A week ago I received my repaired Lenovo (previously I had written about the first setup of Windows 8 and initial load of Ubuntu Linux). Super stoked, I immediately opened up the box and booted it right there on the spot. I wasn’t sure if Lenovo support had completely wiped and loaded the machine or if it was an entirely new machine. I had specifically stated, do whatever you gotta do, I’ll deal with the operating systems when I get it back – you guys just make sure it comes back on! Within seconds, not only did it boot, but it was booting via the same drive. Thus, all of my goodies were exactly where I left them. They had however, obviously reinstalled Windows 8 and allowed it to blow away the boot loader with it’s own. My boot loader, from my previous installation of Ubuntu provided to option of which OS to boot. The Ubuntu install was still there, just hanging out without a boot loader option. I immediately remedied that with a quick reload of the boot loader so that I could boot into Ubuntu Linux as well as Windows 8. After a few days (exactly 3 days now) here’s what I’ve observed so far using….

Ubuntu Linux on Lenovo X1 Carbon

• 

  Ubuntu Linux, ready for login.

  Ubuntu Linux, and one can assume any Linux, loads faster than Windows 8. Ubuntu commonly loads in 6-8 seconds after entering the password and about 10-12 second to present the login. Windows 8 boots in 20-22 seconds until the login screen and then 5-6 seconds from login until the Metro screen displays. Overall, almost 2x faster than Windows 8 on booting. This is with a very minimal installation of Ubuntu and Windows 8.

• The keyboard under either operating system feels solid in key press, spacing is good. Similar, but not exactly like the chiklet keyboard of an Apple product. The plastic carbon feel of the keys is just like the rest of the product. This is something one might love or hate. I personally like it. The complaint that I have about the keyboard, isn’t so much the keyboard but some of the standard placements for the trackpad, page up and down buttons, and other various buttons and sensitivities that make odd things happen while you’re typing. It is absolutely a keyboard that you have to get used to in order to use well.
• There is indeed the little red pointer in the middle of the keyboard. This little pointer is something people either absolutely despise with a passion or love like nothing else. I’m in the later camp. I like it. It’s accurate, if you have nimble fingers and get used to it the pointer is quicker than the trackpad, more accurate than the trackpad, and only becomes less so when using an external pointing device.
• The trackpad sucks. Ok, so it’s actually a massive improvement over the last X years of trackpads. It has double tap and some odd form of triple tap. It’s however oddly sensitive in certain ways and like a curmudgeonly clumsy brute in others. Overall, for a non-Apple trackpad, it’s actually rather good. But seriously, between the hardware and OS-X combo, I’ll be truly impressed when I get hold of a trackpad that is as effortlessly smooth, easy and accurate as an Apple trackpad. This trackpad on the X1 Carbon is spectacular against almost every device out there except that one.
• The screen is flippantly weird. Scott Hanselman talks about this in his review also too. The chief culprit seems to be this protective cover that Lenovo puts on the screen, but it isn’t really something one removes without an unwelcome dose of difficulty. Overall, the screen is pretty crisp, but it could be slightly better if the cover wasn’t on the screen.
• The touch capability of the screen. So back to the pointer device topic, the touch capability steps into an entirely new realm of accuracy. When using Windows 8, the touch capability of the screen is obvious – and necessary – for a truly great Windows 8 experience (great? meh, that’s the word I’m using). In Ubuntu however, the touch screen is an interesting way to make the mouse cursor show up on whatever side of the screen. It’s somewhat useful, in some odd ways, but it is very obvious that Ubuntu is not setup for a touch screen. However, it ought to be. Many of the icons, screen position movements and other things are already in good places for that type of interaction, it just needs to know the difference between the mouse versus the touch screen being used. Final rating however, for the touch screen with Ubuntu – irrelevant and useless, don’t get it if you’re going to only use a non-Windows 8 operating system.

So that’s it for now. I’m intending to do a full video and write up at some point, but wanted to get some quick reviews of first observations before I did a full wrap up. Until next time, cheers!

