4 old Tablet PCs, 3 ambitious plans, and the search for the 1 right OS

For a while, I had been contemplating about experimenting with touch screens and building a low horsepower, inexpensive prototype computer that could be used without the conventional hardware keyboard and mouse interface. The idea was to have a kitchen-computer, though I could be used almost anywhere in the house, that could be used to access calendar, weather, news, multimedia, and may be emails and Internet using the touchscreen interface. I had also been flirting with the idea for some time about setting up a touchscreen computer in my car with appropriate software for multi-media, navigation, as well as controlling the a/c, the stereo system, and power windows and door locks. Another thought involved my uncles distribution business. A portable hand-held PC housing a software that could be used to collect and keep track customer orders would be very useful to him.

I started looking on eBay and found a wide array of old hand held Tablet PCs as well as old touch screen monitors. Tablet PCs that I found were more expensive than the monitors. I also found the website of a Thailand based computer manufacturer selling very inexpensive computer parts. However, the total costs of monitors and parts would add up to be around $200 per computer which was well over what I had budgeted for. I kept looking for better deals, until one day, when I got lucky.

I am not an impulsive buyer, at least not for the most part. But when I saw the eBay auction for Fujitsu Stylistic 3400, I knew I had to buy it. Couple day's later, I saw many 3500 for much cheaper. I got me three of those as well. Of course, I had a budget set for this and fortunately I did not have to go over it. I had made plans for three computers, now I had one more to spare. All Tablet PCs I bought had a dead batteries. Besides that, in order to complete them, I would need addition hardware for each of the project ideas. The kitchen computer would need a WLAN adapter. The customer order tracker would need a Wireless Data card, although a WLAN adapter would suffice for now. The car computer would need the most hardware: GPS for navigation; Wireless Data card for live traffic and weather updates; and a custom interface that would form the bridge between the Tablet PC and the car's a/c, power windows, and possibly other controls.

Choosing the OS should have been a simple enough task. However, while I did not object spending money on the hardware, I am little more than reluctant to spend money on software, specially OS. Mac OSX was not an option and Windows was out of question, however, I do have an unopened copy of MS Windows 2000 and COA for Windows 98 and two Windows 2000 that came with the Tablet PCs. Both Windows 2000 and Windows 98 were now legacy and looking for other software and tools that would be needed for the project would mean wasting a lot of time.

Linux was the natural choice for the OS. But which distribution? There are hundreds of distributions available to choose from, each with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. I needed a lean OS with graphical interface that would run on 400 and 500 MHz and 128 MB RAM. On top of that, the touch screens had to function as both mouse and keyboard when necessary. After binging for some time, I found two articles that had documented the steps for installing Ubuntu and Xubuntu on 3400 and 3500 respectively. While not lean enough for the plans that I had, it was definitely a very promising good starting point. Other distributions that meet the hardware requirements include DamnSmallLinux (DSL), PuppyLinux, and TinyCoreLinux. At the same time, I am actively seeking other distributions candidates for the Tablets.

As far as the other software is concerned, the kitchen computer would make use of software that are already existing. The software for order tracking computer would require some research, but I am open to the idea of writing the program from scratch. The car computer would possibly contain a mix of existing programs and new programs that I would have to write. Especially for the custom interface for controlling the a/c, the stereo system, and the power windows.

Of course, I had to prioritize the projects. They all require different time and effort requirements. The kitchen computer, since it would mostly make used of existing applications, seemed like a possible first project. That would make the customer order tracker the obvious second and car computer would have to be queued behind that.

In the future articles, I'll describe my experience on the OS selection, installation, and preparation process, and the status of the projects.

4 old TabletPCs, multiple Linux distros, unlimited possibilities....

So, here is a brief overview. I recently bought 4 used Fujitsu Stylistic Tablet PCs for dirt cheap price: one 3400 with 400MHz and 6GB and three 3500 with 500MHz and 20 to 40GB. They all came with 128MB RAM. 3400 is upgradable to 192MB and 3500s are upgradable to 256MB RAM. They all have 1 PCMCIA (PC Card) slot, 1 Serial port, and 1 USB port and they all have a touch screens. What they didn't have, at least not without a docking station, which I don't have, are CD/DVD drive, Floppy Drive, LAN (Ethernet) port, and PS/2 ports. The Tablet PCs also do not see USB drives during boot time, so starting up a LiveUSB OS was not possible without some effort. I wanted to get the Tablet PC experience without paying hundreds of dollars and at the same time put LINUX's hardware compatibility and put it to test in near extreme scenarios with respect to resources. I had almost bought 10 100MHz Fujitsu Teampads with 8MB RAM. I am glad I didn't do that mistake.

So far, the experience has been both rewarding as well as frustrating at times. After reading some articles, I was able to setup Xubuntu on 3400 with touch screen functioning as mouse and virtual keyboard, and working wireless. Xubuntu, while being most lightweight of all major Ubuntu derivatives, still proved to be bulky considering the hardware I was working on.

I've been experimenting with Puppy Linux and TinyCoreLinux among others to see if I can get the tablet to its full functionality similar to what I had achieved with Xubuntu on 3400 but with better processor and lighter strain on resources. Up till now, the experience has been nerve wrecking. I am not giving up on them however. Hopefully, I'll get them to that functionality sooner rather than later.

Can I have some privacy please? Seriously!

