Sad days

As we head for christmas, I just like to share a sad story with you. My wife was expecting our next baby about the midle of December. On the 3. it was obvious that the baby was soon to arrive. Unfortunately, during the next hours it become clear that the baby was already dead. About noon on saturday 4. December, my wife gave birth to our third son, Daniel, already on his way to heaven, to meet his older brother Aleksander, who passed away only 15 days old in October 1999.

From time to time, life can be pretty hard. This christmas will not be any thing like we exptected it to be. But we know that both our two boys are safe and with Jesus in heaven - a far better place than this world. And later on we will meet both of them there. This is a comfort to us in these really hard, hard days.

Since we have 3 other children kickin' and alive, we have to go on with the daily routines, and make a christmas as good as possible for the family. That is a help to move on as well.

Do not take life for granted. Be happy for all the days your are able to live on. Make use of the days, they may be fewer than you think. And be good to other people as both them and you are struggle through the days. And remember, there is hope! Jesus was born on christmas day, and can still help you out, giving hope and a future - not only for your life here on earth, but for an eternal life together with him in heaven.

Merry Christmas!

You think I am a techno freak?

Probably, you think that I am only concerned about new technology if you read what I write below. But I am not, and that is probably the reason I am not blogging very actively. I am so busy trying to finish my Ph.D. Yup, that's true. I am about to finish a Ph.D on scientific computing. Mostly I try to implement good software for solving PDEs. Right now I try to build software for dealing more easy with PDEs (like rapid prototyping). This software I write in Python, the extremely versatile and flexible language.

The software package will be open source in the future, so stay tuned. I will probably try to package it in .deb form as well. Maybe it even make it into the main debian repository. We'll see.

So long,

Still here, but not very active...

I'm just back after 2 weeks in US, where I visited SC2004 and LISA'04. Both events was very good, and in particular the last one, where I met so many nice people.

Maybe a write up more on this later on, not sure... As you know, I am not a very active blogger. But that may change in the future.

C860 is here

Jupp - it is deliverd, and I will be busy for some days.

I will be back later with experiences!

It's almost here...

Just have to write a short note. I got a phone call today, from some delivery company. They had some questions about customs for a delivery from shirtpocket. It seems that the guys over in Uk at shirtpocket have done a remarkable job - the stuff is already in Norway, which mean that they only have used about 5 days to prepare and send my order, after wire-transfer of money was confirmed. Thats not bad at all.

Unfortunately, the person who deals with the money in my company is not present today, so they payment for customs can not be arranged today. Hopefully, we can get everything fixed tomorrow! If I am lucky, I have the stuff on thursday or at least on friday.

I have also ordered a bluetooth thing for the C860 from Aircable. Hopefully, they can deliver fast to, but the bluetooth is not that important, I have access to wifi in the most important locations!

-- The man

I go for the C860 anyway

After some days of thinking and comparing, I ended up with the C860 anyway. Sharp, of coarse. While the 6000 may have more features, it is harder to get hold of. And the version with both Bluetooth and Wifi seem to still be unavailable - only the 6000L version is on sale. Besides that, the C860 have more memory, and the keyboard seem to be a better fit for my use. So, I have to live with Wifi as a cf-card, but I think I can, at least for some time. Hey, nothing last for ever anyway!

I have order my Sharp SL-C860 from shirtpocket, and waiting eagerly for it to show up here. That may take some time though - first a money-order has to be done from my company, then it must be prepared at shirtpocket, and afterwards shipped to Norway. Here, it enter the customs-system, where it very well may be stuck for days and even weeks... Eventually, it ends up in my pocket sometimes in May...

It will be a loong wait, but I guess it will be worth it!

wow - my device actually exist

The register have a review of a device called Sharp Zaurus 6000W - with wifi and bluetooth built in, running linux, 640x480 display, etc. Seem like a wonderful device, besides a few minor things: It is not the clamshell version of the Sharp, which I think is better (hey, I really want a very small laptop, not a pda...), and it is a litle low on memory compared to the C860.

