I am a teacher and went to a workshop where the presenter used her tablet pc
to demonstrate how kids could use her graphic organizers. The GO were on a
microsoft powerpoint and she could use her stylus to write directly on the
screen. It did not convert her writing into text and she could erase it as
fast as she wrote it. I just bought a tablet pc with vista and it does not
allow me to do the same. Is there a special program or stylus that I need to
buy to use my pc the same way?

How to turn on writing on a PowerPoint slide is easy to miss. In
presentation mode there are some faint icons that appear on the lower left.
One of these icons turns on writing.

"foleyteaches" <foleyteaches@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:DA606A8D-9685-4885-B1CF-C8664BE21784@microsoft.com...
>I am a teacher and went to a workshop where the presenter used her tablet
>pc
> to demonstrate how kids could use her graphic organizers. The GO were on
> a
> microsoft powerpoint and she could use her stylus to write directly on the
> screen. It did not convert her writing into text and she could erase it
> as
> fast as she wrote it. I just bought a tablet pc with vista and it does
> not
> allow me to do the same. Is there a special program or stylus that I need
> to
> buy to use my pc the same way?

In message <eZYPOYSJIHA.1184@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl>, Mickey Segal
<not_monitored@example.com> writes
>How to turn on writing on a PowerPoint slide is easy to miss. In
>presentation mode there are some faint icons that appear on the lower
>left. One of these icons turns on writing.
>
>"foleyteaches" <foleyteaches@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>message news:DA606A8D-9685-4885-B1CF-C8664BE21784@microsoft.com...
>>I am a teacher and went to a workshop where the presenter used her
>>tablet pc
>> to demonstrate how kids could use her graphic organizers. The GO
>>were on a
>> microsoft powerpoint and she could use her stylus to write directly on the
>> screen. It did not convert her writing into text and she could erase
>>it as
>> fast as she wrote it. I just bought a tablet pc with vista and it
>>does not
>> allow me to do the same. Is there a special program or stylus that I
>>need to
>> buy to use my pc the same way?
>
Just to follow up on Mickey's comment, I find it only works when the
overhead projector is set to "mirror" the tablets desktop, and
powerpoint puts the show on the desktop.

Powerpoint seems to assume (unless you explicitly tell it otherwise)
that when it finds an external monitor you want the slideshow to appear
on that rather than on the tablet desktop. Then the Inking icons never
appear.
--
Peter R Cook

That is an interesting point about needing to mirror the desktop. Typically
I mirror during a presentation so I can look on my tablet as I present. But
last week for the first time I was asked to do a presentation on a remote
LCD display on the other side of the room and discovered that the display
had a different aspect ration from my tablet. I decided not to try
mirroring using a different aspect ratio so I turned off the mirroring and
only displayed on the remote monitor. I didn't use PowerPoint, but it good
to know ahead of time that there are problems doing so.

I don't know if this is related, but the next time I restarted after docking
I was unable to set to the 1680 x 1050 resolution of my external display,
despite fiddling with both Vista and the Intel driver display program. I
was able to fix this only by going back to a restore point. I've had more
problems with display resolutions on Vista
(http://mobilepcwiki.com/mpc/index.ph..._Install_Notes)
and I would not be surprised if this problem would not occur under XP.

"Invalid" <news@wisty.plus.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:U2t5pcDZTFOHFwme@wisty.plus.com...
> Just to follow up on Mickey's comment, I find it only works when the
> overhead projector is set to "mirror" the tablets desktop, and powerpoint
> puts the show on the desktop.
>
> Powerpoint seems to assume (unless you explicitly tell it otherwise) that
> when it finds an external monitor you want the slideshow to appear on that
> rather than on the tablet desktop. Then the Inking icons never appear.

Not sure from your post if you realized that you can set the tablet
(notebook) resolution to the same as the projected screen ending up with
a "virtual" screen on the tablet... i.e. the screen scrolls to access
offscreen areas

If by "aspect ratio" you mean the tablet in portrait and the projection
in landscape, at least with my setup it's not possible to match them...
you have to accept the landscape orientation on the tablet which matches
the projected screen

You may have the option to rotate the projected image to match the way
you want to hold the tablet by using the projector's menu and options.

