New digital notepad gadget
UPDATES (see below)
- The device works as X11 input device (pointer)
- Added the results of a sketch on this device
- Added link to python version of .top to .svg converter (thanks to Jorik)
- Photo & description of refills
Today my eye spotted a nice gadget on sale at Aldi’s in the newspaper. It is a digital notepad. Well digital, you write on actual paper using a pen with real ink. All your strokes on the paper are stored in memory. Vector by vector. It has 32MB memory to store pages. You can use an SD card to extend that memory. You get the digital notepad. One pen. Two refills. Two plastic refills. Loads of (windows only) software. Best feature: batteries included, you are ready to go…
So when I got this baby, the Medion MD 85276, I ripped it from its packaging. Quick peek at the manual to make sure the batteries are inserted correctly and go go go. In an attempt to find more details about this product I searched the web. No details are available at the Medion site. This means that this is an OEM product. Some sources claim this is an Aiptek MyNote.
I love the way you write your notes. The digital notepad is only marginal larger than a A4 sheet of paper. You can actually put a stack of paper on the device, not just one sheet. The files on the device are stored in .top format. The included (windows XP & Vista) software is capable of conversion to other formats. I don’ t like the software. Not only because you need windows but also because it has a very peculiar look and feel. One cool feature is that you can replay your strokes on the paper and can decide to split those actions onto several sheets. Great feature to sort your notes.
I’m not interested in a windows only solution so I tried to find details on the .top file format in order to write a converter. Unfortunately I didn’t find any details on the file format. But I was shocked to see this project on freshmeat: top2svg. Exactly what I need. It’s a simple Perl script that transforms the .top file into .svg (Scalable Vector Graphics) format. From there I can convert it into anything I like.
Update 3: Jorik wrote a Python version of top2svg. You can find his version here
I obtained this gadget at Aldi’s for only €79.99 and I already feel that this is worth every penny I spend on it. Besides this device can be used as a ’stand-alone’ digital notepad it can also be used as an input device when connected to a PC (using the included USB cable). That way it can replace a mouse and it can be used to draw in other painting programs. To do that you need to replace the ink filling with a plastic pen top to protect the device. I did not find the time to try this on Linux yet, besides that, I have a wacom pad which is better suited for that purpose anyway. Since I only have this gadget a couple of hours I can’t give you any details on battery life…
Here are some pictures of the device with the paper and some simple notes. The last image shows the converted image as obtained from the device. I did not have the time to try to convert my handwriting into actual text using OCR software. When it is possible to obtain at least keywords from the notes you should be able to implement some form of full text search on the notes.
This is the actual image ripped from the device. It is converted from svg to a png. Pretty neat.
Update 1: I successfully used the notepad as an input device in X11. It worked out of the box for me using (K)ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon.
Update 2: Chris wants to know if this pad can be (reasonably) used as a sketch and draw pad (like wacom pads). In all honesty I don’t think it’s a substitute. When you look at the images below you’ll first see a (bad) photograph of the original sketch. It is supposed to be a tree. The second image is the sketch as recorded by the device. You will notice that all lines have the same weight (thickness). In the start of the shaded area it may appear as if the line is thicker but that are actually several lines close to each other. In the original sketch you can see that I applied varying pressure on the pen. So in short this device doesn’t record pressure sensitivity. The third image is a colored version of the sketch. If you paint thick the original lines of the scan may be painted over so you really don’t care about the lack of pressure sensitivity.
Depending on your purposes you may decide that the sketch capabilities are okay.
Update 4: Refills
You can buy ordinary refills for the pen. Below is a enlarged image of a pen tip and a refill. You get two pen tips (with plastic tip) and three ink refills when you buy the product. Other ink refills can be bought at any office supply store.
Tags: .top files, digital notepad, gadget, linux, MD 85276, MD85276, ocr, SVG
November 29th, 2007 at 8:59
Cool gadget!!! I think I’ll buy this too!!
November 29th, 2007 at 9:39
I recommend it! I’m currently testing this and it will soon replace my regular paper mess.
For €79.99 you can’t go wrong
November 29th, 2007 at 10:33
Very cool thang. I expect that you’ll be showing it off at the next meeting! Also I can’t wait for more reviews - keep ‘em coming, Ed!!
