What have I got coming?

[hengist]

Hi all,

I ordered a 'B-grade' Scroll 7" with Android 2.1 from Maplin last night. I want to give Android a go, and didn't fancy a phone; my eyesight is bad enough without squinting at a smartphone.

What are the pitfalls?

A quick look at a couple of the forum topics suggest it's a good idea to set up the tablet with a root account, to make it more malleable. What else can be done? How much *nix is in there?

Anywayup, it looks like it could be quite an adventure, so yes, I can't wait for the package...

Blessings,

Pete (hiding behind an obscure username).

[hengist]

Hey!

It's been a few days since I received my Scroll; Maplin delivered it inside 24hrs. This forum has been an encouragement and a great help in solving some of the teething troubles, I thank you all.

My two most useful forum post discoveries were -

Rooting - How to get root permissions (and all that implies) on a Scroll -
https://scrolltabletforum.sevo.uk/site/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=125
Adding Nano - My favourite *nix text editor -
https://scrolltabletforum.sevo.uk/site/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=522

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Favourite, must-have apps. I've installed lots, but these are used most often -

Catch - Great note-taker and journalling app with #tags and the ability to attach images. Syncs with the online version at catch.com and it's now become a central part of my toolset.

FingerPaint - I've tried several sketching apps, and this one ticks the most boxes. It hasn't the power of SBMX (a professional app from the makers of AutoCad), but it does have easy configuration, a white background and a fine(ish) pen. It saves its images to the Gallery, ready for use in other apps. SBMX has a horrible colour-picker which engages and recolours your pen as background colour if you loiter too long with the pen in one spot. Disasterous.

Docs To Go - I originally thought this was just an app for rendering M$Orifice files on a Scroll, but it can also edit and create them, both in 2003 and 2008 (docx, xlsx, etc) formats. It uses a wired (USB) syncing mechanism, but this is no hardship. The Scroll is easy to mount / umount.

Tricorder - This looked like a game at first glance, but it is truly useful. It gives data on the accelerometers, microphone and WiFi in exquisite detail; you have some control over the WiFi also. It also has tabs for magnetic input and solar data; the Scroll has no fluxgates, but the solar data are impressive and help me in my time as a radio ham. The last tab, geographic, gives your position as lat / long. It reports mine accurately. Sheer genius.

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Other discoveries -

The Scroll doesn't like it when a linear regulator goes into thermal protection. Don't try to feed your Scroll through a 7805, no matter how heavily heatsunk. It'll cook up and shut down the output; and the Scroll goes into a ten-minute sulk, turning off and refusing to restart until it's calmed down. My advice here? Stick to switching supplies with adequate current (at least 2A). I'll try a TO3-cased 78H05 when I can get hold of one, but the easiest option at the moment appears to be an extension for the stupidly-short OEM power supply lead.

Any serious text editing will require the hard keyboard. The Storage Options keyboard / wallet works, up to a point. It's got a US keyboard layout (I'm across the Pond), and some vital keys are unusable. The most significant loss is the > key, essential when working with files in a Linux system (< and > redirect STDIN and STDOUT), the only workaround being to disconnect the keyboard, load the soft keyboard and drill down to the Alt section of the numeric layer (whew!). The initial worry about the exposed power button on the Scroll has yet to manifest as material issue (it hasn't turned on uninvited). The Scroll is a sloppy fit in the wallet, and three pieces of sticky-back foam were needed to prevent the thing from sliding out.

The WiFi, like many, has to 'mature' and get used to its radio environment and all the signals in it. I hated the radio for several days, wondering when it would settle down, but now I just start it and forget it. Lovely. I'm unsure of how much logging and analysis WiFi drivers / clients perform, but they do change and improve over time (unlike my 3G phone, which has consistently degraded).

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Onward -

I'm still discovering stuff daily, and it's usually good news. If I find something of use to you guys (and yes, I will use that dodgy 'search' first), I'll pop it in the relevant forum section.

Blessings,

Pete, masquerading as a Saxon warrior.

[bt0558]

Hi Pete

Great posts. I read your first post and thought aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh.... another old git like me who is happy to have a try at anything even if they know little about it, you can soon learn.

I then read your second post and thought oh dear, not an old git after all and bloody nora seems to know what he is talking about. Have bookmarked your post for when mine arrives on Saturday when I will refer to it again.

I will keep track of your posts as you are 2 weeks ahead of me and as confuscious said....."a clever man learns from his mistakes, a wise man learns from other mens' mistakes".

Please do keep posting more discoveries as you make them and thanks for your guidance thus far.

Regards

Brian