Design Matters

Long-time ThinkPad users will undoubtedly recognize the key combination Fn+F5, used to control the wireless radios. As we grew into the 40-series ThinkPads (T4x, R4x, etc), we began to see a common denominator amongst reviews of our product: people wanted a wireless radio button or switch.

Most of our competitors had a single switch or button that would enable/disable the wireless radio(s). Why didn’t we just add one on a whim when they started to become popular in laptop designs? As with most notebook designs, but moreso with ThinkPad in particular, every centimeter of space is a constant give & take regarding features or aesthetics. There isn’t a single area on these machines that doesn’t have a specific purpose in its design. Adding a switch or a bell or a whistle is a concerted effort.

That said, we made the move to a dedicated wireless radio switch with the ThinkPad T60. Placed on the front underside bezel, the switch is relatively inconspicuous and out of the way. Usability is key here, so the switch makes knowing your wireless status as easy as possible. You already have the wireless LED indicator below the screen, this would of course turn off when you turn the switch off. There is also an on-screen box that pops up to let you know the status of radios.

Finally, there are two sets of visual indicators on the switch itself. The silkscreened icons on either side of the switch depict on-status to the right and off to the left. When the switch is on, the background behind the switch is green to provide just another cue as to which way switch operates.

Sure, to some companies, adding a switch is as simple as dragging and dropping something in a CAD drawing. We like to think such decisions are more purposeful, and realistically they have to be given the constant struggle for space, features, cost, reliability, and size within a Lenovo computer.

Since some people may still use the old Fn+F5 trick, some leave WiFi on all the time, and others may not know it is even there, I’m curious: do you use the hardware WiFi switch? Let me know in the poll at the bottom left!

David Hill

People often ask me how best to clean their prized ThinkPad. It seems that notebook computers have a unique gravitational force that attracts fingerprints (not the kind you need for our fingerprint reader), smudges, dust, and cookie crumbs. Buried deep within the ThinkVantage Productivity Center, you get there by pressing the blue button, is the official cleaning approach. I thought I would save you the trouble by posting it here. The part about using a hairdryer to remove crumbs from the keyboard is very creative. It works, I tried it!

Cleaning the cover of your computer

Occasionally clean your computer as follows:

1. Prepare a mixture of a gentle kitchen-use detergent (one that does not contain abrasive powder or strong chemicals such as acid or alkaline). Use 5 parts water to 1 part detergent.

2. Absorb the diluted detergent into a sponge.

3. Squeeze excess liquid from the sponge.

4. Wipe the cover with the sponge, using a circular motion and taking care not to let any excess liquid drip.

5. Wipe the surface to remove the detergent.

6. Rinse the sponge with clean running water.

7. Wipe the cover with the clean sponge.

8. Wipe the surface again with a dry, soft lint-free cloth.

9. Wait for the surface to dry completely and remove any fibers from the cloth.

Cleaning your computer keyboard

1. Apply some isopropyl rubbing alcohol to a soft, dust-free cloth.

2. Wipe each keytop surface with the cloth. Wipe the keys one by one; if you wipe several keys at a time, the cloth may hook onto an adjacent key and possibly damage it. Make sure that no liquid drips onto or between the keys.

3. Allow to dry.

4. To remove any crumbs or dust from beneath the keys, you can use a camera blower with a brush or cool air from a hair dryer.

Note: Avoid spraying cleaner directly onto the display or the keyboard.  

Cleaning your computer display

1. Gently wipe the display with a dry, soft lint-free cloth. If you see a scratchlike mark on your display, it might be a stain transferred from the keyboard or the TrackPoint(R) pointing stick when the cover was pressed from the outside.

2. Wipe or dust the stain gently with a soft, dry cloth.

3. If the stain remains, moisten a soft, lint-free cloth with water or a 50-50 mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water that does not contain impurities.

4. Wring out as much of the liquid as you can.

5. Wipe the display again; do not let any liquid drip into the computer.

6. Be sure to dry the display before closing it.  

David Hill  

How many notebooks are too many? In my case, I haven’t hit my limit yet, but wanted to share my home office setup, talk through some frustrations, and look at the state of the art today for multi-screen displays.

I saw my first multi-screen set up in the art department at Forbes Magazine in the 90s, where the designers would extend their primary desktop onto a small monitor sitting adjacent to the main screen. That small monitor held the tool boxes, palettes and brushes for their Adobe apps (Illustrator and PhotoShop primarily), leaving the main monitor open for nothing but image manipulation.

I was jealous. I wanted that.

Well, I have it, and I’ve used multiple screens for some time. It’s easy to do, especially if you want to supercharge your productivity at a desk and prefer to bang out long documents on a full-sized keyboard with a mouse and have a dock configuration to ease the transition from backpack to desktop set up.

That’s an X60s on the left, primarily running Lotus Notes and instant message sessions, in the middle is a Lenovo LCD where the bulk of my work occurs, and on the right, unconnected to the screen, external keyboard, or mouse, is an X41 running Ubuntu Breezy Badger and where I do most of my sysadmin work, blog reading, and web browsing.

At home I run an X60s onto a Lenovo external LCD monitor which I won in an Employee Purchase Program as a reward for selling a lot of ThinkPads to family and friends through my EPP discount (they sell themselves, but who was I to look the LCD-gift horse in the mouth?)

I plug the monitor into the UltraBase dock and then use the ThinkVantage Presentation Director to build a profile that extends my desktop off of the notebook and onto the screen. It’s a little tricky to explain, but here goes:

1. I go into the ThinkVantage Productivity Center and find the Presentation Director. This utility is worth taking some to understand on general principle. Other than the wireless network finder, it is one of my favorites in the ThinkVantage suite.