November 29th, 2007 at 13:20
Cool cool. But I’m still in doubt about buying this gadget. I’ve just visited the Aldi and I saw it too and had strong feelings about simply buying it. Two obstacles however were, of course, the doubt about its functionality and quality and the price (80 euros isn’t that cheap, but perhaps well worth its price). So I read this review and it leaves me with some question marks.
About how it functions as a drawing tablet (wacom for example) and if there are multiple pressure levels for example?
Do you have to press hard on the paper to get to see the lines on the computer screen?
Is 32 Megs enough for A4-filling drawings/notes?
And.. is it suitable for drawing and sketching, even though it might not be able to ‘feel’ the different pressure levels?
Please update the review soon as you have more experience with it
November 29th, 2007 at 13:35
Hi Chris,
As far as I could see this device has no (or very limited) pressure sensitivity. As a drawing pad it is not even related to (for instance) a wacom pad. You don’t have to press hard for the device to respond. It has an indicator in the display that shows when it is ‘recording’ your pen strokes.
It is not very clear but when you look at the last two pictures you’ll see a close-up of the actual drawing on paper and the version that is recorded by the device. When you look at the circle I drew you will note that on the paper version the line gets thiner at the end. For the electronic version you will see that the line just ends (it doesn’t get thinner).
So in all honesty. If you plan to use this device for imaging and sketching I would definitely recommend something else. I like wacom but there are cheaper alternatives that are also very good. I think you should try one of those instead. This is a great device for note-taking but not so much for sketching.
November 29th, 2007 at 15:00
I saw this post one day too late! I bought the same thing yesterday and I didn’t find the top2svg convertor so I reverse engineered the format wrote something myself in python. This could have saved me a few hours
Oh well, if anyone is interested in the python version, it’s at:
http://graphics.tudelft.nl/~jorik/top2svg.py
November 29th, 2007 at 15:38
Hi Jorik,
Great work! I was also thinking about how to reverse engineer the format. Draw one horizontal line, check the file, draw one vertical line check the file, draw a diagonal line etc.
There are people out there who prefer Python over Perl so many people will be thankful for your effort.
November 30th, 2007 at 16:58
Eddie, great review. It’s on sale in UK at Aldi. Only problem I can see is the buying of refills for pen. What happens when ones that come with notepad run out? At the moment I can’t see where one can get the refills. Any ideas?
November 30th, 2007 at 23:29
i have bought it today but when i write on the tablet the the pen goos on the paper from top to downn ,but on the computerscreen it goes from right to left. Wat can i do. Excuse my english. regards Jan
December 1st, 2007 at 0:09
Does it come with software to convert handwriting into a text or word document? If so, have you had a chance to try it out? It goes on sale here on Sunday and I’m wondering about buying three (3 students in my house!), but they’d need it for converting their handwritten study notes into documents that they can edit. Thanks.
December 1st, 2007 at 0:20
@Jan:
You do need to turn the tablet around (landscape mode). I think this is done on purpose since when you have the tablet in landscape mode the length and height ratio corresponds to the dimensions of your monitor.
@Mel:
You get OCR software with the notepad but that is Windows only (XP & Vista). I haven’t tried this software myself so I can’t tell you how good it is. When you convert your files to (for example) tiff files you can try to use some free OCR software as well. Since I don’t want to convert my notes to plain text (just yet) I did not make any attempt at OCR so far.
December 1st, 2007 at 13:02
Eddie , thanks for your answer. Jan
December 1st, 2007 at 23:02
Can someone give me an explanation how to use the top2svg.py? I came as far as making a bat file on windows and some characters scrolled by. how to set the svg filename as i didnt find it saved?
December 1st, 2007 at 23:32
Hi Log, you should specify one argument on the commandline that is the .top file to read. The output (svg) is written to stdout (or to your command window). You should redirect the output to a file.
December 2nd, 2007 at 0:04
Thanks for this info. I now could convert the tops. I made a bat file with many lines that batch convert top files.
IF EXIST A01.TOP C:\Python25\python “G:\top\top2svg.py” A01.TOP > A01.svg
IF EXIST A02.TOP C:\Python25\python “G:\top\top2svg.py” A02.TOP > A02.svg
etc.
Thanks
December 2nd, 2007 at 14:11
Hi I just bought this myself and I thought it would be great. Just wondering how easy is it to get the pen refills because I wouldn’t want to be stuck. Are they just normal pen refills? It seems to be a fantastic gadget, well worth the money and I am relieved that there are so many good reviews.
