aren’t as underpowered as they used to be, and rack mounted servers pwn most towers if you’re really going for raw compute power.

Tablets kind of answer the ability to do most of what regular people do with their computer. But aren’t so tied to the concept of a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and tower; laptops both suffer and benefit from rubbing the same software. And tablets would mostly suck for running the same software as desktops, far more than it would from adding a mouse and monitor to today’s tablets.

For better or worse: software often defines are interactions with devices. Think otherwise? Try using Windows 95 without a mouse or keyboard 🤣

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Strange an unusual things:

When hostname.domain gets assigned to prefix.someotherip, yet hostname has prefix.manuallyassigned. Or should we say that Cream had its expected address but my router server decided another, unused address was to be resolved to its name.

On the flipside, forcefully renewing the network connection and everybody is happy again. *Shrugs*

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Buggy behavior observed:

  1. Apple keyboard stopped inserting characters into Safari.
  2. Can’t move Apple keyboard in floating mode, had to restart Safari.
  3. For a while, Safari wouldn’t drag from dock in order to go split screen.
  4. Split screened Safari and Google News – G.N. would no longer accept input events until I stopped split screen.
  5. Lockscreen in portrait mode, but iPad in landscape mode, until unlocking.
And that’s just since getting home from work. Notably most of these revolve around operating system components, text input, and multitasking: the keyboard, the browser, and an application that embeds the browser.
I guess it’s time to rebootenze the fruity device, again.
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GOOGLE ANNOUNCES TIMELINE FOR THE END OF CHROME APPS ON CHROMEBOOKS

Personally, I’ve had little care for most Chrome apps other than the SSH client. Browser windows and tabs were the norm for my interaction prior to Android support. Most that I’ve installed on my Chromebooks were more about having a shortcut in the dock or a dedicated window than anything else really app like.
I look at the end of native client stuff with a small amount of sadness, since it was an intriguing idea. But today, you’d probably be screwing with Web Assembly or whoever passes for that since I last looked in on the subject.
But then again in kind of weird. I don’t consider Javascript a good idea unless it’s legible Javascript rather than pimpy faced fad of the month Javascript. And likewise, I prefer application development for platforms like Android and conventional Linux to slamming everything down the browser hole.
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Microsoft is updating one of Windows 10’s oldest apps – but you won’t like the change

When you consider that Office is one of Microsoft’s big money makers for client side, and the main competition in browser space is an advertising company (Google), I’m not inclined to hold it against them very much. You can always install Libre Office or  Abiword if you really want free.

Rather: I’m just glad that Notepad gained support for Unix style end line markers. Most use I’ve had for Word Pad since the fall of 32-bit Windows has been to view text files that aren’t in DOS format, on machines that aren’t mine, or are in the process of setup. Prior to 64-bit Windows becoming the norm for NT based systems, I’d usually use edit.com for that purpose: but support for 16-bit DOS applications aren’t included in Windows x64.

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Things that remind me 16 GB of RAM isn’t enough for anything: when opening a nearly 1 gigabyte perf.data file in perf report, both takes forever and consumes ~92.5% of memory according to htop.

And somewhere along the way it exits with a message about being killed, and a toast pops up about my WiFi disconnecting. I’m sure the kernel OOM killer had a lot of fun.

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So far I’ve been using an ESR for iPad Pro 11 Case with a surprising level of success. When I ordered it back in October, I found several similar ones, which likely means same thing from the same place with the branding of whoever is paying for the batch, lol.

Generally, I’ve tended to keep my devices naked. Tablets are already too damned hefty for my tastes, and most generic cases add considerable weight. First party ones tend to be ridiculously expensive, and likely due to litigation happy Apple, somewhat hamstrung into sucking.

Pretty much I wanted to solve two problems:

  1. Better protection at work, and some screen protection while its in my work bag.
  2. Be nice for writing position on my desk.
Most of the generic cases I’ve had for my Android tablets, failed because they’re too heavy once you make the generic adaptive frame and affix the cover. Most first party cases, traded cost for weight by using lighter plastics but suffered the same problem. It’s just the first party result was more like sewing pads together than a one piece plastic mold.
As someone who takes care of their overpriced electronics, my interested in cases tend to be less about drop protection and more about utility. If you’re going to toss a tablet out the back of a truck, or have risk of it being pierced by something dropped on the screen, by all means: get a highly protective case. I’d even recommend Otterbox for that.
But for me the protection factor is more like having my laptop and tablet in the same section of my bag, or my tablet laying on a work bench where things may get shuffled around a bit: but even a scratch or crack is like more a worse case scenario. I’ve only managed one damaged screen despite having used tablets since Honeycomb.
The trick that’s made this case sick are really down to the design. It’s magnetic connection allows it to be a very thin, lightweight case rather than one that tries to prevent catastrophe. Plus or makes our very easy to remove without scuffing or stressing the device, so when I want to use my iPad without the case: that’s so easy, I don’t worry.
Throw in how useful it is to have a kick stands like function along with the basic screen protection, and I’ve ended up sticking with it. By contrast, I don’t think I’ve ever managed to get more than a few weeks before discarding other cases I’ve had for past tablets.
The catch, I think has less to do with the cost of integrating sufficient magnets: and more to do with Apple’s inclination to sue the pants off other tablet vendors if they made the same style of folio case. Or least that’s been my feeling since Samsung almost nailed this problem with the Tab S2, but fell shy due to weight and using metal “Snaps” instead of magnets for attaching the case to the tablet. But that’s probably cheaper than dealing with their legal department, never mind actual circle jerking over the idea.
A notable side effect is for generic cheap ass cases like this, for most tablets you’re stuck adapting some kind of plastic frame or similar system. In the case of modern iPads, the magnet thing seems suitably generic amongst iPads at this point.