RickyCadden.com

Why I Don’t Use Linux On My Netbooks

// September 17th, 2009 // 14 Comments » // technology, toys

One thing that I’m asked about all the time is why I run Windows on my netbooks. Given how much I work in the browser (and Firefox is available for all platforms) it would seem that Linux would be a no-brainer on a netbook. Unfortunately, it’s not, and here’s why: there are too many options.

While choice is obviously a good thing, specifically for the consumer, there is factual data that proves that too much choice leads to indecision. When looking at Linux for my netbook (an Asus 1000HE), I first went to the ultimate EeePC forum, to see what they had to say. Unfortunately, in their ‘Linux’ section, there are 10 different subforums, each for a different netbook Linux variant. I also know of another one, Jolicloud, that’s not even listed in these subforums. That makes 11 different ‘flavors’ of Linux that I could possibly use on my netbook. Contrast that with 3 ‘flavors’ of Windows (XP, Vista, and 7), and you can see why I’m running Windows.

It’s not that desktop Linux is no good. On the contrary, the dabbling that I have done with it proves that desktop Linux has come a long way in terms of the user interface, support, and applications. It’s really brilliant, and I can instantly see the benefits that it has over Windows. The problem is, I don’t know which one to choose.

Given the headache involved with installing a new operating system to a computer, even a netbook, it’s easy to see why more consumers – even folks like myself with a bit of extra knowledge, simply default to Windows. It’s not because Windows is better, nor is it because Windows is cheaper or easier. It is simply because the Windows options are easier to navigate. As mentioned previously, there are only 3 Windows options, as opposed to 10+ Linux options.

So, how to solve this? It would be nice to have a single table that compared each ‘flavor’ of Linux against the others. However, that’s not really a good solution, either, since often these various flavors are simply different user interfaces, with the same guts underneath. Yesterday I installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix on my Asus 1000HE, and ‘out of the box’, it actually works a bit better than Windows 7 did, in terms of hardware support and the like. While that works fine, I can’t help but wonder what the other various distros offer that UNR doesn’t.

Laptop Keyboard Backlights Should Be Standard

// June 16th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // toys

When I worked at Nokia, I was given a Lenovo Thinkpad as my work laptop. I don’t recall the exact model or anything, it was merely a work machine. However, one thing that really stuck out to me as a brilliant feature was a little tiny light nestled into the bezel around the display. With a hotkey combination, you could turn this tiny light on to illuminate your keyboard. This was extremely helpful when typing at night, or in other dark situations.

As a result, I purchased a backlit keyboard for my office, to plug into my Dell XPS M1330. There’s not much to it – I don’t do those fancy-pants keyboards – it’s just an external keyboard that has a bright blue backlight. Instantly evenings became more productive (which was good, because Mrs. Guru was working nights at the time) and my eyes felt less strained.

However, now I have a netbook, and I like to work from wherever I want to work. Unfortunately, I do not take this backlit keyboard with me, especially since my Asus EeePC 1000HE has a keyboard built in. The only laptops that I know of that have a backlit keyboard built in are the MacBook Pros and a few Windows gaming laptops. For whatever reason, it simply isn’t a common feature, but it should be.

There are a few mods, though none for my Asus EeePC 1000HE, unfortunately, since it has a rather unique keyboard. I wonder how much extra it would cost netbook and laptop manufacturers to include this feature in future models? Even cooler would be the ability to change the color of the backlight, through a special application on the computer, though I would gladly accept a single color, as well.

A Few Weeks With The Asus EeePC 1000HE

// June 12th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // toys

It’s been several weeks since I got my Asus EeePC 1000HE, and I’ve had a chance to use it quite a bit. I’ve also noticed a few things that have surfaced since I posted my first impressions, that I wanted to share.

First, there are 2 Fn keys, one on either side of the keyboard. Since the Fn options are sprinkled all over the keyboard (see image below), this makes it really convenient to use the Fn’s with one hand, regardless of what it is. Contrast this to my Dell XPS M1330 and Gateway MX6956, both of which only have a single Fn key, and I can easily adjust the volume, brightness, or other settings one-handed. Awesome.

