[NCLUG] Re: Eee PC Xandros

Chad Perrin perrin at apotheon.com
Wed Dec 3 17:05:07 MST 2008


On Tue, Dec 02, 2008 at 02:37:23PM -0700, bwood at beww.org wrote:
> 
> 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.

The IdeaPad would require some getting-used-to, I think, but unlike the
Eee I think it's actually big enough that I could get used to it for
touch-typing.  I don't know how big your hands are -- that may be a
factor, of course.


> 
> (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).

I did know that, at one point, but I hadn't thought about it in years.
It's a good question -- whether it was intentional or not.


> 
> 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).

No, I don't think there's a Linux version available.  Before I got one,
I'd just check into its support for open source OSes.  Since it's just
idle speculation at this point, though, I don't know that I'll get around
to even finding out how well it's supported by anything in particular;
I'm just not likely to buy one any time soon.


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

This is true.  It can probably be upgraded, but that's additional
investment, of course.


> 
> 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.

Yeah, that's a pretty big flaw.


> 
> 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???

I'm sure Ubuntu is an improvement -- as would be FreeBSD (and I hear
FreeBSD is working pretty well on the Eee).

What hardware doesn't work with ASUS' modified Xandros?

There is an "advanced" interface on the Eee, as well.  Basically, it just
has a proper window manager hidden on it.  I don't remember off the top
of my head how to get to it, but I found it via Google when I was helping
a friend get to a better interface than that very limited clueless luser
style interface.

-- 
Chad Perrin [ content licensed PDL: http://pdl.apotheon.org ]
Kent Beck: "I always knew that one day Smalltalk would replace Java.  I
just didn't know it would be called Ruby."
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 195 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.nclug.org/pipermail/nclug/attachments/20081203/0d151d49/attachment.pgp>


More information about the NCLUG mailing list