[NCLUG] Re: Eee PC Xandros

[bwood at beww.org]

On Tuesday 02 December 2008 10:01:52 Chad Perrin wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 12:51:37PM -0700, Bill Thorson wrote:
> > I've been eeeying the Eee PC since it came out.  Now, with the slightly
> > larger screen on the 1000, I am considering getting one.  The 40g ssd is
> > probably big enough for what I want to do, however, that new 256g on the
> > very near horizon would make it rock.
>
> I've been looking in the general direction of the Lenovo IdeaPad,
> personally.  It has a keyboard just slightly larger than that of the
> EeePCs I've seen, which would make touch-typing more practical and easy,
> and I rather like the feel of the thing.  I just have no idea how well it
> is supported by the open source software I use.

I've not seen the lenovo unit (except in pictures).

I have the Eee 900. I also have an Acer Aspire One. It has a slightly wider 
keyboard, but neither the Eee or the Aspire is really comfortable for 
touch-typing, at least not for me, but  learned on a manual typewriter.

(Did you know that the longest English word that can be spelled using only the 
top row of letter keys is "typewriter"? I've always wondered if that was by 
design or accident).

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10e has only 512MB of RAM, which seems pretty limited as 
the competing products all seem to ship with 1GB. Is there a Linux version of 
the Lenovo available? I've already paid for 1 XP license I will never use 
(for the Acer).

The Lenovo does have the 950 graphics though. If it's pirating main RAM for 
video then the 512MB begins to be a problem.

I tried to get 2GB of RAM into my Eee, no-go. From what I have read they are 
picky and will only work with some 2GB SODIMMs, but some users have reported 
that it needs to be running on AC power to use the 2GB RAM, a pretty much 
fatal flaw for a portable. Too bad, 2GB RAM would make it a pretty powerful 
little box.

Ubuntu Eee is definitely an improvement over Xandros. What was Asus thinking? 
Shipping a machine that doesn't support all of the integrated hardware, and 
having applications on the disk that can't be accessed by the included 
interface???


-- 
beww
beww at beww.org