December 2nd, 2007 at 15:43
Identical Items: Aiptek MyNote, Genius G-Note 7000, Digital Ink Pad, My Note Pad, Aclass EZPad. Also very Similar to Adesso Cyberpad, but I noticed some extra slots on the right side. All these are basically the same product rebranded. They all use the TOP file format and in most cases features similar software.
December 3rd, 2007 at 0:57
It works as a tablet in Ubuntu Gutsy, but the tablet resolution is smaller than my screen resolution. Does anybody know how to solve this problem? Thanks!
December 3rd, 2007 at 3:09
Very cool notepad.
Would have ran out to get one if I hadn’t just satisfied my electronic note taking needs by picking up a Toshiba Protégé M200. Also a VERY nice way of taking electronic notes, and second hand you can pick these babies up for not that much at all. I managed to get my grubby little hands on one for just 52 euros…
December 3rd, 2007 at 11:16
The ID at the top of TOP files is WALTOP which is this Taiwanese company - Waltop International. This product and the other products mentioned appear to be rebadged T01S:
http://www.waltop.com/
http://www.waltop.com/P-my_note_t01s.htm
Thanks for the useful information on this page.
December 3rd, 2007 at 11:33
Homepage (in German) of Uwe Henschel who wrote the top2svg perl script - http://www.angiesoft.de/
December 3rd, 2007 at 11:38
Homepage (in Babelfish English
of Uwe Henschel who wrote the top2svg perl script -
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=de_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.angiesoft.de%2F
December 4th, 2007 at 9:36
The SDK from Waltop looks interesting - anyone tried to get this?
December 7th, 2007 at 11:42
nice thing, but i dont think to use it further.
OCR: tried gocr, tesseract, but with awful results. maybe 10% recognized correct. my girlfried will try it on windows, maybe she gets more acceptable results.
HDI: Plug in and use the aiptek X modul, but its impossible to use it as a replacement for my mouse.
maybe someone else could get OCR get work better. previously, this pad does not make sense to me.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:59
excellent info. thanks.
December 12th, 2007 at 19:32
Hey guys!
This notepad is currently on sale in Germany (Aldi Süd) and I must say: It is great! Especially with the hints from this page so you can use it on Linux aswell!
Just on change for the Script top2svg: In the current version the endings of the files the notepad produces are in capital letters, so you have to change the script as follows:
Open it with any editor an change the line
my $datei = $dname . “.top”;
into
my $datei = $dname . “.TOP”;
and everything will work just fine!
I hope this helped some of you enjoying this cool gadget even more!
December 17th, 2007 at 19:59
I have slightly modified the top2svg.py .
Now it stores each new stroke as a new path in the SVG file.
So you have much more possibilities to edit the resulting SVG file e.g. in the Inkspace.
If you draw the rectangle or the circle as a single stroke, than yoe can easily change the fill or the line properties.
The change is very simple (below is the contents of the diff file:)
$ diff -c top2svg.py top2svg2.py *** top2svg.py 2007-12-12 23:31:48.000000000 +0100 --- top2svg2.py 2007-12-17 19:54:18.000000000 +0100 *************** *** 1,3 **** --- 1,4 ---- + #!/usr/bin/python # (C) 2007 Jorik Blaas, use in any way as you please. import sys *************** *** 41,46 **** --- 42,49 ---- if drawing: code = "L" else: + print '" style="fill:none;stroke:black;stroke-width:1" />' + print '<path d="' code = "M" drawing = TrueDecember 17th, 2007 at 20:08
Ooops, the indentation was lost in my above post…
You have to indent the added lines properly to get the code working. The quotes have also been changed :-(.
Well, you should just copy the lines: 51 and 23 of the original file after the line 44 of the original file, assuring the proper indentation.
Then you can add the “#!/usr/bin/python” at the begining of the file.
PS. My tablet was bought as Genius G-Note 7000 and it looks exactly the same way as MEDION MD 85276 (except the “MEDION” name replaced with the “Genius”)
December 18th, 2007 at 22:53
Has anybody tried to use the handwriting recognition software with the “.top” files produced by the digital notepads?
