The Vent and Rant Thread

[Martinoptic]

Glad things are improving. Wishing you continuing luck and best wishes.

[BelleZora]

I'm so happy that things are looking up for you, Peter.

[Katsunami]

It seems half of humanity is dumb.

I'm looking into a silicone case for my Apple pencil. I use it to annotate sheet music and the pencil is too thin and slippery. (I'm used to a fairly fat fountain pen. I also can't write properly with a ballpoint because they're too thin.)

I found one I like the looks of, but the reviews are mixed. Many people state that the pencil doesn't charge when the case is installed. However, many others state that it works fine. Some state that the case has to be aligned correctly for the pencil to charge correctly. The manufacturer says this:

Instruction

It clearly states how to align the case and pencil. It also states that charging may be difficult, depending on the case you're using with the iPad. (I have a TPU case around the back in case it inadvertently drops.)

First: I fully expect the pencil to work and charge if aligned correctly in the case and when the iPad has no case. Second, I also take into account that it still may not work when BOTH the iPad and the pencil are in their respective cases; then I'll have to return the pencil case.

There many negative reviews, but also many positive. It's not possible for a product to both work and not work correctly, so I'm assuming that a lot of people are too dumb to read the instructions and take the "charging may be difficult" warning into account.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

There many negative reviews, but also many positive. It's not possible for a product to both work and not work correctly, so I'm assuming that a lot of people are too dumb to read the instructions and take the "charging may be difficult" warning into account.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Attachment 194329

LOL. That.

Somewhat OT: You can skip this if you're not interested why I need a particular tablet and/or tablet stand.

===

Well, I should be receiving the pencil sleeve today.

I should also receive a tablet stand next wednesday which needs to be able to serve one very particular niche goal. (I need to be able to position it on the fallboard of a piano, with the back "leg" as a strut set against the actual music desk.) If it can do this and the pencil sleeve + tablet TPU back case don't work together, I'll just replace the TPU case with a book cover, which only snaps around the corners and leaves free the side of the tablet where the pencil should connect for charging. (This also gives me a stand capability when actually writing on the tablet when it lies down on the table, when I'm annotating sheet music.)

Currently, the TPU case is used to protect both the piano and tablet from scratches, and the back "strut" is a thick piece of cardboard duct-taped as a hinge against the TPU case. It works, but it's not really... premium... to say the least.

The ordered stand obviously has its own silicone anti-slip strip and feet.

It is, actually, quite difficult to find a stand with an adjustable angle in the form of an inverted V that is also big enough to support an iPad Pro 12.9 inch. Most stands are a base plate, pole, and a slanted "desk" part which in this use-case doesn't work.

Why not just use paper you say?

1. I need something bigger than A4. Sheet music, in the end, takes up a massive amount of space. (Been there, done that... I gave everything away when I switched from church organ to piano.) The needed size is either A3 (way too huge) or landscape A4 (needs double the amount of pages). An iPad 12.9 inch is ALMOST as big as an A4, and in landscape, is the perfect size. (Even though 13.3 inch or 14.1 would be better.)

2. In addition to being larger, I need the music to be closer. The music desk on the piano is too far away (almost 20cm / 8 inches back), and slanted too much. (The sheet music "leans backwards" too much, putting the top of an A4 even further away.) This is too far, which I cannot compensate with different glasses. Even though the music could be sharp, it would be too small, even at A3 / A4-landscape size.

3. If I would be using A4 landscape music, I'd be turning pages like crazy. A tablet can be turned with a foot pedal or a tab.

In the past I did use A3 pages, but that only worked because a church organ often has a massive music desk and (after enough practice) I could play pieces by memory. I'll be playing from memory on the piano eventually, but having sheet music I can actually read comfortably speeds up the learning process significantly.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

It seems half of humanity is dumb.

Yeah, it's like half of them are below average. ;-)


But even if I feel optimistic and say that 90% of people have some brains and sense, that still means that one out every ten people you encounter will be an idiot. That makes even 10% stand out in sharp relief.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by ApK

Yeah, it's like half of them are below average. ;-)


But even if I feel optimistic and say that 90% of people have some brains and sense, that still means that one out every ten people you encounter will be an idiot. That makes even 10% stand out in sharp relief.

True enough. Sometimes thinking about that actually frightens me.

I've received the mentioned Apple Pencil case. You can get this in different colors:



I didn't go for the black or grey one (which I would normally have done) because I wanted a color that would actually stand out on the black piano or on my mostly dark green and dark red table cloths.

