Handwriting recognition now passes the &duffeyword; test
VinceH
I bought myself a new toy, which takes me the final step of
replacing *both* my existing PDA and my existing phone; the phone
I bought last year meant I didn't need to cart my PDA around for
my contacts/diary/etc, thus relegating the PDA to only be used for
satnav (ie when off-roading).
The new toy is a Mio A701; essentially it's a GPS equipped PDA,
much like the last one, but with a phone built in. (It wasn't my
first choice; I wanted the O2 XDA Orbit, but when I tried getting
a contract with O2 the fuckers turned me down).
But to the point...
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.babylon5.uk/msg/c01da40f9a05aa76
I can now happily report that in the almost two years since
writing that, the handwriting recognition software in these
devices has improved by magnitudes. I can now write 'cunt' and it
recognises it. Yay! :-)
--
"A general-purpose solution to these problems is under discussion
and you should contact Acorn for a copy of the relevant
application note." - the RISC OS Style Guide.
Ian Collins
> I bought myself a new toy, which takes me the final step of
> replacing *both* my existing PDA and my existing phone; the phone
> I bought last year meant I didn't need to cart my PDA around for
> my contacts/diary/etc, thus relegating the PDA to only be used for
> satnav (ie when off-roading).
>
--
Ian Collins.
VinceH
> Off-roading in the UK???
Er, yes, why?
Ian Collins
> On 8 Feb 2007, Ian Collins wrote:
>
>>VinceH wrote:
>
>
>>>I bought myself a new toy, which takes me the final step of
>>>replacing *both* my existing PDA and my existing phone; the
>>>phone I bought last year meant I didn't need to cart my PDA
>>>around for my contacts/diary/etc, thus relegating the PDA to
>>>only be used for satnav (ie when off-roading).
>
>
>>Off-roading in the UK???
>
>
> Er, yes, why?
>
in the UK. Where do you go?
--
Ian Collins.
John W. Kennedy
You've never really looked at an AA or Michelin road atlas, have you?
--
John W. Kennedy
"The blind rulers of Logres
Nourished the land on a fallacy of rational virtue."
-- Charles Williams. "Taliessin through Logres: Prelude"
Ian Collins
> Ian Collins wrote:
>
>> VinceH wrote:
>>
>>> On 8 Feb 2007, Ian Collins wrote:
>>>
>>>> VinceH wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>> I bought myself a new toy, which takes me the final step of
>>>>> replacing *both* my existing PDA and my existing phone; the phone I
>>>>> bought last year meant I didn't need to cart my PDA around for my
>>>>> contacts/diary/etc, thus relegating the PDA to only be used for
>>>>> satnav (ie when off-roading).
>>>
>>>
>>>> Off-roading in the UK???
>>>
>>>
>>> Er, yes, why?
>>
>> I didn't think there were many places out side of Wales to go off road
>> in the UK. Where do you go?
>
> You've never really looked at an AA or Michelin road atlas, have you?
>
--
Ian Collins.
VinceH
> >>Off-roading in the UK???
> > Er, yes, why?
Well, Wales isn't entirely uncommon - it's only a toll-bridge away
for me!
But in fact there are plenty of places; there are a few good lanes
to the immediate South of Bristol (and a few not so good - but
that applies everywhere; for every good lane, there are several
boring ones[1]). Then there's "The Fosseway" which, for our
purposes, starts midway between junctions 17 and 18 of the M4 and
heads North East. Further along and down a bit there's the
Marlborough Downs - some great fun to be had there, and from there
onto Salisbury.
These are all lanes within a short(ish) drive, so we can go out of
a morning and be home the same evening.
Sometimes we'll go further afield and make a weekend of it (it
used to be that we'd camp out somewhere, but these has gradually
switched to staying in B&Bs, which I think is crap and too soft!)
- this can be down in Devon, further affield in Wales, and so on.
I quite fancy off-roading in the Lake District, but it's a very
long way if any of the vehicles can't make it back unassisted!
Then there are sites, rather than lanes - people who own land and
who arrange for its (churning up and) use for the purpose. There
have been some recent changes to the status of a lot of the lanes
we'd normally use, so many of those above may no longer be legal
to drive (I've not actually been out to play in some months). If
the trend continues, it'll be more sites than lanes in the future.