I have found a few solutions, but had no time to check it out (probably the first step will be to write the file converter…):
1. CellWriter:
http://www.linux.com/feature/120867
http://risujin.org/cellwriter/
2. The Freehand Formula Entry System (math only):
http://www.cs.queensu.ca/drl/ffes/
3. Xmerlin (outdated?)
http://www.hellkvist.org/software/#XMerlin
December 23rd, 2007 at 19:48
Since software installation of Medion digipad I cant switch off PC into sleeping condition: remark “WT service is running” . How to switch that off?
December 28th, 2007 at 11:47
I have been using the Aiptek Mynote Which is identical to the Aldi Medion tablet.
My main OS in XP (due to my company) and I have used the Myscript software to interpret the top-files. Works pretty OK, as long as you don’t use a doctors handwriting. It has saved me a lot of time of re-tying pages full of notes. Recognition level about 80%.
I would like to use the same sort of functionality under Linux (OpenSuse 10.3).
The first thing is to use the proper driver for the tablet functionality. I tried the acecad flair driver, but the “absolute setting” does not work as absolute: it will be difficult to reach the corners of the screen. Anyone a suggestion which driver to use?
I will try the various tips on using the python scripts to convert the top-files. Can anyone recommend a OCR program?
December 29th, 2007 at 18:42
Is anybody using this tablet for his Apple machine also, or is it impossible to do so? I us een macbook with leopard.
can someone help me?
December 29th, 2007 at 21:19
I got this notepad for X-mas,so I don’t know how to use it very well yet,but I have some problems with it,I use it for drawing but the lines I draw are different from the lines who appear on my computer,and I don’t know where I can change the speed and pressure,could someone help me?
January 1st, 2008 at 12:52
I also received this notepad as a Christmas present. I have to confess that, although I have managed to set it up correctly ….(?), I am having problems.
I think the “manual” is poor. As a Silver surfer I need instructions in a clear format and I have no one to ask. I am hoping, therefore, that a kind person here will help me out.
My Notepad refuses to switch off and, although it states that it does this automatically after a while, mine doesn’t.
Older Son bought this for me but isn’t a computer buff. He knows I like computers and computer “toys”!! I think this notepad is aimed more towards a student but I could use it when I make notes, or draw images for an online magazine I edit.
Please, would someone be willing to contact me “personally”,possibly, to explain in simple terms how I start to make use of this nice-looking “toy”?
My thanks!
January 1st, 2008 at 12:54
Correction: The Notepad does switch off automatically but it takes a while to do so!
January 2nd, 2008 at 20:09
Hi maryemm, i have noticed that if you press and hold the silver power button it does switch off! i got on efor crimbo too hehe i think its cool, i do a lot of doodling, iam a graphic designer and this is such a time saver. oooo i love gadets (that work)
cya
January 3rd, 2008 at 17:16
Oh, Mark! Then you are the person for whom I am seeking! :O)
Once you have dreawn (doodled) on the A4 paper what do you do next, please?
My silver power button is erratic!
January 6th, 2008 at 22:18
Hi,
I wrote some tools (in C) for the tablet (top2ps, top2svg and topviewer). If you are interested please check out the following link
https://sourceforge.net/projects/toptools
best regards,
Alex
January 9th, 2008 at 12:40
Anyone found a folder/portfolio that fits the Notepad, but doesn’t cost upwards of £30?
Best wishes
Peter.
January 9th, 2008 at 14:41
PS - I also get the “WT Service is running” message when I shut the lid of my laptop (see Calama, 23rd Dec 2007), so it doesn’t hibernate as it should do. This is a pain when wanting to rush off home at the end of the day. Any solution would be appreciated.
Best wishes,
Peter.
January 13th, 2008 at 16:45
Thank you Alexandergeorg for your post which I have just seen. (I have been away).
Unfortunately, my IT knowledge is not up to your standard!!
I really need to know once one has drawn (doodled) on the A4 paper what does one do next, please?
I have installed the software on the notepad’s accompanying disc.
I would so appreciate help here.
My thanks in advance
Maryemm
January 16th, 2008 at 11:25
Great info on Linux .top stuff. I had been hoping for some Linux tools.
I have used pad for several months, bought ‘Adesso’ version which comes with folio and battery charger. Aldi here (Australia) has recently sold the Medion version. They are identical except Medion does not have folio/charger but comes with MyScript. They are all made by Waltop.
For Windows, MyScript gives great conversion to text. Better still, try Evernote v2.2 that will handle the .top file directly but indexes the text if you get the full version. There is a 30day trial available.
