GUI size for netbook/ultramobile PC

Discussion in 'Feature: Requests and Planning' started by qilin, Dec 12, 2008.

  1. qilin

    qilin Member

    I tried Synpase client on an ASUS Eee PC 1000 with 10" LCD, resolution 1024x600.GUI size 4 is too big, size 3 is usable but many windows are messed up, some buttons are not showing up. I plan to use this netbook for an office I only go once every one to two weeks. It will be nice if the GUI can be optimized for this screen size. These PC now use atom processor, runs windows XP very smoothly, weights less than 3 lbs, battery runs for more than 5 hours. Their prices are very reasonable now. I think they are great for EMR use, especially if one needs something really mobile.
  2. Jason

    Jason Developer / Handyman Staff Member

    Size 3 hasn't been updated in a long time.

  3. Graham

    Graham Developer Staff Member

    There are better netbooks out there with 1280x768 resolution.

    Don't buy one with less ....



  4. qilin

    qilin Member

    1024x600 appears to be a very popular size now, all the major brands Dell, Acer, Samsung, Asus, HP use this size screen. It's probably good enough. Some people are probably still using 3.5" pocketpc for EMR use. I haven't seen 1280x768 on a 10" netbook LCD, font will be too small to read, on a 7" ultra mobile PC will be impossible.
  5. Graham

    Graham Developer Staff Member

    The HP mininote uses 1280x768 and the screen was fine for me. Running Vista Home I think. I only owned one for a short time before someone else saw it, and bought it off me!

    The alternative is to purchase an external screen and connect that up when you get to the other rooms.

    The *x600 resolution is just too low for Synapse's screens.
  6. qilin

    qilin Member

    Graham do you have a link? I only see 1024x600 for their mini series. HP pavilion and TouchSmartnotebook with 12.1" LCD have1280x800 resolution, but these batteries don't last as long, and they don't use solid state HD.
  7. Graham

    Graham Developer Staff Member

    http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4352

    That's the one I owned. They've got newer ones out there now with the Intel Atom vs the Via CPU.

  8. Graham

    Graham Developer Staff Member

    I just bought an eePC 901 as it has blue tooth and i can get internet with my cellphone. It has linux on it ... but I'm going to wipe that and install windows.

    I will try Synapse on it .. but I don't have any expectations that it will work at this 1024x600 resolution because of the new GUI/dashboard.
  9. Jerry

    Jerry Administrator Staff Member

    I wonder if there are any programs that work like RDP, but are local to a machine to "force" a big resolution to be viewed on a screen with smaller resolution? TeamViewer RDP "compresses" 1680x1050 or even 1920x1080 from a foreign machine into my browser at work running at 1024x768.
  10. qilin

    qilin Member

    To "force" a higher resolution would loose the quality, I assume, and make the text hard to read.

    The current GUI with dashboard will be difficult to fit in 1024x600 size. Certain elements might need to be rearranged or customazied for size 3 (e.g. no dashboard or funcition description panelfor size 3, or change function desription to a movable/closable pop up window). I always think the current GUI is not using the screen real estate efficiently enough: the upper part takes way too much space, leave only about half of the page height for the consult note - which, in my opinion, should take most of the space (without a separate pop up window). MaybeI am just used to MS Word document in Word window. Given most of the monitors now are wide screen, maybe we can rearrange the layout of the tabs, for example, put them vertically, or replace the text with icons. I do believe 1024x600 should be adequate for most windows programs, including any EMR.
  11. Graham

    Graham Developer Staff Member

    Well, I started this morning to wipe Linux off my 901, and install XP Pro, and finally finished. The 901 has a 4gb and 15gb drives which is a bit of a challenge to install XP Pro and still have space left. I tried a lite version of XP, but that did not work with the wireless drivers and lan drivers. So, I had to wipe the install and start again with a standard XP pro cd. There's a cute utility that moves the program files to the d drive, and remaps c to d. So, even though your programs install to c:\program files, they are actually being installed to d:\program files\ ( I think ! ).

    The dashboard gui looks doable on 1024x600 ... there's a miscalculation going on in the sizing which is making everything too small. There are some other gui problems which are more automatic and need working around.

    As for using more lateral space, and allowing for more vertical space ... this is just a shifting around which does not alter the amount of actual space available!

  12. qilin

    qilin Member

    I got the EeePC 1000 40G (8G + 32G). I had the same issue with Nlite modified install of XP, had to wipe it out and reinstall a full version. Installed from sd card, was a little tricky but in the end everything worked.

    Some thoughts about the GUI:
    1. Can the top search box be combined with the name box under patient details? you can move Dob to personal & contact tab. If not, the search box can be packed on top of cache panel to save the space on top.
    2. Most of the top tabs are not used on daily basis. I only use "patient", "Inbox" and "Appts" tabs often. I would use several icon based tabs vertically on the right side, or use a drop down menu for not commonly used tabs. For wide screen monitors, vertical space is more valuable. If these two parts can be relocated, I think the result can be significant.
  13. Graham

    Graham Developer Staff Member

    No .. because the idea is to always display the name no matter what screen you're on.

    Don't understand. Whether you have 4 tabs, or 20, it will still occupy the same vertical space. I use 8 tabs regularly so I don't see anything changing here.

    Anyway, I need a list of screens/popups where buttons are missing in GUI mode 3 so I can fix them.
  14. Graham

    Graham Developer Staff Member

    I've had more time to play with the PC901. It has a 1024x768 screen mode ... which is a virtual screen. i.e. you have to scroll the screen. But once you enable the 1024x768 mode, you have a squashed LCD mode which basically allows the whole 1024x768 on the one screen with a little vertical compression.

    So, at least for the Asus eee PC 901, there is no need to use GUI mode 3, as GUI mode 4 works fine.

    You do have to upgrade the ram though ... 1Gb is not enough if you wish to minimize the use of virtual memory which will rapidly wear out the SSD which is only good for 50,000 writes. Also, some people also recommend turning off virtual memory, and system restores for the same reason.

    I found it very difficult to type at speed on this tiny keyboard ... I think I'll look for a rollup keyboard or something similar.
  15. qilin

    qilin Member

    Upgrading the memory to 2gb was the first thing I did even before I installed Windows.

    I have done the following to minimize writing to SSD:
    turned off virtual memory
    placed tempory internet filesand system temp files toRamdisk drive, used thisfree tool
    moved active user profiles to SDHC drive
    so the 8gb SSD will be for OS only, all other programs and documents goes to 32gb SD flash drive or external storage.

    I am not sure if PC1000 has bigger keyboard than 901, they claim the keyboard of PC1000 is 95% of a standard keyboard - one reason I choosed 10" screen. It definately feels small but acceptable for my typing.

    Tried 1024x768 compression mode, it actually worked fine with size 4. Thanks for the tip. I did captured all the problematic size 3 screens but guess no need to post now, unless someone else also want to use 1024x600.

    Still trying to figure out how to move Application Data from "All Users" folder to SDHC drive, since Symantec live update download to this folder by default.
  16. Graham

    Graham Developer Staff Member

    What about shifting "my documents" folder?
  17. qilin

    qilin Member

    Of course, the whole user profile folder is moved. And I have re-directed "my documents" of two users to share the same folder.
  18. Graham

    Graham Developer Staff Member

    Do you have the utility that allows you to program the top extra function keys?

    I like to assign one of them to Synapse.

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