These Fn keys actually do quite a bit to really add to the whole experience. For instance, you can hold Fn and press the spacebar to scroll through the SHE settings, which control the balance between battery life and processor performance. This is actually something I do quite often, and it’s nice to be able to quickly change on-the-fly.

Second, there are 2 hardware shortcut keys at the top that can be programmed to anything I want them to be. While this is insanely convenient, and something I would like to see in the future, because I don’t have this on any other computer, I completely forget they’re there, as well as what I set them to. Still nice to have, though.

The keyboard is awesome. It’s rated at .92, which means it’s 92% of the size of a normal keyboard. Things are *slightly* cramped, but I can comfortably compose a post or write an entire review on here, which I could not say for the Dell Mini 9.

Unfortunately, the design of this thing bothers me. For starters, there’s that massive barrel running along the hinge. It’s very prominent, and the ribbed wheels on either end still make me think I might be able to remove them to find something cool. Also, the matte display is awesome, but the high-gloss bezel really clashes with it, which is frustrating. I’m still shopping for a skin that I like. I wonder if I can just find a clear matte one. The wrist-rest and outer panel are also high-gloss fingerprint magnets, but I’m hesitant to cover up that beautiful blue color.

The touchpad includes multi-touch support, and it’s not bad. I had to disable a few of the gestures, such as spreading your fingers to zoom in or out. Scrolling is done with two fingers, and I’m slowly getting used to that. There are more gestures, including 3-fingers, but this touchpad is just too small to put three fingers on there and move them in any direction, really.

The main reason I chose the 1000HE was for the advertised 7-9 hours of battery life. While I haven’t gotten close to that, I have been averaging somewhere between 5 and 6 hours of use when off AC power. This is with the brightness turned to full, WiFi on, and several apps running. I wouldn’t doubt that if I disabled wireless, dimmed the display slightly, and made some other adjustments, I could get to that 7-9 hour mark. Even still, 5-6 hours of runtime is longer than any other laptop I’ve ever touched has offered, so I’m perfectly satisfied there.

Overall, after several weeks of real-world usage, I’m still very much in love with my Asus EeePC 1000HE. The insane battery life, paired with a powerful processor (for a netbook) and aptly-sized keyboard means I can easily take it anywhere and get real work done. While I enjoyed the smaller portable size of the Fujitsu P1610 and Dell Mini 9, the 1000HE is more comfortable to use, and thus, I’m more productive when I use it. I’m now able to leave my XPS M1330 on my desk more, as a portable desktop rather than a laptop, and I like that.

Snow Leopard Might Be The Best Hackintosh OS X

// June 8th, 2009 // No Comments » // technology

So today was the WWDC keynote, where Apple usually unloads a bunch of new stuff. I’ve watched the past 3 WWDCs, via various liveblogs, and have to declare that today’s was by far the most boring. However, there was a small nugget of fun that most people seem to have overlooked. During the Snow Leopard show-and-tell, it was revealed that upon upgrading from Leopard to Snow Leopard, you should expect to see a whopping 6GB of internal storage freed up! That’s right, there’s currently 6GB of bloat hidden inside Leopard that will be trimmed off when you upgrade. Why is that good news?

It’s awesome news for the hackintosh community, specifically those hackintoshing netbooks. If you don’t know, ‘hackintosh’ is a term used for when people put Apple’s OS X operating system on non-Mac hardware, such as any of the currently available netbooks, or an old PC that you have lying around. It was made much easier when Apple began using Intel processors, and today, hackintoshing a netbook only takes a few extra steps, as opposed to installing the operating system on a bonafide Mac.

The only thing about netbooks is that often they have smaller hard drives – much smaller, down to 16GB in the case of the Dell Mini series. When I had OS X installed on my Dell Mini 9 with its 16GB SSD (solid-state drive), I only had 8GB free. Admittedly, it was a somewhat hacked up version of Leopard, and I certainly don’t expect Snow Leopard to only be a 2GB OS, it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

Despite Apple’s insistence that they’re not working on a netbook, I have to think that maybe, just maybe, they’re slimming things down in preparation for one, perhaps next year? Of course, most people who want an Apple netbook would be perfectly happy with the iPhone OS running on a Dell Mini 9, for instance, but who knows what it’ll look like for real.

