As I mentioned elsewhere, I'm working on a DXCore plugin to enable (Tablet PC) ink drawing on the Visual Studio editor surface. A problem I stumbled upon in this regard was the scrolling functionality. Generally this is really easy to implement, using a transformation with the ink renderer. So I had this method:

void UpdateScrollPosition(TextView textView) {
  Point p = new Point(textView.ColumnWidth * textView.HorizontalScrollPosition,
    textView.LineHeight * textView.VerticalScrollPosition);

  collector.Renderer.PixelToInkSpace(textView.Graphics, ref p);
  Matrix matrix = new Matrix();
  matrix.Translate(-p.X, -p.Y);
		
  collector.Renderer.SetViewTransform(matrix);
}

After wondering for a while why this didn't work, I put in some logging and found that the value passed in as -p.Y was actually growing for every call into that method, regardless how I was dragging the vertical scrollbar. The explanation was simple in the end, as these explanations tend to be: the PixelToInkSpace method takes any current transformations into account, so that any calculation is relative to an origin set earlier - in the last update, in fact. So the solution was to use an offset for the calculation and everything started working:

void UpdateScrollPosition(TextView textView) {
  Point p = new Point(textView.ColumnWidth * textView.HorizontalScrollPosition,
    textView.LineHeight * textView.VerticalScrollPosition);
  Point origin = new Point(0, 0);

  collector.Renderer.PixelToInkSpace(textView.Graphics, ref p);
  collector.Renderer.PixelToInkSpace(textView.Graphics, ref origin);
  p.Offset(-origin.X, -origin.Y);
  Matrix matrix = new Matrix();
  matrix.Translate(-p.X, -p.Y);
		
  collector.Renderer.SetViewTransform(matrix);
}

As astonishing as this problem was, I found a very easy fix for it, suggested in the Microsoft Product Feedback Center, if you can believe it. Apparently, a similar issue was already in the beta 1 refresh that came out many months ago, but was never actually solved. I tried to make my voice heard here, maybe it'll be fixed in the future.

Meanwhile, here's what needs to be done to get networking back: Uninstall (or don't install from the start) the "Microsoft Device Emulator version 1.0 Beta 2 - ENU" entry (BTW, anybody in this world know what ENU means? What's the use of acronyms such as this in my installed applications list? Wikipedia gives a 404 when I search for it...) from the Add or Remove Programs control panel. Networking will be back to normal instantly.

Interestingly, in my normal workstation I've used the device emulator in the past and it used to work just fine. No idea what's causing it to fail on the Tablet PC, and some of the other reports in the feedback center don't seem to be using Tablet PCs at all. Oh well :-)

I have just finished installing VS.NET 2005 beta 2 on my Tablet PC for the second time, with the exact same result: I can't get any networking whatsoever to work on the system.

What I did is really quite simple: I cleaned up the system very carefully because there had been an installation of beta 1 on it before. I found a lot of information about that on the web, like here, I also had collected some experience doing that a few times with the CTPs (on a different system). I'm reasonably sure I didn't miss anything important, because my main workstation, which has been through a lot more cycles than the Tablet PC, works just fine with beta 2 after the same procedure.

I ran through the setup without noticing anything suspicious. No errors, nothing. Rebooted at the end... and after that's done, I noticed that my wireless connection didn't come up any longer. I checked and double-checked everything to do with the connection, but found no problems at all, apart from it not working. The behaviour was rather interesting: the wireless connection was just showing that it wasn't connected, but searching for available networks didn't really seem to do anything. You know how this normally takes a few seconds once you click the "Refresh" link in the dialog? This didn't happen, in fact nothing seemed to happen at all.

Finally, I found there was a newer driver available from the Motion support site. I had tried one of these drivers in the past and had had some problems with it, so I had reverted back to the standard MS driver for my mini PCI Intel card. I thought I'd download that newer driver and see if there was any tool in the package that might help me find out if maybe the antenna was broken. After downloading the driver I found that it was a little difficult to get the thing over to the Tablet PC without having any network connectivity...

I decided to plug a network cable in and go that way instead. That was when I found out that networking was just completely broken on the machine, nothing to do with the wireless card at all. The built-in fast ethernet card had the same problem: it seemed to be connected on the hardware level (for example, Windows noticed when I unplugged the cable), but it wasn't possible to get TCP/IP running over the interface. In the Connection Status window, there was no TCP/IP information at all and a click on the Repair button gave an error message saying "Windows could not finish repairing the problem because the following action cannot be completed: Failed to query TCP/IP settings of the connection. Cannot proceed."

I tried using DHCP and assigning a fixed address. I tried all the same things with the wireless adapter, no difference. I rebooted all the time to be sure there wasn't any problem with that. Nothing. Finally, I restored the system to a restore point before the VS 2005 beta 2 installation and everything went back to normal immediately. Then I cleaned the system up once again, I installed the whole beta 2 once again. The result was exactly the same.

Obviously it's possible that this has more to do with the beta 2 of the .NET framework than with VS itself. As parts of the Tablet PC tools are written with .NET, it's probably possible that there's some incompatibility there. But apart from the networking problems, the system seems to work just fine, even VS itself works just fine. But I need my network... I'll keep looking for this, and I'll keep everybody posted if I find the reason. Please tell me if you have any idea where I should look!

It's free and it contains six add-ons to your Tablet PC. From the web page:

Ink Desktop

Take notes directly on your desktop for quick and easy access later. Jot down a phone number, directions, or top priorities for the day.

Snipping Tool

Use your tablet pen to select a portion of a website, document, or other content on your screen. You can add handwritten comments and then paste it into an e-mail message or other program.

Ink Art

Paint with your tablet pen using Ink Art, which simulates an artist’s toolset. Choose from different textured canvases, paint brushes, chalks, crayons, and more.

Media Transfer

Copy or stream media files from your home computer to your Tablet PC, so that you can enjoy your favorite music, home videos, or digital photo albums wherever you go.

Ink Crossword

Solve crosswords on your Tablet PC with your tablet pen. Twelve puzzles come with the game. You can also download a free daily puzzle and purchase more puzzle packs online.

Energy Blue Theme Pack

Brighten the look of your Tablet PC desktop, Start menu, windows, and toolbars. Also get a new Windows Media Player skin that’s customized for the Tablet PC.

Looks like some of these aren't really completely new, I haven't checked yet to see if there are really new features, for example in the Snipping Tool. Anyhow, get it here and have fun!

Newest information about those TabletPC issues in CDS versions up to this point: James Kendrick reports that Copernic has made a new interim version available for TabletPC users. James says he's been testing it for a day without any issues. Note that this release doesn't have any changes apart from the fix for the flickering TIP on TabletPCs.

Here's the direct download link which you can also find in James's post: Copernic Desktop Search 1.5 build for Tablet PC owners