The question left is: When and where may I get hold of such a device...

Review at the register.

Amazon.com have the 6000L for sale, but for some stupid reason they are not willing to send it to Norway ;-(

Should I go for the C860...

The more I look into this, the more sure I become that the Sharp SL-C860 is indeed the right device for me. It seem to be a wonderful litle device, with nearly everything I'm after. The only doubt I have is this: How long do I have to wait, before Sharp deliver a similar device, only with the WiFi and Bluetooth built right into it - as Sony do with the ux50.

I wonder whether someone can tell me the answer to that!

What I really need!

My quest for the ultimate portable device is still not over. I can't find anything that I really like. After testing the Sony ux-50 at CeBit, I figured out that it is not the device I want. The reason is two-fold. First, the keyboard, which I don't like at all - it is not easy to type away on it. Probably it is possible to get used to it, but I don't want to spend that time.

The second reason is the software. Palm is nice, but really not the thing I want. I want something I can type in a real editor on - like vim. And I want to do some python programming. This really means that I want something which run linux.

The featurelist I want fullfilled in my ultimate portable device is:

• Small and light,


• wireless connectivity - bluetooth and wifi


• linux os


• internal keyboard which works.

The jvc mp-xp731 might be small enough. But it lacks bluetooth. The Sony U101 have everything I need, but is out of stock. One of the sharp zaurus models might fit, but they all seem to lack the wireless connectivity.

Hence, my quest is not over. I looking forward to what Sony might dig up as a successor to the U101.

I've been to CeBit

The last two days, I have visited CeBit together with two colleagues. This is known as the biggest trade show in the consumer electronics and it systems world. And, man, it is big. We really enjoyed it, but I will not tell you about all the great stuff you can find there - that information you can find elsewhere. Instead, I will point out one problem with the show - which i guess will be the reason for me not to return there.

Most of what we saw at CeBit was old stuff. Either just plain old stuff, or old stuff in new wrapping. I guess 95% of everything on the floor was uninteressting for most attendees. Not the same 95% for all of them, but still, only 5% interesting stuff. The real problem is that new products, new inventions, are mixed to gether with all the old stuff the company have. So, take for instance Nokia. The have a large booth, but I think they only have 1 new phone to show. The rest are more than 6 months old. This goes for most companys. Sure, some of them have cool, old stuff, but still old. This problem should really be addressed by the CeBit staff.

There may be more solutions to the problem. I think CeBit should be splitted in two - one part for retailers/resellers and so on, who like to see the complete picture, and one part for the public, where only new stuff should be on display. My colleague suggested that companies should submit new products to a commite for selection to a special "new technology" pavillion, to ensure that there are at least one interesting hall on the show. I guess there are more options. Anyway, I will not return until this changes.

New Phone

The last year my phone has been a SonyEricsson P800. Great phone and a great PDA. There was only a single show-stopper: It does not team particullary well with Linux. So today I got rid of it. I really feel sorry, and it served me well, but I can't take it any more.

My new phone is the SonyEricsson Z600 (go check SonyEricsson.com). That one is just a phone - no PDA. But then, it took me about 30seconds to sync it with my evolution running on my linux-laptop. That is a winner.

I Guess I will miss the PDA functionality of the P800, like the nice e-mail client, the possibility to take notes and even surf the web with Opera, so I guess I will buy another PDA - probably either a Sony ux-50 or the Sharp Zaurus C860. I really want a linux-based PDA, but then it also need to 'sport at least Bluetooth, hopefully WiFi as well.

Have to search a bit more I guess before I decided what to do!

Stay tuned. Probably, I put something here later.

Right now, the hottest topic is a new mobile phone/pda combo (since no good single solution exist yet). I have not deceided, but a sony ux50 together with a small phone may be a solution.