PalmOS

First time I learnt to write program on non-pc machine was on the last year of my bachelor degree, using palm sdk. Nothing special except the input output that must be done through strange GUI interface. I used emulator that claimed to be exact emulation of the real hardware. In old Linux distribution this emulator known as pose, but it no longer exists on new distribution.

Now I have the real Palm gadget, with PalmOS v3.5.2. There are some resources that show how to install linux on it, but I don't want to dismiss the graffiti, though unnatural it is just so cool.
I think I should write a fun stuff on this platform again. The problem is the dead link of the development tools. From this exploration, I learn a notion of cross compiler. Really interesting.

I think I wrote a lot after having this cool historical gadget.

Good Bye Lenny, I've got squeeze

last updated: 1,2 May 2011

Hopefully Squeeze will solve problems on my lenny, yes indeed.
Installation was done smoothly. Faster booting and shutdown. At first there are still problem with brightness and touchscreen to work together, but lenny trick on manipulating grub loader works perfectly, and anything else just perfect. Even sleep and hibernation features that were unsolved in lenny, now work flawlessly.
Now my laptop is just like an expensive laptop should be.

1. Warning: probably terrible bug on my BIOS. The touchscreen does not work unless it is in working state in windows. Weird no?
   
   My computer arrived with windows XP professional installed. I don't want to remove it because I want to be able to play some oldskool game during my happy university life. Once I boot my windows sometimes the touchscreen doesn't work. Then I have to reboot it and by chance it work. Before I boot my linux, I have to make sure that the touch screen is working state in windows.
   
   Rumour says that there are bugs in Windows Vista related to the BIOS, then the BIOS manufacturer accommodate this bug and change the correct implementation of the BIOS into something wrong.
   Yup it is definitely an ill fate design.
   

   Update: I was wrong. It was caused by additional input device that shift the device numbering N on /dev/input/eventN. However the BIOS rumour is not wrong.

New PDAs

Last week I bought a Palm m105, and today I bough another one, a Handspring visor which was released earlier. They have the same operating system, PalmOS v3.x though different minor version.

I prefer visor appearance that looks modern, like today high-end pda-phone. But both hardware is almost the same, Motorola dragonball 16MHz, infra red and stylus. However I feel m105 has better response, maybe the newer version OS is faster. The power is provided by 2 AAA batteries that are easily found. Though apparently consume more power, visor can preserve its state, when the batteries are removed for short time, unlike m105 that will lose its state once it lose the power.

The m105 was completely new, came with all inside the package box, except the box itself. Meanwhile the visor came with nothing, so I can only use the IrDA connection to communicate with computer.

Paragraphs above are written on Handspring visor which has larger screen, but there is something missing there, note pad, that gives possibility to draw scratches. However I tried to install a third party drawing software. It worked, but I haven't figured out how to transfer the artwork to a pc.

The connection scheme is visor-m105-pc. The m105 uses serial port, so I have to provide usb to serial converter for my laptop which doesn't have serial port. Fortunately my friend gave me one, great! It cost more expensive than the PDAs both. I also eye an apparently usb infrared extension in the 2nd hand shop, it's cheap, but my mean mind still reluctantly agree.

classical music

Recent years my interest on this genre grows drastically. From listening, buying the record and even watching the live concert. A pity that I cannot play any piece of them. In fact I cannot play any musical instrument. Maybe someday learning violin would be very sexy. Just the way I thought when I used to see young people with cool musical instruments around Claudio Monteverdi conservatory.

In my opinion, maybe the easiest pieces to enjoy are Canon of Pachelbel and Air of Bach. Once you listen to them you will fall in love. However this time I'd like to share a peaceful composition of Brahms, under direction of Karajan.

ins dtx and sty

Often when we need an extra package on latex we get a zip file contains *.ins and *.dtx. I just learn today that those files will create the *.sty and the documentation.
First run latex on the *.ins (mainly for creating the *.sty) and then run *.dtx several times (mainly for creating the documentation).
More explanation is here.

