Teaching, Technology, and Learning

I've updated my program to automatically enable/disable the touch scrollers on the OQO Model 02/e2. The original program was described here:
http://www.math.uaa.alaska.edu/~afkjm/techteach/?q=node/50

The program was created so a right-handed user can ink with the pen without accidentally hitting the touch scrollers with your palm.

4/24/08 UPDATE - I have posted a newer version at
http://www.math.uaa.alaska.edu/~afkjm/techteach/?q=node/53

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In the past I've complained about accidentally scrolling on my OQO 02 by hitting the touch scrollers with my palm while inking with the pen. I think I have a solution, which is a program that automatically disables the touch scrollers when the pen is detected near the screen and enabled the touch scrollers when the pen leaves the screen. I've dubbed the program the auspicious name of SCROLLMASTER.

Here is a small .NET program I made that toggles the OQO 02's display rotation from normal landscape to 180 degree landscape (upside down).

Link: OQOFlip180.zip

Just unzip and run. Each time you run it the display will toggle between default and upside-down. I put it on my desktop and double-click it to toggle the display.

I find that upside-down is a useful orientation for using the pen because:

1) The capacitive touch scrollers don't get touched accidentally

2) The connector plug is now on top instead of on the bottom. Sometimes it gets in the way on the bottom.

I thought I'd post a program I've been working on to experiment with using the OQO 02 accelerometer and touch scrollers for input. This is not a finished application by any means -- it's intended to explore alternate uses of these mechanisms for input. I'd love to hear from any of you that may have ideas on how to use these components.

It's a real kitchen-sink app so far. Here's what it does:

Bedtime

I spent part of the weekend hacking on the OQO 02. The first hack is a modification of 8r13n's bedtime application, which automatically puts a computer in standby if it detects motion but no user activity (e.g. it's in a bag or pocket moving around but not turned off). The motion is detected using the accelerometer.

The OQO 02 hack, which I consider a pre-alpha since it has undergone very limited testing, is here if you dare: BedtimeOQO-02-pre-alpha.zip.

I was at a lunch meeting the other day with another professor and a former student that we are hiring to do some software development for a research project. The conversation was going something like:

"What used to be one set of data is now split up into 7 sets, one for each size class. There's also a field for max percent and coefficients for a quadratic formula to describe..."

At this point I took out my OQO 02 and actually showed our prototype with these data fields to our programmer so he could actually see what we were talking about, instead of trying to explain it without visual references.

UPDATE 5/17/07: I installed the Vista OQO 02 drivers and re-ran the tests. The Open GL score is much higher! I don't think the 3D graphics are much faster than before, but with the new drivers the benchmark was able to complete tests that before I believe failed (not sure on this, I don't remember which ones got zeros and I didn't save the detailed info).

Here's a screenshot:

OQO 02, update Vista drivers:

---- Original post from 5/4/07 below -----

Today I found the CrystalMark benchmark that CTitanic used for these posts on his blog. In it he makes an excellent comparison to the new Intel A110 processor used in the Samsung Q1:

http://ultramobilepc-tips.blogspot.com/search/label/BenchMark

Presentations

I described using the OQO 02 connected to a projector for presentations in this previous post.

To summarize, the major issues were how to prop up the OQO so I could connect it to the projector using the dongle, setting the display to 800x600 to get a good aspect ratio on the projector, and the small font size when using it as my guide for what to say. I could use the big projection screen as my guide, but then my back would be to the class and I like to face the class when I lecture. For this reason it's handy to have a screen right in front of me. The small font size can be overcome by using a bigger font, but what about the placement of the unit?

Performance

A hot topic for debate is the performance of the VIA C7-M processor. I ran the PCMark05 benchmark and reported the results here. MeanSquare has added these results to his table that compares them to the Sony UX series. Needless to say, the OQO 02 does not do so well. On many tests it is equivalent to the OQO 01+! Overall though, it is better than the OQO 01+ and one surprising area is the texturing on the 3D fill rate which has some nice implications for games (discussed below).

I've been one of the lucky ones to receive an OQO 02 from the first batch that went out in early April. I received it on 4/5/07. I purchased the OQO 02 "Best" configuration with a 1.5 Ghz VIA processor, 60 GB HD, 1 GB of RAM, standard battery, and Windows XP Tablet PC edition. I didn't get the WWAN option since neither Sprint nor Verizon offer service where I live (Alaska), so it's just Wi-fi for me. Now that I've used the machine I feel competent to write a review of my experience so far.

Overview of the Machine