In my last post, I mentioned the inability of the EeRotate in adjusting the trackpad 'orientation' when the screen is rotated anti-clockwise by 90 degrees (or clockwise by 270 degrees for the finicky :)). This issue is important to me if I want to use my netbook as an ebook reader since I prefer to have the netbook's keyboard on my LEFT side - which, in turn place the Page Up/Down keys within easy reach of my left thumb (translation: easy to flip pages of the ebook!). If I have to move the cursor for some reason or other (for example, clicking on the menu to select another ebook), it is frustrating to realize that the trackpad's control is not changed to follow the new screen orientation (in fact, it is the opposite of what is expected).
There had to be a better utility than EeRotate available - time to do a search on the internet. After a short while I found it! It's called ScreenMouseRotate (a blindingly beautiful name :)) and it can be downloaded at http://www.math.uaa.alaska.edu/~afkjm/techteach/?q=node/70 (thank you Kendrick and mars). If you have EeRotate installed on your netbook, uninstall it first before using ScreenMouseRotate (otherwise unpleasant things will happen). To uninstall EeRotate, navigate to Program Files->Eerotate and double-click on 'uninstall.bat' (before you ask, it is NOT listed in the installed programs list - so using 'Remove Files' under Control Panel is out of the question). Once EeRotate has been removed, unzip ScreenMouseRotate, preferably under the Program Files folder and in a newly created folder. Create a shortcut to the exe file on the desktop and double-click on it to start the program.
The ScreenMouseRotate, unlike the EeRotate program, does not start automatically when you start your netbook - you have to start it manually. If you prefer, put the ScreenMouseRotate program in your Startup folder - this way the program will start automatically when the netbook is powered on. To use the program, either right-click on the icon in the system tray or click on the program name on the taskbar (yes it is weird to have two ways to access the program, but I'm not complaining - after all it is free!). The selection of screen orientation is self explanatory - Portrait 1 is 90 degrees clockwise (my preference), Portrait 2 is 90 degrees anti-clockwise, Landscape Flipped flips the screen upside-down (who uses this, I wonder?) and Landscape Default is to reset the screen to its default orientation. Here's the beauty of this program - the trackpad AND mouse orientation follows the screen orientation automatically! On the top of that the Ctrl+Alt+Arrow Keys trick also works - with automatic trackpad and mouse adjustment! Beautiful! Just what I was looking for!
Now that I have solved the screen rotation problem, I will explore the ebook reader software in detail on my next blog.
Showing posts with label screen rotation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label screen rotation. Show all posts
Monday, August 22, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Netbook eBook Reader - Screen Rotation
My last 2 posts was about using a netbook as an ebook reader and one of the subject covered was screen rotation. Rotating the screen of the netbook does not mean physically rotating the whole netbook but rotating the text on the screen. This was explained to some of my non-computer literate friends of mine who read my blog. I explained to them (plus an actual demonstration using my own netbook) that, by rotating the text, it would make it easier to read an ebook since it would emulate the 'page' of a book. I also explained that by using the Ctrl-Alt-Arrow Keys combination and/or a free utility under Windows, it was possible to rotate the text to any position - even 'upside-down' if they want.
Since my friends were confused about screen rotation, I thought it would be a good idea to elaborate more on this subject for the benefit of my readers. The objective of screen rotation is to adjust the display of text (or pictures) on the screen clockwise or anti-clockwise. This would effectively cause the normal 'wide-screen landscape' display of a netbook to turn into a 'narrow-screen portrait' display. How does one achieve this on a netbook?
[NOTE: If you have installed EeRotate, disable it temporarily by by right-clicking on the display icon in your tray and selecting 'Suspend Hotkeys'. This must be done before executing any of the steps below.]