Graffiti

Graffiti(1) is an old handwriting input method from Palm. Very fast and accurate, though unnatural. Probably this is the best input method for handwriting, at least a newly released version for Android has just been released.

It maybe a very nice example of an awful impact of a patent infringement. The lost of Palm over Xerox in this case forced Palm to ship its gadget without Graffiti, instead they are shipped with Graffiti2 which is less intuitive. It caused outcry to Palm fans, who have been well trained with Graffiti. Furthermore it might be the cause of the plummet of its market.

second hand market

Nice thing I found in europe is good quality goods in very cheap price. Yes it's not new but it is really ok if you have taste of quality and hi-story. This place is not merely for buying and selling, but it's also a meeting point for hobbyist and collectors.

Second hand market is such a museum, but you can buy what you like. By curiosity I almost always visit this market every week, and everytime I go there I can always find something new. It's not always the case that I bought something because I need it, often merely because of curiosity, incredibly nice price or hi-story. Nice price is the most important here, though it leads to consumerism, but I've been euro wise, so I think it is time to be cent foolish now :D.

Recently I found that there are second hand shops as well. They offer better and somewhat cheaper produtc than the market. Best thing of shop is you don't have to bargain. However in market there are many human interest sides that may enrich our life,

Ebay or any online shopping site become uninteresting, though sometimes I use them for price reference.

Written on 10 years old Palm m105, you can guess from where I got it.

mutt

It's not about the mail client!

It was a long struggle to compose a non computing stuff dan end up in a month without posting anything.

Though I had lived in this country in 2008, but I felt in that time the homeless phenomenon was not as apparent as today. I think the economic downfall is the culprit. The economic crisis has triggered social crisis. Today homeless can be easily found in any corner of the city. Fortunately unlike other countries in this continent, this country is pretty warm. Criminal cases and homicides soar in daily news, unlike two years ago when the death of a child became a national issue for months.

Actually the first time I had awareness on this matter was when I visited Verona. We walked around Piazza Erbe, then spotted a nice looking antique building nearby and went there. I saw several homeless there. I wanted to take some pictures, but I just didn't dare to. Suddenly a man shouted and point out to the homeless sleeping there, "This is a living monument of Italy". [He was shouting quite loud so the sound awoke the mutts.]

I thought this only occurs in the poor Italia regions, but in the richest part, this phenomenon occurs as well. I realized it in several last months I lived in Italia. Every time I went home from Trento by train and passed by the small park in front of the station, I saw a group of homeless gathering nearby a car which served meals for them.

Even though the GDP of this country is higher than Italia, actually it is more prone to trouble for it has no strong economic foundation. Economic growth was merely bubble made by construction industries, and now this bubble explodes. It merely has very few strong manufacturing sector as economic support, even though the agricultural is very good for the nice geographical position. Apparently the very long military dictatorship was the culprit of the flaws of economic foundation.

The explosion of the bubble triggered other supporting sector to collaps. The trickle down effect is enormous. Slow but sure the ecomomic contracted, it triggered layoffs, non-performing loan, the plummet of purchasing power, and one of the result of their chained reaction is forcing the people to live on the street.

Everybody in this country is actually covered by social security plan. But the amount which they are received does not guarantee for living properly. It depends on the calculation of how long they actually have ever worked. Even entrepeneurs also get this coverage. They have to report their income and pay monthly social security installments. Sometimes you might notice a small business that apparently unable to cover the daily living cost. Some people suspect that actually they eye for the social security benefit in their retirement age.

Generally the social security benefit will be given after certain year of retiremement age. Therefore until someone reach that year, they cannot get the coverage. It is a pity when somebody have no job but haven't reach the retirement age. There are chances where they'll wait the arrival of this retirement age by being homeless. Recent newspaper draws 4.231.003 people being jobless, it is roughly 10 percent of population. However there is a more scarier figure with regard to the number of jobless among young people. Hopefully the situation will be better soon, so it doesn't bring more people to live on the street in the future.