2.  The tool lets you even designate startup options such as turning on the ThinkLight, displaying a clean desktop (so audience’s won’t see your World of Warcraft icon), and even a different desktop image (so you won’t show some embarrassing photo taken at the beach during your last vacation). The coolest thing is the “test” screen that gives a preview of what the final configuration will look like.

3. I like my primary desktop to be the external monitor, carrying all the icons and controls on, with the notebook screen resolution dropped down to 800×600 for better visibility. Then I tell the Presentation Director where the screens are in relation to each other — notebook on the left or right (which is crucial because you move from one screen to the other simply by dragging the mouse in the appropriate direction), fine tune other options, and then save it with a name.

4. When I’m ready to work, I press <FN>+<F7>, bringing up the scheme selector, select the one that fits the situation, and bingo, I am off and working.

It’s not that hard to do, and it is a great way to increase screen real estate and put an unused external display to good use. When I toured Google last winter I was struck by how many developers were working on multi-screen set ups, not a surprise given an excellent article I read in the New York Times Sunday Magazine in the fall of 2005 that discussed the use of multiple screens to increase productivity. I won’t link to that, but an excellent discussion on the article and the application of multiple screens to increased productivity can be found at the 37Signals blog.

Now my next challenge is to pull my Linux notebook into the game through a Keyboard/Video/Mouse switch like this one from Avocent. I don’t know if the device can tolerate different operating systems, but I am slowly driving myself crazy when I switch to the Linux box and start moving the mouse connected to the Windows box and wonder what’s gone wrong.

Send me a photo of your multi-screen, multi-ThinkPad working environment, also any tips or insights are always appreciated.

David Churbuck

Here is one that is sure to get your attention. Everone's life is far too busy to deal with the technical complexities of running a computer. That's why every ThinkPad includes so much more than a industry standard computer. Would you rather spend more time fooling with your computer or spend quality time with something more important to you?  

I asked Ravi Adapathya, the manager of user experience, to give me his ease of use top ten list. For those of you who don't know what user experience is, it's a fancy term for making the everyday things associated with owning and using a computer better. I'm sure I have your interest now. So without further ado, here is the list:

Top 10 Ease of Use Tips for ThinkPad

1. Presentation Director  <Fn+F7>: this key combo brings up a utility to manage dual displays and projectors. Next time you fumble around trying to get your slides on the screen, losing your audience's attention, find this tool and start presenting and not messing around.

2. UltraNav Wizard <Fn+F8> Turns on/off the pad or stick and customizes the pad hotspots.

David Hill

In my mind the personification of separation anxiety is having to check my notebook with my luggage while traveling. Not only am I separated from my work and my stuff, but I’m also entrusting a $2,000 machine to the kindness of baggage handlers. 

Recent news reports about lost or stolen notebooks containing sensitive data – especially customer and personal identity information – has pushed the issue of security to the forefront for a lot of users. While passwords and encryption may be an annoyance, imagine the consequences to you and your business if your notebook were to wind up in the wrong hands.

We’ve designed the most sophisticated suite of security functions available in the market. We’ve shipped more notebooks with biometric security devices than any other PC manufacturer (fingerprint readers). Our ThinkVantage Client Security application is a powerful tool for managing not only your passwords, but for encrypting data on the hard disk via Ultimatico’s SafeGuard™ PrivateDisk tool.

If you are very concerned about the security of your notebook’s data while traveling, I suggest enabling the Power On/Hard disk password option. This will require an extra security step and insure that your machine can’t be powered on without your fingerprint.

How does the fingerprint reader work? It’s a small transparent rectangle embedded in the palmrest of the notebook and in the screen bezel of our tablets. During set-up the user “trains” as many fingers as they want, teaching the system to recognize the patterns of their fingerprints. I generally train my notebook to identify my thumbs, index, and middle fingers of both hands.

When the notebook prompts for a password you just slide your finger slowly and squarely across the reader. The scanner reads the print and if a match is made, the notebook will power on, Windows XP will load, or, you can even store password for commonly used applications or websites such as your online banking account. Chief Security Officers like biometric security for the simple reason that it doesn’t require their users to memorize increasingly complex passwords – which leads to the unfortunate human behavior of writing them down so they can be remembered. This phenomenon has been pointed out by one of my favorite security experts, Bruce Schneier.

Before I end, let me offer a couple other tips for checking your laptop with your luggage, something travelers are now faced in the wake of the recent terrorist plot in the United Kingdom.

1. Invest in a padded sleeve. I use one made by EMS, an outdoors outfitter that offers some protection and is a very convenient way to store spare Ethernet cables, power adapters, and other necessities. 
2. Don’t cram your notebook into an overloaded backpack or briefcase. Don’t store hard objects next to the screen where they can press against the screen and crack it.
3. If you like to suspend your notebook’s power, please make sure it is fully suspended and the “moon” icon is lit on the power indicator. A laptop can build up a lot of heat if the fan is obscured, and while Thinkpads are designed to shut down if their temperature climbs too high, you don’t want to risk damaging the system because you were too quick to pack it away.
4. Consider investing in a ThinkPad Protection plan. This is a great form of “no questions asked” insurance against accidents such as cracked screens, spills, and other mishaps.

Tom Wailgum, blogging at CIO.com, has some good tips as well.

Safe travels to all. I’m interested in hearing any tricks and tips from the road.

 David Churbuck