What Are They Using?

Angel Roman is a 24-year old star software architect with the Bug Labs team in New York. Bug Labs (subject of an UpFront feature last month) is becoming familiar in Linux circles as a hack-ready DIY hardware development and assembly system. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January I got some hang-time with the Bug Labs people, and was especially impressed not just with Angel, but with how he had hacked together his own persnonal assortment of Linux gear. Here's the rundown he provided at the constantly crowded Bug Labs booth:

Handheld/UMPC (ultra mobile pc): Nokia N810. "It's a great device", he says. His main everyday use is reading books on the subway between his home in the Bronx and Bug Labs' offices in Manhattan. "I basically use a .pdf reader, plus an email client."

Phone: Motorola E6 ROKR. "This is a Linux phone that I use as a GPRS modem for my Nokia N810 over bluetooth".

Laptop: Lenovo X61 tablet, running Ubuntu Linux. "I looked at the new Fujitsu 810. It was small with a resistance touchscreen, and the driver didn't work so well. But Linux has support from Wacom. So I decided to get a Wacom tablet. I previously had another ThinkPad that had Ubuntu working perfectly. So I decided to stick with Lenovo, got the X61, and installed the Wacom drivers... On an airplane the screen re-orients. Somebody figured that there's an accelerometer in the machine, and wouldn't it be nice if you could guide Tux Racer that way." Then Angel picks up the machine and moves it around as if steering a penguin down a ski slope. "So I knew that if I stuck with Lenovo I'd have good support for drivers. And so far that's worked out." He makes heavy use of the X61 as a tablet. "I can make use of the whole screen area. And I found something called Cell Writer, which I can train to know my handwriting. It works really well, and it's fast. You can even suspend and resume. It's an excellent solution as a tablet."

- Doc Searls

Note: pictures of Angel and his gear start here on our Flickr site.