If I'm missing your goal, please expand a bit so I can try to replicate
your needs.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

>> you have to accept <<

to clarify...

Once you get the projected image orientation correct, you have to accept
the resulting orientation on the tablet/notebook... i.e. you can't use
the tablet in portrait and have the projection in landscape.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

The tablet is 800 x 600 (i.e. 4:3 aspect ratio) and the external display was
a high resolution wide screen (I didn't get the numbers but it was clearly
not in a 4:3 aspect ratio; may have been 16:9).

Having the tablet display scroll to access off-screen areas is the sort of
thing I was trying to avoid.


"Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]" <BevNoSpamBevHoward.com> wrote in
message news:uLkMSBkJIHA.4272@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Not sure from your post if you realized that you can set the tablet
> (notebook) resolution to the same as the projected screen ending up with a
> "virtual" screen on the tablet... i.e. the screen scrolls to access
> offscreen areas
>
> If by "aspect ratio" you mean the tablet in portrait and the projection in
> landscape, at least with my setup it's not possible to match them... you
> have to accept the landscape orientation on the tablet which matches the
> projected screen
>
> You may have the option to rotate the projected image to match the way you
> want to hold the tablet by using the projector's menu and options.
>
> If I'm missing your goal, please expand a bit so I can try to replicate
> your needs.
>
> Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

Certain versions of the Intel display driver impose certain limitations on
what can and cannot be set. I can't really say for sure but I know I've run
into issues (even on XP with the LE1600) with the Intel driver where some
resolutions and orientations would be unavailable.

In fact, the Intel driver that HP ships with on the 2710p blocks out
secondary orientations for some reason. I found a way to hack it to turn
them back on but it appears to be just a UI limitation. The driver itself
will happily support these orientations and resolutions if you can figure
out how to get it to stop blocking them out.

--
Josh Einstein (Tablet PC MVP)
Einstein Technologies
Tablet Enhancements for Outlook - Try it free: www.tabletoutlook.com


"Mickey Segal" <not_monitored@example.com> wrote in message
news:%238zyMJaJIHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> That is an interesting point about needing to mirror the desktop.
> Typically I mirror during a presentation so I can look on my tablet as I
> present. But last week for the first time I was asked to do a
> presentation on a remote LCD display on the other side of the room and
> discovered that the display had a different aspect ration from my tablet.
> I decided not to try mirroring using a different aspect ratio so I turned
> off the mirroring and only displayed on the remote monitor. I didn't use
> PowerPoint, but it good to know ahead of time that there are problems
> doing so.
>
> I don't know if this is related, but the next time I restarted after
> docking I was unable to set to the 1680 x 1050 resolution of my external
> display, despite fiddling with both Vista and the Intel driver display
> program. I was able to fix this only by going back to a restore point.
> I've had more problems with display resolutions on Vista
> (http://mobilepcwiki.com/mpc/index.ph..._Install_Notes)
> and I would not be surprised if this problem would not occur under XP.
>
> "Invalid" <news@wisty.plus.com.invalid> wrote in message
> news:U2t5pcDZTFOHFwme@wisty.plus.com...
>> Just to follow up on Mickey's comment, I find it only works when the
>> overhead projector is set to "mirror" the tablets desktop, and powerpoint
>> puts the show on the desktop.
>>
>> Powerpoint seems to assume (unless you explicitly tell it otherwise) that
>> when it finds an external monitor you want the slideshow to appear on
>> that rather than on the tablet desktop. Then the Inking icons never
>> appear.
>

The main drawback I see to upgrading a tablet or other mobile computer from
XP to Vista is that connecting to an external display doesn't work as well
in Vista. I don't know if this is a problem of Vista itself, Intel drivers,
or graphics drivers in general. I understand that companies such as Intel
would prefer if you bought new hardware rather than upgrade existing
hardware, but many people will respond to the problem by sticking with XP.

