How well does xournal actually work?
 

Hi everyone,

I don't currently own a Nokia Internet tablet and was actually more interested in an Android phone, but flicking through the available programs, I stumbled upon xournal. I use a Tablet-PC on a daily basis at school, and the ability to take notes on something so small has really made me very interested. I've used xournal in ubuntu before and quite liked it; however, I do have a few questions:
- Inking on a resistive touch screen can look quite ugly - how good is the experience of writing on the N8x0?
- Can you rest the palm of your hand on the screen while writing, or does this result in vectoring issues?

Thanks in advance,

Greetings,

noctilux

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

Can't understand question 1.

2. Writing is smooth and looks good, but I have to slow down just a bit in writing or there will be gaps

3. Draw a rectangle the size of the N8x0's and try to write inside it and keep your palm on it at the same time! Unless you have tiny hands ...

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

You may also want to check out liqbase

http://maemo.org/downloads/product/OS2008/liqbase/

google also for the liqbase YouTubes

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

I suppose since you've written on a touchscreen before with a stylus, you might find it useable. I use the program for things like shopping lists etc. and find it a bit difficult to write "nice enough" on it, but my wife, for example, writes just fine with it. Must be about handwriting style. Still: I would suggest you try it first, I don't think making Notes on Xournal is very pleasant, so I think this thing is something that very much depends on YOUR preferences. I know a lot of people whose handwriting is very small, it could be that they would find it more useable that me - my writing looks big and ugly on that thing :)

As for the other question, I never touch the screen with my other hand when writing, I just hold the thing in my hand and write. I just tried resting a finger on it while writing, and yes, doesn't work...gibberish from where my finger was resting.

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

I like it. It could be a bit more finger friendly, but it's certainly stylus friendly.

To compensate for the handwriting issue (my handwriting tends to be distorted on any form of touch-screen ), I simply zoom in (150%).

I'm not quite sure how you could [comfortably] rest your palm on the screen and provide enough force against the screen to confuse the pointer input. I can rest my palm, hands, etc. on the screen (though I keep them on the bevel because well it's more comfortable) without triggering input...so unless you plan on holding the device by the touchscreen this should be a non-issue.

Honestly you need to get ahold of a NIT and try it out for yourself.

Also because it "looks like a phone" and has Nokia branding you might be hassled about "using a phone during class".

I'm going to say it looks a bit uglier than writing on paper but I think that's because ink smears a bit smoothing and the graphite in pencils has a bit of a fade/shade effect. Of course I have awful handwriting so it's difficult to gauge.

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

I have used Xournal a lot on my 770 but on n810 I prever Maemopad+ for taking quick notes - no need to open and save files and it starts faster than Xournal. I am still using Xournal but only for longer writings - sometimes several pages. The following resumes my impression about Xournal:

• The screen of N810 is too sensitive for my habits so it was difficult for me to write pretty. However I put some very thick protector on the screen and now I am able to write well and I am happy. :) Now my N810 is less finger-friendly but this is not a problem for me.
• On N810 my hand is uglier than on a paper. On the other hand the undo tool means there are no deletions in the text and as a whole it looks better (and with colors).
• The PC version of Xournal can print the files you make.
• It is very difficult to write well without a support - a desk or your leg.

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

I use xournal to annotate pdfs on an N800. I have to zoom in from "pdf reading scale" to "shaky old man scribbling scale" to write legibly(*), but for purposes such as making standard copyedit notations it works acceptably for me. It isn't as pretty, or easy, as when I use my Thinkpad X61 tablet, but the tablet won't fit in my pocket.

For notetaking on the N800, I use the onscreen keyboard and the notes app. This works better for me (fewer typos) than the physical keyboard on the N810. I do use xournal on the X61 for taking notes, but I would not be able to do that acceptably on the N800.

YMMV.

* my grad students require a year of practice before they can read my block capital printing when I use pen & paper, so "legibly" may be interpreted loosely here.

