Must See Series - Ancient Rome

This series on the BBC is superb. Although the order in which it was shown was a little odd as we jump back from Nero to Caesar, even further back to the peoples favourite, then way forward to Constantine then ending (logically) with the fall of Rome.
While watching this last episode I had the distinct impression its basis was something familiar (historians love theorising about the fall of Rome). Lo and behold, the advisor was Peter Heather whose book 'The Fall of the Roman Empire' I read a few months back.
Obviously during the episode they couldn't show everything in the alloted time slot. But there was a lot more going on in the ancient Roman world that was putting Rome under ever increasing pressure, finally causing it to implode.
For example, Alaric and the Goths were part of a huge ever increasing migration from Eastern Europe that suddenly arrived on the boundaries of the Empire at this time. The cause was the rise of the Huns in the Central Plains that pushed terrified people over into Roman territory.
However, on the Western side the situation was just as bad. Constantine III was declaring himeself co-Emperor and approaching with a large army. Other barbarians in huge numbers were romping around Gaul causing havoc within that part of the Roman Empire.
Back on the Eastern side relations with Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire were sour to say the least.
The only person who might have dealt successfully with all of these simeltaneous ruptures was Stilicho (shown at the beginning being executed outside the Church in which he sought Sanctuary). For 13 years he was at the helm (by rather dubious means) struggling with such issues as well as internal rivals and of course the chicken loving Emperor Honorius.
However, Stilicho was accused of a plot to place his own son on the throne. Amazingly, according to records he doesn't appear to have contested these charges and allowed himself to be executed. There is some debate over whether he did this through guilt or to prevent further ruptures in an Empire he now could see crumbling around him.
That was the meaning behind his deliberate 'Yes, I understand' when told he had been pardoned and would be unharmed by the Emperor.

MathTablet speed test....

I thought I'd try the Prime Number script that comes with MathTablet to see how long it takes to generate the first 1000 prime numbers.
On my Axim 51v it took about 27s.
On the M600 it took about 62s.
Pretty good really.

What a croc - escalation....

Here's is the reply I got from ebookmall when I pointed out I couldn't download the book I just paid for:

Hi,
Thanks very much for your order.

I'm sorry but I've never even seen this error, and we don't have any
information about it. It could have been just a temporary error somewhere in
Microsoft's system. My best suggestion would be to give the download another
try. You can do that from your account at the View Orders page:
http://ebookmall.com/view-orders/

If it still gives an error, write back and let me know.

Thanks,
Carrie R.
eBookMall Help Desk
help-desk@ebookmall.com
http://www.ebookmall.com/

-------------------------------------------
Your question/comment was:

Clicking 'Get Book' leads to an
HTTP 500 Internal Server Error
with the URL
http://www.ebookmall.com/cr-processing/OFS-mr-js.asp

So I can't download the book I just paid for.

-------------------------------------------

I found this extremely amusing! So I've replied:

Hi,
Still doesn't work and error is the same as before.
Could you explain to me what Microsoft's system has to do with this? I'm pretty sure I bought the book from eBookMall.

Thanks,
Naveen

TenGo keyboard...

This really is a cute piece of kit. If you haven't tried it already then go to their web site and download the trial version. Essentially its a very fast way to enter text. It also works when entering URL's or names, but you have to persevere to figure out the quickest way to do it. Suffice to say the trash can and 'text entered' (on the top left) are the tools you'll need.
However, TenGo doesn't work smoothly on all platforms. On the M600, after install, it cannot be selected from the SIP. I eventually found that I had to disable (then enable) SpbDiary plugin for Today screen to get the thing to appear!!

MathTablet and M600

Be sure to install the QVGA Skin for Xcas if you decide to use it. The VGA will lead to oversize buttons most of which can't be seen. This reminds me of the problem I had with Griffin Studio and my Axim. You have to edit the VGA skin files otherwise all views are too big to fit

What a croc...

So I've bought a book from ebookmall.com to see if I can figure out how the MS Reader thing works. Actually, I bought the book to read it but I'm being forced to go in circles by the stupid Activation process combined with the 'Get EBook' button on ebookmall that leads to an HTTP 500 Internal Server Error.
Geeze!
Moral - avoid MS Reader and ebookmall.com

MS Reader for Pocket PC....

What a croc.
Couldnt activate the bugger on my M600 (Kept complaining that my device had a version older than Mobile 2002!). A number of people have had this problem circa late 2005 and I'm still having it mid 2006.
Finally used this solution :
http://discuss.pocketnow.com/showthread.php?s=9122e196542271b07445ae0375b077ae&t=19178

MathTablet and XCas

First attempt has resulted in a crash on the M600 requiring a soft reset! The integration between MathTablet and XCas is ugly to say the least. I shall persist however.
OK, its working now, initial run appeared to show its slow but its not really fair to compare MathTablet on M600 with SpaceTime on Axim x51v!!
It appears to have calculated int(xInx) correctly which is a big plus!
And its done int(1/x*sqrt(1-x)) correctly and rather quickly.
I also prefer the keyboard with cursor arrows - essential on the piddly little M600 screen.
I'm now a convert!
Once I've tested graphing - which I doubt is better than SpaceTime - I'll report further.

MathsTablet

Won the Pocket PC Magazine award for best scientific calculator. It doesn't perform symbolic integration out of the box but can be used with Xcas plugin to achieve the same effect. I may give this a try and see how it feels, but SpaceTime is a pretty good looking piece of software with excellent graphing capablities.

SpaceTime Mobile....

...seems to handle simple stuff well enough.
But didnt seem to like Int(x*Inx) or Int(1/x(1-x)^(1/2)). Perhaps it needs more work. Still good compared to what else is available on Pocket PC.

Pocket PC Mathematics...

http://www.spacetimemobile.com
Their range of calculators looks impressive and offers symbolic manipulation. Definately worth trialing. I've gone through the tutorial on my Axim 51v and am highly impressed. In fact the more I mess around the more its speed and ease of use is impressive.

Pocket PC News Readers...

OK, I tried PocketRSS, Egress, NewsBreak, Spb Insight. I really want a cached reader so I can read as much as possible while on the tube. I also want to be able to read and synch news on both my mobile devices (SPV M600, Axim x51v) as well as my home and work PC.
NewsBreak fell out of the equation right away as it only gives headlines and doesn't cache the full article. Egress looked promising but suffered an annoying error screen every time I went to use the menu. PocketRSS looks hideous and was rather slow in downloading. SpbInsight WAS my favourite. Although at times it felt like a beta it does have a decent feature set and looks really good. It definitely had the best layout and clarity. However, at the last minute I stumbled across NewsGator Go!
Now in the past I've been a fan of Bradsoft (all two of their products before NewsGator took them over). So I was quite thrilled when I realised how easy it was to sink both FeedDemon, and Go! with the NewsGator web based server. It even keeps track of which items are marked read on the web server, so synching automatically carries that information to all devices. However, the Go! reader is simplistic. You can't add feeds and a number of other features are missing compared to the other candidates (Although adding feeds on a mobile device is a pain). I expect future versions will add more 'stuff' but as of now sharing feeds with all my devices really is a winner.

Back...

By huge demand I've decided to resurrect this blog.
I thought I'd start by discussing why motivation is lacking in some people but then I coulfn't really be bothered.