The Netbook Thread

[Dio]

Why waste time trying to learn something that I already know is going to be hard work, when there's not one thing I need to do that XP won't do for me? Simple pragmatism really.

As soon as what I'm using doesn't fulfill those conditions, I'll take a look - but not until then. Like I switched to Firefox recently because IE's ActiveX warnings finally got too annoying (the BBC putting one on every single page on their site was the key catalyst). I still prefer IE's UI, but it simply couldn't do what I wanted it to do.

[defsdoor]

Why whine about it then ?

[Dio]

Fair enough. I'll keep shut in future.

[defsdoor]

Sorry but I feel a bit foolish trying to convince you that linux isn't as bad as you might have read about only to hit a final "I don't want to use it anyway" conclusion.

BTW - this is what happened when I plugged my Deskjet 990 USB printer into my linux pc -



No clicking, no questions, no discs required just a printer added automatically and ready to print. Is it that easy in Windows ?

[teamonkey]

Why waste time trying to learn something that I already know is going to be hard work, when there's not one thing I need to do that XP won't do for me? Simple pragmatism really.

If you haven't used Linux in the last couple of years you'll be pleasantly surprised. There's still a lot of areas where usability is not where it should be but it's got to the stage where those areas are hidden from you. Not quite as slick as OSX, but it's getting there.

Oh, and get a console while you're about it. You'll like that too.

[Muttley]

Sorry but I feel a bit foolish trying to convince you that linux isn't as bad as you might have read about only to hit a final "I don't want to use it anyway" conclusion.

BTW - this is what happened when I plugged my Deskjet 990 USB printer into my linux pc -



No clicking, no questions, no discs required just a printer added automatically and ready to print. Is it that easy in Windows ?

That saved me some hassle whilst in Germany recently. I needed to print out my Ryanair online-checking boarding pass thing, but the guy I was visiting's printer was knackered, and the hotel lobby "surfing" PC that had a printer was so locked down I couldn't grab the PDF off my USB key. I sneakily unplugged the USB printer from the hotel PC, plugged it into my laptop, took less than a minute for it to automagically detect, install and configure the printer driver and allow me to print the doc and then plug it back in to the original PC.

I'm not saying Linux is a magic bullet but since I started using it for work I now find myself feeling frustratingly limited when I go back to using my XP machine at home (I still need XP there for certain specific applications, but will be going dual-boot and using Linux mainly ASAP).

Muttley

[Kemper_Boyd]

http://blog.laptopmag.com/eee-pc-to-get ... ward-style

* A 8.9-inch display and Windows XP: Confirming that the machine at CeBit will come to market in April, the new Eee PC will have a 8.9-inch screen and a higher 1024 x 600 resolution A 8GB SSD will be available running Windows XP. A 12GB or 20GB SSD model will be available with Xandros.
* Hard Drives: Asus is considering giving customers a choice between their current offering of solid state drives and regular hard drives in the future.
* Intel’s Diamondville: Shen revealed that the low-cost notebook platform will adopt Intel’s Diamondville processor in Q2 rather than VIA’s mobile computing platform.
* More Colors and Stylish Looks: In May or June, Asus will release “very stylish” versions of the Eee PC. Shen says they will have a New York city sleekness.

[Dio]

Sorry but I feel a bit foolish trying to convince you that linux isn't as bad as you might have read about only to hit a final "I don't want to use it anyway" conclusion.

Sure, which is why I should have kept me mouth shut in't first place.

No clicking, no questions, no discs required just a printer added automatically and ready to print. Is it that easy in Windows ?

Sometimes. My experience of printing is pretty universally rubbish on all machines mind. Cheap crap made by idiots.

April? Oooh. That would be perfect.

[xav]

http://blog.laptopmag.com/eee-pc-to-get-intels-diamondville-hard-drives-and-fashion-forward-style

...A 8GB SSD will be available running Windows XP. A 12GB or 20GB SSD model will be available with Xandros...

It seems strange to me that they are going to produce two different capacity versions for the different operating systems, rather than just one hardware configuration available with a choice of OS. I wonder if perhaps they are paying a Windows tax, and that this will let them have a single price point for both options.

If that is the case, I would have preferred one hardware device, but two price points based on the OS; let people see that Windows actually costs them more, rather than hiding it behind SSD specs that most people either won't notice or understand.


And as for the "Linux needs you to compile programs" and "Linux isn't user friendly" discussions, it's perhaps worth pointing out that there are a heck of a lot of Linux distributions out there. You may have used a distribution without a decent package manager, or with a poor CUPS interface, but that doesn't mean that "Linux" lacks those things. Picking a Linux distribution is a little like buying a car - you're free to test drive as many as you like until you find one that is right for you, but just because the first car you try has an odd layout for the dashboard or a strangely placed light switch, doesn't mean that all of them do.

[Kamineko]

No clicking, no questions, no discs required just a printer added automatically and ready to print. Is it that easy in Windows ?

Many USB ones, yeah.

I saw somebody with a black EEEPC on the train into work today. Man they're tiny. It was like a ZX spectrum crossed with a V Tech kids laptop.

And I still think the outer bezel is absolutely massive.

[defsdoor]

No clicking, no questions, no discs required just a printer added automatically and ready to print. Is it that easy in Windows ?

Many USB ones, yeah.

There aren't many recent printers that windows has stock drivers for. Most need a disk when windows spots the printer.

[zip accident]

There aren't many recent printers that windows has stock drivers for.

For the right value of "recent", that's inevitably true of all OSs (unless the printer maker makes the printer behave exactly like an old one).

Back on topic, I'm not sure the eee is what I actually want, but it definitely looks like the harbinger of good things to come.

[defsdoor]

For the right value of "recent", that's inevitably true of all OSs (unless the printer maker makes the printer behave exactly like an old one).

The windows stock drivers list hasn't changed much in XP for years so when I say recent I mean last 5 years or so....

[Dio]

Right, but do you want your machine carrying around half-a-hundred printer drivers on the off chance you plug one in? Particularly if it's, say, an eee with a small solid-state-drive? . And what happens when your printer is newer than your OS? I don't reinstall OS very often, I've been through three printers since my server last had Windows reinstalled on it.

Driverless printing seems a pointless and impossible goal to me.

If you want a better line of attack against Windows printing, you should point out that the Windows drivers that the printer manufacturers write are buggy, unsigned shite filled with 'personalising' applications that clog your machine up with crap, never work properly, and look like spyware as soon as you fire up Process Explorer.

[moosedude]

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/10 ... ee_future/

may come with a hard drive now.

and;

In an interview with US title Laptop Magazine, Shen confirmed that the decision to offer an Eee 900 with Windows XP will not end Asus' support for Linux. XP will appear on the 8GB 900, he said, while the 12GB or 20GB model - the size has yet to be set - will come with Xandros Linux pre-installed, as is the case with the current Eee PC 701.

I remember reading a simular statement from Nikon, about the D40 and the D40x (basically the same model but the x having the better sensor). "The D40x doesn't mean the end of the D40". Well no it didn't, but it did mean the end of the D40x.

I just don't think the above statement is true, the choice will be made by the consumer and that choice will probably be XP. (as with the Nikon cameras, the consumer didn't understand the point and most of them won't "get" linux); (I may be assuming that the XP and the Linux versions are going to cost the same)

Anyway, I remember reading something years and years ago about the USB standards draft before it come into existence. I believe it suggested that there was no longer needing to be any more drivers for devices as it was all built into this new USB spec. which could interoperate with anything. just like XML could. Everybody was obsessed by the "ultimate interface" box, connecting everything to anything and it would just work. happy days.