HooRay! iPAQ Squeaking!

Aaron J Reichow reic0024 at d.umn.edu
Wed Apr 17 14:09:36 UTC 2002


On Wed, 17 Apr 2002, Russell Allen wrote:

> So far I have downloaded the TinySqueak.image and Yoshiki's WinCE VM.
> Here are some preliminary things I noticed:

> *  I haven't had any luck getting the VM to run my standard image (it
> just quits without an error message).  Is this a memory issue or
> something else?

Very likely a memory thing.  Yoshiki has said that you require (the size
of the image) + 2 MB for loading.  You can check that in the Memory
Setting Panel.

One neat thing about Yoshiki's VM is that it creates a memory-mapped file.
However, it seems that this can not be used for the loading of the image.
A solution, when modules comes around, and if you have a CF card, you
could have a bare image that is loaded up with your projects as needed.

> *  Haven't yet looked into Genie, been too happy playing around with
> full cursive recognition - just like being back in Newtonland, but
> clunkier.

I assume you're using MS Transcriber.  If you can, I recommend getting
ParaGraph's CalliGrapher.  Same core engine as Transcriber, but a lot
handier.  Luckily, you can use CalliGrapher and Transcriber (I assume,
I've not tested it) on top of Squeak, and get the real HWR with Squeak.
Some things don't work well, but I'll look into getting that eventually.
(e.g., a certain stroke in CalliGrapher brings up a correction window like
that of the Newton when you double-tap and then tap on |a|, but it seems
to rely on WinCE coping whatever is selected into some special buffer,
which Squeak obviously doesn't do.)

AFAIK, there's no Genie plugin for the WinCE VM.  Perhaps it's built-in,
but I'm guessing it's not- Genie seems to be dog-slow on my iPAQ 3150.
CharRecog, while decreipid compared to Genie, is of some use and super
fast.

> * How do I get the menus and halos from my second and third mousebutton?

I'd like to figure this out too.  Unfortunately, WinCE doesn't
automagically send Squeak a Ctrl-Tap when you tap-and-hold.  I'd like to
see if mapping the hardware buttons could do this- Squeak does intercept
them.  That is, when I hit the Calendar button when Squeak is at the
front, it displays a little box in the text view that's in focus, rather
than actually opening the Calendar app.

> * Changing the size of windows puts Squeak into some sort of weird state
> where I can't stop changing the size, and without Crt-. I end up having
> to kill the VM :(

Ah yes, I complained about this a while back.  As a temporary and slightly
less annoying fix, I've made my Sq PDA 3.0 image not allow resizing.  Sure
beats having to quit-restart whenever you accidentally hit a
yellow-dot-space.

What's odd is that this weird state only appears with 3.0 images, as far
as I can tell.  No problems in <= 2.8.

> * Is it possible to go "Full screen" under WinCE, or must I put up with
> the little bar down the bottom of the screen?

Just like you'd do on the desktop.

> * Is there any PIM software for Squeak?   The ideal software would use
> the same datastructure as the existing PDA morph, but be viewable and
> editable in 320x240
>
> * Ditto for a class browser

My Sq PDA 3.0 image does automagick extents at (-1 at -1 corner: whatever is
left), which could be some use to you.  Working on some PIM type stuff, a
more hospitable PDA>>#openAsMorph: for PDAs, and a notes app.  I've got a
class browser more suited for a PDA, at least a little.  Like the
single-class browsing, with a couple little changes. Eventually will add
some class hierarchy for selecting the class being edited.

> * We need some smaller fonts for menus, browsers etc

Try Atlanta and a 9- or 10-point Comic Sans, works quite well.

> * What do other squeakers with iPAQs use them for?

Mostly playing around, trying to develop something that is good enough to
replace WinCE for me. However, I've wanted to trying running some of my
ecology data visualizations on ye olde iPAQ just for kicks. :P

Regards,
  Aaron

  Aaron Reichow  ::  UMD ACM Pres  ::  http://www.d.umn.edu/~reic0024/
  "corporation, n: an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit
          without individual responsibility."        :: ambrose bierce






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