Smartphone as PDA

After posting about potential PDAs 4 months ago, and spending several more hours researching alternatives, I finally concluded that the HTC Touch Diamond really is the perfect (or as close as the market will allow) device for me. Even better that it occasionally shows up on sale for about 30% off at Newegg, so I recently picked one up.

Several more hours of investigation have followed. I've seen it may be possible to upgrade the device to Windows Mobile 6.5, and even install Andorid. Not being ready for that kind of commitment, I've just been finding various programs and tweaks to turn it into my new PDA.

Thus begins the migration from my Palm z22 to Windows Mobile 6.1 HTC Touch Diamond

Programs

First programs I install are .NET Compact Framework 3.5, SQLServerCompact 3.5 Core, and full featured Japanese Display and Input.

After a reset, Dred Sensor, OpenMobileMaps, (Japanese) Pocket Dictionary (along with EDICT), JWPce (be sure to use the ARM "palm" version), Pocket Digital Clock, Total Commander Pocket.

System tweaks

• Settings -> Personal -> Menus -- Remove Phone
• Settings -> Sounds & Notifications -> Notifications
  • All Phone and Messaging options -- Disable all sounds/notifications
  • Event: Reminders -- Disable visible calendar popups
• Settings -> Today -> Items -- Deselect TouchFLO 3D and select Pocket Digital Clock and Calendar
• Settings -> Today -> Items -> Pocket Digital Clock Options -- Disable seconds display
• Settings -> System -> Error Reporting -- Disable it
• Settings -> Comm Manager -> Always keep Phone turned off

I hunted a long time for a (free) program to change button behavior. Dred Sensor had all the power I needed. Using Dred Sensor, I replace all the Send and End button behavior as shortcuts to Calendar and Notepad (similar to how my Palm was setup). I also set a long-press shortcut of one of the buttons to open Comm Manager for quick toggle of WiFi setting.

Copy a pic to the phone, then browse to it and select it, then set it as the background to change its translucency setting (you can't set that from Settings -> Today)

Google Maps is a very nice program, but pretty much requires constant connectivity--something I (thankfully) don't have (to pay for). So to save maps for OpenMobileMaps, first start OpenMobileMaps so it can setup its cache folders. Then download a fixed version of JTileDownloader, browse an area of interest on the OpenMaps site, download the tiles, and copy them into the cache folders on the Diamond.

I haven't yet needed to tweak the registry, but MobileRegistryEditor is my editor of choice.

Transferring Data

I've used HandyShopper on the Palm for years -- it's a brilliant program. Thankfully it's also available for Windows Mobile. Transferring the shopping list is a breeze. Just find the backed up database in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Palm OS Desktop\<id>\Backup\HS2_Shopping.PDB and simply copy it to the device. Browse to the PDB file on the device and just click on it. Your list is now available on the Diamond.

The biggest issue I had was getting the Palm Note Pad scribbles off the z22. Since Palm all but dropped support for the Palm OS and Windows 7, I had to download their latest (and final) version of the desktop client off their website. Unfortunately that version of Palm Desktop doesn't provide an interface for Note Pad. Forum posts suggested I had to find a computer with WinXP and install the older software that came with the z22 to sync those Note Pad images off the device.

While I still have XP on my lappy, it sure seemed like a hassle -- and what about people who don't have XP anymore? So I turned to Open Source for help. After installing all variations of Palm related software in Ubuntu, nothing seemed to provide a GUI for getting those Note Pad images. Then I happened upon a man page for a command-line tool called pilot-read-notepad. To my surprise, the following command actually worked

pilot-read-notepad --type=png -p usb: > list.txt

After pressing sync on the device, I found myself with all the images exported (some of the note titles with illegal characters had to be tweaked).

Blogging with Markdown

I haven't done much blogging lately, so most of the asciidoc esoteric syntax is gone from me. Meanwhile, I've been using Markdown on a couple of popular web sites. Markdown has come a long way since I first investigated a blogging markup language with code highlighting. There is now a Python module with the built-in CodeHilite extension. This post gave me the confidence that Markdown was ready for primetime.

