Entries tagged 'cat:#100DaysToOffload'

Entry created on 2024-09-04 (edited 2025-01-07) author:steeph (338) cat:#100DaysToOffload (40) cat:Computers (15) cat:Laptops (2) cat:ThinkPads (2)

This is a continuation of my recent entry about what I think makes a good laptop.

Display And Keyboard Size

I used to think a larger screen would be better, because you could see things better. But when sitting directly in front of the thing, it doesn't really make a difference whether the screen is 12 or 15 inches across. Larger screens tend to be available with higher resolutions. I think my preference for 15 inch laptops come from a time where there was a notable difference in price between laptops with screens with hardly acceptable and good resolution. But I've come to accept smaller-than-HD resolutions even though there are tasks where it really makes a difference. But with 15 year-old laptops, an HD screen doesn't have to make the thing much more expensive. So there are options, even with 12 inch devices.

The other thing is the keyboard (again). A larger device has more room for a more comfortable keyboard. HP makes use of the extra room. Dell didn't, at the time the laptops I'm interested in were made. In mobile workstations with a 15.6 inch screen can have a numblock, a 14 inch one can be less crowded (no half-size keys, spaced out special keys, extra rows). EliteBooks used to do a good job at that up until the 3rd generation. 12.1 inch Thinkpads (or the newer 12.5 inch ones) are a good example for crowded laptop keyboards. Not a bad keyboard. But there just isn't enough space to include and position all the keys one might want to have where one might want to ghave them. The thing is: 14 and 15 inch ThinkPads and Latitudes use the same keyboard layouts as their 12 inch counterparts. That's another plus for EliteBooks if you want a larger than 12 inch device.

So, since I'm on the ThinkPad bandwagon right now, and somebody gave me a ThinkPad X201 from their scrap box, I think that might be what I'm going to use next. I wouldn't have considered a 12 inch device. But, internals aside, it's just as nice to use as a T400, but ligher and taking up less space. I think if I had been introduced to ThinkPads through an X201, X200 or similar, I would have understood the hype much quicker. I will not go much into other manufacturer's counterparts to the ThinkPad X2xx series. But it is worth mentioning that both HP and Dell had similar devices to the X200/X201 both in clamshell and convertable/talet versions and their keyboards aren't worse. The Dell XP2 has a little fan in me. But those might be a topics for another entry.

Old Case With New Organs, Frankenpads

I don't have anything agains newer hardware. I'm just not ready to give up on laptop keyboards that feel nice to use. The trend of thinner laptops with larger batteries in recent years has been made possible by smaller mainboards with highly integrated CPUs or SoCs. I imagine that the size of modern laptop keyboards is very helpful if one would decide to build a newer PC into an old laptop case. The X201 doesn't seem to be popular for this anymore. Most people seem to preferr newer models for some reason. I would have thought that is one of the most popular devices for Frankenpads, even if it's a bit more work. The keyboard is of the old style, small case still with a lid latch, but there already was an option for a track pad. I have not gathered too much information about doing this myself. But there seems to be enough resources and support in forums to make it a doable project. But you don't even have to. There is a commercial offer for X201s with 10th generation Core i CPU.

I did think about getting a 486 laptop with a really nice keyboard and mod a newer board into that. It would be a nice project. But not as practical as an X201 or similar. After all, the case would be much thicker. Most 486 laptops were about twice as thick. That would make it easier to fit a different board into it and position connectors in the right spots. Most designs wouldn't have room for a trackpad. The availability of replacement parts for ThinkPads is also a good reason to use a ThinkPad for this. But it would be a nice project. Maybe even with an ultraportable electronic typewriter. But for a laptop to buy, the X2100 is the best compromise for many reasons; and you can get it readily built by someone with experience in doing exactly that.

