Ketchup, with chips and chess notes

[kinzel]

OK ...

so some have asked, "how do you like the new little Linux machine?"

Well, from a serious, scholarly point of view, I like it a great big bunch.

I've used mine on the order of ten hours of real work so far; I've written on it, posted to LJ from it, and I've used it flawlessly from wireless access points in several states, including sitting in my car, and sitting besides the Deli in a monster food market. The quick boot-up and shut-down time is good for drive-by surfing, but you *do* have to understand that wifi drains the battery quickly.

My accessories include a Targus minimouse and ... another case.

Yep, see the review below: the machine in absolute fighting trim weighs in at around 2 lbs, which is a great thing for wandering around in and out of hotel hotspots and all.

But geekly, on my trip I had an almost new USB folding keyboard (which I could have left home, actually, since the built-in works really well) and the mouse, and I wanted to have the docs with me since it was brand new, and I wanted to make sure the charge plug didn't get lost in the rest of my luggage...and so I slipped the 701 inside the come-with slinky stretch-case into a Targus DVD case with all the pieces and paper ...even then it came in at under 5 lbs, and the case is not all that lightweight.

An extra case? Why?, for Ghod's sake someone asks faintly. That ruins the cool....

OK, guys, so you're off in the New Baltimore rest area on the NY Thruway, just you and the machine, and you've been using the WIFI and you're getting ready to hit the road for a 6 hour run and it's you and your ASUS and your coffee gut and coffee necessity.

So you go to the rest room with that slick case tucked under your arm and then you ... ummm ... how many hands do *you* have? Gonna tuck it (the computer, dummy!) in your waistband? Gonna sit it in on the floor in the stall? (OK, say everyone has a perfect aim but it's been raining or snowing outside, which it had).

It won't hang around your neck in that spandex case, and if you're whizzing away at the pissoir trying to tuck that slick thing under your armpit is possible but ...iffy. My advice? Get something to hold it when you can't.

By the way, I took the ASUS into my local Staples looking for that supplementary case and it was a suggestion (after we looked together at a half dozen way too large cases meant for 14 inch monsters) of the saleswoman there that I ... go to Walmart and look at DVD cases. And all the pieces including power-plug fit very well, the machine3 in it's slip case ready to slide out at a moment's notice, and the carry straps allow hand-free carrying. You be the judge.

http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reviews/6439/4/

Oh, and how good is the wifi? I was visiting a friend and forgot my last use had been a wifi event; when the machine booted and the little blue light on the right side flashed ... it meant I had located a wifi access point. Yep, sitting in a dining room of a house with no direct net connectivity in a housing development in darkest Maryland it picked up 7 access points at one time, 5 of them unprotected and thus trulio accessible. Your call.

Meanwhile, chess last night was somewhat more somber than usual; still the games went on. I managed one good and one fair game against Mark, meaning I won one and then took a draw on what I thought was going to be a win; against John I went 1 and 1, with my loss the better game until I mislocated my king one square right instead of one square back in an unforced error... sigh. ... and then John and I went at the ten-minute rated games hammer-and-tongs... where he went 3-2 and this I was 2-3.

Hiho BitBucket, and away.....

Comments

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the review! When I heard about the Eee I wondered what the keyboard would be like for real use (I usually carry a full keyboard because I dislike most notepad ones). A lot of the reviews have said that the built-in keyboard is not very friendly (small and spongy). Since you used a minimouse, did you disable the built-in touchpad, or is that sufficiently out of the way that it didn't interfere?

At GBP220 (including VAT, England expects every man to pay Her Duty) I'm very definitely tempted...

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

I didn't have any problem with the USB mouse/touchpad situation -- just plugged it in and used it. You could still carry the full keyboard I guess, since keyboard touch gets to be a very personal experience after x-years of use...

[laurajunderwood.livejournal.com]

I wondered about the keyboard meself. Of course, I prefer them clicky ones. OTOH, I am adaptable, and I have been known to touchtype on something as small as my old Velo 500 all the way up to IBM desktop keyboards.

Tempting, tempting, tempting...

Especially now that I am venturing into Linux territory.

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

The "base" set-up of the eee has a very goal-oriented set of screens --- work/play/settings -- you can change to a more normal Linux advance setting if you want to. I... have not, since using it is more important than playing interface games at the moment. One day I'll need to do something not obvious from the interface and change it, I'm sure.

Eww I Eee I O?

[bookmobiler.livejournal.com]

Read with interest about your experience with the Asus Eee PC 4G but I've become a little frustrated looking for follow up information.I've been looking at the Asus site and can't find out what software comes loaded with the computer except in very general term. I know the OS in Linux, it has Firefox as a browser and has Open Office. (I got that information by reading the reviews.)
What I can't determine is what's being used for email and what kind of security software is either running or available.
I'd appreciate any help you can give me.

[threeringedmoon.livejournal.com]

I want it. Which distro does it use? Right now, we are running Ubuntu here at home.

Random question

[lkw7.livejournal.com]

Hi,
I've got the Liaden Universe chapbooks through Number 10, but they're still packed away due to a recent move. I can't remember what the title of the story is, but I just had an incredible craving to read the story in which Pat Rin is at the dance on Surebleak with everyone after the Department of the Interior is beaten, and realizes he can actually pilot. Which story is it? (Secondly, since I just found out about the Unibus books from coming here, does that story happen to be in Unibus I or II? I'm probably going to buy them anyway, but I will definitely if I can read it now!) Thanks!

Re: Random question

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Lord of the Dance, in . . . Unibus II. But you need to get them both so that you can do searches like that! And . . . well, you must decide, but certainly the Unibus versions are nice to have.

Re: Eww I Eee I O?

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Thunderbird is the email client as it arrives but they *really* make it easy to "Go With Google" since there's also a gmail tab and a googledoc setting and such....

The underlying distro is a Xandros (hence distantly debian) base. It comes with some kind of Xandros antivirus thingie I haven't much looked at. Since they've been trying t keep up with the gpl stuff, I hear that some folks have replaced bits and pieces and even the whole OS with latest Ubuntu/Kunbuntu and etc.

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Xandros that's been tweaked for the machine.

Re: Random question

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

I see Mike beat me to the answer... that's OK. The Unibus series will shortly be behind the curve as more chapbooks get written. At this rate we'll need Unibus number 3 in a couple years.

Re: Random question

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

That would be fun! Or go ahead and put them out yearly - I'd certainly prefer the ebook delivery charges (and time) where I live!

Re: Random question

[lkw7.livejournal.com]

Bounce, bounce! I bought both Unibus I and II (they're apparently only selling the Liaden Universe Big Bang, which contains both anyway) for only eight bucks!! I was expecting to pay five to eight for each one! I also bought all the new Grantville Gazettes I didn't have, and a Martin Greenburg short story book. All from one question!

Now I've got to go see which chapbooks I don't have...