The release notes for Riak 1.4 can be found via github…

Two things have worked together that made me want to write up the new Riak 1.4 features. With Riak 1.4 hitting the streets and the work I’ve been doing with CorrugatedIron there are a few features that are going to add icing the cake. If you want to dive more into the release, check out the release notes. If you’re interested in the .NET Client CorrugatedIron, check it out here or check out the code on github. Now on to the client APIs.

riak-attach changed to not nuke a node

So when issuing the attach command like…

riak attach

…the command attaches to the named pipe to communicate with the running erlang nodes. Now when you hit Ctrl-C it kills just the pipe versus killing the pipe and riak node that you’re on. This is something that has bit me in the keister more than a few times. Bringing down a node or two while working on viewing what is going on with a node. This leads me to the next enhancement.

riak-admin transfers

If you’re using riak_kv_bitcask_backend, riak_kv_eleveldb_backend or riak_kv_memory_backend the riak-admin transfers command now shows per-transfer progress and displays long node names better. Giving you a better idea of what and where things are going. The way this is reported depends slightly on the specific back end. For bitcask or in memory back end the progress is calculated by the keys already transferred out of the total keys, where as the level DB back end calculates based on bytes transferred. Based on this the level DB calculation can get slightly off over time.

Protocol Buffers & Multiple Interface Binding

Protocol Buffers can now bind to multiple ports and interfaces, so clients such as CorrugatedIron for .NET (http://corrugatediron.org/), Riakjs (http://riakjs.com/) can now bind to the Protocol Buffers outside of the set configuration. For more on Riak configuration around the binding, check out the Basho Docs (http://docs.basho.com/riak/latest/references/Configuration-Files/). This also brings feature parity around interface binding equal to that of the HTTP interfaces. This changes the pb_port and pb_ip to a single pb setting which is now a list of IP and port pairs.

Total radness in paging, of 2i

Secondary indexes now have results available via pagination. Check out this PR for bunches more info.

Client-specified Timeouts

Milliseconds can now be assigned to a timeout value for clients. This can be used for object manipulation around fetch, store and delete, listing buckets or keys. This takes care of some time out issues that may have been occurring during certain types of requests. This will come in handy for asynchronous and pivotal if anyone goes the synchronous route.

Bucket Properties for Protocol Buffers

If you’re needing to reset a bucket to it’s defaults, this is now possible. Besides a reset to defaults all bucket properties are now usable for protocol buffer usage. This can definitely help client usage of protocol buffers in a dramatic way.

List-buckets Streaming – Realtime

Listing keys or buckets via a streaming request will send bucket names to the client as received. This prevents any need to wait for a request from all nodes to respond. This can help with response time and time outs from the client point of view. This gives the ability to use the streaming features with Node.js, C#, Java and other languages and frameworks that support realtime streaming data feeds.

…these are the features that have jumped out at me, so until next release.

Ok, in the end, let’s just call these things tablets. I know there is the attempt to call these phablets, but that’s so freakin’ stupid. They’re called tablets Microsoft. Just go with the flow. Here’s an unboxing, initial application viewing & a bit more via video. I’ve broken this review into three sections; A Video Review & Unboxing, A Few Product Photos and A Few Notes. On to the review…

A Video Review & Unboxing

A Few Product Photos

Samsung ATIV (Click for full size)

The ATIV with Windows 8 Start Screen displayed. (Click for full size)

The side view of the ATIV; power button, the something another button, headphone jack and USB port. (Click for full size)

The button, connectors removed for attachment to keyboard. (Click for full size)

Close up of the screen. (Click for full size)

The Connectors between the bottom and the keyboard. (Click for full size)

ATIV connected to the keyboard. (Click for full size)

Power chord side. (Click for full size)

Base of it, folded with keyboard. (Click for full size)

A Few Notes

On an Atom device, a ton of software is incompatible with Windows 8. NOTE this. It is vitally important to be aware of. Especially if you’re under the impression you’ll do any type of “Microsoft” Application Development. Also much of the 64-bit software won’t run even in compatibility mode. All things to keep in mind when making a purchase.

Strava, Pandora, Spotify and many other apps just do not exist for Windows 8 – still. Microsoft is either going to have to win market share in the app market or they’re going to have to pay companies to build Windows 8 versions of their applications. This isn’t entirely out of the question, as Microsoft has basically paid for most of the applications that are in the Windows 8 store.

If you’re an Evernote power user, or any type of power user for that matter, you will likely need to download the regular Windows version of any application in addition to the Windows 8 Start bar, tablet style metro interface contraption that is available via the store. The Evernote application for instance is cumbersome and requires more fiddling about clicking and moving things on the screen to be truly useful.