Asus EeePC 1000HE Unboxing

// May 20th, 2009 // 6 Comments » // toys

I’m a big geek, which is why I love making unboxing videos even more than I love watching them. I’m going to assume you like watching them, too. Thus, here’s my quick unboxing video of the Asus EeePC 1000HE that I just got from Amazon.com . It cost me $425 shipped 2-day, with the 2GB stick of RAM that’s pretty much needed for any netbook to be zippy enough.

Installing the RAM took all of 2 minutes. It took me longer to find the screwdriver, honestly. The RAM is right there underneath the panel, all I had to do was release the holding arms and pull it right out, then reverse the process to put the new RAM in. Easy as pie.

Installing Windows 7 RC1 over the Windows XP installation was a bit more tricky, though. By default, the 1000HE uses a ‘Quick Boot’ method that skips the BIOS screen and goes straight into Windows XP. While this is awesome for most consumers, it makes accessing the BIOS and changing the boot drives a bit tricky. Turns out, I needed to press F2 or F10 repeatedly BEFORE the Windows logo showed up, to disable Quick Boot. Then, I rebooted, this time pressing ‘ESC’ repeatedly until I got the boot selection screen. From there, I simply chose USB drive and followed the normal Windows 7 instructions.

Getting things to work is easy, if you can read. There are some specific drivers and such that apparently need to be downloaded from Asus’ website and run in compatibility mode to work on Windows 7. It’s not really difficult, just somewhat inconvenient to have to hunt these down and read up on them. I’ve found the community at Eeeuser.com to be incredibly helpful.

I’ll have more thoughts on this fun new toy as I get a chance to really put it to work.

Asus EeePC 1000HE Unboxing

// May 20th, 2009 // 6 Comments » // toys

I’m a big geek, which is why I love making unboxing videos even more than I love watching them. I’m going to assume you like watching them, too. Thus, here’s my quick unboxing video of the Asus EeePC 1000HE that I just got from Amazon.com . It cost me $425 shipped 2-day, with the 2GB stick of RAM that’s pretty much needed for any netbook to be zippy enough.

Installing the RAM took all of 2 minutes. It took me longer to find the screwdriver, honestly. The RAM is right there underneath the panel, all I had to do was release the holding arms and pull it right out, then reverse the process to put the new RAM in. Easy as pie.

Installing Windows 7 RC1 over the Windows XP installation was a bit more tricky, though. By default, the 1000HE uses a ‘Quick Boot’ method that skips the BIOS screen and goes straight into Windows XP. While this is awesome for most consumers, it makes accessing the BIOS and changing the boot drives a bit tricky. Turns out, I needed to press F2 or F10 repeatedly BEFORE the Windows logo showed up, to disable Quick Boot. Then, I rebooted, this time pressing ‘ESC’ repeatedly until I got the boot selection screen. From there, I simply chose USB drive and followed the normal Windows 7 instructions.

Getting things to work is easy, if you can read. There are some specific drivers and such that apparently need to be downloaded from Asus’ website and run in compatibility mode to work on Windows 7. It’s not really difficult, just somewhat inconvenient to have to hunt these down and read up on them. I’ve found the community at Eeeuser.com to be incredibly helpful.

I’ll have more thoughts on this fun new toy as I get a chance to really put it to work.

Fujitsu P1610 Up For Sale On Ebay

// May 8th, 2009 // No Comments » // toys

As excited as I was to get the Fujitsu P1610, the Dell Mini 9 has completely replaced it, so I’ve finally gotten around to putting the Fujitsu P1610 up on Ebay. Yes, I realize Ebay is a horrid, horrid place to sell things, but it’s also a bit easier to deal with than Craigslist. In fact, the P1610 has been on Craigslist twice now, with no success.

You can check out the listing here. I splurged a bit on the ‘extras’, but hopefully that will help push things along, as well. I’m taking quite a hit on the sale price, but I need to get rid of it. Also, please ignore the username – as you can see, I’ve had that account since 2000, a time when I was less concerned about my username and what people would think of it.

The P1610 is a fantastic little machine, don’t get me wrong. I wish the Dell Mini 9 had the P1610′s keyboard and display, but I just can’t handle that stupid nubbin – I need me a touchpad, even if it’s as tiny as the one on the Dell is.

