[geeks] Whee! The EEE is available in the US

[Shannon Hendrix]

On Oct 31, 2007, at 2:11 PM, Lionel Peterson wrote:

>> From: nate at portents.com
>> Date: 2007/10/31 Wed AM 11:42:47 CDT
>> To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>> Subject: Re: [geeks] Whee! The EEE is available in the US
>
>>> This is a more conventional laptop, it can run WinXP, the RAM can  
>>> be upped
>>> to 1 Gig
>>
>> Can be upgraded after you break a seal and void your warranty.
>
> But it can be upgraded - AFAIK the XO (the only real comparison at  
> this point), has soldered-on RAM wno exp. possibility.
>
>> And good luck fitting XP in 4GB of storage.
>
> What is wrong with that? That is plenty of room for WinXP, an  
> OpenOffice Suite, and a third-party browser.
>
> XP Pro requires 1.5 Gig of HD space, .25 Gig for Open Office, .05  
> Gig for FireFox. You can slide in a SDHQ card for added storage  
> (user files, etc.)

I've never been able to run XP with less than 10G, and actually get  
things done.

The Windows directory alone routinely grows to several gigs at times.

I guess if you zealously trim and clean it is doable.

Windows and most of its apps have a bad habit of chewing up space and  
not cleaning up.

I guess if you ran ccleaner or something like that all the time, it  
would be OK, and turned of several features which cause Windows to  
hold on to various files on purposes.

Probably if this kind of thing takes off, people will start putting  
custom unattended XP installs up on the torrent sites so you get it  
configured to do all of that in one shot.

Not that I condone the use of those things... :)

> Your point? At that size, the screen is "balanced" (resolution vs.  
> size), it is usable, and similar in resolution to the other devices  
> you mention, but more usable for "mature" users...

A lot depends on the applications you want to run.

A great many of them run poorly below 1024x768.

I've set up machines with small screens, and what I did is try to  
pick programs whose UI was customizable and spent some time making  
adjustments that made them easier to use on small screens.

Factor that in before getting something like that, and make sure you  
check out the software you want to use because a *LOT* of it simply  
will not be worth a damn on a small screen.

Also consider some little helpers that are out there for handling  
this kind of situation.

One solution I used for some users who were being given 1024x768  
screens on thin clients was to configure each app on its own screen,  
with a customized UI, menus, toolbars, etc.
and use a pager to switch between them.

It took a bit of work, but they were much happier that way, and most  
of them used about five apps every day, so this worked out well for  
them.

Worth considering anyway.

> This will do fine, IMHO. The laptop is priced at the same level as  
> many "smart phones" and is reasonably upgradeable. Something like  
> this would be a JOY on a reasonably long flight (3 hour battery  
> life AND it fits on any lap tray I've seen)...

I wonder if they have enough power for mpeg4... :)

> IMHO, this machine uses affordable technology to make an affordable  
> machine that meets many needs. Sure it's no high-end "killer"  
> machine, but then again, it has VGA output, WiFi and 10/100  
> Ethernet built-in - this is plenty of features for many salesmen/ 
> lecturers... Install WinXP, a bunch of Office file viewers/players,  
> and it is a two pound presentation machine.

Cheap portable terminal for UNIX geeks?

Get some Keyspan serial adapters and use it for several machines at  
one time.

-- 
"Where some they sell their dreams for small desires."