A whiney noobie's complaints

Actually, I'm thrilled beyond words, but you seriously don't want me to break into song, so I'll control myself. Biggest problem, by far, is that I accidentally killed my hyper-expensive sound card in my desktop while performing some basic EdGE setup functions, but that can't be blamed directly on the eDgE. Also I dOn'T unDErStanD theIR CApitAlizAtIon, but maybe they're all on drugs, so that's ok.

Couple of problems, queries, and so on.

(!) - external keyboard: is there a way to map some of the keys to functions that you want, specifically the PgUP and PgDown keys don't work, ditto for the del key.

(2) - dumb design decision: putting the 2 usb ports next to each other on the side, so that if you want to tent the thing and plug an external keyboard in, you can't, unless you hang the eDGE over the EDge of something, such as a gecko tank.

(3) - the zoom-annotate problem. I didn't see this exact usage mentioned in the forum; what I want to do (very important to me) is to zoom, make annotations, and then unzoom so that the annotations are very small, smaller than I can write, but still legible. Obviously this can't be done with the current setup. I thought a nice thing would be to view the annotated page on the LED side, plus the annotations would show up in color - that would be excellent, but it doesn't work because if you zoom up so that the whole page doesn't fit on the screen, then only the part that does fit becomes visible on the LED side, even if you try to export the page as a pdf (which would be 100% acceptible to me if it worked but it doesn't.).

(4) Closely related to this is a stylus problem. Trying to control the movement of the stylus very precisely, I find that the actual writing takes places about a millimeter under the tip, not right at the tip. This won't work for me. I'm considering getting a more-comforable stylus, anyway, preferably something with as pointy a tip as practical. (I'm a bit of a pen geek, normally write with dip pens at home, use those new-fangled fountain pens when away, since traveling inkwells are a pain; anyway, I'm used to pressing REALLY LIGHTLY when I write, which is partly due to occasional crapal-tunnel syndrome, so I'm not worried about scratching the screen.) My question is - is the current behavior of my stylus normal? Or do they normal make marks precisely at their tips?

Anyway, I am seriously happy with the machine. Where other people see "clunky," I see reptilian elegance. Boris's welcome basket and other helpful messages have been mega-useful.

I can comment on the stylus problem. I use a Motion pen and I also sometimes have that problem- the ink does not really coincide with the tip of the pen so that crosses for t's or dots for the i's go askew. I try calibrating the reader side (go to settings--> sound and display) which at times solves the problem but this solution is really chancy. This really does not bother me when I use the journal because the space is ample; but when I have to bunch up my notes around the margin of journal articles, then it really is a problem especially since I don't write in cursive so I have to lift the pen a lot when writing in print. Sometimes I have to erase and begin again because the letters overlap. I'm not sure if this will be addressed in the next update. But except for the time lost in erasing and rewrting my notes, this is not really a major problem--just annoying.

As for stylus, I too have that slight problem, but it seems linked to how I hold it. I haven't experimented enough to test it, but it'll due for a rough observation.

The annotate zoom issue is a problem their continuing to work on. If you're curious there are a couple older posts from around last October that talk about it.

Originally Posted by glen

As for stylus, I too have that slight problem, but it seems linked to how I hold it. .

This is my experience as well. It seems if you calibrate with the pen completely perpendicular to the screen, you must also write that way for the ink to track with the tip. I have tried calibrating while holding the pen (a motion computing type) at a comfortable angle, and that seems to help. Though there are certain pockets of the screen where the tracking goes wonkey.

I also use a Motion Computing pen with pretty good results. Actually I find that if I don't look at what I'm writing or stay ahead in my brain with the stylus hitting the screen the writing comes out rather well. Don't know if that makes sense. Agree with the USB ports and to trying to plug in external speakers while using my Motion keyboard. Can't do it.

BTW I'm also a fountain pen aficionado. I wonder if there are certain "traits" that make an Edge user?

Originally Posted by TommyZ

BTW I'm also a fountain pen aficionado. I wonder if there are certain "traits" that make an Edge user?

Apparently, many of us are fountain pen afficionados in addition to being early adopters, something of a (technological) paradox. This forum is a data miner's wet dream.

Thanks, all - the offset-writing problem was definitely because I'd done the calibration holding the pen vertically. Holding it at a more natural angle or, rather, a more natural angles (which are different at the top and the bottom of the screen) pretty much solves the problem. Is that what the "calibration" is all about? There should be a sentence or so explaning that in the set-up instructions.

Current related problem is that the tip of the style wiggles a little bit, an annoyance if you're trying what someone described here as the Buddhist-monk-writing-on-a-grain-of-rice technique. Do the other brands of stylus also have slightly wiggling tips? That last question sounds vaguely improper, somehow.

'nuther query, or maybe a feature request: It'd be nice if we could set the lcd screen timeout to be different depending on whether the thing is powered from the battery or from the wall. Is there a way to do this?