Edit: Shortly after linking to www.xyte.ch all its pages except for index were replaced by their last archived versions of the wayback machine. So, here is the new link: https://web.archive.org/web/20241112182030/https://www.xyte.ch/shop/x2100-pricing/

Schrottwichteln, Persönliche Adventskalender

Entry created on 2024-12-01 author:steeph (338) cat:#100DaysToOffload (40) cat:Christmas (1) cat:Ideas (5) cat:Presents (1) lang:de (36)

Vielleicht wäre es ein netter Brauch - oder ein wohltuendes Spiel - im November einen Adventskalender für jemand anderes zu basteln/zusammen zu stellen. Bestimmt gibt es Adventskalender zu kaufen, die weitaus interessantere Dinge enthalten, als ein Stück Schokolade. Aber das klingt teuer, unpersönlich und nach einer Menge vermeidbarem Abfall. (Wie Überraschungspakete/Wunderboxen/Restsortimente von Amazon oder so.)

Ich mag die Idee des Schrottwichtelns, bei dem eins zuhause unbenutzte Gegenstände beim Wichteln verschenkt anstatt etwas neues zu kaufen. So ist wenigstens kein zusätzlicher Abfall erzeugt worden, wenn das Geschenk nicht zusagt oder nur wenig Verwendung findet, was ohnehin der übliche Ausgang eines verlosten Wichtel-Geschenkes sein dürfte.

Das gleiche Prinzip ließe sich auch auf Adventskalender übertragen. Der streckt den Überraschungseffekt und die Vorfreude über eine längere Zeit. Viele Menschen freuen sich immer, wenn sie Päckchen öffnen können. Über geschenkte um so mehr, auch wenn sie klein sind. Ein persönlich zusammengestellte Adventskalender wäre einer, der mich tatsächlich den Dezember fast täglich versüßen würde, im Gegensatz zu einem, der einfach nur Süßigkeiten enthält.

Ein solcher Kalender kann die Form eines großen Brettes haben, der Schachten oder Türen enthält; er kann aus einzelnen Päckchen bestehen; er kann über mehrere Wochen in Stücken übergeben werden, wenn große Gegenstände dabei sind; er kann hinter jeder Tür einen Zettel enthalten, der den Ort oder die Beschaffungsmethode beschreibt (vllt. sogar als Rätsel); er kann materielle, schriftliche, Verbrauchs- oder virtuelle Dinge enthalten oder als zusammengehörige Teile beinhalten, die zusammen einen größeren Wert ergeben (Bausatz, Geschichte).

In den meisten Haushalten liegen so viele Gegenstände herum, die nur darauf warten endlich weggeworfen zu werden, obwohl sie anderswo vielleicht mehr Verwendung oder Wertschätzung erfahren würden. Beim Schrottwichteln/einer Schrott-Tombola ist oft in den Regeln explizit festgehalten, dass es kein Gegenstand mit materiellem Wert sein muss, der in den Pool geworfen oder verschenkt wird. Oft wird ein Gegenstand schon mehr wertgeschätzt, wenn er ein Geschenk war.

Beispiele für geeignete Gegenstände sind aber auch Anschaffungen, die einfach nicht die verdiente Aufmerksamkeit bekommen, wie Ausrüstung für ein aufgegebenes oder vernachlässigtes Hobby, Retro-Hardware, Kunst, die aus Platzgründen die meiste Zeit verstaut verbringt.

Wenn bekannt ist, wer die Perschenkte Person ist können natürlich viel vesser geeignete Gegenstände ausgewählt werden. In dem Fall können eben auch einzelne Kleinigkeiten, wie ein 50-Pin-SCSI-Flachbandkabel für einen Retro-PC-Fan oder Reststücke Edelstahlblech für einen Heimwerker schon geeignete Geschenke für einen Adventskalender sein.

Genau weiß ich nicht, wieso mir die Idee von individuell erstellten verwichtelten Adventskalendern so gefällt. Mit den obigen Absätzen habe ich mögliche Gründe untersucht. Die Antwort war nicht dabei, Trotzdem bleibe ich dabei, dass sie mal praktisch erprobt werden sollte. (Als ob viele die Zeit dafür hätten.)