Assuming that the netbook is running Windows (either XP, Vista or Windows 7), pressing the following key combinations will cause the screen to rotate:
Ctrl-Alt-Right-Arrow: Rotate screen CLOCKWISE by 90 degrees
Ctrl-Alt-Left-Arrow: Rotate screen ANTI-CLOCKWISE by 90 degrees
Ctrl-Alt-Down-Arrow: Rotate screen UPSIDE-DOWN by 180 degrees
Ctrl-Alt-Up-Arrow: Restore screen to NORMAL position (0 degrees)
Notice that the trackpad does not automatically follow the screen rotation - it will remain in their default setting. To illustrate this, first rotate the screen clockwise 90 degrees (press the Ctrl-Alt-Right-Arrow key combinations), and hold the netbook sideways so that the keyboard is on your right side. Now use the thumb of your right hand to move the cursor (pointer) on the screen. Instinct would indicate that moving the thumb up or down would move the cursor up or down but in actuality, it only moves the cursor right or left. This is because that the 'orientation' of the trackpad does not 'follow' the screen rotation - it remains at its original 'orientation'. You have to keep this in mind whenever you use the Ctrl-Alt-Right-Arrow (by itself without using any other utility) keys to rotate the screen.
If you have a USB mouse, connect it to a USB port on your netbook, and while holding the netbook sideways so that the keyboard is on your right side (I know this an awkward position, but bear with me for a while), move the mouse up and down. Notice that the cursor also moves up and down - so using a mouse will not affect cursor movement but using a mouse is NOT an exactly a 'portable' solution for reading an ebook. So disconnect the mouse for now.
For the next demo, rotate the screen anti-clockwise 90 degrees (press the Ctrl-Alt-Left-Arrow key combinations), and hold the netbook sideways so that the keyboard is on your left side. Now use the thumb of your left hand to move the cursor (pointer) on the screen. Instinct would indicate that moving the thumb up or down would move the cursor up or down but in actuality, it only moves the cursor right or left. Again, this is because that the 'orientation' of the trackpad does not 'follow' the screen rotation - it remains at its original 'orientation'. You have to keep this in mind whenever you use the Ctrl-Alt-Left-Arrow keys to rotate the screen.
Return the screen to its 'normal' position using the Ctrl-Alt-Up-Arrow key combination. If you have not downloaded and installed the EeRotate utility, do so now at http://sites.google.com/site/vkedwardli/eeerotate. For those that has installed it, re-enable it by right-clicking on the screen icon in the tray and clearing the 'Suspend Hotkeys'.
Now, again rotate the screen clockwise 90 degrees (press the Ctrl-Alt-Right-Arrow key combinations), and hold the netbook sideways so that the keyboard is on your right side. Now use the thumb of your right hand to move the cursor (pointer) on the screen. This time the cursor moves as you expect - up means up, down means down, etc. The EeRotate utility has managed to rotate the trackpad along with the screen! Unfortunately, this does not apply if you rotate the screen anti-clockwise 90 degrees. Press the Ctrl-Alt-Left-Arrow key combinations and hold the netbook sideways so that the keyboard is on your left side. Now use the thumb of your left hand to move the cursor (pointer) on the screen. Notice that cursor moves opposite of what you expect - thumb up means cursor down, etc. It looks as if EeRotate did rotate the trackpad but in the 'wrong' way. So if you use EeRotate to rotate the screen anti-clockwise 90 degrees, just remember that the trackpad behaves opposite to that what you expect. Again I hope the author of the EeRotate utility fix this as soon as possible.
In conclusion, although the EeRotate utility has some limitation in the anti-clockwise 90 degrees trackpad orientation, it remains a highly recommended utility to install if one is serious in using the netbook as an ebook reader. Linux users do not have the ability to rotate the screen as easily as Windows users - a situation that I deplore but have to live with.
Since my friends were confused about screen rotation, I thought it would be a good idea to elaborate more on this subject for the benefit of my readers. The objective of screen rotation is to adjust the display of text (or pictures) on the screen clockwise or anti-clockwise. This would effectively cause the normal 'wide-screen landscape' display of a netbook to turn into a 'narrow-screen portrait' display. How does one achieve this on a netbook?
