The iRex iLiad 2nd Edition

As part of my attempt to reduce my paper consumption, I purchased an iRex Iliad 2/e off ebay last week and have been configuring it. This is a wonderful device. In terms of hardware, it is just powerful enough to do everything I need it to do---read and mark up journal articles. I was originally looking into the Sony PRS-505, or Amazon Kindle, but I eliminated those devices from consideration after reading Richard Chappell's review, which said the Kindle's 6-inch, 600x800 resolution screen is insufficient to display scanned PDF articles like those from JSTOR. The iLiad's 8-inch 768x1024 resolution screen is just good enough to display JSTOR articles comfortably.

Hardware-wise I think the iLiad can be substantially improved in only three ways:

1. Faster processor - the current machine takes 45 seconds to boot, and opening a 3.5MB, 700-page PDF (e.g., a draft of Derek Parfit's On What Matters) can take more than 10 seconds.
2. Higher resolution screen - 768x1024 (160dpi) is still fairly grainy; pumping things up to 200- or even 300-dpi would make a big difference. I think an 8" (diagonal) screen represents a nice trade-off between screen size and device portability, so I don't think a bigger screen would be all that convenient. (A second screen, in a folding format, would be a substantial improvement.)
3. Higher contrast screen - the current screen displays a wonderfully solid and stable black lettering, but does so on a greyish screen which can be hard to read if there's not enough light. Here's a picture that illustrates this:
   

It's always nice to improve battery life, but I'm always able to charge it daily, so 15 hours is enough. Perhaps a slide-out keyboard would be useful for writing comments into papers, but for me being able to scribble, underline and highlight using a stylus is enough.

Of course, the biggest problem with the iLiad is its price: $699 is just too high for the device to gain widespread adoption. Try to get one second-hand.

On the software side, there are many ways the device could be improved. What's great (if you're technically inclined) is that the device is on an open platform (linux), and there's a robust user community that has produced a number of must-have applications for the device. It seems the central "base" for this community is MobileRead's iLiad forum. What follows is a guide to setting up the iLiad with (what I take to be) essential software enhancements.

1. Get a CF card: this is the only way you can "reformat" an iLiad to return it to factory condition. You can find 32GB cards for about $80 now. And the MobileRead forum has a guide to reformatting your iLiad. Make sure you are running the latest version (currently 2.12) of the software.
2. Unlock developer access: This will let you run custom applications. Again, instructions for obtaining the iLiad developer package are found in the MobileRead forum
3. Install PDF enhancements: The best way to do this is to use daudi's Multi iPDF installer. This lets you select from a variety of different PDF readers. You need to be running the 2.12 software to use this. Use 2.12 for the iLiad 2/e, and 2.12.1 for the iLiad ebook edition.
4. Install more Software: You can do all sorts of things with this device. Here's a MobileRead post which lists more useful applications.

With this, you'll have a very usable reader for academic purposes.

Note: the iLiad's screen is only just big enough to display a single article page; there isn't enough room to display both the text on the page and the whitespace that surrounds it. A "facing pages" scan won't be readable. In those cases, you need to zoom. I manually crop my PDFs, which takes about 5-10 minutes per paper, depending on how bad the source is. There is much talk about adding an autozoom feature into the PDF reader, but as of today, nothing has been released yet.

EDIT (9/22): iRex has released an new product, the iRex Digital Reader 1000s. For $750, you get a larger, 10.2" 1024x1280 resolution screen, better battery life, a faster processor, and an upgraded interface. (You lose wifi, though. The 1000sw will be released soon, and it adds wifi and bluetooth for an extra $100.) The screen on the 1000s is large enough to display documents with a margin (so no extra cropping/zooming is needed). And the pictures make it look like the screen is higher contrast. It is likely that the iLiad interface will be upgraded as well, though no announcement has been made yet. I still prefer the smaller format of the iLiad, but this upgrade looks like a very significant improvement.

The Eureka Hunt

The July 28, 2008 New Yorker had a fascinating article on insight, titled "The Eureka Hunt". Unfortunately, it is not available online. My favorite quote:

In his 1908 essay "Mathematical Creation," Poincaré insisted that the best way to think about complex problems is to immerse yourself in the problem until you hit an impasse. Then, when it seems that "nothing good is accomplished," you should find a way to distract yourself, preferably by going on a "walk or a journey." The answer will arrive when you least expect it. Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize-winning Physicist, preferred the relaxed atmosphere of a topless bar, where he would sip 7 UP, "watch the entertainment," and, if inspiration struck, scribble equations on cocktail napkins.

How wonderful! Now I have a license to procrastinate!

(A rival view can be found here.)

3ware 9650se with Tyan i5400xt (S5396)

Just for the record: the 3ware 9650SE-8LPML PCI-Express RAID card will work with the Tyan Tempest i5400xt motherboard. And, Windows Vista Ultimate x64 will automatically download and install drivers for the card. (I don't boot from the RAID, so installation is somewhat easier). Everything works flawlessly, and I'm getting close to 600mb/sec writes to a RAID 6 array (using 8x300GB Maxtor 7200rpm SATA drives).

You will, however, need a recently updated firmware. 3ware has a knowledgebase article about this. The card I bought off ebay was manufactured in December 2006, and the system would not POST with the card installed. 3ware processed an RMA for me and sent me a replacement manufactured in January 2008, which worked flawlessly with the motherboard.

Video settings for DLA-G11 on Intel G35 graphics

It's spring break so I finally have a weekend to deal with computer upgrades. My system is now running off a brand-new ASUS motherboard, the P5E-VM HDMI. This motherboard is perfect for home theater applications, as it provides Vista-capable integrated video (through an Intel G35 Express chipset) with dual outputs: an HDMI port for digital panels and an HD-15 port for analog monitors. There's a big discussion of this over at AVS Forum. (I am, however, sticking with XP.)

Unfortunately, Powerstrip does not work with Intel video, and I have always depended on Powerstrip to create the custom resolution needed to obtain pixel-perfect output to my JVC DLA-G11 projector. The projector runs at a wacky 1360x1024 resolution; if the settings are off just by a little bit, parts of the screen get chopped off.

The solution is a piece of software called DTD Calculator. Here's how to get it to work.

1. Download and install the newest video drivers from Intel's website


2. Set "Graphics Options-->Output to-->Intel(R) Dual Display Clone-->Digital Display+Monitor"


3. Input the following parameters down the boxes on the left:
   
   Pixel Clock (MHz)
   139.208
   H Active Pixels
   1360
   H Start of Sync Pulse
   1464
   H End of Sync Pulse
   1608
   H End of Blanking Interval
   1824
   V Active Lines
   1024
   V Start of Sync Pulse
   1025
   V End of Sync Pulse
   1028
   V End of Blanking Interval
   1060
   (Leave "Interlaced" unchecked)
   Sync Profile
   +hsync +vsync
   


4. Finally, click on "Registry Hack", "More", "Get Calculated", and then "Write DTDs to the Registry".

Once you reboot, you should have a new "1360x1024" resolution selectable. That should match perfectly with your DLA-G11 or G15 projector. Make sure the projector is connected to the VGA out port, and the input is selected to SXGA3.

The values, by the way, were extracted from Powerstrip....

Clever Commercial...