Another effect of this crash

[nadinbrzezinski]

the other day I went to meet my brother in law at a local starbucks for our writers meeting (Yes that starbucks is midway between the two houses, so we meet there due to gas prices)

I bought a subnotebook, a netbook, recently to take to Mexico when I travel. It is a cheap machine and runs on linux... and it is perfect for writing... and chiefly it is fairly cheap

Now most folks there work for companies and a few had very expensive laptops... I had a couple of them ask about the price, reliability and all that for this machine.

They are thinking that taking their expensive laptops is no longer a good idea... the same reason essentially I got the lappie... but now it is here.

So expect people to get almost disposable electronics to take to public places, instead of oh I don't know in my case my macbook

[dkf]

1. I was looking at one of those.

Is it good for surfing the net anywhere you may be?

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. So far so good... and if you go for the linux flavor you save about 70

after shipping and handling over the win version

You can go to best buys to try it, as they sell the win version

[dkf]

5. I was thinking the linux would take less power and memory.

Can you get away with 512 of ram? I know that would be impossible with vista.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. I think you can

Now the only problem is that the EEPC I got (EEPC 900) comes with a debian distro that is a pain to use for mere beginners (command language I am getting DOS flashbacks) I am waiting for Open Office to leave Beta for 3.0 before I download it. It comes with 2.0 and it frankly needs to be updated. I have 3.0 Beta on the mac... but it is far easier to do updates on the mac

[dkf]

7. eyikes.

All I want is to get on the internet but whatever that quasi dos thing you were talking about is beyond me.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. For internet, comes with an older version of firefox

I intend to contact the company and remind them that most users are DOS allergic

I mean, my mother could not run a program on this thing, nor on the XP, never mind

Now they also sell it with XP on board... you might want to consider that, the ability for you to install programs without command language might be the way to go

Oh DOS

that is the ancient code that machines used to run on, before windows... my 8086 came with that, and I did not get windows until the 386

Run me dopey install

[dkf]

11. I barely remember DOS.

I was laughing about what computers were like "before the mouse" to a 20 something type. She had no clue what I was talking about. lol.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. ah the old days...

[Whisp]

15. I remember it being called - Duh! Operating System.

[Greyhound]

9. That's where Ubuntu comes in.

The Synaptic(?) package manager makes upgrades and installs about as easy as windoze without the open door. I've had to use Vista a bit over the last year and it's really funny to see them rip off 10 year old ideas and require 4 times the machine to implement them, badly.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Problem is I have been looking for REMIX (meant for these lappies)

and they are only doing EOM

Yes, I need to change the OS... am aware of it, but due to the 9 inch screen I need to find Ubuntu Remix

Not sure it will run well on it due to the screen size

[Greyhound]

14. I love the Eee. If I had any $$ I'd buy one. They use the highest quality of components and

combine it with a powerful, secure, OS, and a W3C compliant browser, and it adds up to the best buy in IT going.

Solid state HDD is the future.

[comtec]

13. Use apt-get

DEAD simple, the first Nix command I learned in ages:
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo is the command in debian to execute super user mode, it'll ask for YOUR password (not the root) and will then run that program as administrator.
apt-get is a great utility for the command line that is super easy to use to update a system.
there are 3 main commands
update, upgrade, and install
you use install to install ANY program in the debian library, like OOO 3
You can also upgrade your distro when a new version comes out with:
sudo apt-get upgrade-distro
but you R E A L L Y want to be careful doing that. While you can upgrade your entire OS, and it often works, yo ucan erally fuck it up to the point of needed the rescue CDs (did that with Ubuntu, took me the better part of 4 months to get my second screen working properly again, but that's a very specialized application)

anyway that sounds very kewl, I might get one, but my wife keeps pointing out that I already ahve an OLPC and that will do the job just fine! :) *mumbles no fun wife, bringing LOGIC into this mumbles*

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. THanks, will print post,

far better done than the one at the EEPC forums

:-)

And save it with lappie

Don't bet mer wrong, I love it... I carry it now as if it was a PDA

[kurt_cagle]

2. Reminds me ...

of the time that I was in Europe for a conference, and had to travel from Amsterdam to Nice on the train, with an overnight stay in Paris. I arrived late enough in Paris that I wasn't able to make my way from the north of the city to the south of the city because the northern train station was closed. I found an all night cafe and was there for a while working on my laptop. The owner at one point came in and said to me, in broken English, "Sir, do not go outside - there is a gang there, and if you go outside right now, they plan to kill you for your computer." Needless to stay, I stayed put there until dawn.

I've had a few laptops since then, but I've learned how to get ones that are not quite as ostentatious as that one was (it was a company-issued one that I frankly hated, but it was VERY impressive looking).

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Well I got this cheap lappie because I took the macbook

to the coffee shop in Mexico City last time around and got many an eye on me

And border control is now taking computers away from months... so sure, this is a cheap machine and with the economy... if somebody wants it, well... it is far less valuable than my life

but we are at this point here, so I now know that this is what I definitely take to coffee shops when I do go out to write

[hunter]

16. How's the keyboard? It looked like a fun machine.

I'm currently using an ancient Dell laptop I bought years ago for $100, which means it's basically junk now. But it has a full size keyboard, so it's good enough. I've been wondering what computer I'll get if it dies... or is confiscated. I'd feel sorry for anyone who stole it, but I suspect the duct tape and hot glue patches signal thieves to move along.

Anymore I loathe Windows -- it's like wrestling with a porcupine. It irks me when I have to prove I own something every time I rebuild a computer. I'm fluent in Linux and have been playing with Unix since before MS-DOS existed, so command lines don't scare me.