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       Stardate: 20210818.2303
       Location: Kitchen Table
       Input Device: Fujitsu P1610 UMPC running antiX
       Audio: Gary Numan's Intruder album
       Visual: P1610 in convertible bump case attached to external battery.
       Emotional: Awake.  Coming down from evening cup o'coffee.
       
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       I do not need new gear.  There are new and interesting gadgets that
       keep showing up on my radar that I absolutely do not need but I keep
       getting drawn to them because of my techno-lust.  I just wanted to 
       put that out there.
       
       Having stated that, I will continue enjoying the tech that I do have.
       That is why I am writing this on the Fujitsu P1610 UMPC (Ultra-Mobile
       PC), circa 2007.  I took this device out with me today and did some 
       writing and personal computing.  
       
       Its internal battery does not have much capacity left, but I do have 
       an old external laptop battery that I still use with it.  The battery 
       is an Energizer XPAL XP18000, which I started using on 08/2012 (yeah, 
       I label my rechargeble batteries.)  Originally, it was rated at 70WH.  
       Not sure what the capacity is now, but it is still usable.  I use this 
       battery to power my electric guitar and amp as well when I go portable.  
       
       I should run a capacity test for this battery just so I can see where
       it is at.  The battery testing software that I use is actually on the
       Windows XP Tablet Edition partition that I still have on this machine.  
       I keep that partition around mostly to run the software for the 
       West Mountain Radio's CBA II (Computerized Battery Analyzer), which 
       will only work in XP.  I haven't tried running it in Wine.  Maybe I 
       should look into that.
       
       People keep offloading their "old" tech on me and I keep finding ways 
       to repurpose this old tech, especially with Linux!  These machines
       usually have an older version of Windows...one actually had Windows 10.
       I wipe these and install some form of Linux on them for testing, 
       tinkering, or whatever explorations of the moment in computing that 
       happens to show up on my radar.  It surprises me how capable some of 
       these machines are and how they were ready to be discarded.  Well, 
       maybe not so capable in Windows, but with Linux, there is much more
       life to be extended.
       
       This Fujitsu P1610 UMPC is still very functional for me.  Then again,
       most of the computing that I do on it is in the terminal.  I have 
       the antiX Linux distro, which is meant for older hardware and runs
       pretty lean, which is adequate for me.  I still love the form factor
       and the keyboard is adequate for me to touch type.  I actually enjoy
       typing on this device more than the Gemini PDA, which has been my
       primary personal portable computer as of late.  I would love to be
       able to use the swivel, resistive touch screen in Linux for inking,
       but last I checked which was years ago, it was not really doable.  I 
       should see if there are any options for it these days.  The vanilla
       install of antiX did not have touchscreen support but maybe it can be
       configured.
       
       So, when I start looking at new tech and then I start looking at what 
       I have in the lab, I become discouraged from making new purchases.  I
       should do this more often.  As much as I enjoy the excitement of the 
       new stuff, expecially since there hasn't been too much to get excited
       about until recently, I should be more mindful of whether these 
       technological objects of desire even have a place in my head space.  
       I can easily get obsessed with this stuff along with the accessories and 
       functions that I didn't know I needed (which I really don't.)  I have
       seen this in me before, like with the Walkmans, the PDAs, the laptop 
       computers, the mobile phones...these technological artifacts will keep 
       continuing to manifest and I will be drawn to them.  This reminds
       me of the hungry ghost idea that the Buddhists talk about.  Gotta be
       vigilant!
       
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