Popular
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| purplewizard Feb 21, 2009 5:15 AM EDT |
I don't understand why they are so averse to the more popular distributions. For me Dell using Ubuntu is a compelling factor for leaning toward the Mini 9. If I was prone to conspiracy theories I'd look for evidence they were being paid to create a bad name for Linux, given all the Xandros troubles on the Asus range that I have read about. |
| jdixon Feb 21, 2009 11:12 PM EDT |
.> ...given all the Xandros troubles on the Asus range that I have read about. If you use the EEE as designed, you have very few problems. If you try to use it as a full computer, then you have problems. My wife got one of the original 4G units, and the only significant problems I'm aware of in the designed usage features were that the ebook reader (fbreader, from memory) wasn't present and that Skype was an out of date version which didn't support video. The EEE wasn't designed and isn't marketed as a full featured computer. The fact that it can be turned into one is a nice feature, but it's not what the manufacturer intended. |
| tracyanne Feb 22, 2009 12:14 AM EDT |
Quoting:If you use the EEE as designed, you have very few problems. If you try to use it as a full computer, then you have problems. Which goes back to a comment I made earlier in another thread. the limiting of the Linux versions seems quite deliberate, as the "netbooks" are way more capable, with the right OS, than it seems the manufacturers want them to be. |
| caitlyn Feb 22, 2009 2:25 AM EDT |
Not all the manufacturers do this. My Sylvania g Netbook Meso came with Ubuntu Netbook Remix. It was a click a way from a normal desktop. It has full, normal access to the repositories and all the normal apps you'd expect with Ubuntu. In other words, it's configured pretty much like a normal little laptop right out of the box. The EeePC also can be a normal little laptop with a little help (read: a different distro) as countless users have proven. |
| jdixon Feb 22, 2009 11:58 AM EDT |
> ...the limiting of the Linux versions seems quite deliberate... In the case of the EEE, yes. They wanted something anyone could use with little effort. The E is for easy, remember. But that's in easy mode. The real limitation in advanced mode is Xandros and it's limited repositories. > The EeePC also can be a normal little laptop with a little help (read: a different distro) as countless users have proven. Yes, it can be. It can even be quite functional with the installed OS. However, to unleash its full power you need to use something other than Xandros. I have no idea why Asus used them for their distribution. :( |
| tracyanne Feb 23, 2009 7:25 AM EDT |
Just received the first two BENQ netbooks, one is sold already, the other will become a demo machine. I'm in the process of setting them up with EeeBuntu (OEM install 8.10 Intrepid), well only one of them needs to be set up that way. I'm very impressed with the machine, and EeeBuntu boots about 30 to 40 (from switch on to working desktop) seconds faster on the real deal, as compared to on the VM that I originally tested it on. The 10 inch monitor is actually just as usable as I visualised with virtual machine set to 1024 by 600. The BENQ, at least seems to have 1024 by 575 or so it says, but I can't tell the difference. The machines I got come with 3 USB ports and 160 Gig harddrive. they came with 512 Meg RAM, but I added 1 Gig. |
| Scott_Ruecker Feb 23, 2009 9:55 AM EDT |
So, will you be doing a review for LXer? ;-) Pretty Please? lol! |
| tracyanne Feb 23, 2009 7:09 PM EDT |
Ok Scott. OT. I'm remote desktopped into a Windows server, it's our database server. So I'm working away, just getting a copy of last night's database backup for one of out sites. Suddenly this message window pops ups "Updates have completed, do you want to.. Restart Now... restart Later" Now you can't simply ignore this and log off, you have to interact with it, it's a modal window, and the logout option won't work until you select one of the options. This is on a Mission critical server, and i'm not the person responsible for system updates - some bloke in Kentucky is, as far as I'm aware. This is actually the third time I've hade to interect with such reboot messages, and in one occasion, in spite of the fact that I selected "Later" the machine rebooted on me anyway, and right in the middle of some critical work I was doing for a client. At siome point this machine will reboot, simply because that's what Windows does, even if you defer till "Later" |