Was meint ihr: Ist das was für Vereine, Freundeskreise, Familien?

Blank Keyboard

Entry created on 2024-11-23 (edited 2024-11-24) author:steeph (338) cat:#100DaysToOffload (40) cat:Computer (75) cat:Hardware (13) cat:Keyboards (5) cat:Typing (1) lang:en (186)

Some 10 years ago, I picked up a simple USB keyboard from the scrap box of a hackerspace before to see whether it really was broken. It was missing one key, which made me think maybe that's all that's wrong with it. Turns out I can do without the Numlock key and all other keys work perfectly. When I have to press the Numlock key I use a pen. I never had to move another keycap onto it.

My idea when I took this keyboard was to same working tech from being dumped and destroyed and to have a random spare in case I needed a USB keyboard because I only had spare PS/2 and one very cheap and bad 2.4 GHz USB keyboard (if not 800 MHz). But there's something special about it. It's a BLANK keyboard, which seems to be a brand solely marketing keyboards without any markings or labeling on any key. I had heard of them before and thought it's an interesting idea. But I wouldn't have chosen to buy one. At some point I needed a USB keyboard and tried the blank one for a while. Since then I use this keyboard for my desktop PC intentionally, not because I don't have another one. I thought I'd write down my experience in getting used to it and what it did to my typing.

It appears a bit surprising to me now but at my first experience with the Blank keyboard was what I expected at the time. I was using it at an opened laptop with a broken keyboard. And I was very glad to have a labeled reference in front of me. Typing a word or two took ten or twenty times as long because I didn't know what most of the keys were. Well, some are obvious (Return, Escape, Space, etc.). I must have cought a particularly patient time in my life. Because I kept trying to hit the right keys when typing. I also didn't really type long texts on that machine at that time. So it wasn't too much of a dive into label-less typing. There must have been enough moments where I hit the right key first try to motivate me to keep trying and maybe learn to type blindly. When the laptop keyboard had dried sufficiently I was very glad about being able to switch back again. Such a relief. But I chose to go back to the blank one for a while every now and then. There were so many times where I started to type one or half a key to the left or to the right, so I started to produce gibberish, deleted the last few characters, adjusted my hand's alignment a few millimeters and try again. Sometimes (actually still pretty often) it took five or more attempts to hit the right keys. That was how I typed for a long time. When I wanted to type "Foo Bar Baz" I typed something like "Gpp<<<Doo<<<Foo Nar<<ar<<<Nae<<<Nar<<<Bae<<ar Bau<u<u<u<t<t<z", sometimes much longer. That was the period where I was surprised to bring up enough patience to continue. There was pretty much no progress for months.

I'll leave it at that one example. But it was a long time during which I accepted that I often had to type things three or four times. I eventually stopped because I hardly noticed any progress. But when I again needed a USB keyboard and the blank one was the nearest one, I gave it another try. And I was glad about how quickly I got back into it. Now I did notice progress after a few weeks. Maybe the fact that I was off and on that keyboard every other day played a roll in that. That was a couple of months ago. And I am happy to be able to say that I am typing blindly now. Still not without errors. I probably hit a wrong key about a dozon times in this paragraph already. But it's bearable. And I'm not sure how many such mistakes I made before on a labeled keyboard because I never payed that much attention to that. Typing blindly always was something that I always thought of a very nice skill to have but one infinitely far away. Now I look once at the keyboard before I start typing and that's enough. Maybe I wouldn't need to do that on a keyboard with very clear J and F markings. But I doubt it. When I look at the keyboard before starting to type I look for the first key that I want to press, not F or J.

Now that I got that far I will probably continue to get better at hitting the right key at first try more often. Because I noticed that I stopped lookign at other keyboards as well, even with nice large labels or glowing keys. That should give me the necessary training over the next couple of years. Although right now I don't feel like I'm making any progress again.