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

The useability will primarily depend on how small you can write neatly; if you have to zoom it too far in, you'll spend half of your time scrolling*. My writing is not great, even when it's "neat", and I'm still not very used to writing on a touchscreen, but due to the size of the N810's screen, and the touchscreen technology used, I wouldn't recommend it for taking down large quantities of notes in class. Last year, I was lucky enough to have a prof who wrote his calculus notes on a TabletPC, and then posted PDFs of them, with blanks for derivations and key facts. The idea was that students could write down the important things (a memory aid, for some), while not having to scribble madly to the point of not taking in the information. In that sort of situation, the tablet should be fine, but unless you're really good, taking down full pages of notes at sufficient speed will probably be difficult.
One note for anyone that hasn't used it much, and wants to annotate PDFs: Xournal does not edit the PDF with your inking - it merely creates an .XOJ file (or whatever it's called) that links in the original PDF. Thus, if you don't export the whole thing to a new PDF, and you delete/move the original, you'll wind up with some pretty annotations, and nothing else.

(*) I should probably ask this question of whoever does the Maemo Xournal port, but does anyone know how feasible it would be to implement a "pager" feature with one of the hardware buttons? What I'm thinking of is being able to zoom in to write more neatly, and then just tap a button with the hand that's holding the tablet steady to scroll over/down, so you don't have to stop writing and manually scroll.

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

i love xournal because its ability to export note to pdf.

here is the example of the note that i made in xournal using plastic tip of a pen

http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/1...637vtmtzbouk7z

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

I just installed it and like it, I wish I could get it to default to blue pen and yellow paper though. :confused:

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

I will chime in with others and say that Xournal is a pretty slick application. The handwriting ills that some experience can be solved by writing a touch bigger. Resting your hand on the device isn't the best means to write, you will find it easier, especially because of the bezel, to write with your wrists elevated.

The export to PDF feature by far was/is the best feature for me. Being able to write notes and immediately export them to PDF to be uploaded to email/Share Point was pretty much it in terms of keeping quite productive.

I only wish that there were similar on my N97 - shame that Xournal is one of those apps that can keep you on a tablet. Solid work there by the developer.

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

Thanks for all of your replies! This really seems to be a great community!
I'm going to order an N810 very soon and am looking forward to spending more time on this forum.

Greetings,

Martin

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

When I was in school I used to use it simply so people would say. And then when they realised what it was, every teacher was gobsmacked :D

Using Xournal to hand-write homework, then sending the teacher the .pdf directly, there and then, is enough to make anyone instantly love it.

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

I don't have time to list all of the ways Xournal helps me at work and at home. PDF conversion, ease of use, hundreds of options. Amazing program!

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

Choose the yellow paper under journal > paper color and then the pen under tools > color

Then click set as default at the bottom of both of these menus. This will remember your settings.

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

Albeit there's no UI for these settings in the Fremantle version, you can easily copy your setting file from the Desktop or the older Maemo versions and use that to customize the appearance of Xournal for Fremantle.

Or copy /usr/share/xournal/config file to $HOME/.xournal/config and edit at your liking.

The section [paper] has paper settings like "style" and "color"

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

Albeit there's no UI for these settings in the Fremantle version, you can easily copy your setting file from the Desktop or the older Maemo versions and use that to customize the appearance of Xournal for Fremantle.

Or copy /usr/share/xournal/config file to $HOME/.xournal/config and edit at your liking.

The section [paper] has paper settings like "style" and "color"

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

mmm I tried myself and didn't work.. weird, let me check

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

Ah found the "issue" :)
Of course, if you change it and start Xournal, it will re-load the previously saved journal file.

To have the new options in place (for the journal page, like ruling or color), you've got to create a new journal file.

Re: How well does xournal actually work?
 

Xournal is very cool. You can resize the actual "page" and move the screen like a viewport into the page. You can change the background to be math checkerpaper (my preference). It doesn't do character recognition to try to create ascii from handwriting (which might be a nice future feature). However, I do know that Android does not have a similar application, which is bothering me. I love my N810, but it's not well supported by Nokia as they are off developing Meego with Intel. The result is that repositories are spread all over the place and it took me several months to get the apps I wanted installed. Long term I see Android winning, but android needs to let the regular linux apps work on it like maemo does....so we'll see....