Like many grown ups, I take my privacy seriously. However, that doesn't seem to be the sentiment amongst many who are of my age group. The convenience that the social websites and free cloud based services offer over-shadows major underlying issues of personal privacy and ownership. Web based services are offering an array of free utilities, like search engines, email, collaboration tools, social content, etc., in exchange for our permission to expose us with advertisements that generate those service providers revenue. Advertisements are not a bad thing. I am not at all opposed to them. They are what enable the service providers to offer their services for free. Many will argue that it is a fair bargain. However, recently, it has become more and more evident that service provides are beginning to step out of their bounds. Google more so than the others.

Google benefits from the advertisement revenue. The amount of revenue Google can generate from advertisements is directly related to one factor: number of users. Considering that only a certain percentage of the population reacts to advertisements, there are two ways by which Google can make more money: expanding their existing user base which leads to revenue increasing by similar ratio as users; and offering targeted advertisements to its existing users, where each user now becomes more likely to interact with the ad, which means more revenue with the same user base. Google already has the biggest market share with its search engine and advertisement revenue. There is not too much room for expanding user base. Targeted advertising gets to be the winner.

I also have nothing against the concept of targeting advertisements. I'd rather share my content space with advertisements of products and services that I am interested in than those that I am not. It is how Google does it what bothers me. Every time you search using their search engine, every email correspondence you involve in, every direction you look up on Maps, every document you work on on Docs, probably even every private chat conversion you participate in on gTalk, and every phone conversation through Google Voice gets mined for information that is used to decide what advertisements are to be targeted towards you. Add Chrome Browser, and Android phones to the list too.

Its a matter of personal privacy. I do not want anyone to go through my non-public content without my permissions. By non-public content I mean my emails, interpersonal communications in any other forms, search and direction queries, notes, digital media that are not explicitly marked for public viewing, etc. I own the digital content that I generate. I have the freedom to decide how I wish to share it, whether with a selected few (like emails), or with everybody (like this blog), or with nobody (like my backups). It is a shame that there some service providers out there who are not willing to acknowledge that. Who knows who all Google has provided access to that data. It could be marketing agencies, and even government agencies.

I'd be happy to provide one hundred product categories and brands that I'd like to receive advertisements from. Ask me about the information you need from me rather than going through my closet. Its no worse than eves-dropping. That's what it is, digital/electronic eves-dropping. I'll just have to take my business elsewhere.

By the way, Google, you "do" have my permission to use the information from this post to suggest products and services to me.

First blog post from laptop

I know what you might say, but this is different.

I am using a hard client this time, instead of a web browser.

So, lets see if this work!!!

Google and Privacy....

Few days ago, Mr. CEOofGoogle, Eric Schmidt told CNBC, "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."
I like, "everyone else," take issue with that statement. But that is not what compelled me to write this post. Some comments on the news website in response to the post can be paraphrased as "its the sad truth and you can not expect privacy when you put your data on the Internet as it becomes public domain."
Well, privacy, like freedom, is a basic human right. Internet by nature does not make your data public domain. Its the scarce availability of privacy ensuring services that do it. Just because you park your car on the street, which by the way, is not a part of your property, does not make it any less yours. So when it is stolen at night, you don't say, "oh! well. It was parked on the street. It was going to happen one day or another." That is not how it works. Your data, like your car, is your property. Unless you park it close enough to a sign that says, "No Parking. Will be towed," you don't worry about your immediate rights and ownership of the car.
Many of us, until the moment Mr. Schmidt made that comment, looked up to Google for innovations that would do good to humanity. Google is a publicly traded organization that has to answer to its stakeholders. Its probably no longer profitable for Google to work for the greater interest of humanity, I suppose.
Yet, that doesn't change the fact the privacy is a basic human right.
We can not just accept what is not ought to be. If Indians (I am an India) had said, "well, we ought to be free, but what can we do? we are not," we would still be an oppressed British Colony.

"Life is Beautiful Virus" a Hoax

Many of you may have concerned friends one of whom might have received and forwarded the email to your friends, about "Life is beautiful" virus inside a Powerpoint file attached to an email.
I have one such concerned friend.
The email goes on about the threat, and about how a powerpoint attachment from an email, with subject "Life is beautiful" can damage your computer.
However, no matter how convening the email appears to be, with bigshots like AOL and Microsoft listed, its only a hoax and not a real threat. As far as I can tell, it does not even exist.
Firstly, even if it were real where is any link pointing to a news article or microsoft's or aol's website warning about it?
I found this article, Hoax alert, rather, from Trend Micro Antivirus Website which confirms that "Life is beautiful" virus is hoax and not real.
Here: http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hoaxes/hoaxDetails.asp?HName=Life+is+Beautiful+Hoax+(English)

Be cautious, however, make sure all the relevant facts have been tallied against.
Take care
Karim Lalani

Kitni Shiddat... Extended

Kitni Shiddat Se Tumhe Paane Ki Khwahish Ki Hai,
Ke Har Zarre Ne Hume Tumse Milane Ki Saazish Ki Hai....

Maange Hai Mujhse Chaand Taare, Saare Naazare,
Meri Muhabbat Ki Is Kadar Aazmaish Ki Hai....

Kyu Na Nikaal Ke Rakh De Du Tumhe Apne Ye Dil,
Tumne Pehli Baar Jo Koi Farmaish Ki Hai....

Kitni Shiddat Se Tumhe Paane Ki Khwahish Ki Hai,
Ke Har Zarre Ne Hum Tumse Milane Ki Saazish Ki Hai....