[Palomides]

The new Nokia Booklet 3G will be a Windows-based machine

NokiaBlog

Sad but sensible, given the way Windows has replaced linux on every single commercially available netbook.

[slackline]

The new Nokia Booklet 3G will be a Windows-based machine

NokiaBlog

Sad but sensible, given the way Windows has replaced linux on every single commercially available netbook.

Thats a circular argument though, being that netbooks came out as low spec , low budget devices.  But people complained about not having windows, but Vista was too resource intensive to run smoothly, so the specs started increasing (although overall thanks to Moores law the price hasn't rocketed) just so that people could run windoze on them.  Sticking windows on also bumps the price up by at least £50 (rough guess at OEM license)

Last night I saw someone in the Riverside just down from the Foundry using an Acer Aspire One, he'd ditched the default Linpus and gone with Kuki Linux which was handy as I've not been impressed with Eeebuntu on the Aspire One that I bought and am looking to switch.

[Tris]

Last night I saw someone in the Riverside just down from the Foundry using an Acer Aspire One, he'd ditched the default Linpus and gone with Kuki Linux which was handy as I've not been impressed with Eeebuntu on the Aspire One that I bought and am looking to switch.

Which edition of Eeebuntu have you got?

[Jim]

so netbooks got more powerfull for the sole purpose of running windows?
nothing to do with just technology getting better?

[Johnny Brown]

Get with the program Jim, Linux is so amazing hardware requirements are going backwards. In two years Slackers will be running a 386. With moore's law running the other way he'll actually get paid to take it out of the shop. Suck on that Gates!

[Drew]

so netbooks got more powerfull for the sole purpose of running windows?
nothing to do with just technology getting better?

Actually, I'm inclined to agree with Slackers on this one. The technology in Netbooks is pretty basic in comparison to modern day laptops (of similar prices). The only difference is the size, and power consumption. Yes the processors are impressive at how little power they consume, but in order to run Windoze these Netbooks have required more RAM (you can now get up to 2GB), bigger Harddrives (Windoze versions always have big, slow, noisy HDD's, instead of sexy, sleek, silent, SSD's). So really, Windoze has caused a step backwards in technology.

Caveat: When technology improves sufficiently that 256GB SSD's are financially viable, the dual-core low-power processors are finally integrated, and a cut-down version of Windows7 allows longer battery life, then the Windoze versions will be at the cutting edge. Right now, that edge, is pretty damn blunt. In fact, it's more like the Blind Date sloper!

[tomtom]

I think the future may be something like Android. I use my netbook for two purposes: 1. as a regular computer - word processing, spreadsheets, writing some programs some basic image manipulation and 2. As a glorified phone - for tweeting, quickly reading web pages.

For 1, I'm happy that it takes 30 seconds to boot etc.. because the task I want to do will take a while, and I'm happy with my MS applications for doing all of the above
For 2, I would like something thats on instantly (even in sleep/push mode) and for twittering and www any browser is good enough...

So I think theres a place for regular MS things (1) AND something thats really simple and quick - maybe this is a flavour of linux, maybe Android (is that linuxy?)

For what my opinion is worth, I think Linux has come along way since I last used it heavily (which was 7-8 years ago) but I still think its just not as easy to work with as the MS products. Maybe thats because everyone is more used to MS  I dunno, but thats how I see it. With the netbooks Linux had a real chance to reach out to the masses, and I think they've largely voted with their feet.... whether thats due to MS indoctrination or Linux just not being as good (however you define good..) I dont know...

[Jim]

I've got to disagree strongly with some points here, you can run any OS on a SSD, I'm not sure what your trying to imply by your statement?
The main problem with SSD's is that they are very expensive and have a relatively short life span at the moment (which is why I don't have one).
I'm sure the technological improvements to make them cheap and long lasting are just round the corner when every netbook will have one (not just the $$$ ones) irrespective of the OS they run.
Having lots of memory isn't only benaficial for running your OS, its good for everything. I've got 2gig in my netbook, big deal. You can probably get 4gig.
I'm really not sure what point your making Drew? how is it a step backwards, they are faster, longer batteries, better resolution & brighter screens, quieter, infact everything that you would want them to be.

Tomtom - your happy for something to take 30 seconds to boot up? you must be the only one, 10 seconds is too long for me. I should be getting just under that when I've done a few tweeks. And I can have my netbook instant on (about 2 seconds) from sleep.

[Drew]

SSD's are so expensive, that it's not financially viable to go for anything bigger than the 8Gb I've got in mine, but I wouldn't want a bloated OS (XP) filling up a massive portion of that, when I can have a slimline Linux distro which takes about half a gig. Also if a netbook had an SSD and a Windows OS, it would be very very pricey.

Memory is useful (I may well upgrade from 512Kb, to 1 or maybe 2 Gb, but if I was running XP, it would be deathly slow with any less than 1 Gb.