Amidst all of these problems there are a few gems in the Windows 8 application space. The one that stands out the most to me at this time is the Amazon Kindle Application. It is truly one of the more polished applications, but in addition it looks good and works well in the Windows 8 touch universe. Another application that holds up is the Weather Application. Yup, the simple built in Windows 8 Weather Application.

The Evernote application, fact is it doesn’t synchronize effectively nor does it actually show you how or were it is within that process. In the end, even though the application appears, at first to work well with touch, it doesn’t work well overall. Maybe it’s Evernote or Microsoft that is at fault. I don’t know. As the consumer I don’t need to know because it’s their responsibility to make these things work. Hopefully, that’ll happen eventually.

I’ll be using the tablet in an ongoing basis to build and test Windows 8 applications and for some everyday tasks; email, twitter and other applications as they become available. I’ll definitely have more to say about this device. Another review in a few months when I get really used to the Windows 8 interface and the hardware itself.

NOTE: I don’t get paid to do any of these reviews. I merely do these because I enjoy good, candid reviews and want to contribute back to the tech community. I am not paid to advocate Windows 8, Samsung, Apple, Tablets or Phablets or anything in this video. This is merely a product that I have purchased that I intend to use for software development and testing in the near future.

Cheers,

X1 Carbon with all the standard parts that come in box. (Click for full size image)

Yesterday I received my X1 Carbon Touch from Amazon. First part of this whole adventure is that I sent it to my old address in one part of town so that led to a little sleuth action to track it down. After a short bike ride up the street I arrived and the office staff had my X1 Carbon. Whew, disaster averted.

I went down to Ace Hotel were one of the local Stumptown locations is to open it up and see what I was in store for. Nothing like a good macchiato while I unpackaged the new machine. When I arrived I ran into Nathan Aschbacher and Eric Redmond. Two of my fellow Basho comrades. We all grabbed coffee and headed up to the roost for some hacking and conversation.

Unpacking

In the package, laptop sitting on the table at Ace Hotel’s Stumptown Coffee. (Click for large image)

Unpacking the Lenovo X1 Carbon is a straight forward process. A simple box, no elegance, just a box with some labels and logos on it. Pulling the laptop out of the box, still just the bare minimum. No bells, no whistles, even the documentation is a 2-3 page pamphlet. Personally, I’m totally cool with this approach. I find Apple’s packaging to be an experience of sorts, however extensively wasteful.

One of the applications I found not available for Windows 8 was a native HipChat client. This actually makes sense, since most of their customers are likely using Linux or OS-X. It really shows how Windows has seriously lost the edge with developers.

Nathan and Eric both give a feel to see how light and strong the laptop is. Nobody actually threw the laptop, but we all wanted to, just to see how it would hold up. Maybe with somebody else’s hard earned Lenovo purchase. 😉

Nathan gives it a look. (Click for full size image)

Gleefully smiling at the laptop, Eric proposes we throw it over the guardrail to the first floor below. (Click for full size image)

No start? (Click for full image)

After Nathan and Eric threaten the poor laptop, I set her down and try and get her booted up. First thing I notice, it doesn’t start. I’m puzzled? Why doesn’t it start? I pick at my PC Tech experience and think, “oh yeah, probably gotta do something stupid an unintuitive like plug it in for some magically arbitrary amount of time first”.

Lenovo lives! (Click for full size)

So I plug it in and try again. A small light around the power button, kind of a halo, lights up and immediately I get the happiness. The machine is coming to life. A bright Lenovo logo pops on the screen with the notorious Windows 8 swirly working image below.

Move ya mouse! (click for full size image)

Windows 8 then shifts into a preparing windows workflow which basically means you fill out a few things and it does something to the OS to make it ready to run. I sit through a solid 7-10 minutes of these screens, these fluctuating colors. It’s rad, in a psychedelic waste of time kind of way. However, I’ll admit, my Mac Book Air is sitting beside me running just fine that I’m using to do work while I wait for all this process to finish. I’m no amateur at loading operating systems, I come prepared. 😉

A Problem Arises

I relocate to Bailey’s Taproom after setting up some basic things and installing Visual Studio 2012 on the machine. While working through updates and installing patches my track pointer (the little red button thingy in the middle of the keyboard, that Lenovo is famous for) stops working.

I toy around with the settings and see why the track pointer is shadowed out in the settings. I battle with Windows 8 trying to find the easiest way into the settings and out of the settings and to the desktop and to the start screen and back and forth. It’s somewhat tumultuous but in the end it’s helping me get used to the new system and where everything is. But still, I’ve no idea why the track pointer thingy doesn’t work. I consult the great Google.

