Linux for the Kohji

Well, it couldn't be otherwise, and at some point I had to switch over to linux
for the Kohji. I started right now, and will note on my progress here. I know it
is not going to be really easy (mainly for the drivers for the esoteric wifi
card), but hopefully I will manage to get rid of Windows in it. (I had a nice
setting with Windows and Cygwin, but it was starting to be quite slow, so I
decided to go for the real thing...)

One week with my toy...

It's been a week with my Kohji now. It has been a pretty busy week, so
I haven't done much with it, except configure my mail and news reader
(which will cover the 90% of my time spent with the Kohji). The right
combination has come with Cygwin, Emacs and Gnus (a screenshot of which can be seen in the picture, quite usable really). I have switched from
Emacs - VM, which I was using until now, because Gnus offers good
support for IMAP and offline mode, which is my intended use for the
Kohji.

Next week I will have to tune everything (mainly the keyboard).

My new toy has arrived...

Well,

at last I got my Kohjinsha SA1F00B. It arrived on the 22nd, but I was away from
home, so I couldn't put my hands on it until yesterday. On the same day I
received the WIFI Router that Orange was sending me for free, so it was perfect
timing.

In the end there was no local tax to pay, so the TOTAL price for the Kohji was
739.45 Euros (738,19 for the computer itself, and 1.26 for the AC adapter cable
for Spain). Not a bad deal.

So far I haven't tried many things as this weeks is specially busy, but last
night I managed to install the WIFI router so I could try the Wifi connection,
which works flawlessly, and the same for the Ethernet connection.

As posted in other places, the keyboard is not great, but I think it is
usable. I just installed the software I will be needing in a regular basis, and
I will post again when I get more details to share.

Kohjinsha Mailing list

I'm still waiting for my Kohjinsha computer, and while reading about it in the
Internet I read a worrying blog about a Kohjinsha owner that found that its
display is broken... (http://www.handtops.com/show/blog/104/2). I'm not sure if
he managed to get it fixed, whether it was due to humidity or something
temporary... Anyway, I hope he fixed it and that it is not something that will
happen frequently to these machines...

At the same time I decide to create a Mailing List where owners of the Kohjinsha
machines can discuss tips, tricks, etc. about it. We are few outsied Japan, the
manuals are in Japanese, so I think it would be nice to have a common place for
sharing our experiences with it. The group webpage is
http://groups.google.com/group/kohjinsha-sa1f00-users/topics?hl=en

Anybody is welcome to join.

Bluetooth mobile as a modem

The title says it all. For the moment I will put here some links that explain how to do it. I'm not sure yet, though, whether the mobile has to be special, or my trusty GX15 will do. We'll need to experiment. For the moment here are the links:

• http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=1524
• http://davesource.com/Solutions/20050105.T-Mobile_Ericsson_T610_Bluetooth_OSX.html
• http://foro.todopocketpc.com/showthread.php?t=34768
• http://www.pcdemano.com/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=652
• http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/04/06/on_road_connect.html?page=2
  

WIFI Router and Bluetooth phone...

Until I receive the Kohjinsha laptop, I can set up a number of things to make working with it a true portable experience ... Well, the first one is to get WIFI connection around my house. Until now I only had one computer, which I connected to the Internet via a USB ADSL Modem. I talked to my ISP (Orange), and I was going to buy a router for 60 Euros, but in the end I managed to cajole them into giving it away for free... (The story is a bit long, since they will send me first one which I have to reject, and then they will send me the free one... Let's wait and see what happens...). So WIFI connectivity is, somehow, sorted.

The other thing I was planning to buy was a Bluetooth mobile, with the idea of using it as a modem when I was out. By doing a search in EBay I found that my present mobile (a Sharp GX15) has Bluetooth already!! (I should've read the manual, shouldn't I? :-) ). So, now I just have to learn to use it as a modem, and voila! I should have Internet access anywhere.

So, today was a good day. I was expecting to pay 60 Euros for the router, plus another 40-60 Euros for the mobile, and I found that I will have both for free! I should invite the family for a dinner out!

Kohjinsha purchase made!!!

Just today I did send the money for my new Kohjinsha.... Not a bad deal: €738,19 (original price $938.00) taken into account the currency exchange fee paid to PayPal, for the SA1F00B model which is similar to what I wanted to buy originally, but with a 80GB hard disk (the full specs of both models can be found at http://conics.net/temp/sa1f00/specs-KOHJINSHA.html). Anyway, I still have to wait to see how much I will end up paying for local taxes... Delivery is supposed to take place tomorrow, and hopefully I will have my new toy by next week, all the way from Japan.