Inkineer

Inking with Windows Live Writer

2006-08-14T07:57:00Z

I'm testing out Microsoft's latest blog tool: Windows Live Writer, which is a WYSIWYG Windows editor that enables you to post to blogs like this one, of Live Spaces, MovableType, and so on.

I was able to post ink with Live Writer on a MovableType blog, but it doesn't seem to work here either. Hmmm. I bet it's a problem with the image settings in Community Server.

Update: Image settings could be part of the problem, however, it doesn't look like Live Writer knows how to upload images automatically after all. Instead, it just points to a file on your local drive, which means the image isn't going to be public to anyone on the Internet.

Ink not working again

2006-07-27T16:49:00Z

I can't post in ink anymore on TabletPCBlogs :-(

The WhiteBoard tab appears in the editor, however, the ink control and ink toolbar are not appearing.

Happy Birthday Warner!

2006-07-18T17:30:00Z

Microsoft launches Robotics group

2006-06-20T20:35:00Z

http://msdn.microsoft.com/robotics/

My other blog down for a nine-count

2006-06-05T15:34:00Z

My blog at http://journals.tuxreports.com/lch is having problems this morning. I have to wait for Layne to get home from work tonight to see if we can fix it up.

It looks like the database connection is having a problem. I can't post nor is it possible to submit a comment.

Over the last couple months the MovableType blog has been suffering from the stress of all the blog spam. I've been meaning to fix up a couple other things that have become broken on the blog. Now's the time to do some serious clean up.

A sample inked signature

2006-05-02T16:23:00Z

I'm experimenting here with an inked "signature" to place at the end of my blog posts or emails.

Working on the car with my Dad

2006-04-29T20:15:00Z

Posting in ink with .NET 2.0

2006-04-28T00:02:00Z

After reading this thread on Channel9 that suggets that ink crashes IE when running .Net 2.0, I created this post to show that posting on TabletPCBlogs works OK with .Net 2.0--at least on my system.

I tried a similar test on Channel9, however, like the commenter states, IE crashed when trying to bring up the ink control within IE. I'm wondering if there is an issue with how Channel9 hosts the ink webform.

Running the Tablet PC OS on an iMac

2006-04-09T05:03:00Z

Yep, this post is being written on an iMac.

I successfully installed the Tablet PC OS this morning using Apple's Boot Camp and the Tablet PC OS from my MSDN subscription. I'm using a Wacom Graphire3 Tablet for the digitizer.

For the most part the Tablet OS is running as expected, although as you can tell from the drawing above that I created on the iMac, I am running into some issues. For instance, the ink is not being smoothed out as it is being drawn. Normally ink on a Tablet PC is much smoother than this. I think this is a driver issue. Similarly, the Tablet Input Panel (TIP) does not appear when hovering over editable fields. I can bring up the TIP using the TIP button in the task bar, however, and the handwriting recognition appears to be working just fine. I'm guessing I don't have everything installed correctly and that's why the TIP isn't appearing on hover.

How did I install the Tablet OS on an iMac?

Actually, the installation process is very similar to that described in the Boot Camp documentation. There are two exceptions, however. For instance, I used a Tablet PC OS Windows XP disc and not the standard Windows XP CD. Apple indicates that Boot Camp does not support this permutation of the OS--if I understand correctly, it's because the Tablet OS comes on two discs and at install time there is no way to eject a CD and swap to disc two. This problem can be avoided, however, by creating a DVD image that contains all the necessary files (all the files from the Tablet OS disc one and two). I used Nero to burn a bootable DVD from the Tablet PC OS files included in my MSDN subscription. Then when Boot Camp reaches the step where I need to insert a Windows XP install disc in the "CD" drive, I use the DVD instead.

To ensure that the OS installs the Tablet features I plugged in a Wacom digitzing Tablet during the install process. I'd read about some systems hanging if any devices outside of a USB keyboard and mouse were connected to the Mac at the time of Windows installation, but I didn't run into any problems. Just to be careful, I plugged in the USB digitizer after I saw that the standard device drivers were installed.

Other than this change, the installation proceeded just like others have talked about and went surprisingly smoothly.

Until I clean up the driver and TIP issues I'll hold off on any comparisons to Apple's InkWell technology, but already I can see some pretty major differences--even with the Tablet ink not working up to its normal level.

Update: Silly me. To fix the problems I was having with the pen and the TIP I simply needed to install the Wacom Tablet PC driver. Now the ink is smooth and the TIP pops up as expected when the cursor hovers over an edit field.

Update #2: In a related story: Barb Bowman describes here how she installed Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) on a Mac.

The Tablet PC OS Welcome screen running on an iMac

Handwriting a message in Microsoft Journal

Trying out Tablet PC apps on an iMac. Clockwise starting from the top left: ArtRage, Microsoft Flash Cards, Microsoft Equation Editor, and Agilix GoBinder Lite

Where are those recovery discs?

2006-04-03T21:59:00Z

Internet Marketing in the Blogging Age

2006-02-27T19:34:00Z

This cartoon is in honor of all the news about pending announcements from Apple and Microsoft.

My Toshiba pen broke

2006-01-25T15:24:00Z

Hey, Illuminator, my Toshiba M200 pen broke the other day too--although mine didn't break in half like yours. My pen still works; the pen clip simply broke off. Over the last couple years I've seen others with broken pens like this and wondered to myself how they could break their pens. Now I know: It doesn't take much. I was simply snapping free the pen from the Toshiba dock and when the pen popped out the clip was broken. Oh well. I have a nice Wacom pen to use instead. I am beginning to wonder if the Toshiba M200 is going to make it until the launch of the new Core Duo Toshiba Tablet. My hard drive started failing so I just bought a replacement, the markings on some of the keys is rubbing off, and the pen clip just snapped. :-) Yeah, this doesn't sound so hot, however, I've been using the Tablet maybe on average 8 hours (many much, much more) every day for the last three years and the M200 is beginning to show its age. It still works fine and is a wonderful Tablet, but it's time for a new model. I can't wait.

Happy New Year's fireworks

2006-01-01T21:16:00Z

After midnight I went outside to watch the fireworks.

Robb's maze

2005-12-30T21:39:00Z

Robb is visiting from out of town and trying out ink on the Tablet PC.

Essential Christmas shopping equipment

2005-12-22T03:24:00Z