My point is that the Netbooks running XP, don't have the shiny new components like SSD's, as they would be far too expensive. They also require far more processing power, and memory in order to actually run, hence the Linux Netbooks can get away with lesser power, but newer technology. I may be focussing a little too much on SSD's, but they are (to my mind) the major factor in why a Netbook is a vast improvement over a standard Laptop. They require less power, they are (virtually) unaffected by dropping the Laptop, they are silent, they don't heat up to anywhere near the same extent as a HDD. To my mind, they ARE the difference between a Netbook, and a Laptop.

My just my 2 peneth worth.

[slackline]

Get with the program Jim, Linux is so amazing hardware requirements are going backwards. In two years Slackers will be running a 386. With moore's law running the other way he'll actually get paid to take it out of the shop. Suck on that Gates!

  I've been using the same desktop for eight years and have only just upgraded recently.  The laptop I use (a Dell Lattitude X300) is a similar age and runs fine (its actually thin and small enough that I can't be arsed with getting netbook).

[slackline]

Having lots of memory isn't only benaficial for running your OS, its good for everything. I've got 2gig in my netbook, big deal. You can probably get 4gig.

Yes lots of memory is good, especially when your OS hogs it all

[tomtom]

SSD's are good in principle, but not all SSDs are created equal... I looked into this a while back, and you have to watch the read-write rates, especially on the cheap ones. A friend has one of the earlier ee-pc****'s and its SSD really bogs it down - very slow on the read/writes.
Prices are coming down, amazon had 64gb for £120 - and a higher speed 32gb for £105... Nearly worth changing the HDD on this NC10 - but not yet!

[Jim]

exactly, another 6 or 12 months and it'll be worth getting a SSD. I'll be putting them in every computer I own to run the OS off. For now they aren't really up to the task properly (except maybe some of the really expensive ones) and definately not worth the money.

8 gig SSD, its not really a proper SSD its just flash memory really. Mobile phones have more storage than that.
My copy of XP is less than half a gig and will happily run off 128 or 256 SD ram

running windows 7 on my old dell inspiron 1300 laptop which runs fine.

[Tris]

My EEE netbook has a 20Gb SSD, I run a mega cut-down version of XP (I used nlite to get rid of all the bollocks windows shite), so it uses sod all ram. Think the XP install is now below 300Mb...

I love the SSD, it's the reason I bought the laptop. The machine is virtually silent and the standard basic battery lasts for 8 hours!

I am thinking of trying EEEbuntu on it though, I'm curious as to why Slack---line doesn't like it???

[slackline]

My EEE netbook has a 20Gb SSD, I run a mega cut-down version of XP (I used nlite to get rid of all the bollocks windows shite), so it uses sod all ram. Think the XP install is now below 300Mb...

I love the SSD, it's the reason I bought the laptop. The machine is virtually silent and the standard basic battery lasts for 8 hours!

I am thinking of trying EEEbuntu on it though, I'm curious as to why Slack---line doesn't like it???

Sorry for the late reply.

Its not that I don't like it, but I had installed it on an Acer Aspire One (can't remember what model).  I opted for the 3.0 Base install version which worked fine, but upon updating some of the software the wireless no longer worked.  I did some "root"ing around and found that reverting to the 2.6.28-13-generic kernel resolved this initially, but subsequently other updates broke it again.  This may be down to some of the changes in the suspend method, or the eepc-acpi-util modules (which sit in the system tray and are involved in managing config/power).  See posts in this thread.

Its actually not my netbook, I bought it for £150 and was going to punt it on on ebay for a profit, but my neighbour said he would have it off me, so I missed out on turning a profit, but am happy helping him with this tricky problem.  The beauty of Linux is that there are so many different distributions, so I've switched it to Kuki (another Ubuntu based distribution) which by default uses the GNOME wicd daemon/applet for managing network interfaces and it seems to be doing fine).

All of that said, as you have a true Eee netbook I reckon you'll be fine, but make sure you read the various HowTo's on upgrading that are mentioned in the threads I've linked, otherwise you might find things are broken.

[Tris]

Cool - thanks for the links. Will get downloading a copy to try out.

The netbook originally came with another linux disty (can't remember which one), but I needed Photoshop CS3 on it and couldn't be doing with pissing around with WINE so just stuck a copy of nlite XP on it. Now however, I have CS4 on another laptop so was thinking of blowing XP away and going back to linux as the EEE is just used for surfing now.

[Tris]

Got EEEbuntu running on my netbook, really liking it so far. And I didn't have any issues with WIFI after installing the updates, bonus!! 

[Houdini]

Just bought a Samsung N130 for the frau @ €250, though neither of us have the skills to make it lean and quick, yet.



Seems OK so far.

[slackline]

Top Netbooks of 2009 as reviewed by El Reg.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Interesting project pre-Google Chrome OS, http://www.jolicloud.com/ invite only currently (still waiting for mine)

[slackline]

Looks interesting, unusual to have an FOSS thats invite only, even when its still in development.

Unfortunately I expect Chrome OS/Android (or however it ends up) will dominate.

[Jim]

Top Netbooks of 2009 as reviewed by El Reg.

damn it!!!!

[Jaspersharpe]

I take it you've just bought one?

[Jim]

no, i've only got the 2nd best notebook.
I' don't do 2nd best

[Tris]

I have the older EEE901 and it's great (keyboard a little frustrating at times being so small).

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