On 12/06/11 12:44, john lewis wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Jun 2011 09:46:03 +0100
> Samuel Penn<sam@???> wrote:
>
>> Chris Dennis<cgdennis@???> wrote:
>>> I'm still undecided whether or not to get a small 'proper' laptop
>>> or one of these shiny new toys... err, I mean indispensable
>>> business tools.
>>
>> The obvious answer is to get both! :-)
If I had the money...
> It really worries me when I see TV progs with these fancy interfaces
> on computer thingies that allow some character to slide a finger across
> screen and things move around or as in a program about Egyptian
> archaeology which showed satellite images that could be zoomed into by
> (it looked like) pinching the screen.
>
> That ain't computing as I know it ;-(
> and I don't think I can cope with computers that do that sort of thing.
What concerns me is not whether I'll be able to cope, but whether I'll
lose the sense of 'being in control' that I have with, for example,
Debian, where I can read the source code and make whatever changes I
want (if I have the time and skill to do so).
A bit of Googling suggests that it's possible to get SSH access to an
Android device and do the low-level messing about that I'm used to. So
maybe that's OK.
The other problem is the drivers for all the fancy hardware. I could
probably/possibly replace Android with Debian on one of these new
gadgets: it might run, but would it have a usable user interface? Would
there be drivers available for battery management, wifi, camera, gravity
sensor, GPS, etc.?
When the computer mouse first came out, there were various plugs and
sockets and drivers from different manufacturers. Now they've become
standardised, and we expect the mouse to 'just work' on any computer.
Hopefully the same thing will happen to these new human interface
devices in due course.
cheers
Chris
--
Chris Dennis cgdennis@???
Fordingbridge, Hampshire, UK
