Tech Notes from the Field

Do you ever get the urge to do something crazy?  How about with your own money?  Well, that was my week. The result is I am writing this post via a non-traditional mobile device:  A Nook Color.
After reading a couple of articles I could not resist:  Could I use the Nook as a tablet and manage my equipment remotely. The boys and I headed to B&N and I bought the Nook.  Following directions online I installed the “root” and now I have an eReader and mobile Android device. I’ve chosen not to link the websites, but they are easy to find.

By the middle of the week I was accessing the network via VPN and my equipment via VNC and a PC hosting the VNC server. Android devices are supposed to support Adobe Flash, but that doesn’t seem to be the case on this, so I need to run VNC just like an Apple device. The bottom line is I can view and manage the Nautel AUI and other devices! 

Other conveniences such as email, twitter, and Facebook are a given. I did try to install Skype. No luck there. I attempted AIM and got one message off before I was no longer able to use the app. I may dig a bit on that since instant messaging is a normal daily activity. Interesting is Google talk works, but only under a single account. I cannot switch between accounts like I can do with email via GMail.

Of courses the week had real work. HVAC quarterly maintenance was in there along with dealing with daily requests. At least I had some good fun with this Nook!