It is completely as expected:

1. It fits down to a T: perfectly from just behind the tip to the end.
2. It is now as fat as my Sailor fountain pen.
3. Because it is hexagonal, it actually FEELS like my girlfriend's Lamy with its triangular-shaped grip.
4. Gripping and controlling it is MUCH easier now.
5. It writes like a fountain pen with polished tip on extremely slick paper. I don't feel the need for a coarse "paper-like" screen protector; I can handle a fountain pen, even on glossy paper, so the Apple Pencil writing directly on the iPad is not an issue for me.
6. Double-tap through the slit works perfectly.

And now the million dollar question: will it charge? Also as expected:

7. IF YOU ALIGN THE SLEEVE CORRECTLY AS SAID IN THE INSTRUCTIONS, the pencil will attach to the iPad perfectly and it will charge without issue.
8. If you have another case on the iPad that covers the charging position (as I do, with a TPU back case), it will still attach, but it WON'T charge, which is also completely expected, as there are now TWO cases between the pencil and the iPad.

So all the one-star reviews that state that it won't charge with the sleeve on are written by dumb people. They either aligned the sleeve the wrong way -- it is hexagonal, with 6 sides, with only 1 correct alignment, so if you just put the pencil in without looking, your chance is 5/6 or 83.3% that it doesn't work --, or they are trying to charge it through two cases at the same time.

BOTH are mentioned in the instructions to look out for.

The positive points outweigh the negatives. So I either:

1. If the stand that comes in at Wednesday works on the piano, I'll just replace the case with a book-type cover, which snaps around the corners and leaves the charging side of the pencil free.
2. If the stand does NOT work I'll return it and just flip the TPU cover off that side of the iPad for charging for now. Then I'll go and look for a different stand.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

5. It writes like a fountain pen with polished tip on extremely slick paper. I don't feel the need for a coarse "paper-like" screen protector; I can handle a fountain pen, even on glossy paper, so the Apple Pencil writing directly on the iPad is not an issue for me.

Can you program it to make that satisfying scritch-scritch quill on parchment sound?

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by ApK

Can you program it to make that satisfying scritch-scritch quill on parchment sound?

Eh... if an app can make that sound when writing, then you could... but the iPad / Pencil doesn't do that on its own. You could put a matte screen protector with some structure on the iPad (such as from PaperLike) and then it will, to some extent, scratch.

It will also wear down your nib massively fast, and they cost like €20 for 4 even though they're just a piece of plastic. (But if that plastic is not EXACTLY RIGHT down to the 0.1 millimeter then pencil won't write correctly; as in: the line appears where your tip isn't, and that sort of fun stuff.)

[ownedbycats]

Doing an online survey for book money. They put the demographic questions at the very end. "Oh no..."

As expected, I got kicked out, unpaid, because I didn't fit the demographics they supposedly wanted. But I bet they kept my answers.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Doing an online survey for book money. They put the demographic questions at the very end. "Oh no..."

As expected, I got kicked out, unpaid, because I didn't fit the demographics they supposedly wanted. But I bet they kept my answers.

That's deceitful. if you run into that again, lie and give the demographic answers you know they want ...

[ownedbycats]

Except I have zero idea what kind of demographics they're looking for. Shady to put them at the end.

[PeterT]

Well I'm back from another followup. Pleased to say I can stop all the eye drops except for the steroid, and that can be reduced in frequency to 3 times a day this week. 2 times a day next week and once a day the third week.

No need to keep the head down or sleep face down

Next appointment July 7th

Still can't distinguish details but can at least count fingers which no longer need to be close to the face!

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Well I'm back from another followup. Pleased to say I can stop all the eye drops except for the steroid, and that can be reduced in frequency to 3 times a day this week. 2 times a day next week and once a day the third week.

No need to keep the head down or sleep face down

Next appointment July 7th

Still can't distinguish details but can at least count fingers which no longer need to be close to the face!

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

Wait, did you say you had to sleep face down?

What happens to folks who can't sleep on their stomachs?

Hitch

[PeterT]

After retina surgery and the placement of a gas bubble in the eye to press on the retina you're given no choice! The bubble needs to stay in place.

There are some custom chairs available for one to sit / rest in that might help. See https://images.app.goo.gl/CS3fTHAz1e7zgHSS8 for an image.

I didn't get one and frankly it's been h*** trying to sleep. I tried an inflatable pillow with a hole for the face to rest in but it was not restful at all.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk