lenovo – Krunk4Ever!

February 22, 2009

Windows 7 on Lenovo Thinkpad X61 Tablet

It’s only been a few days since I’ve installed Windows 7 on my Lenovo Thinkpad X61 Tablet, but so far it’s been GREAT! The version I had installed was the beta (build 7000).

I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Windows 7, and it’s not like I didn’t want to install Windows 7, but things had been working fine for now, and I saw no reason to chance destabilizing any of my critical machines. However, I had Vista SP1 running on my Thinkpad and generally it does okay, but once in awhile, after I haven’t rebooted the laptop for a few days, I get into a state where the laptop just becomes unresponsive and slow and has problems connecting to the wireless network.

Jan Lyk had shown me Windows 7 running on his Dell mini laptop and I decided I’d give it a shot. It was pretty much an impulse decision. The same day after I saw Jan Lyk’s laptop, I grabbed the beta, and installed it that night. I decided to do an upgrade instead of fresh install since I didn’t want to bother reinstalling all the applications and backing up the data.

The upgrade actually went pretty well. It did take longer than I expected. In fact, there were certain points in time during the upgrade which I thought it was stuck, especially when it was migrating files, settings, and programs.

The “fun” part came when it prompted me to log in. I swiped my finger and it logged me in.

I started typing on the keyboard. No response. I started moving the mouse. No response. Thinking to myself, I’m !@#$%^. I could use the fingerprint scanner to login, but I needed some other way to actually install drivers if they’re missing. Suddenly I remembered I still had a tablet pen to try out. Amazing, the tablet pen WORKED! Typing using the tablet pen wasn’t that fun though, but I managed to get to the device manager and noticed that the keyboard and trackpoint devices had the little yellow alert sign. I opened both of them and told it to automatically update the driver and amazingly, it found the driver and I was able to use the keyboard. The trackpoint/mouse actually needed a reboot before it started working.

The only other issue was I also needed to update the GEM smartcard reader driver (which was also done automatically). Things were starting to look good.

Moving on, it complained that my antivirus software was not turned on. I use AVG 8.0 and it was turned on from what I could tell. Someone on the AVG forums mentioned that if you disable resident shield and re-enabled it, Windows 7 would stop warning you about it. I tried that, but didn’t seem to work. I thought I’d try reinstalling, but in the end, decided to just switch back to eTrust, since AVG doesn’t officially support Windows 7 yet. This thing also warned me that Windows Defender was turned off, but I think that’s because it was set to delayed start, and the warning would disappear after awhile.

I love the fact that the tablet feature and fingerprint scanner just worked out of the box. It definitely boots up a lot faster than Windows Vista and definitely more responsive. I haven’t had much time to tinker or play around with it much, but it looks like most of the Lenovo applications also work out of the box.

The pinned programs on the task bar is like a merge of quick launch + task bar, which is pretty neat. Usually I have a vertical task bar, because when horizontally, the names of the tasks just take up too much space. Now that they’ve gotten rid of the name and only show an icon, I no longer really need to have a vertical task bar. However, I still dislike the fact that they group same tasks together. There’s probably a way to disable it, or make it more responsive so the moment I hover over the icon, the windows thumbnails would appear immediately instead of waiting a few seconds.

Another cool thing I noticed is that they have a dim screen feature. Usually you have 2 options for your screen: On or Off. I usually set mine to turn off after 5 minutes of idleness, but now there’s an intermediate step where it dims it after 2 minutes of idleness and turns it off after 5 minutes.

I’m going to enjoy playing with Windows 7 on my laptop.

August 10, 2008October 5, 2008

2008 Olympics

So I wasn’t planning to blog about the 2008 Olympics, mostly because I’m not much of a sports fans, but over the past few days, I’ve accumulated a few things regarding the 2008 Olympics I wanted to share.

First, Artemyst blogged about the 2008 Beijing Olympics song/music video: 北京歡迎你 (Beijing Welcomes You). Update: It appears YouTube has taken down the video. Here’s a mirror.

At first I found the accent a bit off, but after awhile, I realized many of the cast were Hong Kong actors singing in Mandarin. The lyrics were borrowed from Artemyst’s blog, but the English translations were rather bad in the YouTube video description. I’ve gone ahead and did my best at translating it:

北京歡迎你/群星
Beijing Welcomes You/Various Artists

作曲：小柯
Composer: Xiao Ke

填詞：林夕
Lyrics: Leo Ku

主唱：群星
Artist: Celebrities

【陳天佳】迎接另一個晨曦　帶來全新空氣
[Chen Tian Jia] We welcome the next morning, bringing in fresh air

【劉歡】氣息改變情味不變　茶香飄滿情誼
[Liu Huan] Weather may change but friendship will not, the tea’s fragrance is filled with friendship

【那英】我家大門常打開　開放懷抱等你
[Na Ying] Our door is always open, waiting for you with open arms

【孫燕姿】擁抱過就有了默契　你會愛上這裡
[Stefanie Sun] After hugging and developing a bond, you will fall in love with here

【孫悅】不管遠近都是客人　請不用客氣
[Sun Yue] Everyone is a guest no matter how far away, please feel at home

【王力宏】相約好了再一起　我們歡迎你
[Wang Lee Hom] Agreed to get together, we welcome you

【韓紅】我家種著萬年青　開放每段傳奇
[Han Hong] We’ve planted evergreens, displaying every spectacle

【周華健】為傳統的土壤播種　為你留下回憶
[Wakin Chau] Sowing seeds into the soil, leaving you with good memories

【梁詠琪】陌生熟悉都是客人　請不用拘禮
[Gigi Leung] Strangers and friends are all guests, no need to be formal

【羽泉】第幾次來沒關係　有太多話題
[Yu Quan] No matter how many times you come, there are much to talk about

【成龍】北京歡迎你　為你開天辟地
[Jackie Chan] Beijing welcomes you, opening your eyes to a new world

【任賢齊】流動中的魅力充滿著朝氣
[Richie Ren] The flowing charm is full of life

【蔡依林】北京歡迎你　在太陽下分享呼吸
[Jolin Tsai] Beijing welcomes you, sharing the joy of breathing under the sun

【孫楠】在黃土地刷新成績
[Sun Nan] Making new records on our yellow soil

【周筆暢】我家大門常打開　開懷容納天地
[Bibi Zhou] Our door is always open, welcoming the world with open arms

【韋唯】歲月綻放青春笑容　迎接這個日期
[Wei Wei] The old ages is smiling like youth, welcoming this day

【黃曉明】天大地大都是朋友　請不用客氣
[Huang Xiao Ming] Everyone is friends, please feel at home

【韓庚】畫意詩情帶笑意　只為等待你
[Han Geng] The arts bring smiles, only waiting for you

【汪峰】北京歡迎你　像音樂感動你
[Wang Feng] Beijing welcomes you, like how the music moves you

【莫文蔚】讓我們都加油去超越自己
[Karen Mok] Let’s work hard together to go beyond ourselves

【譚晶】北京歡迎你　有夢想誰都了不起
[Tan Jing] Beijing welcomes you, with dreams everyone can be great

【陳奕迅】有勇氣就會有奇跡
[Eason Chan] Having courage will bring miracles

【閻維文】北京歡迎你　為你開天辟地
[Yan Weiwen] Beijing welcomes you, opening your eyes to a new world

【戴玉強】流動中的魅力充滿著朝氣
[Dai Yu Qiang] The flowing charm is full of life

【王霞．李雙松】北京歡迎你　在太陽下分享呼吸
[Wang Xia, Li Shuang Song] Beijing welcomes you, sharing the joy of breathing under the sun

【廖昌永】在黃土地刷新成績
[Liao Chang Yong] Making new records on our yellow soil

【林依輪】北京歡迎你　像音樂感動你
[Lin Yi Lun] Beijing welcomes you, may the music move you

【張娜拉】讓我們都加油去超越自己
[Jang Nara] Let’s work hard together to go beyond ourselves

【林俊傑】北京歡迎你　有夢想誰都了不起
[JJ Lin] Beijing welcomes you, with dreams everyone can be great

【阿杜】有勇氣就會有奇跡
[A-Do] Having courage will bring miracles

【京劇】北京歡迎你呀
[Beijing Opera] Beijing weclomes you

【容祖兒】我家大門常打開　開懷容納天地
[Joey Yung] Our door is always open, welcoming the world with open arms

【李宇春】擁抱過就有了默契　你會愛上這裡
[Chris Li] After hugging and developing a bond, you will fall in love with here

【黃大煒】不管遠近都是客人　請不用客氣
[David Wong] Everyone is a guest no matter how far away, please feel at home

【陳坤】相約好了再一起　我們歡迎你
[Chen Kun] Agreed to get together, we welcome you

【謝霆鋒】北京歡迎你　為你開天辟地
[Nicholas Tse] Beijing welcomes you, opening your eyes to a new world

【韓磊】流動中的魅力充滿著朝氣
[Han Lei] The flowing charm is full of life

【徐若瑄】北京歡迎你　在太陽下分享呼吸
[Vivian Hsu] Beijing welcomes you, sharing the joy of breathing under the sun

【費翔】在黃土地刷新成績
[Kris Phillips] Making new records on our yellow soil

【湯燦】我家大門常打開　開懷容納天地
[Tang Can] Our door is always open, welcoming the world with open arms

【林志玲　張梓琳】歲月綻放青春笑容　迎接這個日期
[Lin Chi-ling, Zhang Zilin] The old ages is smiling like youth, welcoming this day

【張靚穎】天大地大都是朋友　請不用客氣
[Jane Zhang] Everyone is friends, please feel at home

【許茹芸　伍思凱】畫意詩情帶笑意　只為等待你
[Valen Hsu, Sky Wu] The arts bring smiles, only waiting for you

【楊坤．範瑋琪】北京歡迎你　像音樂感動你
[Yang Kun, Christine Fan] Beijing welcomes you, like how the music moves you

【游鴻明．周曉歐】讓我們都加油去超越自己
[Yu Hungming, Zhou Xiao’ou] Let’s work hard together to go beyond ourselves

【沙寶亮．滿文軍】北京歡迎你　有夢想誰都了不起
[Sha Baoliang, Man Wenjun] Beijing welcomes you, with dreams everyone can be great

【金海心．何潤東】有勇氣就會有奇跡
[Jin Haixin, Peter Ho] Having courage will bring miracles

【飛兒．龐龍】北京歡迎你　為你開天辟地
[F.I.R., Pang Long] Beijing welcomes you, opening your eyes to a new world

【吳克群．齊峰】流動中的魅力充滿著朝氣
[Kenji Wu, Qi Feng] The flowing charm is full of life

【5566．胡彥斌】北京歡迎你　在太陽下分享呼吸
[5566, Anson Hu] Beijing welcomes you, sharing the joy of breathing under the sun

【鄭希怡．刀郎】在黃土地刷新成績
[Yumiko Cheng, Dao Lang] Making new records on our yellow soil

【紀敏加．屠洪剛．吳彤】北京歡迎你　像音樂感動你
[Ji Minjia, Tu Honggang, Denis Ng] Beijing welcomes you, like how the music moves you

【郭容．劉耕宏．騰格爾】讓我們都加油去超越自己
[Guo Rong, Will Liu, Tengger] Let’s work hard together to go beyond ourselves

【金莎．蘇醒．韋嘉】北京歡迎你　有夢想誰都了不起
[Kym Jin Sha, Allen Su, Wei Jia] Beijing welcomes you, with dreams everyone can be great

【付麗珊．黃征．房祖】有勇氣就會有奇跡
[Fu Lishan, Shawn Huang, Jaycee Chan] Having courage will bring miracles

【全體】北京歡迎你　有夢想誰都了不起
[All] Beijing welcomes you, with dreams everyone can be great

【全體】有勇氣就會有奇跡
[All] Having courage will bring miracles

【全體】北京歡迎你　有夢想誰都了不起
[All] Beijing welcomes you, with dreams everyone can be great

【全體】有勇氣就會有奇跡
[All] Having courage will bring miracles

If you notice any translation problems above, please do tell. I notice most places label this song as Welcome to Beijing, which I guess is technically correct or Englishfied, but to me there’s a difference between Welcome to Beijing and Beijing welcomes you. May be I’m being nitpicking.

Later I saw these awesome photos: 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony. These images are just magnificent and as someone mentioned in the Digg comments, many of these images reminded me of Magic Eye. Did I mention how beautiful these photos are?

Finally, Windows Media Center, TVTonic, and NBC teamed together to bring you easy access to the Olympics: NBC Olympics On The Go. The whole company got an email late this past week stating about the project. When VonLobster was over here earlier today, he brought that up and we decided to check it out.

The process was much more complicated than I had expected. After clicking “Launch” from the MCE menu, it prompted that it’ll be opening a browser and I’ll have to run the setup after it finishes downloading. I don’t see why it couldn’t have streamlined the process. It even specifically stated I wouldn’t be able to use the remote to continue with the setup.

After installing and launching TVTonic within MCE, I would have to say the navigation was rather poorly designed. It took us quite awhile to figure out what to do. We were just trying to figure out how to watch a video, and that took a good 5-10 minutes.

After we figured out how to subscribe to channels, things went pretty smoothly from there. Videos would automatically start downloading and if we wanted to watch a particular one, priority would be given to that one and it would pretty much start streaming immediately. We checked out a few swimming ones and the opening ceremony.

The Lenovo ads did get a bit annoying after awhile. Between every clip, it would play. I understand it’s sponsored by Lenovo, but maybe if there were just more than 2 Lenovo ads, that’ll be okay, but I’ve seen the laser vaporizing and the fruit basket one at least 8x today. It also didn’t help that the audio volume was much lower in the actual clips than the ad, so immediately after the clip, the Lenovo ad would be SUPER LOUD.

I was hoping to share some of these videos with my parents, but unfortunately they’re drmed and requires a TVTonic license to view. I know it’s free, but I doubt I can teach my parents how to install TVTonic.

It also took me awhile to figure out where they were caching these. On Windows Vista, it’s located in:
C:\Users\All Users\Wavexpress\TVTonic\Cache\Services

Update #2: Ohfuee had asked me for the names of the artists, but unfortunately I only had the list of them in their Chinese names. I then found this video/description which lists all of them: Various Artists – Beijing Welcomes You w / Translation. They even have a download link to the mp3.

January 26, 2008

Lenovo Thinkpad X61 Tablet – Review

Despite some complications in receiving my new laptop, I’ve been fairly impressed by it so far and I can’t believe I’m actually loving the tablet aspect of it.

First some pictures:

Then the specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 LV (1.6GHz, 4MB L2, 800MHz FSB)
12.1″ SuperView WVA SXGA+ TFT
1GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 1DIMM
Windows Vista Business
160GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
Integrated Bluetooth PAN
Integrated Fingerprint Sensor
ThinkPad X60 Tablet 8 Cell Li-Ion Battery

Screen:
As you may have known, the 2 major reasons I purchased this laptop was because it was light/portable and the fact it had a really nice screen. The X61 Tablet comes with 2 types of screens:

12.1″ SuperView WVA SXGA+ TFT, 2×3 UltraConnect II antenna
12.1″ MultiView + MultiTouch WVA XGA TFT

I’ve actually been waiting for over 2 years for the X series to have a better screen than XGA (1024×768 resolution) and when the X series Tablet got the new SuperView SXGA+ (1400×1050 resolution) awhile back, I thought the X series would get get the updated screen in no time. I was wrong and it’s been almost a year and the X series still only has the XGA option. However I figured out why the Tablets were given a better screen. The Tablet screen is noticeably thicker, probably to handle the tablet features and was able to increase the resolution due to that fact.

The screen however is just amazing. The image is super crisp and resolution is drool-worthy. I’ll talk about the Tablet part later in the review.

Battery:
I also opted for the 8 cell battery (over the 4 cell), which made it protrude in the back, but gives me about 4 hours of usage with WiFi enabled at the brightest LCD monitor setting.

The protrusion also made it not fit in my existing 12″ laptop neoprene case. I’m not sure if they actually sell neoprene cases that has an extra inch or 2 depth wise, but if you know of any, please do let me know.

Memory:
First of all, 1GB of RAM is NOT ENOUGH to run Vista Business with all the applications that Lenovo loaded. My memory usage was constantly hovering around 90%. I did have a Crucial 2GB stick of RAM on the way, but while setting up my machine was extremely painful.

When I did install my 2GB stick of RAM (a total of 3GB), memory usage was still hovering around 50%. I’ll probably need to take a look at what Lenovo included later and determine what I don’t need.

ReadyBoost:
I had an interesting experience with ReadyBoost. This laptop actually comes with a SD (secure digital) flash memory card reader. The old X-series came with a CF (compact flash) memory card reader and it worked extremely well with my Canon PowerShot S400. And now that I have a Canon PowerShot SD1000, it’s perfect! But this also meant I can enable ReadyBoost with one of the many SD cards I have laying around. In fact I cracked open a brand new PQI “Hi-Speed” 60X 2GB SD card. However, when trying to enable ReadyBoost, it said the drive was too slow and wasn’t able to enable it. I thought, “Darn! Maybe the SD card reader is too slow for ReadyBoost.”

So I started searching for USB thumb drive. I also have a bunch of those lying around. Found a PNY Secure Attache 2G (MMAR – make money after rebate) and plugged it in. Gave me the same too slow message when doing the speed test. Getting disappointed, I was beginning to give up, but decided give my new Kingston DataTraveler 2GB I had picked up at Buy.com for $1 shipped. Woot! It worked! However having this USB drive stick out like that was rather inconvenient, meaning I had to unplug it whenever I stuck it into my backpack and plug it back in when I needed to use it.

I decided the inconvenience wasn’t worth it and removed the USB drive. However, I did still have some spare SD cards I could try out. I took my spare Kingston 2GB SD card that I have in my backpack and gave it a whirl. Woot! It worked! Now I can have ReadyBoost the way I originally wanted it. I guess Kingston’s a good brand for ReadyBoost if you’re interested in trying it out.

Fingerprint Scanner:
This is one of the coolest things to have integrated into the notebook. The software that Lenovo provides for it is also rather neat. First of all, there’s the logging in. I associated 2 fingers for each account. Left hand logs into my corporate account. Right hand logs into my personal account. So now you know you can chop off my fingers and gain access to my laptop.

Besides that, it comes with a password manager for Firefox. Instead of using Firefox’s default password manager, I’ve opted to use Lenovo’s and what happens is when you’re prompted for a password that it has or you’ve entered a new password, you get prompted to scan your finger so that it will input the password for you. That’s rather neat!

Networking:
Lenovo has also done quite a bit to upgrade their networking software. I’ve always thought their connection manager was neat, allowing me to create zones which will automatically setup the networking device, printer associated to this network, and some other customizations. They’ve gone a step further where if you’re using a Ethernet connection, it automatically turns off your WiFi radio (conserving battery). Little things like these always make me excited.

Bluetooth:
I haven’t gotten a chance to play with the bluetooth yet, but I’ve always wanted it in my previous laptop, so that’s why I opted for it.

Hard Drive:
160GB isn’t a lot, but it’ll manage nicely. Compared to my 20GB hdd previously on my X31, this is a heavenly amount of space. I even bought a 60GB hdd to swap out, but because IBM has this proprietary partition that’s unreadable by anyone else, I’ve been too lazy to actually try to figure it out.

Portability:
This notebook turned out a bit heavier than I was expecting, probably due to the aforementioned reasons such as Tablet screen, larger batter, etc. It comes out to about 4lbs, a bit heavier than my X31 (which weighs 3.6lbs) and over 1lb heavier than the new X61 (non-tablet) which starts at 2.7lbs. However, despite weighing about 4lbs, it still is extremely portable.

