Hello! New forum/Edge/Tablet User!

[sgt_pepper]

Hello, I just got a new Pocket Edge from Woot.com. My friend and I each bought one to use our freshman year in college this fall. I have read a lot out of this forum in the last three days and it has been incredibly helpful! :D I have updated to Ermine, rooted, and got the Market fully functional.

This is my first time posting on a forum ever, the community seems like a very accepting and knowledgeable place. :) I had just a few questions..

Is it possible to type with a USB keyboard on the e-ink side?

I am being notified that there is a new system update available; I read that at one time this was just a side-affect of rooting. Is this still true?

How well do the skins from decalgirl cover the red on the red pocket edge? I am looking at the composition notebook skin, but i'm afraid that some red will show and look less than awesome.

Thanks!

[Latinandgreek]

Congratulations on the PE. Enjoy, and welcome to MR!

[mokel22]

Is it possible to type with a USB keyboard on the e-ink side?

You cannot type on the e-ink side. You can read/write with the stylus, but that is about all for input purposes.

I am being notified that there is a new system update available; I read that at one time this was just a side-affect of rooting. Is this still true?

If your using Ermine, then the system update notification is a flop, so yes.

Anyways, good luck with your PEs and with college in general. I'm in my second year now myself and just recently upgraded to the 10.1" Entourage Edge so I could read/write easier on the e-ink side. It is also good for saving money on textbooks by getting the electronic ones and being able to clearly read them on the e-ink side.

[Filark]

Hi sgt_pepper! Welcome!

The decalgirl skins cover nicely but do leave an edge (no pun intended ) showing all around. I would think it would look cool having a red rim around the black and white composition skin, but if you think not you might want to get a skin with red in it. Don't forget you can make a skin from any of their artwork, which is fun!

Hope you and your friend enjoy your PEs!

[sarah11918]

Welcome to "Team Red" sgt_pepper!

I don't have a skin (at the time I bought my EE, it was a $40 upgrade to get red so it kind of feels like I shouldn't pay more to cover it up) but I do love that composition book skin. I was tempted to get it.

[obsessed2]

Originally Posted by sgt_pepper

How well do the skins from decalgirl cover the red on the red pocket edge? I am looking at the composition notebook skin, but i'm afraid that some red will show and look less than awesome.Thanks!

The skins from decal girl will leave a little red exposed on the top, bottom, and the sides (a little more on the sides) of the Edge, so it is best to find a skin which is red if you do not want that. However, red and black and white go pretty good together. If you decide to go with a skin, go with the Matte/Satin finish for $5 more. Can you say no fingerprints with normal use (sure if you grabbed the PE while eating a greasy burger of course it will leave prints). To me fingerprints are less awesome so the skin is a better alternative.

[sgt_pepper]

Thanks all! I just got my screen protector from xo skins and applied them. it's too bad about the no-typing on the e-ink side :(

A note about my friend's pocket edge:
We were updating to Ermine and it got stuck in a loop on the screen that said "Updating" after over an hour we figured it was bricked and would have to send it back. With nothing to lose, we unplugged the USB stick and reset it using the reset button. it rebooted into Ermine perfectly except that at the very beginning of the boot the LCD is upside down and then after a few seconds the screens switch and the eink side is upside down and the LCD is the right way. Could it be that updating to Ermine while in lefthanded mode caused the loop and the now confused boot up position? By the end of boot up the screens have figured it out. We are happy that we don't have to RMA this happy little device. :D

[krewskater]

Welcome to the community, I received my PE today as well from Woot, I got it for school as well. I've already installed Flash 10.1 and tested out WebAssign and WileyPlus on them (you'll probably be using them soon enough, at least if your studying engineering, math or any of the sciences) and can verify that everything (including the links to read the chapter/watch videos for each problem) works, albeit a little bit slowly. As for the USB keyboard, I have one of those cheap "roll-up" keyboards from Bed Bath and Beyond that I got for like 5 bucks and it works without any problems, although there is a power key on it and the first few times I hit it by accident I couldn't figure out why my PE would randomly shut down.

[muranternet]

On typing: Currently you can't type to eInk (bummer; that's what I wanted to do). Any USB keyboard will work, although there are some strange shortcuts. F1 is Menu, F4 and End are screen rotate, and Home is just like the Home on the bezel. I use a $10 cheapo inland keyboard with mine. I also ran into one key combination that turned it off, which was very frustrating, though I haven't managed to reproduce it.

I should point out that robot (one of the early developers who doesn't work on the eDGe anymore AFAIK) has a YouTube video of a custom mod he created where Android runs on the eInk side instead of the LCD side. This would allow you to type on eInk, but I don't know how he did it or if he has the files available.

[Gunnerp245]

Originally Posted by sgt_pepper

... very beginning of the boot the LCD is upside down and then after a few seconds the screens switch and the eink side is upside down and the LCD is the right way...

Had you switched the screen orientation to the LCD on the left, I had and got the upside down ereader screen, though it does switch to be right-side up after initialization finishes. With the orientation of LCD on the right 'no' upside ereader at boot-up.