:-(
[1] The boring ones are only boring if they're narrow, low and
surrounded by trees etc. If they're high on a hill side offering
splendid views, no matter how tame the actual lane is, it is by no
definition boring.
VinceH
> I bought myself a new toy, which takes me the final step of
> replacing *both* my existing PDA and my existing phone; the
> phone I bought last year meant I didn't need to cart my PDA
> around for my contacts/diary/etc, thus relegating the PDA to
> only be used for satnav (ie when off-roading).
While I was at it, I decided to add "proper" satnav to my arsenal
of useful tools, and bought TomTom Navigator 6 from handtec.co.uk.
According to their site, it works with the Mio a701.
It arrived today.
I can't get it to work with the Mio a701.
Which is handy.
Specifically, it refuses to recognise the GPS receiver. I know the
receiver itself is working (and that it's receiving a clear enough
signal) because I've tested it with my off-road navigation
software. TomTom steadfastly insists there is no GPS device when
set to use the same COM port and baud rate. :-/
(And also when set to use /other/ COM ports and baud rates, but
that's not entirely surprising given that the GPS receiver isn't
on those other COM ports!)
Bah.
Ah well, off to fill in a support form on TomTom's website...
Ian Collins
NZ and could afford to buy, run, modify and subsequently beat the crap
out of a V8 Discovery.
Things are a little different here, we tend to use rivers on the East
coast as our main way into places, either down them to the sea, or up
them into the mountains. On the West it's mainly very gnarly rivers and
forestry tails.
Some of the driving in the high country is spectacular in it's scenery
and what it can do to a vehicle, big boulders, over bonnet water and
insane gradients.
--
Ian Collins.
kimble
> http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.babylon5.uk/msg/c01da40f9a05aa76
>
> I can now happily report that in the almost two years since
> writing that, the handwriting recognition software in these
> devices has improved by magnitudes. I can now write 'cunt' and it
> recognises it. Yay! :-)
*experiments with XDA Exec[0]*
I feel a review coming on...
Handwriting 'transcriber': no good, generally gives 'curt' or 'aunt'.
Admittedly I consider this input method to be a steaming pile of
&duffeyword;s, as I have computer scientist[1] handwriting, so the odds
are against it to start with.
Block (graffiti) 'recogniser': Can be persuaded to generate
&duffeyword;s, though since it takes an average of about 10 attempts at
each letter, it may be forgetting its biases through repeated backspacing.
Letter 'recogniser' (block caps): This is &duffeyword;-compliant, though
gets the thumbs-down from me on account of being slower than a slug
invasion.
Keyboard (virtual): No problems making &duffeyword;s here, as long as
you switch from fingernail to stylus as your preferred interaction
method, and keep your scanning-tunnelling electron microscope on standby.
Keyboard (physical): Optimum input method for everything except
poorly-designed GPS navigation software and tricorder-style operation.
You can happily churn out &duffeyword;s all day at a speed limited only
by your typing ability and finger diameter. It also glows blue.
(T9) Phone pad: The ultimate input method for &duffeyword;-lovers
everywhere. The virtual number pad is large, finger-sized, highly
visible, and the buttons have a sexy animated 'click' action. More
importantly, the T9 implementation adds unfamiliar words to a user
dictionary and suggests these before other, more sensible, alternatives.
Once the user has taken the time to spend an entertaining 15 minutes
filling the user dictionary with important proper nouns and rudery,
&duffeyword;s may be obtained simply pressing the '2' key and clicking
on &duffeyword; where it appears in the suggestion bar, between "a, b,
c, 2, 26" and "22, bah, bastard".
...so yeah. This probably applies to all Windows Mobile [200]5 PDAs,
with the obvious exception of the physical keyboard. I, for one, shall
be careful to evaluate any future phones or PDAs for
&duffeyword;-compliance before purchase, and urge the rest of the froup
to do the same.
Kim.
--
[0] HTC Universal, as pimped by O2
[1] A bit like doctors' handwriting[2], with a wider and more
carefully-formed variety of whitespace and punctuation characters.