Keyboard:
They FINALLY added the Windows (WIN) key!!! They also added the context menu key which is nice.

Tablet:
To clear out some confusion, a Tablet is NOT a touch screen. There’s some sort of (magnetic?) screen behind the LCD and only reacts to the special Tablet pens.

Anyway, I’ve always noted that I didn’t really want a Tablet, or actually didn’t really care for a Tablet, as I don’t particularly find having the ability to write useful. However, this past week has been nothing but fun with the Tablet capability. It helps that I have Office OneNote to play with. Taking notes is actually fun! I can draw diagrams and then email them out as is. One Note has this doodle-to-text converter where it tries to change everything you’ve written into text so it’s better organize. It’s actually pretty good and as I teach it more, it’s getting better.

Then I found out that Office Communicator actually has a writing mode and I was able to write text which would then be sent to whoever I was chatting with. That was really neat!

Here’s one of the doodles I did in OneNote:

There’s 3 buttons on the Tablet pen:

the tip
the side button
the eraser button

The tip was easy to figure out. If I hold it down, it’ll be like holding down left click and dragging. However, I still haven’t figured out the side button completely. I know if I hold down the tip and not move and wait for the circle to form, it would then act as a right click. If I hit the side button, the circle immediately pops out, but I’m not exactly sure if right click is the only action it can do. I can also use the side button to select items in OneNote. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out how to use eraser button (I didn’t find out it was a eraser button until much later). I kept on clicking and pushing it, but it would have no response on the screen. It wasn’t until I flipped the pen around once by accident and notice it was erasing what I had written in OneNote. I was like, SWEET! I’m still learning the different tricks of the Tablet pen, and if you have any to share, please do!

One thing that is someone annoying is the fact that when I’m writing on the Tablet, I leave fingerprints and palm prints all of the screen, requiring me to clean it everyday. I just end up using Costco’s Lens Cleaner that I use on my glasses.

January 18, 2008January 18, 2008

Some New Toys

It’s been awhile since my last post, but this post is going to be short and probably only a summary. I’ve recently obtained some rather new cool toys to play with.

First of all, I finally took the plunge and purchased an HDHR (HDHomeRun). For those who don’t know what this thing is, it’s a dual external QAM/ATSC tuner for your PC and is the easiest way to get QAM channels on your Media Center. I’ve had Media Center for awhile now, but I’ve really ever used it to watch videos and stuff. I finally wanted to play with the TV settings and like I said, took the plunge. I got it for a $160 shipped (deal is still available, inquire if you’re interested), only to find out a few days later a rumor of an employee discount. I’ll probably talk more about this later.

The next toy I got is my new Lenovo Thinkpad X61 Tablet. I had actually ordered this back in mid-December, but due to a UPS fiasco and them delivering my package to some other address, Lenovo to build another one and that’s why it took so long for it to arrive. Then there was the fact I was no longer in Monterey Park, and had to change the shipping which was more complicated than I originally thought. Anyway, I had been holding out for a portable laptop for some time since my IBM Thinkpad X31. I really wanted a X-series Thinkpad with a better screen. They decided to put a better screen on the Tablet, but not the regular X-series, so I finally made up my mind to get it. I was also contemplating on waiting for Apple to release the MacBook Slim (or what I had called it), but finally gave up on waiting for it. When the MacBook Air was announced a few days ago, I justified to myself that most 1st generation Apple products have a lot of problems.

Anyway, this morning I was having some sort of dream. I can’t remember what exactly the dream was but it involved a doorbell ringing. Doorbell ringing?!?! I jumped out of bed, ran to the window and saw the UPS truck. I ran down the 2 flights of stairs as a kid would do on Christmas morning to greet my UPS guy and signed for my package. I’ve played with it for awhile really nice. I’m still not that accustomed to the tablet features, but it’ll probably come bit by bit. It comes with Vista Business and definitely needs more RAM. Fortunately, a 2GB stick is on its way. I’d go into the specs later with its official post.

Yep, life is good. 🙂