On traditional technology - it can be fun although, as I said, fountain pens are new-fangled gadgets, since I use dip pens at home. I especially like old technologies that are cheap; the dip pens cost a couple of bucks for the holders, nibs are maybe 20 for $10 (I buy NOS = New Old Stock, mostly made in the 1st half of the 20th century; modern nibs are designed for artists rather then everyday writers, and they require a lot more pressure, since people are used to ball-point pens these days), plus an ink well (easy to get gov't surplus for $15 or $20 each; the US gov't used them up through the 1950s). Plus ink.

Other old technologies I find fun - straight razors ($10-$15 at flea markets; but you have to have stones to hone them on. I use a straight razor pretty much every day). Hand-cranked coffee grinders (which help me wake up even before I've had my morning coffee). Unfortunately, had to get rid of the old car, which was a 68 Plymouth Valiant. It ran well, but the mechanic, who stockpiled parts, retired, so we thought it best to get another car before some emergency came up, so now have a new-fangled modern contraption, a 91 Honda Civic, that we bought for $10 from a friend who never got the hang of driving a manual transmission. But we live in New York, anyway, and only drive out of the city.

Originally Posted by gecko

Other old technologies I find fun

I hear you on this My parents chuckle when describe my joy at using an enameled cast iron pot for cooking rather than the latest non-stick I also like the old farm-style windows that you have to prop open with a stick rather than these new-fangled air-tight vinyl ones.

yeesh - those non-stick pans are nasty. Even if you don't overheat them (easy to do) so that they give off fumes, the coating tends to flake off after a few years so you wind up eating it. Plus they're usually rather thin aluminum pans.

I don't have an enameled cast-iron myself; too expensive. I have some regular cast iron; the elaborate mythology about their seasoning and upkeep is mostly nonsense ("this pan has been in my family for 3 generations, never been washed, and it's just now getting good), although the intial seasoning process is kind of nasty and you have to do it in the summer when you can keep the windows open. My other favorite pots are the fire-brick pots known in Japanese as "donabe" and in Korean as something I can't pronounce (google for "Korean clay pot") - these are fairly cheap and incredibly versatile, since they can go on the stove or in the oven, you can serve from them, or eat from them (the smaller sizes, unless you serve larger-size people), and then stick the leftovers in the refrigerator. They're excellent for Western caseroles and so on. They require no special seasoning or care except if you drop them they will break. But they're not that expensive to replace. Sorry for long off-topic post.

On windows - the old-fashioned kind of sliding up-and-down windows (don't know what they're called) used a counterweight hidden in the frame (easily accessible for repairs by prying up the moulding). Modern windows use a spring which is mechanically much more troublesome (a little easier to get at, but you need a special tool to adjust it, and it doesn't always work very well). I don't understand the advantage of the spring (marginally easier to install, maybe?)

I see that a few of your original questions have not been answered yet. Here's what I know:

1) External keyboards. No you can't re-map the keys, and I think that is the Android OS rather than this particular device. Far as I know, no Android device can do the DEL key function. But certain external keys mimic the device's hardware keys or have special usages that come in handy:

ESC = Back button
F4 or END = Rotate Screen
Home = Home button (goes to homescreen, press-and-hold to show currently running apps)
F1 = Menu button
F9 = Volume up OR Page Up (depends on the app you're using)
F10 = Volume down OR Page Down
{Double-tap} Shift = CapsLock
Tab = Google search
F3 = Contacts

2) Position of USB ports. This is more preference I suppose, but I simply set it up differently. I either place the eInk side face down and have the LCD at an angle, or place it eInk side up and the LCD angled as though it was a laptop and the eInk is where a keyboard should be. Only time I would think to "tent" it is if I am laying on my left side on a bed and trying to read the eInk side, because it is not rotatable unless you format your PDF to be sideways.

Originally Posted by OncTech

2) Position of USB ports. This is more preference I suppose, but I simply set it up differently. I either place the eInk side face down and have the LCD at an angle, or place it eInk side up and the LCD angled as though it was a laptop and the eInk is where a keyboard should be. Only time I would think to "tent" it is if I am laying on my left side on a bed and trying to read the eInk side, because it is not rotatable unless you format your PDF to be sideways.

Those are the 2 ways I use my device with an external keyboard, too, so their location has never bothered me. Since the screen can support itself at any angle with one side lying flat, tenting is less of an issue for me. (You can have the bottom lying flat either out toward you or going back away from you.) The only time I've tented is actually lying in bed and tenting it on my stomach (since my stomach isn't flat, it gives a bit more stablility!) but in those cases, I haven't had any USB devices plugged in. I just haven't found the need to tent on something like a table, since it's flat anyway.

tenting is nice because you don't have to clean the floor first, assuming you have a dirty floor or a dirty whatever you put the machine on. That's if you put the screen face down. If you put the screen face up, then you have to reach all the way over the lying-down screen to reach the standing-up screen. It's this kind of little indignity that the EdGe should be helping us avoid.