If you haven't already futzed around with your Tablet PC, now is the time to start playing with your newest high-tech toy.
Turning it on
Different models put that all-important power switch in different places. For example, one model may have a slider button on its right edge - you push the slider forward to turn the power on. Another model may have a small button on its face. Your user manual shows you the exact configuration and location of your power button.
The first time that you turn your Tablet PC on, make sure that you have either charged its battery or plug the Tablet PC into a power outlet. If your unit uses a docking station, then you already have a handy way to charge your battery and provide power as you work.
After your system boots up, the Windows XP for Tablet PC desktop appears, with a window open for accessing Tablet PC tutorials.
If you don't want to see the window of tutorials again, simply check the option at the bottom of the screen to not show the window again.
Meet your Tablet PC pen
Your Tablet PC came with a special EMR (electric-magnetic resonance) pen, designed to input handwriting and commands into your computer.
Don't use any other kind of pen to touch your screen. You can do serious and expensive damage to your Tablet PC.
Other objects, including your hand or finger, don't input anything into Tablet PC. So you can rest your wrist on the screen as you write, safe in the knowledge that you can't make stray entries. But remember, without the pen, you're stuck. Don't lose it, or you basically lose your ability to write on your screen until you get another pen from the manufacturer.
Jewelry alert: If you wear a watch or bracelet on your writing wrist, you may want to take that jewelry off when writing on the Tablet PC screen. Although your watch doesn't write any input, it may scratch the screen.
You use your pen to tap things on your screen, just as you click things with a mouse button. Start by tapping the Close button to close the Tutorial window if it appears when you turn on the computer.
Tap the Input Panel icon (it's just to the right of the Start menu on the Windows taskbar). The Input Panel appears. If you don't see the Writing Pad window displayed, tap on its tab with your pen to view it.
Putting pen to tablet
You can use the Input Panel Writing Pad to write text with your pen that you then insert into an open document in an application such as Word or Excel.
For now, practice writing your first sentences with WordPad by following these steps:
1. Choose Start --> All Programs --> Accessories --> WordPad.
The WordPad program opens.
2. With your insertion point in the blank WordPad document, write the following text on the writing line in the Writing Pad (press your Tablet PC pen firmly but gently):
Welcome to Tablet PC.
After a moment, your handwritten entry appears in the WordPad document. Depending on how neat your handwriting is, you should see the words that you wrote turn into text.
3. Tap the arrow on the Send button in the Writing Panel and select Send as Ink.
4. Tap the Enter button on the Writing Pad keypad.
5. Write the following text in the Writing Panel:
Enjoy writing with your pen.
After a moment, your handwriting appears in the document.
Spinning your display
Besides being able to write on your screen, one of the coolest features of Tablet PC is the ability to change the orientation of the computer's display. This flexibility lets you hold the unit differently depending on the setting. For example, you may prefer a landscape orientation when you have a writing surface and want a more PC-like screen appearance; or you may prefer a portrait orientation if you have to hold the tablet to work on it - for example, if you're working in an airport waiting area. Holding the tablet in portrait orientation lets you hold it easily with one arm, which you probably find more comfortable for longer periods of time - more like holding a legal pad.
Some Tablet PCs let you spin your orientation in any of four ways, 90 degrees at a time. Others allow only one landscape and one portrait orientation. The method of changing orientation also differs from model to model. One Tablet PC may provide a button on its face; you rotate the screen 90 degrees with each press. Another may require that you press a function key on the unit, as well as an arrow key, to move between landscape and portrait orientation.
If you apply a lower screen-resolution setting, such as 800 x 680, most Tablet PC models don't let you use the display-orientation feature. If your resolution is too low, simply choose Control Panel --> Display and change the resolution.