Here's how I setup my new blogging solution with Markdown*:

• Install Python 2.5+
• Download Markdown source code
• Download Pygments source code
• Uncompress the Markdown directory
• Uncompress the Pygments directory
• From the Pygments directory, move the pygments and external sub-directories into the Markdown directory
• Apply this patch to the Markdown source files so noclasses configuration is exposted and fenced_code is also highlighted (I'm bummed this patch isn't included in the downloaded source)
• Download and install the jEdit syntax and Notepad++ syntax files

Now the following command will do the work**:

python markdown.py input.md -o html4 -x "codehilite(noclasses=True)" -x fenced_code -f output.html

I still have to manually create the blog post in Blogger, but then it's just a copy-paste of the html, and I'm done.

_{* I don't like installing Python modules because I rarely use them--hence the simple uncompressing and use in-place.}

_{** Like with my previous blogging solution, I like the syntax CSS to be inline.}

Using the iPod Touch as a PDA

I've been sporting the stylish Palm z22 for several years now (originally purchased for $100), and its battery is beginning to fail. Would it be too much to ask for something similar at a similar price point? Apparently it is. There is only one company that still makes normal PDAs: HP with their iPaq 111 (3 times the cost!) and 211. So if I can't get a PDA, it seems Portable Media Devices (PMD) are the only alternative.

The iPod Touch almost meets the bill, but still lacks a way to properly scribble notes. Researching compatible styluses led to the BoxWave Mini stylus, which is adequate, but falls short of my 5 year old PDA's accuracy. I could settle with that, if only there was a decent case that would hold it for me. Again, I must be asking way too much because there are currently only two* (2) on the market, and they are ugly as sin.

Fine, I won't get the iPod Touch. So what's left? The Creative Zen seemed to be able to sync with MS Outlook...about 4 years ago.

If I can't get a PDA, or a PMD, I guess I could just get a stinkin' smartphone and just never activate it. Lo and behold that's not such a bad idea. The HTC Tilt and HTC Touch Diamond are both available unlocked on Newegg for not terrible prices. Plus they even have a camera that's 3x better than my cellphone's. Just wish I could try out those devices before committing $half-a-PS3 to it.

_{* Got my links messed up. There is one case that I really like, but it's only compatible with iPhone.}

Parentheses

The fellows over at the newLISP fan club forums are a witty bunch. During yet another discussion in the long history of "how might all those parentheses be removed from Lisp" discussions, Elica solved this age old conundrum ever so gracefully.

There is one easy recursive solution, but I’m afraid you will not like it, although you may enjoy it. Here it goes:

To solve the problem with parentheses, we can replace them by square brackets. However, this will introduce a new problem - a problem with the square brackets. To solve it, we can replace brackets with parentheses, which will reraise the initial problem. Fortunately, we already know how to solve it.

So, everything is OK - the initial problem is reduced to a sequence of problems, each of which can be solved trivially.

Java and VNC on Windows

Sometime between JRE 1.6.0 update 3 and 1.6.0 update 15, something changed.

I use a VNC program heavily, and was surprised to see all Java Swing GUIs become almost useless because they would never refresh through VNC. Yet at the same time Netbeans still worked fine over VNC.

I sought high and low, but what kind of search string would you use for this issue?

As a work around at the time, I set the JAVA_HOME to an older JRE, and updated some of my Java program shortcuts to use "C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_3\bin\javaw.exe"

Today I finally found the issue and fix.

J2D_D3D=false

This problem might occur with any other kind of Remote Desktop program, or perhaps it is just those that use a special video driver.

Oh and Netbeans seems to run under the latest JDK installed instead of the latest JRE. Guess I should update that sometime.

Aion Beta: Closed vs. Open

Q. What is the difference between all the previous Aion closed betas and the current Aion open beta?

A. The “open” beta also includes some lucky FilePlanet paid subscribers that got a limited “open” beta key.

A Tale of Two TVs...+2

I’ve owned a cheap, 20", super ultra generic Best Buy TV for the last 5 years. It has been wonderfully reliable and well used. I think my desire for something bigger first started when I played Gears of War at a friend’s house on a large screen. The display and experience was truly awesome. Since then I’ve also felt my little screen didn’t do justice to The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Old news to anyone in the know, but I was crushed to learn the Wii doesn’t output anything HD. It does do wide screen at lest, so a new TV wouldn’t be completely wasted on it (and good luck finding a 480p wide screen).

It wasn’t until I had researched 2 months, purchased 4 TVs, then returned 3 of them, that all my requirements had been flushed out.

• 32" wide-screen LCD
• Closed Captioning on mute
• The closed captioning starts appearing shortly after pressing mute
• Passes The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess display calibration screen
• Minimal input-to-display lag
• Easily returnable

The 4th TV finally met my needs (almost). Given how hard it is to find any worthwhile information on TVs (and all electronics in general) on the internet, thought I’d share some details.

