Getting the Tablet PC OS to run on Sony's ultrapersonal PC
By Peter Rojas 
posted Jul 27th 2004 7:27AM
posted Jul 27th 2004 7:27AM
You can't get Sony's new U70 ultraportable PC in America (at least not through official channels), but one of the biggest gripes we've heard about it is that it runs on vanilla Windows XP rather than the Tablet PC version of XP that Microsoft has been pimping for the past year and a half. Not a big deal really, except that the Tablet PC OS has all the extra handwriting and speech recognition software for getting the most out of a tablet-style PC. Anyway, frustrated with the limitations of the U70 as he bought it, James Kendrick decided to take matters into his own hands and figured out how to install the Tablet PC version of Windows XP (which isn't particularly easy to obtain, um, "legally") on the U70.
Running WinXP:TPC Edition on a none active digitiser equipped unit is rather pointless. If anything, the OQO will be a better reciepient of the TPC Edition. It actually comes equipped with a Wacom digitiser!!
If i remember correctly, you can get a copy of Tablet PC edition of windows xp from the MSDN if your a subscriber. also, i seen the review of the U70 somewhere and it has a digitizer, i think. i could be wrong, but i rarly am.
The only feature of the tablet os that you lose by installing it on a device with a passive digitizer is the ability to "hover" move the cursor without touching the screen. Everything else works just like on a Tablet PC. The 256 mb of memory of the OQO and the reduced screen resolution (800x480) are not conducive to providing a good recipient for installing the TABLET OS on that device.
You lose a lot more than the ability to hover. You lose the 100+ hz per second sampling rate, thus everything you write look like crap. Plus don't forget that harder you push down with passive digitisers, all you do is crack the screen. Good active digitisers also gives you pressure sensitivity. Alot of TPC apps utilise that feature so that's another thing you lose.
With this lil' experiment, all they have done is create a really big, super low battery life and large/inconvinient PDA that can't do instant on. Congrats.
As for the lower res of the OQO, 800x480 is a resolution that Win XP works fine with, and is detailed enough to to do most work you want to do while mobile. That's a far better compromise for a TPC than a passive digitiser folks.
Asian market always get the latest products than US. Usually the lead time is 1 year :(
Here is a nice web site that focuses on discussing the new class of portable computers: ultraportables.
http://www.UltraPortables.net
So I hear that the WinXP Tablet PC 2005 is included in WinXP SP2.
Is this true?
If so, then this device is looking even more attractive. I predict higher productivity. I was going to wait for OQO Model 2, but now the OS "upgrade" is making it prudent for me to get the Model 1.