[geeks] iPad - a 'Miss' for me I'm afraid

[velociraptor]

On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 3:39 PM, Joshua Boyd <jdboyd at jdboyd.net> wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 03:21:54PM -0800, velociraptor wrote:
>
>> Both hubby and I have been reading almost exclusively on LCDs for a
>> while, so from that perspective, I think it'll be fine.
>
> I spend most of the day reading on an LCD.  I don't really like books on
> LCD for a few more hours in a day.

Hubby complains that books aren't fast enough now.  Narrow up the
column and increase the font size, and reading speed goes up
dramatically.  I learned this from my PocketPC, and now do it pretty
much everywhere on LCDs.  You're eyes don't have to focus as tightly,
either, so they don't get tired as quickly.

>> As for the "Cintiq" notion--well, I'm not going to pony up $999 for a
>> 12" Cintiq that *only* does that so, "near enough" is a good
>> compromise for my useage.
>
> Along the lines of using an iPad as a "cheap" cintiq, lack of pen
> support is a killer.

But the multi-touch surface *can* support a pen, there's just not one
out there yet.  I know this as I've seen a mod for gloves that allows
you to wear gloves and still use the iPhone.

> I wouldn't bother with a 12" cintiq.  For slightly more you can get a
> ModBook, which is a licensed Mac tablet based on wacom techology.  That
> could be actually useful.

"Slightly more"?  $1649 is a pretty big difference for me.

>> > I'd much rather see similar hardware running a modified android with
>> > proper multi-touch support.
>>
>> Sure, but what team has the resources to do that and keep it up to
>> date?
>
> The sort of team that kept khtml semi-viable, or the sort of group that
> continues to drive gecko, or groups driving webkit.

I just don't see it happening, myself.  I say this having seen support
for the Toshiba PDA's melt away as the dev's jumped to the next
"latest, greatest" thing.  OSS devs are easily distracted.

>> Likewise Linux (in the broad sense) has supported Wacom tablet
>> screens for quite a while, but there's been no real push to integrate
>> that into OSS software.  I just don't think the impetus is there.
>> Apple on the other hand, has a driving reason to pursue these
>> technologies in HW and SW.
>
> First, wacom isn't multi-touch (well, they do have the bamboo fun touch,
> but that is really new).  So, the only thing missing would be
> handwriting recognition, and I think that the iPad doesn't have that
> either.

I wasn't implying that the Wacom had multi-touch.  My intention in
what I said was to show that drawing tablets (and the tablet computer
screens are just another version of the external tablet overlaid on
the screen) have been around for a long time, and what little support
for them there is in Linux has been quite recent.

And, "handwriting recognition" and "printing recognition" are not the
same thing.  I used the latter term specifically because that's what
the Newton had, and it worked pretty well.  I don't really use cursive
writing anyway (and this confuses the heck out of the Win handwriting
recognition engine), so adapting my writing to be a little more
printing-like would not be that difficult for me.

> Gimp, inkscape work pretty well using the presure sensitivity.  I hear
> that Blender and Krita also have good presure support, but I haven't
> tried using the wacom on linux with them yet.

Not familiar with Inkscape, but I dislike Gimp, a lot.  Again, there
may be support, but compare it to drawing pad support in Adobe apps or
similar.  You're talking night and day--because there's a commercial
impetus to integrate them.  $10-15 Adobe Elements-like app for the
iPad? I'm there.  I think a multi-purpose device like this that can do
double-duty as a drawing pad would be very attractive to a graphic
arts student on a limited budget who has access to more powerful
computers in their school's lab.

=Nadine=