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Stardate: 20210818.2303 | |
Location: Kitchen Table | |
Input Device: Fujitsu P1610 UMPC running antiX | |
Audio: Gary Numan's Intruder album | |
Visual: P1610 in convertible bump case attached to external battery. | |
Emotional: Awake. Coming down from evening cup o'coffee. | |
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I do not need new gear. There are new and interesting gadgets that | |
keep showing up on my radar that I absolutely do not need but I keep | |
getting drawn to them because of my techno-lust. I just wanted to | |
put that out there. | |
Having stated that, I will continue enjoying the tech that I do have. | |
That is why I am writing this on the Fujitsu P1610 UMPC (Ultra-Mobile | |
PC), circa 2007. I took this device out with me today and did some | |
writing and personal computing. | |
Its internal battery does not have much capacity left, but I do have | |
an old external laptop battery that I still use with it. The battery | |
is an Energizer XPAL XP18000, which I started using on 08/2012 (yeah, | |
I label my rechargeble batteries.) Originally, it was rated at 70WH. | |
Not sure what the capacity is now, but it is still usable. I use this | |
battery to power my electric guitar and amp as well when I go portable. | |
I should run a capacity test for this battery just so I can see where | |
it is at. The battery testing software that I use is actually on the | |
Windows XP Tablet Edition partition that I still have on this machine. | |
I keep that partition around mostly to run the software for the | |
West Mountain Radio's CBA II (Computerized Battery Analyzer), which | |
will only work in XP. I haven't tried running it in Wine. Maybe I | |
should look into that. | |
People keep offloading their "old" tech on me and I keep finding ways | |
to repurpose this old tech, especially with Linux! These machines | |
usually have an older version of Windows...one actually had Windows 10. | |
I wipe these and install some form of Linux on them for testing, | |
tinkering, or whatever explorations of the moment in computing that | |
happens to show up on my radar. It surprises me how capable some of | |
these machines are and how they were ready to be discarded. Well, | |
maybe not so capable in Windows, but with Linux, there is much more | |
life to be extended. | |
This Fujitsu P1610 UMPC is still very functional for me. Then again, | |
most of the computing that I do on it is in the terminal. I have | |
the antiX Linux distro, which is meant for older hardware and runs | |
pretty lean, which is adequate for me. I still love the form factor | |
and the keyboard is adequate for me to touch type. I actually enjoy | |
typing on this device more than the Gemini PDA, which has been my | |
primary personal portable computer as of late. I would love to be | |
able to use the swivel, resistive touch screen in Linux for inking, | |
but last I checked which was years ago, it was not really doable. I | |
should see if there are any options for it these days. The vanilla | |
install of antiX did not have touchscreen support but maybe it can be | |
configured. | |
So, when I start looking at new tech and then I start looking at what | |
I have in the lab, I become discouraged from making new purchases. I | |
should do this more often. As much as I enjoy the excitement of the | |
new stuff, expecially since there hasn't been too much to get excited | |
about until recently, I should be more mindful of whether these | |
technological objects of desire even have a place in my head space. | |
I can easily get obsessed with this stuff along with the accessories and | |
functions that I didn't know I needed (which I really don't.) I have | |
seen this in me before, like with the Walkmans, the PDAs, the laptop | |
computers, the mobile phones...these technological artifacts will keep | |
continuing to manifest and I will be drawn to them. This reminds | |
me of the hungry ghost idea that the Buddhists talk about. Gotta be | |
vigilant! | |
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