The Jornada Gives It A Go

This is another one of those silly tests, in this case, to see if an even
smaller device can accomplish the same. In this case, device being used is
my old Jornada 680e. There are very few modifications to this device; yes,
it could run JLime, the linux for Jornada's. But, instead, I've chosen to
stick to the regular Windows CE 2.11 install. The only modifications here
are updating the Pocket Internet Explorer with the 128 bit SSL update.
Otherwise, this machine is fairly straight up. Wireless connection is
being provided by an Enterasys RoamAbout card.
Now, I have a way to move information, at least text, from my old reliable
Jornada to the Internet. You see, you can teach old dogs new tricks.

Moving The Little Invisible 1's & 0's The Old Fashioned Way

One of the first things I wanted to try with my little netbook was to see what manner of external storage could be used. Since it has three USB ports, logic would dictate that most "thumb drives" should work. Then there is the SD Card slot. What can it handle, what are its limitations?
I set out to find them. More or less.
What I discovered was pretty interesting.
Let's run down the list -
SD Card - Check
USB "Thumb Drives" - Check
USB Floppy Drive - Check... huh?
That was a bit of a surprise to me too, but it seems logical. There were a number of Windows CE laptops over the past decade, and some of them, such as the DreamWriter, had floppy drives. Knowing Microsoft's penchant for legacy code hiding in the depths of many of their operating systems, it was a gamble I was willing to take. One of my favorite cameras is my Sony Mavica, which uses floppy disks for storage; since these two devices will do a bit of traveling together, this was kind of important.
That's not to say that I'd advocate using an external floppy drive all the time. It is quick and sure death to battery life (them little motors in that drive, you see).
So while external CD drives might require quite a bit of work, you can access your old floppy disks. As to why you might want to is your business, and as always, your mileage may vary...

Mobile Test #1

I'm here courtesy Opera Mobile. How, you may ask?
Simple - I pulled up the mobile version of Blogger by modifying the URL -
http://www.blogger.com/?m=1
And voila, I am now using the mobile version of Blogger.
It's simple, yes, but it works.
More tests soon...

A Computer Is A Computer Is A Computer Is A...

This is a computer. That has to be taken as a given; of course it is a computer, albeit a very small one. Admittedly, the keyboard takes some getting used to.

But it is a computer nonetheless.

There is a tendency, I believe, to think of things that have screens less than 12" (300mm) diagonal as gadgets. That's certainly not the case with my older computers, that was all they had at that time. The little 7" screen on this netbook puts it squarely in the gadgetary class. As I've written on my YesterData blog, many of these gadgets are the equal of computers just a few years old. In fact, this netbook is better than my beloved iBook clamshell. That should make it a computer.

But, in the eyes of many, it is still a gadget and not a computer.

I have my work cut out for me...

We Will Start Here, Now

This blog is being created on a Sylvania 7" mini-netbook, or as I prefer to call it, a nano-netbook. This was an attempt to see just how useful this little laptop can be. These are the stats, from a strictly software point of view, of the tools being used here -

Windows CE 6.0

Pocket Internet Explorer

Keep in mind, by many measures, this isn't much. Yet here I am. We'll keep going later. For now, this is a start.