[2] My parents were both guilty of this, I was doomed from the outset.
[200] Not a footnote, a Microsoft version number!
VinceH
> but these has
That was the result of an (obviously incomplete) edit from a
sentence saying one thing to a sentence saying exactly the same
thing, but in a different way.
It has nothing to do with me being an illiterate &duffeyword;
VinceH
[...]
> I see. more than I thought. I only got the bug when I came down
> here to NZ and could afford to buy, run, modify and subsequently
> beat the crap out of a V8 Discovery.
If you regularly took that to lanes/sites that are some distance
away here in the UK, you'd probably need a bank loan to cover the
fuel for each trip. =:-o
> Things are a little different here, we tend to use rivers on the
> East coast as our main way into places, either down them to the
> sea, or up them into the mountains. On the West it's mainly
> very gnarly rivers and forestry tails.
Sounds good.
> Some of the driving in the high country is spectacular in it's
> scenery
I can only dream! That's one of the appeals of Wales; plenty of
fantastic views, and why the Lake District beckons - but neither
of these would truly compare with what you have down there!
> and what it can do to a vehicle, big boulders, over bonnet water
> and insane gradients.
They're the best kind.
VinceH
[...]
> Letter 'recogniser' (block caps): This is
> &duffeyword;-compliant, though gets the thumbs-down from me on
> account of being slower than a slug invasion.
I noticed when my niece was using MSN on her PDA a few weeks ago
that she was inputting a single letter at a time - and she was
easily doing so at a fair old rate.
Ian Collins
> On 9 Feb 2007, Ian Collins wrote:
>
>>here to NZ and could afford to buy, run, modify and subsequently
>>beat the crap out of a V8 Discovery.
>
> If you regularly took that to lanes/sites that are some distance
> away here in the UK, you'd probably need a bank loan to cover the
> fuel for each trip. =:-o
>
>
>>Some of the driving in the high country is spectacular in it's
>>scenery
>
> I can only dream! That's one of the appeals of Wales; plenty of
> fantastic views, and why the Lake District beckons - but neither
> of these would truly compare with what you have down there!
>
>
>>and what it can do to a vehicle, big boulders, over bonnet water
>>and insane gradients.
>
> They're the best kind.
>
track.
--
Ian Collins.
Steveski
> On 9 Feb 2007, Ian Collins wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>> I see. more than I thought. I only got the bug when I came down
>
>> here to NZ and could afford to buy, run, modify and subsequently
>
>> beat the crap out of a V8 Discovery.
>
> If you regularly took that to lanes/sites that are some distance
> away here in the UK, you'd probably need a bank loan to cover the
> fuel for each trip. =:-o
Got to say that motorcycles win on all counts (other than being inside a
box) for all of this but I know I won't even start to convince you 4X4ers .
. .
And the Old Peculier is even better when you're covered in shit
:-)
--
Steveski
p.s. the only TRUE way to go up a mountain, however, is on foot and poss.
with ropes . . .
VinceH
> VinceH wrote:
> > On 9 Feb 2007, Ian Collins wrote:
> >>here to NZ and could afford to buy, run, modify and
> >>subsequently beat the crap out of a V8 Discovery.
> > If you regularly took that to lanes/sites that are some
> > distance away here in the UK, you'd probably need a bank loan
> > to cover the fuel for each trip. =:-o
> It's getting that way here, we're up to 50p a litre now.
Petrol up here is in the region of 85p/litre. My vehicle is a
diesel, which is a few pence more per litre.
> What do you drive?
Daihatsu Fourtrak (SWB) 2.8tds
[...]
> I'd trade some scenery for a good pint of Old Peculier!
I wouldn't - given the choice, I'll stick with the scenery. :-)
[...]
> >>and insane gradients.
> > They're the best kind.
> What gets me is the thought of the mad bugger in a bulldozer who
> cut the track.
LOL, yeah.
Ian Collins
>
> Petrol up here is in the region of 85p/litre. My vehicle is a
> diesel, which is a few pence more per litre.
>
It's about 40% less than petrol here.
--
Ian Collins.