The pen refills are standard pen refills, just try any pen retailer.
Stephen
January 16th, 2008 at 23:34
Once I have written on the A4 paper what do I do next?
Helpful hints, please :O)
January 22nd, 2008 at 14:48
I want also to buy the medion or aiptek tablet.
Does some know where I can buy it in europe.
January 24th, 2008 at 17:58
Alas, I see you are all experts here at using this tablet.
PLEASE, won’t you share that knowledge? Once I’m shown how to do something I am OK but, for some reason, I can’t get past a certain stage with this new toy.
January 25th, 2008 at 8:57
Maryemm:
Use the cable they provide to connect it to your computer. (The connector is at the top of the tablet, the other end goes into a USB port). The storage on the tablet will be detected in a similar fashion to usb keys. Use the software you installed off the cds to copy the files from the tablet to your computer and run the handwriting recognition etc.
January 26th, 2008 at 15:30
Open source tools for this digital notepad, awesome
Anyway, I think it *should* be possible to make nice drawings with this one: in the windows tools you can configure the sensitivity (e.g. how hard you have to press to make it recognize as a “click”), which means that the pressure level has to be sent over the USB cable. So, with specific tools or drivers, it should be possible to link that pressure with pen thickness or color
Will have a look after my exams, definitely sounds interesting!
January 26th, 2008 at 15:49
Bingo, analysing some raw USB data, the notepad seems to support 6 pressure levels (practically: 3 pressure levels). Guess this will make it a better Wacom alternative!
January 27th, 2008 at 21:44
I’m not happy with the MD 85276. The pen is too thick, so I quickly get the cramp in my fingers. The software is bad, except “MyScript Notes”. But it’s just a very limited edition.
The worst ist the support at Medion. I downloaded the drivers and software from the Medion website. It’s older than the software delivered on CD! And the download includes “Pensoft” (I name it “Painsoft”), a 16bit application! Never install this on your PC unless you got Windows98 or earlier!
January 27th, 2008 at 22:37
The software sucks, it really does. Which is (together with the fact I’m using Linux) the reason I’m making my own stuff (script is located at http://besard.no-ip.org:8080/applications/SVN/inkpad/trunk/scripts/inkpad_import.pl ). Not as full-featured as the included stuff, but together with some UDEV rules and a bit of creativity, this could turn out as an worthy alternative for the Medion tools.
About the pen, I don’t have any problems with it (I admit it isn’t a very thin model), but I will have a closer look how it’s designed (so I can make my own when this one starts failing). Still have to find out how it gets detected (doesn’t seem to be based on magnetic inductance), maybe somebody else has an idea?
January 27th, 2008 at 23:24
Thank you, Nigel; your advice is much appreciated.
QUOTE: Use the software you installed off the cds to copy the files from the tablet to your computer and run the handwriting recognition etc.
UNQUOTE
Now here’s where I show my ignorance!
I click on COPY, right? And the handwriting recognition follows automatically?
January 30th, 2008 at 16:46
hi,
i bought the notepad a year ago and i’m glad to have it - but - i lost the pen in an plane and can’t find a dealer for a new one.
medion has no pens at all! and even no idea where to get on!
please help!
February 1st, 2008 at 12:17
Anyone know where i can get a spare pen and nibs form? a portfolion would be great too..
thanks
srk
February 4th, 2008 at 12:15
I all,
I bought the MD 85276 at Aldi Woudenberg (NL) for only €30,- (yes, they still have some left!) and I like the pad but I HATE the software included! I’m having a hard time finding software that will recognise my handwriting. I’m currently trying to teach ABBYY what to look for, but it’s painstaking and time consuming work.
Anybody know of a better OCR package that will smoothly translate my handwriting into text?
I managed to find a nice leather portfolio for it! It’s made by a Dutch firm called Henzo. It closes magnetically and holds the pad very snugly! You can find an example here: http://buroartikelen.com/details.asp?code=34.250.08&origin=products
On this site it’s quite expensive. I managed to find this protfolio at the Bijenkorf department stores here in NL for €29,95.
About the pens, they can be bought seperately here: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2456629&CatId=140
Best regards!
