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Today I took Wellington, the little Windows notebook that I got for free, to a lecture at MIT. This is the first time since I depended on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lightfixer's old iBook, which I've named iBis, that I used a computer to take notes instead of using pen and paper. It went so well that I may be done with paper notebooks.
I don't recall using iBis for taking notes in public, although I had used to take notes during phone calls and had used it to write journal entries. iBis still exists and runs okay, especially since I wiped it this winter. Unfortunately its G3 processor has a real problem with Flash and even with Google Maps. It served me well when I was travelling Australia, but I suspected it wouldn't be reliable enough when I went to France.
I schlepped Shanghai across Europe. Shanghai is my giant laptop, which I had bought fromquem98 back when I was working at IBM, put in a lot more RAM and a faster hard drive. It definitely helped me plan train routes and days of activities, kept me in touch with you good people and otherwise kept me moving. It also became the majority of the weight on my back.
I took Welly with me to Montreal recently, where it gave me maps and directions without a problem. Welly has proven to be the perfect size when I'm not at home. While its screen resolution is only 1024 by 768 pixels, which is minor compared to Shanghai or my desktop environment, its lightweight body and good keyboard give me just what I need to type.
I brought Welly and an 8.5" x 5.5" paper notebook to a lecture about the good parts of JavaScript. Since nothing was riding on whether I took good notes, I would try working with Welly as long as possible and fall back if necessary.
When I got to the lecture room at MIT, I found the chairs didn't have any table surfaces. This would make it very hard to write on paper. Welly keeps decently cool when unplugged, so I got to typing. Since I type about four times as fast as I write, I had a very easy time keeping up with the speaker and taking breaks to listen more intently.
The speaker had made his notes available online, so I didn't even need to retype the screen slides. Since this building has open wifi, I downloaded the slides and saved myself even more grief.
When I take written notes, I like to use three pens: black, blue and red. This lets me set examples in blue and important differences in red to contrast with normal notes in black. Typing doesn't immediately give me this, since I 'm typing into a text editor. Realizing I was using a text editor gave me an idea: I could create a new language type and define certain characters to trigger syntax highlighting. This way I could still type only in text and get the effect of different pens by saving the file with a different filename suffix (such as .pen, perhaps). Taking notes in university classes must be a lot easier now that portable computing is practical and cheap.
I've only had Welly for a couple months. I still have to clean off residue from the previous owner's sticky tape and stickers. I also ought to remove the fingerprints off the LCD screen, but those are only visible when I haven't powered the machine. Nevertheless I see a bright future for this simple laptop, even though I'll never be able to improve the hard drive.
Right now I'm in the student lounge on the fourth floor of 32 Vassar Street, building 32 of MIT. This is the new building designed by Frank Gehry. There is a clot of tourists walking around the rooftop patio, taking pictures and marvelling at the funky shapes. It's hard not to stare at what could be a lustrous submarine with blow hole pipe and periscope, at a giant yellow cone with deck lights. I directed three of the tourists into the room where I'd just heard the lecture (G449), since it's got tapered walls and all sorts of distortion effects.
I like being in this building, even though it seems like a behemoth when I'm outisde of it. It looks from the outside like it belongs in a more majestic city. It's very practical inside: lots of light from the outside, lots of sound absorption, lots of lounge space. It was a good investment.
-end of exercise, Dante
lightfixer's old iBook, which I've named iBis, that I used a computer to take notes instead of using pen and paper. It went so well that I may be done with paper notebooks.I don't recall using iBis for taking notes in public, although I had used to take notes during phone calls and had used it to write journal entries. iBis still exists and runs okay, especially since I wiped it this winter. Unfortunately its G3 processor has a real problem with Flash and even with Google Maps. It served me well when I was travelling Australia, but I suspected it wouldn't be reliable enough when I went to France.
I schlepped Shanghai across Europe. Shanghai is my giant laptop, which I had bought from
quem98 back when I was working at IBM, put in a lot more RAM and a faster hard drive. It definitely helped me plan train routes and days of activities, kept me in touch with you good people and otherwise kept me moving. It also became the majority of the weight on my back.I took Welly with me to Montreal recently, where it gave me maps and directions without a problem. Welly has proven to be the perfect size when I'm not at home. While its screen resolution is only 1024 by 768 pixels, which is minor compared to Shanghai or my desktop environment, its lightweight body and good keyboard give me just what I need to type.
I brought Welly and an 8.5" x 5.5" paper notebook to a lecture about the good parts of JavaScript. Since nothing was riding on whether I took good notes, I would try working with Welly as long as possible and fall back if necessary.
When I got to the lecture room at MIT, I found the chairs didn't have any table surfaces. This would make it very hard to write on paper. Welly keeps decently cool when unplugged, so I got to typing. Since I type about four times as fast as I write, I had a very easy time keeping up with the speaker and taking breaks to listen more intently.
The speaker had made his notes available online, so I didn't even need to retype the screen slides. Since this building has open wifi, I downloaded the slides and saved myself even more grief.
When I take written notes, I like to use three pens: black, blue and red. This lets me set examples in blue and important differences in red to contrast with normal notes in black. Typing doesn't immediately give me this, since I 'm typing into a text editor. Realizing I was using a text editor gave me an idea: I could create a new language type and define certain characters to trigger syntax highlighting. This way I could still type only in text and get the effect of different pens by saving the file with a different filename suffix (such as .pen, perhaps). Taking notes in university classes must be a lot easier now that portable computing is practical and cheap.
I've only had Welly for a couple months. I still have to clean off residue from the previous owner's sticky tape and stickers. I also ought to remove the fingerprints off the LCD screen, but those are only visible when I haven't powered the machine. Nevertheless I see a bright future for this simple laptop, even though I'll never be able to improve the hard drive.
Right now I'm in the student lounge on the fourth floor of 32 Vassar Street, building 32 of MIT. This is the new building designed by Frank Gehry. There is a clot of tourists walking around the rooftop patio, taking pictures and marvelling at the funky shapes. It's hard not to stare at what could be a lustrous submarine with blow hole pipe and periscope, at a giant yellow cone with deck lights. I directed three of the tourists into the room where I'd just heard the lecture (G449), since it's got tapered walls and all sorts of distortion effects.
I like being in this building, even though it seems like a behemoth when I'm outisde of it. It looks from the outside like it belongs in a more majestic city. It's very practical inside: lots of light from the outside, lots of sound absorption, lots of lounge space. It was a good investment.
-end of exercise, Dante
