Writting Etiquite

Yes. They are called PDA's (Personal Digital Assistant). Agood one can recognise handwriting and can be connected to PC's in a variety of ways (Bluetooth, WiFi, USB)

Al

As long as you spell out the word "be." Come on, how much time are you saving?

Steve

I have a couple of friends who live by these things. Whenever I have seen them use the handwirting identification it has clearly been quicker than using a touch screen keyboard with a stylus. I would suggest your derision is not based on experience but negative expectation.

Al

Sorry, my derision was not aimed at your suggestion. I like PDA's very much. If you go back and re read the post, I am being derisive about the original poster who used the letter b instead of the word be in every case. How much time was saved by dropping the letter e?

Sorry that was not clear to you.

My apologies.

Yesterday I was trialling 3 modifications that I'd implemented at the weekend and goalposts were getting moved left, right and centre so I guess I was a little tetchy in general

Al

No problem....

I hope you landed the ball in the far corner and that the goalie never had a chance.

I got stung by a be once. It hurt.

As bad as that was, it could have been worse. It could have been " to be"

Come on you all thought it right?

I would also kindly suggest that spelling is important. I hope you meant "writing etiquette" for your subject.

If you are studying to be an engineer, overt misspelling and dropping letters from words is bad practice.

I agree with Standarded (Post #5), but suspect that English is NOT your first language. If English IS your first language, then you need to get, and use, both a good spell checker and a grammar checker!

If you register, and include a location, then we will be more likely to be less critical, assuming your location is in a non-English-speaking country.

I find your Title amusing/disturbing. Etiquette among engineers would involve using full words, the correct ones (there, not their), correct spelling, and complete sentences.

There is nothing inherently different in connectivity between laptop and desktop computers. The cheaper ones of either kind will have limited ability to connect. In fact it is generally slightly easier to add connector cards to desktop machines than to laptops.

somewhat bigger than PDAs, you may want to try "Tablet PC"
google ~ tablet PC
some e.g.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_PC
http://www.tabletpctalk.com/

there are a number of manufacturers you can choose from...

Randall,

Assuming the pictured device is an obsolete one, does it have any successors currently on the market. Judging by its displayed text, the writing surface was too small to be of much use . . . in spite of it's accuracy otherwise. Do you know the actual size of the device? In particular, it's writing surface? It looks about the size of a laptop touch pad, if not smaller. (In the meantime, I'll check the link.)

These devices are fairly new, and, there's a whole crop of them. The main section fits to the top of your writing pad (book or whatever) and you write or draw normally on ordinary paper with the special pen. the main unit somehow digitises and records the movements of the pen, which can then be uploaded to a PC. Earlier devices used a special "clip board", and, some even needed special paper.

Thanks again, Randall, and by now I have looked over the link. As is too often the case with mfr marketing material (especially on Web sites) the product promotion is written as if

1. No one except the writers and their overseers & fellow employees will ever read it, or
2. Plenty will be willing to buy (based on puffery) just to find out how it really works—

which leaves some doubt as to how the device actually functions and performs; and who would be best served in choosing it over other digitizing alternatives.

My reading at the link leads my to understand the following about the device:

It comes in two versions: one a non-portable which must be connected to, and derive power from a computer USBus; the other a portable (so-called "mobile") unit powered by battery cells (in lieu of USB-interface power), which also contains internal memory for field "recording" and processing (to some unstated degree) of field notes jotted down away from a "real" computer.

The "heart" of the device (system) seems to consist in the "ink pen" component, with the "base" unit serving primarily (apart from set up) as an LCD display for use in checking the recording of what is written on paper with the pen. It is unclear whether the digitizing processing (the pen tip tracking and recording, if you will) occurs in the pen or the base accessory; but the description of interoperability of base with legacy pen versions (prior of advent of the "base" accessory) suggests that that capability is built into the pen.

Also unstated, is just how the pen communicates with the base; but the delivered package illustration shows a kind of "spring," which I take to be an expandable/flexible interconnecting cable used to interface pen and base during "remote" hand writing—possibly nothing more than a telephone or network (or USB?) cable—or pen and computer (sans base unit?), via phone, network, or USB port, for the purpose of "local" note taking, or download of remotely recorded material.

It is not stated but, this product seems to have one primary feature benefit to recommend it over other forms of hand note/sketch digitizer: the much greater tactile control afforded by writing on paper as opposed to the tenuous contact tension afforded by pressure sensing pads and screens on PDA's, tablets, and the like. However some, such as legal, accounting/tax-preparing specialists, would probably see having "original," hard-copy-duplicate records as a (perhaps indispensible) benefit; others, in general, might see "contemporaneous error checking" as afforded by the base accessory as a benefit.

On the downside— For others, the need to "manage" interconnected parts and dangling cords might prove unduly cumbersome and unwieldy when compared with simply picking up a "unit" (PDA, tablet, . . .) and starting to write or sketch. The act of eye flitting back and forth between paper and screen might also strike some as making note taking an unduly complicated process.