This is not good for the Vista platform. It would be interesting to see an
analysis of whether the Vista external display problem is due to failures by
Intel or Microsoft. Regardless, Microsoft should have warned people that
external displays would not work as well after "upgrading" to Vista.

"Josh Einstein" <josh@einsteintech.net> wrote in message
news:32C24126-AD13-44B4-AB26-BFEF64FF6FA0@microsoft.com...
> Certain versions of the Intel display driver impose certain limitations on
> what can and cannot be set. I can't really say for sure but I know I've
> run into issues (even on XP with the LE1600) with the Intel driver where
> some resolutions and orientations would be unavailable.
>
> In fact, the Intel driver that HP ships with on the 2710p blocks out
> secondary orientations for some reason. I found a way to hack it to turn
> them back on but it appears to be just a UI limitation. The driver itself
> will happily support these orientations and resolutions if you can figure
> out how to get it to stop blocking them out.

800x600 is a pretty low resolution... which tablet is this and which
graphics driver?

Unfortunately, you are running into hardware limits here... i.e. if
800x600 is the native resolution, there is no way to display a higher
resolution unless the driver software has the ability to simulate higher
resolutions on the available pixels.

>> Aspect ratio <<

The intel utility does have the ability to use masks to present
different aspect ratios

>> high resolution wide screen <<

depending on the device (projector, plasma, etc?) for your presentations
it may also be possible to reset the resolution on that to better match
the tablet's capabilities.

sorry I don't have better answers,
Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

The computer is the Motion Computing LS800, which uses the Intel 915GMS
Extreme Graphics controller. The computer can drive an external monitor; I
use a dock with a 1680 x 1050 external monitor. One can fiddle with various
options, but when arriving to give a presentation it is not worth trying to
fiddle with different aspect ratios. Under Vista the ability to configure
external monitors has gotten worse than XP instead of better, as was
promised (at least for this hardware and video drivers). For details of how
hard it was to deal with the external monitor connected to my dock see
http://mobilepcwiki.com/mpc/index.ph..._Install_Notes

"Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]" <BevNoSpamBevHoward.com> wrote in
message news:Om$EFqsJIHA.5764@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> 800x600 is a pretty low resolution... which tablet is this and which
> graphics driver?

> Unfortunately, you are running into hardware limits here... i.e. if
> 800x600 is the native resolution, there is no way to display a higher
> resolution unless the driver software has the ability to simulate higher
> resolutions on the available pixels.

I'm with you with respect to your reinstall issue and hoping this thread
will be a good learning and reference for anyone with similar problems,
hence, throwing out suggestions along with half baked thoughts.

with computers, there seems to always be "can't get there from here"
issues, but it's amazing how often totally unexpected alternatives are
posted.

If you haven't looked at it (and not sure it's available under Vista)
the Intel graphics utility offers a much better interface than the
tablet keys or the windows os display settings for coming up with coping
skills with respect to display needs.

>> when arriving to give a presentation it is not worth trying to
fiddle with different aspect ratios <<

One feature this utility has is the ability to store settings to a
"scheme" which you can then call and set quickly and easily onsite.

However, I also conclude that, in this case, without the ability to
control the presentation device, don't think you can get there from here.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

I do use the Intel Graphics Utility. Under XP this worked well, and
switched automatically back and forth between 800 x 600 on the tablet and
1680 x 1050 on the external display while docked. The Intel Graphics
Utility does work on Vista, and indeed seems to be the only way of getting
1680 x 1050 to work under Vista. However, while un-docking works in Vista
(displaying in 800 x 600 after several flashes on and off of the display),
docking does not go back to 1680 x 1050 on the external display as it did
under XP. Even restarting the docked computer doesn't work properly. The
Vista login screen comes on in 1680 x 1050, after logging into a user
account the external display begins in 1680 x 1050, but after a minute the
external display switches to 800 x 600. This can be corrected by manually
selecting the "scheme" for the external monitor at 1680 x 1050.

It is hard to tell if the problem is the Intel drivers or something in
Vista, but the bottom line is that it worked pretty well in XP and is quite
broken in Vista, despite Microsoft announcing that such things would work
better on Vista.

"Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]" <BevNoSpamBevHoward.com> wrote in
message news:eNjJBwuJIHA.3356@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> If you haven't looked at it (and not sure it's available under Vista) the
> Intel graphics utility offers a much better interface than the tablet keys
> or the windows os display settings for coming up with coping skills with
> respect to display needs.
>
> One feature this utility has is the ability to store settings to a
> "scheme" which you can then call and set quickly and easily onsite.

It's pretty easy to tell it's Intel. They make the hardware and the drivers.
If Vista has different behavior that is messing up their XP driver, then
they need a different driver for Vista (which they have).

I think most of your problems stem from the fact that the 915 chipset is a
pre-Vista chipset that they aren't working on anymore. They made this pretty
clear when they *chose* not to enable glass, even though evidence from
technical users and blog posts from Intel indicated it was possible if they
wanted to. I believe that the igfxpers.exe utility has something to do with
the issue of your resolution not coming up right, but I can't say for sure.
Anyway, I'm afraid the burden is on Intel here to get this right, but I
can't really blame them for not wanting to go fix up old hardware/drivers.

The 945's and up are much much better and in Vista the experience is better
than XP. But you'll really get the best experience on a PC that was designed
for Vista.

--
Josh Einstein (Tablet PC MVP)
Einstein Technologies
Tablet Enhancements for Outlook - Try it free: www.tabletoutlook.com


"Mickey Segal" <not_monitored@example.com> wrote in message
news:uxCXjVvJIHA.4592@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

> It is hard to tell if the problem is the Intel drivers or something in
> Vista, but the bottom line is that it worked pretty well in XP and is
> quite broken in Vista, despite Microsoft announcing that such things would
> work better on Vista.
>
> "Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]" <BevNoSpamBevHoward.com> wrote in
> message news:eNjJBwuJIHA.3356@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> If you haven't looked at it (and not sure it's available under Vista) the
>> Intel graphics utility offers a much better interface than the tablet
>> keys or the windows os display settings for coming up with coping skills
>> with respect to display needs.
>>
>> One feature this utility has is the ability to store settings to a
>> "scheme" which you can then call and set quickly and easily onsite.
>

I replied to another message in the thread but the bottom line is, your beef
is with Intel. And most Vista sales (and all of Intel's sales) come from new
hardware purchases so both companies are less inclined to keep supporting
what was arguably one of the worst graphics adapters even at its time.

--
Josh Einstein (Tablet PC MVP)
Einstein Technologies
Tablet Enhancements for Outlook - Try it free: www.tabletoutlook.com


"Mickey Segal" <not_monitored@example.com> wrote in message
news:eSs2jisJIHA.4584@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> The main drawback I see to upgrading a tablet or other mobile computer
> from XP to Vista is that connecting to an external display doesn't work as
> well in Vista. I don't know if this is a problem of Vista itself, Intel
> drivers, or graphics drivers in general. I understand that companies such
> as Intel would prefer if you bought new hardware rather than upgrade
> existing hardware, but many people will respond to the problem by sticking
> with XP.
>
> This is not good for the Vista platform. It would be interesting to see
> an analysis of whether the Vista external display problem is due to
> failures by Intel or Microsoft. Regardless, Microsoft should have warned
> people that external displays would not work as well after "upgrading" to
> Vista.
>
> "Josh Einstein" <josh@einsteintech.net> wrote in message
> news:32C24126-AD13-44B4-AB26-BFEF64FF6FA0@microsoft.com...
>> Certain versions of the Intel display driver impose certain limitations
>> on what can and cannot be set. I can't really say for sure but I know
>> I've run into issues (even on XP with the LE1600) with the Intel driver
>> where some resolutions and orientations would be unavailable.
>>
>> In fact, the Intel driver that HP ships with on the 2710p blocks out
>> secondary orientations for some reason. I found a way to hack it to turn
>> them back on but it appears to be just a UI limitation. The driver itself
>> will happily support these orientations and resolutions if you can figure
>> out how to get it to stop blocking them out.
>