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From: Wes Groleau on 6 Nov 2009 23:22
http://www.axiotron.com

Anyone here actually have one? I'm wondering:

1. Imagine a non-technical person with only one arm.
NO experience with any kind of touch screen.
Long time occasional user of Panther but only for
web browsing and e-mail. Would she find using
the pen awkward?

2. Probably would not use Windows, but if we do,
via Parallels, Fusion, or Cross-over, will the
tablet features work?

3. If you have downloaded the QuickScript Beta,
how is it for English? If you have the ability
to judge, how is it for non-ASCII Latin1
(French/Spanish diacritics)? Chinese/Japanese?

4. Can the pen or the finger be used to drag and drop,
and other mouse actions? I assume it must, since
they take away the trackpad. Are all the multi-touch
trackpad gestures no longer available?

5. Logistics problems? Lot of complaints from users
that the company seems to be overwhelmed by orders
and not communicating.

Thanks for any "eye-witness" info.

--
Wes Groleau

"Grant me the serenity to accept those I cannot change;
the courage to change the one I can;
and the wisdom to know it's me."
-- unknown
From: Warren Oates on 7 Nov 2009 09:05
In article <hd2smh$qmd$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>,
Wes Groleau <Groleau+news(a)FreeShell.org> wrote:

> 1. Imagine a non-technical person with only one arm.
> NO experience with any kind of touch screen.
> Long time occasional user of Panther but only for
> web browsing and e-mail. Would she find using
> the pen awkward?

What? It's not built for a one-armed person, male or female. Jeezus,
imagine a bipolar colour-blind epilectic Mozlem eskimo single-mother
with herpes ...

Reminds of the nonsense in the alt.html group.
--
Suddenly he realized that he was alone
with a giant halfwit on a dark deserted street.
-- Chester Himes

From: William Clark on 7 Nov 2009 09:20
In article <hd2smh$qmd$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>,
Wes Groleau <Groleau+news(a)FreeShell.org> wrote:

> http://www.axiotron.com
>
> Anyone here actually have one? I'm wondering:
>
> 1. Imagine a non-technical person with only one arm.
> NO experience with any kind of touch screen.
> Long time occasional user of Panther but only for
> web browsing and e-mail. Would she find using
> the pen awkward?
>
> 2. Probably would not use Windows, but if we do,
> via Parallels, Fusion, or Cross-over, will the
> tablet features work?
>
> 3. If you have downloaded the QuickScript Beta,
> how is it for English? If you have the ability
> to judge, how is it for non-ASCII Latin1
> (French/Spanish diacritics)? Chinese/Japanese?
>
> 4. Can the pen or the finger be used to drag and drop,
> and other mouse actions? I assume it must, since
> they take away the trackpad. Are all the multi-touch
> trackpad gestures no longer available?
>
> 5. Logistics problems? Lot of complaints from users
> that the company seems to be overwhelmed by orders
> and not communicating.
>
> Thanks for any "eye-witness" info.

Yes, we just got one with a view to using them to deliver
PowerPoint/Keynote presentations in the classroom, and being able to use
pen annotations on the screen in real time. More of that at the end.

To answer your questions:

1. She would not have a problem operating the ModBook. Using the pen to
"type" is slow, but only needs one arm to do it. In addition, there is
handwriting recognition software built in (although it doesn't currently
function on ours) which might be better for preparing documents.

2. I think it depends what tablet features you want. I think that the
resident Axiotron Quickclicks that handles the keyboard, will always be
available, but I have not verified that.

3. IF YOU MEAN THE HANDWRITING RECOGNITION, IT IS PRETTY GOOD WHEN IT
WORKS. I THINK WE HAVE A DRIVER CONFLICT ON OUR MODBOOK, BUT IT WAS
WORKING FINE. (Sorry about the caps - finger slipped and I really don;t
want to type it over again :-))

4. Yes, there are two programmable functions on the pen, one of which is
probably fixed to invoke and remove the keyboard, but the other can be
set to whatever function you want. In addition, all the multiple
keystroke functions are available on the keyboard (Command-shift-3 for
example, to open Snapz Pro). Drag and drop works fine, using a pen tap
as the mouse click. Finally, there are a bunch of functions tied to
"gestures" of the pen in the writing recognition mode that can also be
used.

5. Very limited technical support at their web site. Also, they seem to
be well behind what the users might want in terms of drivers and
software, which brings me back to my opening comment. We wanted the
ModBooks for annotating presentations in the classroom. Now although the
MobBook tablet is just a Wacom, we cannot get the same functionality as
we do with the Wacom Grafire hooked (wirelessly) to a PowerBook. With
the Grafire we can use SmartBoard to provide tools to write over a
Powerpoint slide show, and we then record the whole presentation with
Snapx Pro and make it available to the students via a streaming server
or as a podcast. We cannot do this with the ModBook, since SmartBoard
doesn't recognise the tablet, and so won't operate with it. This means
that you are stuck with just the Powerpoint screen "pen", which is a
PITA every time you need to change a slide, or go to the next build.
This is a major disappointment to us, since we have been able to do what
we want with PC tablets and Camtasia for some time. Oh, yes, Camtasia on
the Mac doesn't do the job either.

So a pretty major disappointment for our classroom environment, but I
think much more relevant to the situation you are talking about.

Hope this helps.
From: Wes Groleau on 7 Nov 2009 12:22
Warren Oates wrote:
> Reminds of the nonsense in the alt.html group.

Yes, and since you are about as helpful, why not go there?
Good-bye.

--
Wes Groleau

Daily lessons & activities & their assessment
http://Ideas.Lang-Learn.us/barrett?itemid=1413
From: Wes Groleau on 7 Nov 2009 12:35
William Clark wrote:
> Hope this helps.

Very helpful, thanks. The closest place to
try one out is over 150 miles. I can get
a REALLY good one from Motion but it has lots
of things we would NEVER use (designed for
hospital use) and it would be Windows only.

I was an electronics technician and trainer
for several years, so I wish I could talk Axiotron
into selling me a conversion kit. :-)

Since yours didn't pan out for the intended use,
have you thought about selling it?

--
Wes Groleau

Angry disruption in class
http://Ideas.Lang-Learn.us/barrett?itemid=1455
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