Recently, Microsoft launched its much talked-about Tablet PC initiative. Unless you're lucky enough to have the money or the timing to buy a new notebook, you'll have to live with watching your peers show off their new Tablet PCs.
But did you know that you don't need to buy a Tablet PC in order to play with one? If you're a MSDN subscriber and have about $100 to spare, I'll show you how to have a near Tablet PC experience.
Beneath the hood of every Tablet PC runs the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition The Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is actually a beefed-up version of Windows XP Professional, expanded with features such as handwriting recognition and software for pen input.
Tablet PCs generally come in two types: Convertible (Figure 1) or Slate (Figure 2). The Convertible type allows you to double-up your machine to be a Tablet, as well as a Notebook.
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| Figure 1. Types of Tablet PC: Convertible integrated keyboard and clamshell design, from Acer and HP |
The Slate type comes without a keyboard, but you can also couple it with a docking station, essentially transforming it into a desktop.
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| Figure 2. Types of Tablet PC: Slate and Docking station from Fujitsu |
Granted, the new hardware is a big part of the Tablet PC appeal, but the operating system is also quite interesting. And you don't need to spend a $1,000 to play with the OS. You can convert your existing laptop into a temporary Tablet PC running the new Windows OS. First you need the following:
For this article, I used the Wacom Intuos2 graphics tablet:
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| Figure 3. The Wacom Intuos2 graphics Tablet |
Wacom supplies the pressure-sensitive pen input technology to major Tablet PCs manufacturers, including Acer, Fujitsu, Toshiba and Viewsonic.
The Intuos2 comes with an Intuos2 pen and a cordless 2D mouse. The 2D mouse requires the graphics tablet in order to work (it is not an optical mouse). So with this combination, you can say goodbye to your old mouse.
With the above items, I setup the whole Tablet PC system on an IBM ThinkPad.
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Related Reading Windows XP Unwired |
The setup process was similar to that of installing Windows XP Professional edition. It's only when you restart the machine that you will realize you are now using Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.
The Windows XP Tablet PC Edition comes with the Tablet PC Input panel, shown in Figure 4.
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| Figure 4. Tablet PC Input Panel -- Writing Pad |
The Tablet PC Input Panel has two tabs, one for you to write (Writing Pad) and one for you to tap on a keyboard.
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| Figure 5. Tablet PC Input Panel -- Keyboard |
If you are using a normal notebook or a desktop, using the keyboard in the Input Panel doesn't make much sense.
Using the Writing Pad, you can use the Intuos2 Pen and start scribbling away. A couple of comments here. First, it "writes" very much as if you're writing on paper. The response is good. It doesn't feel like writing on your PDA. As the tablet is magnetic-based, touching the tablet with your hands does not affect your writing. However, since I am not writing directly on the screen, I'm missing a big part of the fun of using a tablet PC. (But I'm still not ready to buy one.)
Another emulation oddity is the "hovering mouse". The pen acts as a mouse when you are not writing. And so when you move the pen (not touching the tablet, but hovering just about one inch above the tablet), the mouse cursor will follow your pen. Many a times I have mistakenly dragged the wrong item on my windows desktop when I tried to write on the Writing Pad.
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The strength of the Tablet PC no doubt lies in the Windows Journal. The Windows Journal is an application that acts like your notebook (in the literal sense), allowing you to scribble notes and drawings. You can also perform searches based on your handwriting, something that is truly impressive.
To be honest, I am skeptical of handwriting recognition technology. While Microsoft demos always seem perfect, I really wanted to see for myself if the technology works for me. So, with skepticism, I powered up the Windows Journal:
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| Figure 6. Launching the Windows Journal |
And so I started scribbling. As you can see, my handwriting is really terrible. With all these years of using the keyboard, I don't have much chance to use a pen for writing. And with this tablet setup, writing is not very natural for me.
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| Figure 7. Scribbling on the Windows Journal |
Windows Journal allows you to save your notes as Digital Ink. Or you can convert it to text. So I tried to convert my hand writing to text. Surprisingly, it was recognized correctly. It evens suggested some word replacements. Now I am impressed.
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| Figure 8. Converting the handwriting to text |
You can also highlight your writings with a highlighter. If you make a mistake, an eraser is always on standby:
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| Figure 9. Highlighting with a highlighter |
Zinio Reader is an e-magazine reader that allows you to read a magazine on your computer, much like reading a paper copy. You can download the free reader from Zinio.com. You also have the option to download a sample Business Week magazine.
With my pen and tablet, I can draw on the magazine itself:
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| Figure 10. "Drawing" on the magazine |
Or write notes on it:
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| Figure 11. Pasting a note on the magazine |
I actually like the idea of reading an electronic magazine on my computer, as long as the computer is light and easy to handle. Imagine purchasing all your favorite magazines, downloading them to your computer, reading them anywhere you like. It not only lightens your load, it's also environmentally friendly.
Just to recap why running the Tablet PC OS on a conventional notebook or desktop isn't a crazy idea, here's why you might want to do this:
Have fun!
Copyright © 2009 O'Reilly Media, Inc.