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Inkscape, which is free, is a vector graphic application that produces exported PNGs at specified resolutions.
Originally I asked about the Iliad in terms of essay writing. Some of the things I am reading here seem to point to it not being useless in this regard. The "inking" delay, the slipperiness, and contact problems (e.g. dots being joined to "i"), seem things that could be put up with.
The most serious seems to be the delay of ink following the pen, but this also seems to be the easiest one to adapt to (left-handers have a similar problem), it would depend on how big the delay is, but comments here point to it not being too bad.
Slipperiness and contact joins, might be fixed by adding a transparent plastic texture mat, giving better tactile responses, even if it has to placed on screen for writing.
I find it interesting that there is a bias towards cursive writing rather than printing - a very good thing for my purposes.
The fineness of line looks very good, I could see that only technically improved, by introducing variable widths based on the attitude direction of the pen and stroke direction - i.e. like traditional fountain/dip pens, a sleight "italicisation" that improves readability.
The way I was envisaging things was an old journalist trick of writing paragraph strips (which can be rearranged and easily edited). Hence "filling the page" which would make the electronic shortcomings excessive, is not really being considered.
The last is writing speed, a very difficult judgement not reducible to simple numbers. Do people with the Iliad feel that it keeps up with them (different from ink lag), or do they have slow down for it?
The last request is if anyone could send in examples of PNG files, with some explanation of context "I wrote this with a fine nib, very fast, without worrying about neatness, or legibility" as against "Fine nib, cursive, written slow-moderate for legibility". Whether some things were easy, and others hard or frustrating.
If I have the money I will get the Iliad - no problems, I make notes (which I lose) constantly, that is for me. But when I do this depends on whether I conclude that it is likely to be viable in schools for in-class writing.
I would also like to thank contributors, this has been for me an interesting and important read.
Greg Schofield
Perth Australia
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