Remember when gummihuhn , aka_phoenix , Raffizack, stoneshop  and I went to the Chaos Communication Camp in Finowfurt, in 2007, and set up a temporary OBCZ there?
Well, maybe not. Here's an article on the BookCrossing site to refresh your memory.

We had a wonderful time, handed out a lot of books and made new friends and members from all over the world. So this year, we're doing it again.
This year's version of the conference is called Hacking At Random 2009, and it's going to be held in Vierhouten, the Netherlands, from August 13 to 16.
We're likely to be with a smaller group of BookCrossers this time, but Raffi is coming, so that's good. And we'll be bringing our laptops, lots of obsolete-but-fun hardware, and plenty of nonsense with LEDs on it. Oh, and books.

Ticket presale is open until July 20th, so if you want to get in for the lower presale price, you'd better start packing. The event's website can be found here.

They can't be serious about this... or can they?
Lenovo (that's pronounced IBM) has announced a new dual screen laptop. It's going to be a total brick at about 5 kilos. But the cool factor is at least equally large, I must say. And look, they've kept the good old trackpoint!


Click the pic to read about it on the Computerworld.com site.

As some of you know, I'll be travelling to New-Zealand in April, to be at the BookCrossing Convention 2009. Of course, it's silly and a waste to go to NZ for just a weekend, so I'll be going earlier so I can rent a motorbike there (yay!) and do some exploring. All very nice indeed.

I've been thinking about what to bring. Going without any kind of computer at all doesn't sound nice to me. I'm an internet junkie after all. I might want to e-mail or blog every now and then. But bringing my laptop... well, if it's packed well enough to be shock proof (as it needs to be while on the bike) it takes up a lot of space. Almost an entire pannier. Also, it's another thing to worry about; it could get stolen or damaged. And I wouldn't want to have it for just the Convention weekend, and leave it somewhere during the bike trip.

So I'd need something smaller if I wanted to bring anything at all. Okay, the new Eeepcs look like they could do the job; but I haven't got one and frankly, they're too close to my laptop and there would be functional overlap. They're... too much of a computer I guess.

So I thought about the Africa trip. I had a nice little e-mail device then: a HP 320 LX palmtop. It's still in working order, and it's a neat litle machine. No colour screen, but it's OK for text; runs on two penlight batteries, which is utterly practical.
Only trouble is, it was outdated when I got it almost ten years ago, and it's pretty much obsolete now. It's got a PCMCIA modem that allows it to dial in; but in NZ, where would it dial in to? It might be possible to get a normal network card or a WiFi card for it, but is it really worth the trouble?

However, the 320 has a sibling: the Jornada 720. It was almost available when I made the Africa trip (it came out a few months later), but would have been way too expensive for me to consider. Now I can buy one used, with all the accessories I'll need (and even some that I don't ) for a price below 100 euros.
It's still small: about the size of a book. it's still got that familiair rugged clam shell exterior. And it can still dial in (built-in modem, no less). But it's got a nice colour screen, more storage space (and it still takes CF cards like my old 320 does, which makes it really easy to get software on to it), a faster processor and new connectivity options.
And we're picking it up this evening. I can't wait.( Go on, you know you want to see them. )

[Error: unknown template 'qotd']Wherever I lay my @.

Sorry, someone had to say it. Besides, it's sort of true. I mainly live inside my Thinkpad.
I can live inside an X-series model because I'm rather 'fun sized' myself.

Some of you may remember that the left mouse button on my laptop had worn out... and that I replaced the 'clickie thingie' underneath the button with the one from the middle mouse button, and eventually (when that wore out, too) the right. So I had to use a mouse with my Thinkpad because you do tend to use the right mouse button every now and then.
Well, no more!
The clickie thingies I ordered never arrived. The guy said that he'd sent them. Hmm.
But another solution was found: stoneshop's friend Charles in the States bought a keyboard for me on Ebay, took it with him to Germany when he went there for work, and then mailed it to me!
So I just took the old keyboard out of my X22 and replaced it with a brand new one.
Oh my! I've never seen such newness before, let alone touched it. The keys aren't even shiny, they're matted! And the trackpoint is bright red and clean! It makes the whole laptop seem new.
Interface = so important. Don't you agree?

Now I *heart* my Thinkpad even more. And Charles, of course, who made this possible!

Ever since I've had my first computer of my own, I've been using non-Microsoft software as much as I could, except for my OS. Many of my friends have given me good reasons for using alternatives ,and at first I did it just because they said so. Over time, I've grown used to it, and I've also learned more about the advantages, so that nowadays I'm often telling others why they should not use Outlook or Explorer.
So what do I use?
For e-mail, I've been using Eudora for many years. It's a good solid product with nice features. I've always been happy with it.
My browser is K-Meleon, which has grown into a mature browser while I was using it. It used to have an unfinished feel about it but lately it's been getting really good.
Before that, in days of old, I used the Netscape Communicator suite. And I may well be going back to it now.

You see, the company that made Eudora has given up on it. They have handed the code over to the Open Source community, which is in itself most commendable, and I wish software companies would do that all the time with software they'd stop developing.
Currently, an open source version of Eudora is being developed under the name of Penelope. But it's taking them a while, and I'm not sure I want to wait that long. Of course, I could continue using Eudora even when it's not being updated anymore. But wait...

I heard about another interesting open source project, another member of the Mozilla family: SeaMonkey. This is actually not one program but a suite, much like Netscape Communicator was: it contains a browser, an e-mail client, and a HTML editor. In fact, this is the successor of the Communicator suite.
I decided to take it for a spin today and I find myself liking it so much that I may ditch both Eudora and K-Meleon in favour of SeaMonkey.

The browser feels solid and fast; it runs on the same engine as FireFox does (as does K-meleon). My only gripe so far is that it doesn't let me grab and drag the toolbars to a new location. In K-Meleon, I can even stack them so the shorter ones can be in one line together. On a 12" laptop, screen estate is valuable!
But otherwise I felt right at home within the hour. (It may take you a little longer if you're coming from IE. But that's only fair since you have so much more to gain!)

The e-mail client looks slick and doesn't seem to be missing any features. It has a very nice search bar that will allow fast and easy searching for text in message subjects.
Furthermore, it imported my existing mail, server settings and address book from Eudora without batting a digital eyelid.

I'm impressed so far.
If you're looking for both a full-fledged browser and an E-mail client, I suggest you check out SeaMonkey.

I'm using this user pic because I believe I'm up a creek, as they say.
I seem to have worn out the left mouse click on my Thinkpad.
It's a tiny flexible plastic hat-shaped thingie, that gets pushed in when you push the button it lives under. If you wear it out, the middle part gets torn off from the outer part and it won't give you that nice clicky feeling anymore, and more importantly, it won't work. Either it doesn't click anymore or it never stops. The latter is what was happening.
I swapped it for the one under my right mouse button, because I'd already swapped it for the one under the middle mouse button...
I'm looking for a replacement or three, but so far I've only found stores that sell complete keyboards. Not the tiny round plastic things as such.
I guess I just click too much...