I think it's a mixed bag, and you should be proficient with both. HWR certainly is more generally helpful in portrait mode, but the stylus-board is essential for xterm work, and the finger-board is much better when entering text at a brisk walk.

(For most terminal work, though, you can get by with HWR. Unlike Vista's word-based recognizer, which is useless, and Vista's cell-based recognizer, which while it works quite well, takes way too much screen space. (Out of 1280x800, no less.))

Having a Vista-based tablet has helped show me more clearly what's right and wrong with the tablet's input methods.

Okay, I just picked up a USB keyboard and a USB gender changer, so I can answer my own (off-topic) question.

Typing with a USB keyboard is definitely snappier than with a BT keyboard. But it still lags slightly. If I typed 120 WPM, I'm sure I'd notice it. At my speed, it's fine.

USB Keyboard pros: faster, snappier response, can use on airplanes.

BT Keyboard pros: sexier, smaller, no tangle of cables


Michael

So, Vista 'did' serve her purpose, right? as an example of being 'wrong', uh?

Anyhow, I cannot help but keep on stressing that if one is NOT using the shortcuts, you are missing a bunch! I guess this is a computer thing, the shortcuts is very very forgiving, an order of magnitude more forgiving than writing a letter. Partly because the more complicated the pattern (your shortcut graph), the least choice the computer comes up to, so even if it is only remotely similar to the shortcut pattern, it comes up with the correct phrase.

In order to use all 32 shortcuts without forgetting about the patern, one has to come up with some system. Here is how I use it and is very effective.

Say, you are browsing on your pc on iTT and would like to download a link or software to your tablet.

I have a shortcut for,
"http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=".
On the tablet, I open a browser page, script my shortcut and enter the 6 digits for the thread from the PC, i will be right on the page where I want.

How do I remember all 32 shortcuts? I made all my shortcuts using the 1st two digits of the shortcut goals and use script writing to combine them into a pattern. As in the above example, I would script writing "it", as a patern. Script i or script t has been taken, but the combo is not. A couple of more examples,

Fix app manager corruption,
am: dpkg --configure -a

Flexible delay screen shot,
ds: /bin/sh -c 'stamp=`date +%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M`; i=1; while [ -f /media/mmc1/shot-$stamp-`printf %02d $i`.png ]; do i=$((i+1)); done; sleep 25; osso-screenshot-tool /media/mmc1/shot-$stamp-`printf %02d $i`.png'
Flexible in a sense, one change the sleeping time to capture the delay shots.

check battery status and output as battery.log text file on mmc1
bs: battery-status -d 30 > /media/mmc1/battery.log &

USB host
uh: echo host > /sys/devices/platform/musb_hdrc/mode

USB unhost/OTG
uu: echo otg > /sys/devices/platform/musb_hdrc/mode

iTT forums,
it: http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...wthread.php?t=

To get xmms back after minimize
xm: xmmsctrl main 0 main 1

Remember the computer only has pattern for one alphabet, you should be able to use any combo of 2 or 3 aphabets using script writing as a patern to tie to the shortcuts. The more complicate the patern, the more accurate the shortcuts come up and faster, very counter intuitive. I would have guessed, the more complicate the patern the more difficult for you to reproduce the patern, the more likely it fail. No, aint that interesting?

You got the idea.

Making 32 shortcuts is one thing, to remember all of them without having resort to a list, you need to be systematic.

To summary, as Benson put it nicely, its a mixed bag. There is a learning curve, but I thing it is very rewardable. It is almost like typing on a typrewriter, once you learned it, you have a skill that other tablet user dont have. For me? I am completely sold on HWR, both in programming, xterm, websurf and intense data-entry on gnumeric on a daily basis (I used to do it on PC with x11vnc, not any more ).


bun

I have several coworkers want to borrow my shortcuts file, and too lazy to type them in, does anyone know where is the shortcut file located? I could just BT them the file, if that works. I am interested in thread #10 storage files for tricks 2), 3) and 4). TIA,


bun

@bun sorry no i haven't hacked it yet I just remember using it on my lifedrive and finding it much quicker than using graffiti2. If you look at their website though, you will see an n800 with their keyboard. I've asked them if it is running on gvm or if it can run natively.

For the last month, I made myself using HWR and I am proud to say, I am now very comfortable with HWR. I am using HWR for everything, including working on progs. I am so comfortable with HWR that I started to shy away from progs that do not have such input venue, for e.g. KDE. I may look for a keyboard that has HWR then I may venture back into KDE-like apps. After one month of intensive boot-camp HWR training, is it faster than using OnScreenKB? Unfortunately, not yet, OSK still slightly faster. However, I now acquire one skill that average Tablet user dont, HWR. Like riding a bike, I learned and I now have it.

Today, I have to make a contact into GVM/palm, using HWR, understandly, it becomes very very slow for this 4 years palm veteran. My Nokia HWR style keeps getting in the way, despite the fact that I was still good at palm HWR even as recent as one month ago.

To connect the dots, HWR has a learning curve. Nokia or Palm cannot just build it and give it to you. The user has to take initiative/motivation to acquire it, like riding a bike. The nokia HWR is absolutely NOT inferior than palm, it is a different one and one has to unlearn palm and (re-)learn Nokia. Try to remember, for those palm users and are complaining about the Nokia HWR, did you forget those learning days when you first use palm?

I repeat one more time, HWR from the tablet is NOT inferior than palm, it is just different. I CAN say it, because I am a USER.

HWR fulltime user,

Edit: Where is the HWR boot camp? It is in your WILL. You just to tell yourself there is NO OSK, everything is HWR, you do it for a couple of week, you will start to get comfortable. AND continue doing it, you will then become, ummm....., bilingual? As one humming along, you start to build your library of shortcuts. By now, my shortcuts is over 16, anything I have to use more than a couple of time, I made a shortcut.

Edit: Whoever using HWR on a regular basis, I mean have your input method set to HWR, please identify yourself,
1) you have a skill that average tablet user dont, i.e., you are tablet bilingual
2) contrast on the HWR between Nokia and palm, in particular, is one better than the other?
TIA,




bun

Am I really the only one doing HWR on the tablets in the whole galaxy?

Would someone just stand up............pleeeeeeeeease!

bun

I use it sometimes, not always. It's possible to get it pretty much like Graffiti2 on the Palm, and it's ok. I've been using a Palm for years, so I'm used to it, but I just don't do that much input on my Nokia, so I don't use HWR that often. It works well enough, but I'm just not that excited about it, either way.

It's just too painful and embarrassing. Certainly compared to my Newtons, but even the Decuma Alphabetic on my SE P910i runs rings around Nokia's "offering".

Like sgosnell, I no longer consider the Itablet an input-friendly device. I use it to consume content (and slowly but increasingly less so, I'm afraid), not to create it.

One more shortcut; after typing a few letters, press the tab key will show some suggested word to pick from - this is from the grand master fanoush.

Thanks, big guy.

bun