HelenOS

Entry created on 2024-11-23 author:steeph (338) cat:#100DaysToOffload (40) cat:Computer (75) cat:Operating Systems (21) cat:Software (50) lang:en (186)

This entry is referencing the entry 'Alternative Operating Systems'.

HelenOS

One of those operating systems that is used for operating system research here and there. I think that's also what it was made for. The last releast was earlier this year, which makes it seem one of the more actively developed research OSs. With the release there are also prebuilt ISO for a variety of platforms including the usual, Raspberry Pi, other ARM platforms and older PCs.

There are similarities to UNIX-like systems but it is clearly not a POSIX system. Basic utilities are included as well as some basic console and graphical applications and demos. I didn't look for any additional software, yet. I'm not sure if I will use this os much more. But by booting flawlessly without any changes and effort, this is one of the more usable OSs I've tried. So I might. It has network capabilities, a basic GUI and TUI, window manager and its own shell.

The GUI is optional. Most applications run in the console mode as well, which is a TUI that mimics the GUI with its start menu. Which is good to have because the GUI is really slow to the point that the mouse pointer is lagging behind.

On my desktop PC neither a PS/2 nor a USB mouse worked. But the touchpad in my old latitude worked fine, including the second set of mouse buttons that work in almost no OS. Graphics mode worked with the appropriate resolutions automatically. Above that I haven't tested any hardware.

There are screenshots in the official wiki.

Trains

Entry created on 2024-11-16 author:steeph (338) cat:#100DaysToOffload (40) cat:Memes (3) cat:Trains (1)

I have two things to say about trains.

1) The meme of the asdf guy liking trains died too young. It kind of died instantly when no new asdf videos containing the joke got published. So, in a way it never was a living meme. I don't yet accept the fact that people don't know what I'm referring to when I make a reference to the asdf video series whenever somebody publicly announces that they like trains. I will continue to make such references and will probably never again meet somebody who remembers and likes the series.

2) Trains work very reliably in Germany. It's often said that people in Germany like to claim that trains are never punctual and really unreliable in general. It's true that that is a very common thing to hear in Germany. And there are good reasons for that. Many things have gotten worse and look like they're continuing to get worse. In my area it has become a common problem that there is not enough staff to run the system. Regional trains are sometimes substituted for days or weeks with buses driven by people from other countries, usually located in the east to Germany. Sometimes train people get sick and no bus substitution is available at short notice. I had planned a one-day vacation for today. But when I got to the train station a display and clear voice told me that the train will not come. I checked online and learned that no trains will come until the evening. That way disappointing and it would have been very unusual 30 years ago. But if it had happened 30 years ago, I would have waited at least a bit over an hour for the next train, likeky two hours, before going back home. I wouldn't have known that trains will also not come tomorrow until the afternoon. It would have been more frustrating. It is a sign of a change in sentiment that an occurance like this has become an accpeted possibility. (Well, what could you do if you wouldn't accept it?) But I believe the right perspective to take here is that things really are very reliable and more than okay. Given the history of Deutsche Bahn to not invest in necessary infrastructure and saving personell more and more in many places since its privatisation, we should expect things to get worse and worse. (And I do think it is a valid question to ask why the state spends so much money on roads and car subsidies but almost none on rails and trains.) Even if my experience from today would be an everyday one, if every other week there would be a day or two with no trains and you wouldn't know which days, it's still fine. I still get to ride the train either direction almost any day and for a few Euros I get to any of dozens of towns and cities. You could also argue that it is embarrassing that such a rich country as Germany can't make its public transport run reliably every day. But I think we're past that. I already have to walk 45 minutes to the next train station becasue there is no regular bus anymore. In the town I was going to visit I would have walked over an hour to one of my destinations because there are only two buses a day. I would have had to wait over an hour in one transfer because some trains are only scheduled every other hour. All the other connections only run one per hour during most of the day, not at all in the morning and after 8 pm. We've accepted this. We'll accept so much worse. It's great that I get to travel by train so flexibly at all.