[NOTE: If you have installed EeRotate, disable it temporarily by by right-clicking on the display icon in your tray and selecting 'Suspend Hotkeys'. This must be done before executing any of the steps below.]
Assuming that the netbook is running Windows (either XP, Vista or Windows 7), pressing the following key combinations will cause the screen to rotate:
Ctrl-Alt-Right-Arrow: Rotate screen CLOCKWISE by 90 degrees
Ctrl-Alt-Left-Arrow: Rotate screen ANTI-CLOCKWISE by 90 degrees
Ctrl-Alt-Down-Arrow: Rotate screen UPSIDE-DOWN by 180 degrees
Ctrl-Alt-Up-Arrow: Restore screen to NORMAL position (0 degrees)
Notice that the trackpad does not automatically follow the screen rotation - it will remain in their default setting. To illustrate this, first rotate the screen clockwise 90 degrees (press the Ctrl-Alt-Right-Arrow key combinations), and hold the netbook sideways so that the keyboard is on your right side. Now use the thumb of your right hand to move the cursor (pointer) on the screen. Instinct would indicate that moving the thumb up or down would move the cursor up or down but in actuality, it only moves the cursor right or left. This is because that the 'orientation' of the trackpad does not 'follow' the screen rotation - it remains at its original 'orientation'. You have to keep this in mind whenever you use the Ctrl-Alt-Right-Arrow (by itself without using any other utility) keys to rotate the screen.
If you have a USB mouse, connect it to a USB port on your netbook, and while holding the netbook sideways so that the keyboard is on your right side (I know this an awkward position, but bear with me for a while), move the mouse up and down. Notice that the cursor also moves up and down - so using a mouse will not affect cursor movement but using a mouse is NOT an exactly a 'portable' solution for reading an ebook. So disconnect the mouse for now.
For the next demo, rotate the screen anti-clockwise 90 degrees (press the Ctrl-Alt-Left-Arrow key combinations), and hold the netbook sideways so that the keyboard is on your left side. Now use the thumb of your left hand to move the cursor (pointer) on the screen. Instinct would indicate that moving the thumb up or down would move the cursor up or down but in actuality, it only moves the cursor right or left. Again, this is because that the 'orientation' of the trackpad does not 'follow' the screen rotation - it remains at its original 'orientation'. You have to keep this in mind whenever you use the Ctrl-Alt-Left-Arrow keys to rotate the screen.
Return the screen to its 'normal' position using the Ctrl-Alt-Up-Arrow key combination. If you have not downloaded and installed the EeRotate utility, do so now at http://sites.google.com/site/vkedwardli/eeerotate. For those that has installed it, re-enable it by right-clicking on the screen icon in the tray and clearing the 'Suspend Hotkeys'.
Now, again rotate the screen clockwise 90 degrees (press the Ctrl-Alt-Right-Arrow key combinations), and hold the netbook sideways so that the keyboard is on your right side. Now use the thumb of your right hand to move the cursor (pointer) on the screen. This time the cursor moves as you expect - up means up, down means down, etc. The EeRotate utility has managed to rotate the trackpad along with the screen! Unfortunately, this does not apply if you rotate the screen anti-clockwise 90 degrees. Press the Ctrl-Alt-Left-Arrow key combinations and hold the netbook sideways so that the keyboard is on your left side. Now use the thumb of your left hand to move the cursor (pointer) on the screen. Notice that cursor moves opposite of what you expect - thumb up means cursor down, etc. It looks as if EeRotate did rotate the trackpad but in the 'wrong' way. So if you use EeRotate to rotate the screen anti-clockwise 90 degrees, just remember that the trackpad behaves opposite to that what you expect. Again I hope the author of the EeRotate utility fix this as soon as possible.
In conclusion, although the EeRotate utility has some limitation in the anti-clockwise 90 degrees trackpad orientation, it remains a highly recommended utility to install if one is serious in using the netbook as an ebook reader. Linux users do not have the ability to rotate the screen as easily as Windows users - a situation that I deplore but have to live with.
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