Consumer Reports

I’ve been an off-and-on registered member of Consumer Reports. Unlike fickle forums, their information is objective and substantiated. Unfortunately their TVs coverage is pretty lacking (but given the number of TVs on the market, it’s unlikely they could really keep up). If your TV of interest isn’t reviewed on the site, then the only valuable information they offer is a general brand reliability rating. Their surveys give a glimpse of what percentage of TVs are defective for a particular brand. The numbers seem to support the idea that brands do maintain a consistent level of reliability.

Vizio 32" VO320E — $400 (normally $450)

As a newcomer to the big screen TV market, I was surprised that the otherwise unheard of Vizio brand is a major player. Consumer Reports rate their reliability as one of the best. I hear they also have a pretty hefty market share. This TV on sale at Walmart has an excellent cost-to-quality ratio.

Since it was my first TV, it wasn’t until after I purchased it that I realized I really like how my old CRT could show Closed Captioning when muted. This isn’t a feature most people even realize exists, and it is never mentioned on retail sites. You have to go to the manufacturer’s site, download the product’s manual and read all the details. In any case, I strongly recommend people do that for any TV they plan to buy.

The only other down side of this TV is the simplistic remote. There are no shortcuts to menu options on the remote. For example, if you want to change the “zoom” display of a channel, it takes 5-6 button presses to traverse the menu system and change the settings.

Insignia (Best Buy generic) 32" NS-L32Q-10A — $400

After additional research, I narrowed it down to this Insignia and the RCA below. When I learned from an employee that Insignia (a generic Best Buy brand) is at least partially made by LG, I went for this one. Consumer Reports says LG reliability isn’t one of the best, but at least it’s on the list (unlike RCA).

The picture quality of this TV looks quite nice, especially when compared next to the RCA, and it has my coveted Closed Captioning on mute.

Sadly it was lacking in several other ways. The signal to some of my cable channels is a bit weak, so the picture is a little fuzzy on my CRT. On the Insignia, this weak signal sometimes exhibits itself as no audio. I found the sound could be acquired by turning the TV off, then back on. Unfortunately the sound goes away again if you change to another channel and return. This didn’t always happen, but it was enough to be very troubling. In general, this TV doesn’t handle corrupted video signal very well.

Overall the TV is just very slow. It takes about 10 to 15 seconds to turn on, and channel changing often takes like 3 to 4 seconds.

While all this is pretty lame, it was still usable—that is until I tried to play video games on it. It has a seriously bad lag from receiving input to displaying the image.

I don’t think there’s any official name for this “lag” value, and it’s never reported by TV manufacturers. Not all hope is lost though. There does seem to be some brand consistency. Looking around Best Buy, I noticed most, if not all the playable video game demos were setup on Samsung LCDs. I suspect Sonys are generally pretty good with lag as well. You can also find a sort of “game mode” feature on various TVs that skips all the image processing and just blasts the video to the screen as quickly as possible.

RCA 32" L32HD41 — $350 (normally $400)

According to the specs, this TV has a higher contrast ratio than the Insignia, but it sure didn’t look like that when sitting side-by-side. The picture was very dark and bland, and never could get bright enough, or with enough contrast to pass the Zelda Twilight Princess calibration screen.

Everything else about the TV is fine. Its input-to-display lag was pretty good, and it’s the quickest to display CC after the mute button was pressed.

Sony - BRAVIA 32" KDL-32L5000 — $500 (normally $550)

After three <= $400 TVs, it was pretty clear I can’t be cheap if I want a TV to really meet my needs. It was either this Sony or a Toshiba of the same price. I found a mention of Playstation 3 in this TV’s manual (on the Sony site). I hoped this meant its lag was small enough for video games. Sure enough, its input-to-display lag is very usable.

The picture passes Zelda Twilight Princess screen calibration without problems. All-in-all it’s quite a nice TV. The only thing about it that bugs me is the 30 seconds it takes for Closed Captioning to start showing after mute is pressed. That delay is also reset if you press pretty much any button on the remote. Makes me wish there was more interest in TV firmware hacking out there.

Final notes

I have yet to find a Samsung that does CC on mute.

I’ve now dropped about $100 in new cables (all ordered online to avoid highway robbery) to make my home theater system complete. So this whole purchase has set met back over $600. I will also be paying higher energy costs for this new TV vs. my old CRT. That little guy will be missed.