Stefan
February 6th, 2008 at 15:35
I haven’t tried to convert handwriting to text yet, and with my scrawl I don’t hold out high hopes. I have managed for it to recognise that I am drawing/writing on the pad when it is not connected via the usb and then to connect the usb and transfer from notepad to computer (via convert) but am absolutely stuck on how to get drawings and writing to show on the monitor as I am doing it, which is precisely why I bought it (It is a larger tablet and cheaper for its size than others). Having read the comments I get the impression that this is possible and I have not made an error in buying a notepad instead of a graphics pad,(Is there a difference?) Can anyone help with this. Please note I do not read computer speak or write programs but feel I am missing something simple that the manual has glossed over.
February 6th, 2008 at 20:35
Iain, this is my problem also.
February 8th, 2008 at 16:35
I believe these are compatible refills, and this is the cheapest web price I’ve found for the UK:
http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSearch/ProductDetails-Parker+Profile+3in1+Refill-30129269.html
February 10th, 2008 at 12:00
@Iain
When connected to a PC the notepad is recognized as a USB mouse, so when you draw something on your notepad, the mouse moves accordingly, doesn’t it? (you can configure whether movements are interpreted absolutely or relatively.)
I have bought this notepad too for computer drawing, and now I know I’d better bought a real graphics tabled (like a Wacom).
February 10th, 2008 at 22:45
Hi all, I have downloaded top2svg from freshmeat. I have opened the archive etc. I do not understand what I do with the script now that I have it. I am running Ubuntu Gutsy and would like to simply convert the top files downloaded from my digital pad to svg. Any detailed instructions would be appreciated.
February 11th, 2008 at 14:29
You have to run the script on your ‘top’ file, but without the file extension.
For example:
$! Untar the archive
$ tar xvfj top2svg-v0.2.tar.bz2
$! Move to the archive directory
$ cd top2svg-v0.2/
$! Copy your file to convert into this directory (or add it to your PATH)
$ cp ~/Documents/notepad/a01.top .
$! Run the converter on the file (without .top extension)
$ top2svg a01
a01.svg: 90.9% — replaced with a01.svg.gz
$! By default the converter gzips the resulting svg file - unzip it here
$ gzip -d a01.svg.gz
$! View the resulting svg file (in the kde web/file viewer)
$ konqueror a01.svg
Any more problems, ask me direct: mark [at] wickensonline [dot] co [dot] uk
February 11th, 2008 at 23:57
Thanks very much, I will give it a try
February 12th, 2008 at 20:03
Hi technicalminded bods, I have a burning question. Can the board be converted to a realtime function ? That is to say can it pass the info directly to a laptop or do so via a bluetooth device ? Im a semi pro magician/mindreader and this application would save me £££££’s
Can be mailed at markthorold@hotmail.com . Would really appreciate some advice on this .
Sincere Regards Mark
February 12th, 2008 at 23:19
Bought it at Aldi. Very good but instructions poor.
February 16th, 2008 at 22:48
Maleadt,
The pen is not recognised on the notepad when connected to the computer either in My Script or My Ink. The notepad does seem to work independently of the computer and I can transfer data from it to the computer. I want to have the notepad connected to the computer, draw on it and for that information to appear on my monitor in real time. It sounds like Maryemm has the same problem. The light on my pen does not come on at all, but it seems to work fine if the notepad is not connected to the computer. Has anyone got a simple answer?
Cheers, Iain
February 21st, 2008 at 17:52
I’ve got the AIPTEK MyNote version.
Jorik: Thanks for the python code! I’ve rewritten in Delphi if anyone would find that useful.
Terry: I’ve asked twice for the Waltop SDK - no reply.
maleadt: can you share any information about how the pressure levels are encoded, or how to find them?
OCR etc: OCR software doesn’t work well with handwritten script even if it is carefully written block capitals. The handwriting recognition built-in to Vista works well.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:46
hi, the pen is no more available at “tigersdirect”. Does anybody know ohter places to buy one?
thanks!
February 29th, 2008 at 6:42
Hi, I was wondering if anyone could assist me. I just purchased a DigiMemo L2 from Acecad, but it looks like I have made an error. It turns out this product saves as a file with the extension .dhw. Does anyone have any experience with this file format on Linux? The only program I can find on the net is from VectorPen, but it doesn’t look like this program is complete (they state a version will be available for purchase at the end of January, but nothing yet).