If you’d like to trade an EeePC 1008HE straight up for my P1610, email me, I’m definitely game.

Fujitsu P1610 Up For Sale On Ebay

// May 8th, 2009 // No Comments » // toys

As excited as I was to get the Fujitsu P1610, the Dell Mini 9 has completely replaced it, so I’ve finally gotten around to putting the Fujitsu P1610 up on Ebay. Yes, I realize Ebay is a horrid, horrid place to sell things, but it’s also a bit easier to deal with than Craigslist. In fact, the P1610 has been on Craigslist twice now, with no success.

You can check out the listing here. I splurged a bit on the ‘extras’, but hopefully that will help push things along, as well. I’m taking quite a hit on the sale price, but I need to get rid of it. Also, please ignore the username – as you can see, I’ve had that account since 2000, a time when I was less concerned about my username and what people would think of it.

The P1610 is a fantastic little machine, don’t get me wrong. I wish the Dell Mini 9 had the P1610′s keyboard and display, but I just can’t handle that stupid nubbin – I need me a touchpad, even if it’s as tiny as the one on the Dell is.

If you’d like to trade an EeePC 1008HE straight up for my P1610, email me, I’m definitely game.

Trying Things Differently Often Leads To Discovery

// April 29th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // cool, technology

Discovering different and new ways to use technology is something I really enjoy doing. Whether it’s a new application for my smartphone, a new WordPress plugin that simplifies a task, or whatever, it’s always good to think outside the box to find new, potentially better ways to do something.

For instance, a few minutes ago, I found a new, nearly better way to use my Dell Mini 9 netbook. While sitting in….a specific room in Casa Guru, I found myself holding the netbook on either side, using my right thumb to arrow up and down on web pages, while reading. I then attempted reaching inwards with either my left or right thumb, and realized that using my netbook as an oversized thumbpad was actually quite convenient, possibly even more comfortable than squeezing my hands together to touch type on its smaller keyboard.

Unfortunately, there are still a few issues with this new method – for instance, I had trouble reaching the touchpad and left/right mouse buttons. However, for prolonged text input, such as emails or blogging, I could definitely see this being extremely convenient. It was also more comfortable because the Mini 9 was not balancing awkwardly on my knees, or resting on the ground, but rather held firmly in my hands, at just the right angle.

If you’ve got a smaller netbook, why don’t you try it? Hold your netbook on either side of the keyboard, using your thumbs to type. Is it better? What other ways have you found to use technology in a different way to make an interesting discovery?

Why Would You Want The CrunchPad?

// April 13th, 2009 // 6 Comments » // toys

New images of a nearly-finished CrunchPad came out from Michael Arrington recently, and I’m sorry, I recognize the idea of the thing is good, but I just can’t see a market for it. If you don’t know, the CrunchPad is a project from Michael Arrington, of TechCrunch. Fed up with MIDs, Michael decided he wanted to build “[a] machine as thin as possible, runs low end hardware and has a single button for powering it on and off, headphone jacks, a built in camera for video, low end speakers, and a microphone. It will have Wifi, maybe one USB port, a built in battery, half a Gigabyte of RAM, a 4-Gigabyte solid state hard drive. Data input is primarily through an iPhone-like touch screen keyboard. It runs on Linux and Firefox. It would be great to have it be built entirely on open source hardware, but including Skype for VOIP and video calls may be a nice touch, too.”

So, basically, they wanted the Nokia Internet Tablet, as mentioned here. However, now that it’s nearly finished, it has a new set of specs. Apparently, this thing is packing a 12″ capacitive display (similar to the one used on the iPhone, only bigger), runs a custom webkit browser, and, well, you can read the rest here. Basically, the thing is a 12″ touchscreen display that is really only capable of running a web browser (out of the box), and should cost around $300. Wow.

For $350, you can get the Dell Mini 9, with the same Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, a 16GB SSD (solid-state hard drive), VGA-resolution webcam, Bluetooth, etc, and a hardware keyboard. Sure, it’s $50 more, but the utility of the machine is boosted incredibly.

Like many others, I just think this CrunchPad is too late, and priced too high. Maybe at $200, it would be a decent idea, but for $300, it’s just not functional enough to really justify the cost. What do you think?