Again, all of the above is based on what one person can glean from the advertising; a person who had actually used the device could speak better to its function, pros, and cons.

Finally if, as said above, it is true that many will buy before looking, it is reasonable to suppose that many of these units might be lying, unused in drawers. If that is truly the case, I would not be unwilling to pay less that retail (100 - 200) for the "privilege" of trying out one of the devices. So, I'll be checking auction and classified sites to see what comes up.

Here's another one:-

http://www.iogear.com/product/GPEN200N/

Thanks. This appears to be the same product distributed under a different distributor/brand. One thing mentioned by IO gear not mentioned by the other was a requirement for MS Office. This is both good news—my desktop XP system has Office—and bad news—my notebook Vista system was purchased with MS Works. So, unless there's a workaround for this, I would be trapped with, either, acquiring a self powered pen and receiver base and relying solely on the desktop system, or forfeiting the investment in Works and acquiring Office license for the Vista system . . . increasing the pen's cost by well over $100.

I am not sure what exactly you are after?

Are you looking for proper written letters and the Etiquette of coloured paper with matching coloured envelopes?

I suggest you invest in mini laptop with a USB, as it gives you the choice of printing what you want where you want. And download a really good spell checker and, a 'portable printer', if you want to print and send what you write in the 'old fashioned' way with paper. You can keep all this in a nice leather Briefcase.

babybear

If I understand OPer's question correctly, he wants a handwriting digitizer that is simple and without lots of frills (except recording pen (ink) figures, and the ability to export or sync to a desktop computer. I have been seeking that same thing but have found PDA's to have become increasingly difficult to find and test (stores say they are rapidly losing market to wireless telephones; so why stock them?) and the prices are too high for . . . features I don't need or want. Tablets are probably better for strictly note-taking and sketching purposes, but the one's I've found are prohibitively expensive.

Anyway, as it turns out, I have just purchase a notebook, and with it, my first exposure to Windows Vista (Ultimate addition . . . that's important, as will become apparent). Within a short period of poking around in Vista (and, yes, I think it might be getting an unfair bum rap from users of prior NT incarnations), I discovered it includes a couple of pretty good note-taking applications, Journal and paste-it notes. These are, by design, intended to be used in conjunction with an interfaced tablet; but I tested Journal out (on a lark) by writing with finger tip directly on the computer touch pad. To my amazement, and writing both cursively and in print script, the handwriting recognizer program was able to translate my rudely scratched words (my handwriting puts a male doctor's Rx's illegibility to shame) virtually without error! The first time, the translation appeared automatically, even as I finished a word on the touch pad. After that, for reason I've yet to figure, the auto recognition did not work, and I was required to circle the (desired part of) the note and "command" initiate the translation - a minor inconvenience. Now I am considering using the notebook (laptop), itself, as a portable digitizing writing tablet, at least until a suitable and affordable handheld device can be found. The one remaining question would be as concerns the power consumption needed . . . when disconnected from AC converter. I am also pondering whether a device, an "anti-telescoping" devise, could be contrived whereby handwriting in normal size would be written onto the notebook's touch pad in very small size . . . kind of a handwriting miniature-izer that would allow more than one or two words to be written on a line onto the touch pad.

(Incidentally, the handwriting recognition function was not the only in which Vista seems to have improved substantially over XP. After discovering the handwriting digitizer and recognition features, I decided to check out the text-voice synthesizer. It's operation was found to be a marked improvement over XP, with the "natural" voice (inflection) output comparing favorably - I would say - to that of the real-person voice recording on the recently retired POP-CORN telephone time announcer. But I digress.)

I am not sure I understood what you meant by the "text-voice synthesizer"

I was tasked with re writhing a 75 page technical document. My typing skills have plenty of room for improvement. I installed "Dragon Speak Naturally" It amazed me how easy and efficient it works. I was able to speak into a headset and the words were inserted into the correct spots in the document. All the wile a radio blasting away three feet from me.The program learned my speech patterns and technical words right away.

If the OP wants the handwriting device to supplement his typing skills, The Dragon Speak program might offer solutions worth exploring.

"text-voice synthesizer" is the opposite of "Dragon Speak Naturally". It converts computer-readable text into audio.

Thank you for a GA. All of my use was at a desk, so power, and portability were not an issue.

"Etiquette" you mean?

"Writing" you mean?

spell checker helps also

Writting Etiquite

should be

Writing Etiquette

Also

(1) be instead b.

(2) it's instead it.

I concur. It correct practice to b smart when composing you email!

I think you may be looking for something like this...

http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/smartpen/echo/

Looks like fat pen with large digital tracking and voice memory.

While it may be very useful under certain conditions, I still like to use pen & paper. Less than 1% of my "hard-copy" ever needs to be scanned/digitized and that takes very little extra effort using my current (but old) computer/scanner.