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated,
Rodney
March 3rd, 2008 at 16:27
CAN anyone tell me how to write more than one page : at the moment I have each page , after conversion to type, in a separate file. I need to be able
to write several pages. I have mastered converting to TOPs file, then to type but obviosly do something wrong when I get to the Word Pad stage.
Apart from that I am delighted with the device!
March 8th, 2008 at 3:57
It’s a very useful application!
March 11th, 2008 at 17:19
FYI, I have answered my own question. If anyone else is interested there is a perl script located here http://www.kevlindev.com/blog/?p=58 that will convert a .dhw file to .svg.
March 17th, 2008 at 22:45
it’s only £20 in aldi runcorn!!!!!!!
obviously they aren’t selling, i’ll get one next week if there’s any left!
March 28th, 2008 at 10:14
I bought one of these at Aldi and it works perfectly. However can someone explain to me why I would bother to use this when I can get the same result by writing or drawing on plain paper and scanning to my PC?
March 28th, 2008 at 10:21
You can use this device as an input device for your computer. When you always have a scanner in reach than there is not really any use for this gadget.
March 28th, 2008 at 21:54
@rob:
I would be really interested in the Delphi-Version of that converter!
Please contact me at: Lemar.DeSalis@gmx.de
Thanks in advance!
March 31st, 2008 at 7:24
>> However can someone explain to me why I would bother to use this when I can get the
>> same result by writing or drawing on plain paper and scanning to my PC?
I use the pad with Evernote software. I find that searching for text in a digital ink document from the pad is much better than searching for text in a scanned document.
Regards,
Stephen
April 17th, 2008 at 14:05
@RAY: “However can someone explain to me why I would bother to use this when I can get the same result by writing or drawing on plain paper and scanning to my PC?”
I bougth the TEVION (Aldi Süd, Germany) Version of this digital notepad at ebay for 29€. The major advantage (for me) of using this is: I take notes the whole day. At the end of the day I have about 5 up to 30 or more pages, and scanning them in the evening would take a lot of time.
@all
I try to get rid of Windows, and have ubuntu 7.10 installed. I was searching for a Linux-Tool that converts my handwritten scripts to editable text (e.g to use it in openoffice).
There are 2 interesting options
http://www.heatonresearch.com/articles/42/page1.html
and the open source GOOLGE OCR tesseract…
http://code.google.com/p/tesseract-ocr/
Did someone experiment with one of these already?
May 10th, 2008 at 14:59
@ yehl
I’m from germany too and I’m looking for a device like this. I need it for the university and since I will probably use it the next 3 years I want one that is working properly. Is yours ok so far and what is the specific artikle description so I can find it on ebay?
I’m not quite sure if that thing really works that good to be honest. Why can’t you find these things in proper onlinestores any more? So if theres a device that is really working and good quality please give me a link so I can convince myself
May 17th, 2008 at 5:34
I’ve made 2 improvements to Alex’s Toptools (the one written in C). I’ve posted them as patches on his project page:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/toptools
1st fixes a segfault in top2ps and correct the width/height properties in top2svg
2nd adds the possibility to use SVG paths instead of simple lines (make editing of resulting files easier as contiguous lines are now a single entity)
Cheers!
Garth
May 19th, 2008 at 9:43
@Garth:
Great job! Thanks for your effort to do so and mentioning it here.
May 19th, 2008 at 23:21
I bought one of the Tevion ones at Ebay now and I am quite happy with my new toy so far. Unfortunatly I am working with Windows and the software MyScript comes in the basic version only and I haven’t found any other prog for windows to handly the .top files yet. I would like to print the “scans” from the device as pdf or something like that without any OCR. I know that the MyScript 2.2 Full supports something like that, but if theres a freeware for that I would prefer that.
May 23rd, 2008 at 0:55
I’ve just got the medion one and I’ve noticed some bits of my writing missing when I view the TOP files, I’ve tried drawing a grid to check it and I seem have dead area in the lower right side that misses vertical lines
Anyone else have this? should I take it back?
May 26th, 2008 at 18:25
This is a quick note for anyone trying to access the SD card reader on the tablet under Linux (at least this is how I got it to work on my Adesso branded one): Each of the different storage (internal/SD) are on a different scsi LUN. Internal memory is on LUN0, while the SD card is on LUN1. So to be able to access the SD card, you have to set the kernel to scan for all LUNs. On a kernel 2.6, you need to enable: CONFIG_SCSI_MULTI_LUN
It is located at:
Device Drivers -> SCSI device support -> Probe all LUNs on each SCSI device
Edips:
I just ran a grid pattern on mine to see if I could reproduce your result, everything came up perfectly, so I’d suggest you return your tablet.