| theboomboomcars Feb 23, 2009 10:36 PM EDT |
tracyanne- at least it informed that it was contemplating it was going to reboot. I was working on a friends laptop that was having weird quirks, hoping to load Mandriva on it, and I was trying to experience the problem the screen went to a different screen that said windows needed to reboot to finish installing updates, then rebooted. No opportunity to to save what I was doing. Unfortunately the problem was hardware and since her brother in law is a windows guy, she wanted to keep it with windows. |
| tracyanne Feb 23, 2009 11:56 PM EDT |
The keyboard is close enough to full size that it doesn't really feel cramped. So far, I'm quite sure I could use one of these for note taking, even some small scale progrsmming on the go. I'm about to see how well it handles a Virtual machine running Windows XP. One of my Windows Zealot workmates made a big deal about running Windows 7 plus Visual studio 2008 on a Dell Mini 9 (there were some minor problems, not sure what). So I reckon if I can get reasonable performance with Linux running a VM with WinXp and VS 2008, which I happen to have handy (it's just a matter of copying onto the Ben, I'll be able to go one up, especially if I can get some of the fancier desktop affects running as well. I can type just nas well on this the Ben's keyboard, as I can on a full size laptop. EDIT: I even make the same typos. |
| ColonelPanik Feb 23, 2009 11:56 PM EDT |
The vista machines at the university keep updating or upgrading
or degrading and re starting at random times.
Mrs. Panik has seen several of these intrusions when watching
faculty presentations. I saw one. This really is a Power Pointless Killer. Two handed mouse moves, red faces, loss of face, hemming and hawing. Linux, you don't even have to start it and you are ahead. |
| tracyanne Feb 24, 2009 1:57 AM EDT |
@CP maybe you should get Mrs Panik to subtly suggest using Linux. |
| tracyanne Feb 24, 2009 4:29 AM EDT |
I didn't realise the Atom was a dual core device, at 1.6Gig it's almost as fast as my full size laptop. |
| tracyanne Feb 24, 2009 4:39 AM EDT |
I keep losing the Go-Home menu. After a while, when I click on the Go-Home-Applet button, the open windows minimise, or whatever, but all I see is the fancy graphical menu system. Rebooting usually restores it. Ah it's called the window-picker-applet. Logging out and logging back in also restores it. |
| caitlyn Feb 24, 2009 8:37 PM EDT |
tracyanne: The Intel Atom N270 is single core according to the whitepaper on the Intel website. I was shocked when mine reported as dual core too so I checked. It isn't so. I agree that it's a very fast processor -- much faster than other 1.6GHz processors in benchmarks. I'm doing everything on my netbook because it's my best machine now. |
| tracyanne Feb 24, 2009 9:12 PM EDT |
Yeah thanks caitlyn, I worked it out. My windows Zealot workmate said Windows 7 reports it as dual core two, so we double checked, it's hyper threaded, and yes it is bleeding fast. I can run Windows XP with Visual Studio 2008 on Virtualbox on mine with the Compiz cube and all sorts of fancy visuals enabled, and it doesn't miss a beat. They really are incredible machines. |
| gus3 Feb 24, 2009 10:52 PM EDT |
I took the plunge, and got my new toy... er, computer, an EeePC 900. Here's my quick, short review: After two days of playing with it, I'm certain it's only a matter of time before my experimentations reveal a way to break it. And for that, I'm grateful to Asus for shipping a recovery CD. ;-) In the meantime, I'm having lots of fun with "what happens when I click this?". The US$250 price tag is already showing signs of being a good investment, even if it's just for fun for now. Two things impress me: OpenOffice.org pre-installed on such a small machine, and the ability to install packages to the added storage explicitly when using the HTTP-based installation. The small keyboard will, uh, take some getting used to. Maybe later I'll add a full-size keyboard and monitor. |
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