Apparently the drivers that it ships with are the suck. I get pointed to this video by Jesse Anderson.

After I get the drivers installed, everything is working flawlessly again. Onward!

Flakiness o’ Windows 8

As I’m working on Windows 8 setting up some of the cool applications for the start menu (or whatever the metro dealio is called now) I get a really flaky behavior. This is the kind of behavior that screams “we don’t really pay attention to usability” or maybe it screams “we’ve no idea what we shipped” or maybe it’s just a simple example of “oh shit we shipped that stupid user experience“. Whatever the case is, this is it…

Notice something redundant here?

Yup, on a laptop with a HARDWARE LAPTOP ATTACHED Windows 8 is showing me the keyboard. WTF kind of pure idiocy of a UX is this? My mind is blown. After years of the iPad having this problem figured out (and Apple doesn’t even sell keyboards themselves). When you have a HARDWARE keyboard NEVER show anybody the stupid SOFTWARE keyboard EVER. Seriously, this has to be one of the dumbest UX situations that I’ve seen in ages. This is a total failure of logical flow. Note also, this screen doesn’t fold all the way around, this is a laptop pure and simple, not in any way a tablet. But there’s the SOFTWARE keyboard that one should only see on a tablet! Oh well, it aint the end of the world, it’s just DUMB.

I get everything else setup, zonk for the night after working through all the software installations and patches. All is right. All is cool.

Loading Ubuntu Linux

Loading Ubuntu (Click for full size)

Ubuntu (Click for full size)

The next morning I rise early and get to working on the next phase of my installation. I don’t, by any means, intend to use Windows 8 all the time on this machine. I want to have a dual boot of Ubuntu and Windows 8 on this laptop so that I can have every OS (OS-X, Windows 8 and Ubuntu) running natively on at least one machine that I have.

I do a little research and find this information about making a bootable USB Stick for Ubuntu from Windows. That information points me to this application that makes it a no brainer to get a bootable USB stick ready for use via Linux Live USB.

Just As I Got Ubuntu Installed…

I shut down the computer after getting all of these things installed. Windows 8 was finally fully patched, Ubuntu was installed and running with all patches too. The X1 seemed to hang on the shutdown. So I held down the power button for about 8 seconds to hard reboot the machine. Thinking that it would startup no problem at a later time I packed it in my messenger bag and headed off to a meeting I had scheduled. I arrived at the meeting and went to start the laptop again.

…nothing.

So I tried to hold the button down for 7 seconds to start it back up.

…nothing.

I packed it back up and returned to a place I could plug it in and try to start it. I swung into Backspace and found an electrical jack. Plugged in, counted a few seconds just for good luck. I then held down the power button for 8 seconds to see if it would start plugged in.

…nothing.

SOS SOS SOS !!!!!

(Click for large image)

I then sporadically pressed the button. I then used morse code to spell S.O.S. on the power button.

…nothing.

I resigned myself to now owning a large paper weight. Albeit a much lighter paper weight than what laptops traditionally weighed. My X1 Carbon Touch was dead. I called tech support.

Impressive Support

First thing that happens, I navigate through support quickly. The automated voice tells me I am now being connected to Lenovo Support in Atlanta, Georgia. At this point I was impressed. I’m getting to speak to someone in the country where I’ve bought the machine. That is cool.

I get connected to Tom in support. I fill him in on my sitrep. We walk through some basic troubleshooting. Such as the “pin in the battery reset hole” trick“.

…nothing.

Tom wastes no time as I’ve already laid out everything I have in this blog entry. He declares it dead and gets a box on its way to me for returning it to Lenovo. With a promised 7 day return after I ship it to them. Well hot damn, my laptop is dead by I’m stoked to have support like this. I don’t recall support this good since the late 90s!!

@adron you should get a Mac!

— Greg Zuro (@softboyled) July 4, 2013

As I tweeted about this I got a lot of responses like this. I concur and I already have a mac, this is an machine specifically NOT for using the mac.  😛

So in the meantime, it’s back to Windows 8 via VMware Fusion on a good ole’ mac!

Windows 8 via VMware Fusion on OS-X. (Click for full size)

…so stay tuned, for the ongoing saga of Windows 8 & Ubuntu Linux Development on a Lenovo

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