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Everything You Wanted To Know About Netbooks, But Were Afraid To Ask

// May 18th, 2009 // View Comments // Technology, Thoughts

Netbooks! They’re a new class of personal computers designed to work as an accessory to a main laptop or desktop computer. Ranging from 7″ to 12″ screens, they’re typically underpowered when compared to a standard laptop, but can run common programs and operating systems well enough to surf the net, hammer out a quick email, watch a Youtube vid and chat with your friends. Some use a traditional HD, while some of the newer ones use a solid state drive. One of the advantages of a SSD is improved battery life and less chance of wear-and-tear as there are no moving parts. However, SSD prices and capacity are way higher and lower, respectively, than a physical hard disk in the current market. Speaking of price, most models are dirt cheap, roughly $300, though more often than not you can track down some of the older eeePCs and Dell Minis on the cheap. I’ve seen some of the original eeePCs on sale for as little as $150.

So who makes these things?

A number of different companies have jumped into the netbook market, the biggest being Asus with their eeePC line of netbooks, with more than a dozen different flavors and varieties for sale. Dell has four different netbooks available right now, the Dell Mini line, including 9″, 10″, 11″, and 12″ models for sale. There’s also smaller companies releasing their own unique netbooks, like Always Innovating, with their TouchBook.

So, what kind of operating systems can be run on a netbook, anyway?

Damn near anything you want to throw onto it, though some are easier to install than others, with the biggest hurdle being that most netbooks lack a optical drive. An external drive will make things easier, but most OSes can be installed from a decent-sized thumbdrive (~8GB is preferred.) A majority come with Windows XP already installed on them. Programs like UNetbootin make it easy, automatically downloading the proper CD Images and configuring them for you. In addition a number of guides have been put together by folks from Gizmodo and Lifehacker to get your preferred OS onto your tiny computer.

As stated above, most netbooks have XP on them by default, as it’s suited to their lower-end specs. In addition, Microsoft’s latest OS, Windows 7 has been tailored for use on netbooks, with the Windows 7 Release Candidate available, free to use until mid-next year. Here’s an excellent guide on how to install Windows 7 on damn near any netbook on the market today (provided you have the space on your HD for it.)

“Whaaaah?” Yes OSX can and will run on several different netbooks, with the Dell Mini 9 being the most OSX-friendly one available as of now, according to several reviewers (at least until Apple releases their own device.) Be warned, however, that the installation of OSX on a netbook violates the EULA of the software. If you don’t mind the bending of the law, Gizmodo put together another great guide for installing it on the Mini 9, as well as one for the eeePC.

It’s free! However, Linux is not for the faint of heart. Oftentimes it requires a number of additional bits of configuration and tweaking to run how you want it to. The most popular Linux distribution is Ubuntu, a community-supported desktop OS with a slick layout and prides itself on being a bit snappier than other OSes. Fair warning, however, that some software isn’t supported by it, though there are often free user-created alternatives. Ubuntu itself has spawned several alternatives, each with it’s own pros and cons. Ubuntu 9.04 codename: Jaunty Jackalope: released just last month, Jaunty is the newest edition of the Ubuntu operating system. There haven’t been huge changes from the previous version, Intrepid Ibex, but enough that it’s worth updating. Ubuntu has a 6-month development cycle, with the next update to be released this October, codename Karmic Koala; Karmic has been touted as ‘extremely netbook friendly, with an emphasis on speedy boot times, reliability, and cloud-oriented computing services’

• Ubuntu 9.04: the standard OS, usable on desktops and portable computers alike.
• Ubuntu Netbook Remix: designed with netbooks in mind, UNR provides an icon-based GUI for your netbook.
• Linux Mint: Developed concurrently with Ubuntu on a slightly different release schedule, Mint provides a clean, friendly desktop environment good for the first-time Linux user.
• Jolicloud: not much is known about Jolicloud, to be released this summer. So instead, here’s a pretty picture:

Useful programs and utilities designed for netbooks:

• GMABooster [Windows and Linux]- overclocks the processor of netbooks, allowing them to run some games and apps they wouldn’t normally be capable of running. CAUTION: there is a chance it could lead to burning out your processor or bricking your netbook. Remember to turn it off when you don’t need the extra processing power.
• GNOME-Do [Linux]: inspired by OSX’s Quicksilver launcher, some folks created Do. Do works as an app launcher, but includes a growing number of plugins allowing you to add events to your Google Calendar, generate searches from the desktop, create emails, post to Twitter, upload photos to Flickr, and control your media player.
• Dell Mini 9 BIOS Flash Utility [Dell Systems Only, need at least one machine running Windows]: Some folks have had trouble upgrading the BIOS on their Dell Mini systems; this utility helps with that process. *USE AT YOUR OWN RISK*
• Rocketdock [Windows Only]: A dock program designed to make navigating your system easier, and it looks snazzy to boot.
• Launchy [Linux, Windows]: Launchy is another application launcher that had a number of configurable plugins and skins.