June 12th, 2008 at 1:46
I just bought this thing on ebay. It really seems like a cool gadget to have. I am on Mac OS X Leopard and it works out of the box when I plug it in via USB. But unfortunately every couple of minutes OS X seems to lose the connection and tells me about an unsafe drive removal. The TOP 2 SVG program (link above) immediately crashes when I try to convert a .top file. Any help would be appreciated. For now I have to settle with running the converter and handwriting recognition software in VirtualBox on XP. For all of you on Linux and Mac OS: it works ok and sure beats rebooting to Windows but a native application would be nicer, of course. By the way, that handwriting recognition software seems to work pretty good. I tested only a few sentences but I have a really nasty handwriting and the program did pretty good. At least with words it did know. My name and address came out somewhat crippled.
June 17th, 2008 at 7:55
I am still looking for a freeware programm that is just converting the top into some usable file like top2svg does it unter linux. Unfortunatly I have Windows so I hope there is something similar. The official way would be to buy MyScript Notes Full, but I don’t really accept to buy another software just to use the data that is coming out of the gadget…
June 24th, 2008 at 13:44
The digital notepad normally ships with a CD that contains ‘MyInk Suite’ among other programs. This Windows software will convert a .top file to JPEG, BMP or PDF.
July 5th, 2008 at 22:06
Hi, here’s our long story:
Well, we are dirt poor, and already carefully crafted our finances over several months to get my wife a Lenovo 3000N200-model, the cheapest ‘Thinkpad’ from the original manufacturers. Not a dual-core, just a Celeron M. Think single-core version of the modern dual-core puppies. Anyway, great machine which was about 500 euro from HD-Computer.de. I thought that would do it for her University needs. Of course not!
My wife went on and on about getting a Tablet PC. I said no, as these are with a very old CPU and hardware setup, within anything we could afford (Think of the executive laptop models, WITH a touch-screen).
She came up with this “Digitaler Notizblock”. Aldi, one pervasive grocery store chain, their electronics brand is Medion, and has kind of a mixed reputation, as Medion is more or less a marketing front-end for diverse electronic products of all sorts of quality levels, many poor quality, in my opinion.
As one previous poster pointed out, the exact same tablet as the Medion is available on eBay for 29€ plus 8€ shipping (in DE). Just do a search on ebay.de for “Digitaler Notizblock”. The only other product which comes up is some kind of clip-on to a normal paper notebook, which tracks the pen’s movements. I can’t imagine it would be as good as the item reviewed here.
I wanted to find some alternatives, to look at reviews, etc, be an ‘Informed Consumer’, and since English is my native language, I looked at Amazon.com for Digital Notebook and immediately found the http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000C42MLE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top “Cyberpad”, which sells currently for 147USD. I couldn’t imagine with the price it was anything like the one offered she was looking at: one missing a pen going currently for 17€. After reading several reviews, and seeing photos where all the digital notebook tablets all look identical, except for maybe the software, the hardware is all the same, minus some branding.
So she ordered the Buy Now 29€ tablet and are waiting for delivery. We have already purchased a Canon MX310, sans cartridges (Please honey, READ the entire auction before buying), for about 55€, solely to use the ADF 30-sheet feeder with some OCR software to take in all her university documents and get rid of boxes of paper (the Germans LOVE paperwork). The MX310 is so-far working great and is really fast. Coupled with hacking XP to enable Mirroring and installing two inexpensive Seagate SATA drives, we are well on the way to the ‘digital age’, on an extremely tight allowance.
In all cases, I recommend reading reviews, and looking at past similar auctions. Looking now at a completed auction search on ebay.de, shows some ridiculous patterns: The notepad has been offered for as much as 149€ (not sold); the prices people have paid have been between 29€ and almost 60€. With the 60€ instance, there were 9 bids, although about 9 hours earlier, the same digital notepad, with different branding, was passed over and not sold, for a Buy It Now price of 29€.
I am only left wondering how much the pen is simply a pen, with a plastic stylus option, or if it has some other function or feature, for the pad to track the pen. This because the pen is large. It would be probably be handy to replace it with a thinner model.