User:BlankVerse/log

Dec 2007

21 Dec

It's here!

My very lime green OLPC XO-1 arrived today, 21 Dec 2007. Because I was gone most of the afternoon, FedEx left it behind a bush next to my front door (only a couple of feet from the city sidewalk--I've had deliveries left like that before that disappeared before I found them).

Tomorrow, I'll try to find a $tarbucks that's NOT in or near a mall so I can try out the WiFi connection. [Just remembered that a couple of local libraries have free WiFi. I'll probably go there instead.]

Such a small keyboard! With my fat fingers, I'll only be doing two-finger typing on it. :-( [Actually, what I'll probably do is buy a USB keyboard for when I have to do large amounts of typing and want to rely upon touch typing.]

Features checked:

• Record: photos, video, and sound
• TamTamJam: yes, we can make noise [that'd probably drive small dogs crazy ;-)]

22 Dec

1. I sent an email late last night to OLPC about problems with trying to get a T-Mobile HotSpot Pin Number. Their reply today was: "Please allow 3-14 days to receive this code via email."
2. Did some searching on amazon.com for USB peripherals for the XO. It looks like I should be able to find some color coordinated peripherals, including mouse, keyboard, and USB flash drive. Started an XO wish list at amazon. ;-)
3. Tried to use the free WiFi connection at one of the local libraries, but never could get logged on. Gave up and then tried the free WiFi at the local Togos, where I had no problems. At the library, I kept getting error messages about expired certificates. [Next I'll have to try the free WiFi zone in downtown Long Beach, or at the Long Beach airport.
   • Downloaded some more activities [note: 3dpong doesn't have an icon.]
   • Signed up for a Gmail account
4. Ran the battery dead after about 3 1/2 hours of use, with about 65% of that as internet usage.
   • The recharge rate seems to be around 10% per 15 minutes, which then is 40%/hr or 100% in 2 1/2 hours.
5. Found some activities that were on the computer but not installed. Tried a few, but only left Gmail, Stopwatch, and SimCity installed. I think that I've got a book on the old DOS version of SimCity that I'll have to find. [Browse. Then Find activities.]

I find it interesting that I am very ambidextrous when using the XO's touchpad. Roughly half the time I'm using my left hand to move the mouse, and my right hand to do the mouse clicks. About 10% of the time it's my left hand, and then left thumb for mouse clicks. And then about 40% of the time it's my right hand to do the pointing, and left hand for mouse clicks. That's probably because I'm used to the left-handed setup on my computer, but have to deal with a right-handed setup for anybody else's computer, such as when I'd help problem solve on my Dad's computer.

25 Dec

• Changed settings so I could chat @ xochat.org.
• Changed nick from Gregory to BlankVerse & changed colors for my personal symbol.

26 Dec [Wednesday]

• Did my 1st edits on the OLPC wiki w/my XO.
• Got an email today saying that the free WiFi along Pine Ave. in downtown Long Beach was still active. I went downtown again, but I never could find the "Bigeye" connection I was told to look for. I did find a couple of other open connections.

27 Dec

• Finally got my PIN # to be able to start the T-Mobile HotSpot one-year free membership.
• Installed Mozilla's Thunderbird email client using Yum. I have to use the terminal activity to run Thunderbird, but it's nice having a full-featured email client.

28 Dec

• Tested out the T-Mobile connection at the closest Starbucks (which is across the street from the free WiFi at Togo's that I first used to test the XO's WiFi capabilities). Interestingly, I could get the WiFi signal from Starbucks while I was at Togo's, but I couldn't get the Togo's signal when I was at Starbucks.
  • There are three Starbucks nearby that have T-Mobile connections, and there is a Borders bookstore that isn't too far away. There are also supposed to be several T-Mobile HotSpots in downtown Long Beach, but I could only find one of them on Wednesday night and I was never able to establish a connection.