I Recd My Netwalker Pc-t1 (tablet) Today

[dougeeebear]

UPS delivered my NetWalker PC-T1 (tablet) today.
I ordered it Sunday from PriceJapan, and got it Wednesday.
That's better service than I get from some domestic orders I have placed.
I have mixed feelings about it, but I wanted to try something different, and this is surely a challenge getting used to.
Back to it for a bit...

[RX Shorty]

And do you still like it?!
Very neat device I guess?

[dougeeebear]

I'm hot and cold about it.
It's really s-l-o-w and I miss the physical keyboard (the on-screen keyboard leaves a lot to be desired).
And the wireless is very weak, I get 62% on my router standing right next to it.
My laptop will show 6 or 7 wireless networks, but the T1 will only show my network, and sometimes one other.
I should have heeded the info in this review
http://www.pocketables.net/2010/06/review-...alker-pct1.html
but I just had to have it.

[ptoki]

Strange.
I have pentagram cerberus wifi AP and it is throttled to minimum (about 10mW). Normally netwalker gets 100% signal through 2-3 thick stone walls (walls - 40cm total distance - about 7meters).
Problem with keyboard absence is obvious. I will probably never buy a tablet (standard oldfashioned styllistic, compaq t1000 or modern one ipad, galaxy tab) because of lack of keyboard.

I can agree with slowness of netwalker ubuntu.
But in this field is a bit to tweak.
-close all unneded gizmos (system monitors, sendmails, httpds, ftpds, smbd)
-get rid of pulseaudio.
-remove most of panel plugins
-create a bit of swap, not much 256-512meg is enough. This will allow to move unused stuff (mostly used only during startup and shutdown  )to card and leave more place for buffers.
-do not open too much tabs in firefox.
-close unneeded applications
-get iqnotes and tomboy notes
-change default terminal to something lighter.
-use mpd and ncmpc for playing music.
-install some lightweight browsers (midori, epiphany or other) and use them.
-use xbindkeys (see my post about zaurus configuration for that), or built in gnome -something to command your device by single keys.

I am not suggesting change of default WM. Others have a lot smaller usability for "palmish" device. And tho make them as functional as default is quite workeater.

[RX Shorty]

The slow part can be fixed by installing lxde

[dougeeebear]

Thanks for all those tips, ptoki.

[dougeeebear]

The slow part can be fixed by installing lxde

Very true, but then I don't know if the ubuntu netbook launcher would work (I really like that).

[RX Shorty]

That won't run indeed, maybe XFCE is a option?

[ptoki]

That won't run indeed, maybe XFCE is a option?

That depends.
I noted that people using such devices as palms, smartphones, tablets want to have almost all of the features they use right there immediately.
So lots of widgets on desktop, plugins in trays, programs in background, launchers in panels.

When I decided to change WM I got through multiple tries.
I tried xfce - nice one but after equipping it in all those network applets, system monitors, quick notes, taskbar it became as heavy as standard lxde.
I tried WMaker. Harder to equip it with needed gizmos and took more screen to just be there. No mention about not complete menu with applications.
I tried one of minimalistic WM-s (blackbox or similar) - no gizmos but lots of work wolud be needed to have all of that functionality under keybindings.

After all I ended up with standard lxde. Two panels 16-24 pixels wide (not sure about exact size right now) one for menu, launchers, applets and one for task switcher and desktop switcher.
Im not very satisfied because this eats quite big chunk of the screen (which is not nice when using gimp or qcad/kicad) but it is acceptable.

The biggest difference is to have a bit of swap and disabling all of that crap in background (pulseaudio, sendmail, some of applets)

[RX Shorty]

True but the Netbook remix is not going to work, that is where is was aiming at I think

[dougeeebear]

Well, this thing just isn't cutting it for me.
It seems to want to crash under the slightest load.
This is really a big disappointment to me (I know, I should have heeded the reviews).
So as of this moment, I think I'm done with it.
Thanks for all the help, guys.

[RX Shorty]

Crashes?

How come?
Hmm mine PC-Z1 never crashed before?!
Maybe you should give it a try when it reaches the update round. That will be in May.

[dougeeebear]

The computer has become unresponsive a couple times and I had to do a hard shutdown.
Firefox has crashed several times, as in abruptly closing for no apparent reason.
The file manager, and other programs become unresponsive from time to time and have to be force closed.
All in all, it's not an experience I'm used to, or want to continue with.
I think I may just put it up for sale.

[ptoki]

The computer has become unresponsive a couple times and I had to do a hard shutdown.
Firefox has crashed several times, as in abruptly closing for no apparent reason.
The file manager, and other programs become unresponsive from time to time and have to be force closed.
All in all, it's not an experience I'm used to, or want to continue with.
I think I may just put it up for sale.

Dont give up yet.
First: Did you installed flash plugin for firefox? Try to disable it. It eats a lot of cpu.
Next: While device seems to froze try to switch to terminal with running top (you must open it as soon as you log in and leave it running). And check what process is eating your cpu.

Explanation:
At least in my netwalker there are some mandb, apt, and similar update processes launched by cron. And sometimes they eat a lot of cpu.
I removed them from my crondirectories or moved them to less frequent execution.

For now just find which process hogs your cpu in that problematical moments...

And try to mount some swap. even 100MB will help...

[scottlfa]

Yeah passed on the recent sharp devices, nothing so advanced as the Zaurus had been [comparative to the devices of its time].  I went with a Viliv N5.  Still have my Z.  In the process of getting linux going well on the N5