Useful Websites For the Netbook User

• Official Ubuntu Forums: great for support for anyone using Ubuntu on their system, plenty of people who will help you out, albeit with an air of snootyness.
• Ubuntu Mini: great site for folks using Ubuntu on the Dell Mini 9, with tips, guides and suggestions on how to get it running smoothly. While tailored to Mini users, a number of the tips and suggestions will work on any system running Ubuntu.
• mydellmini: another great resource for folks using the Dell system, using any OS.
• eeeuser: forum community for eeePC users with guides and tips.

Jaunty Jackalope & Fallout

// April 28th, 2009 // View Comments // Entertainment, Technology, Thoughts

Ubuntu 9.04 was offcially released last week.  I’d been running the beta for a week or so prior, and so far it hasn’t disappointed.  The new features aren’t anything to write home about, but one thing I’ve noticed is the boot-time has dropped from 45 seconds to about 20.  I was able to upgrade the BIOS as well, adding a few features missing from the Mini, namely F11 and F12 key functionality and improved power management.  The new notification system is. . .an interesting choice.  Notifications pop up in the right corner to notify you of various things, such as Volume, Brightness, new Pidgin messages, etc.  When you mouse over one of those, it turns transparent, so you can see what’s below them.  Clicking the notification doesn’t do anything; many people believe it should bring the subject of the notification into focus, myself inlcuded.  I’m really looking forward to Octobers [Ubuntu has a 6-month development cycle] release of Karmic Koala, which claims to be very netbook-friendly, with even faster boot times.  In addition, my Runcore 64GB SSD shipped and should arrive on Wednesday; looking forward to the increased space.  May even hackintosh it, as I have very little experience with Macs and it would be fun to learn another operating system.

In other computer-related news, I recently purchased the Fallout Collection from Good Old Games, an online distributor of old or out of publication games.  DRM-Free and packed with bonus extras, GOG.com manages to keep the price low and permits me to do whatever I want with the game; no tracking down patches, no dubious hacks to get it running.  A simple install and it’s up and running.  Fallout is a game I’ve been meaning to play with earnest for years now, but never sat down long enough to get into it.  The groundbreaking post-apocalyptic tale that set the standard for many post-apocalypses to come has an antiquated charm about it.  The controls are clunky and a bit obtuse, the inventory system is atrocious; and yet, I find myself enamored with the dilemma of choosing between carring that extra few clips of ammo or that spare shotgun.  Combat is slow going and enemy and ally AI aren’t the sharpest shivs on the cellblock, as likely to hit friendly targets as they are foes.  Altogether, though, the game is fun in spite of it’s dated controls and graphics.  Nothing is more satisfying that targeting an enemy’s eyes and blowing them to gooey, bloody chunks with a burst of semiautomatic pistol fire.

The Fisher-Price ‘Baby’s First Laptop’ a.k.a. The Dell Mini 9

// April 8th, 2009 // View Comments // Technology, Thoughts

Last month I finally bit the bullet and purchased a portable computer.  Specifically, the Dell Mini 9 netbook.  The Mini 9 isn’t the most powerful creature in the computing jungle, but it’s what I’ve been looking for:

• small – 9″ screen, ~9″x7″x3/4″
• light  - less than 2lbs, easily carried in one hand

I can throw this little guy into my bag and take it damn near anywhere.  Upgraded to 2GB of RAM, 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor, 8GB SSD (small, I know, but the Mini 9 includes a card reader, so I can expand, and there’s always the option of installing a larger one), even a tiny integrated webcam for Skype. All of this for the modest price of $260. [mine was a refurbished model, though there have been numerous sales on new ones as of late to clear out stock to make way for the Mini 10, Mini 11, and Mini 12 models]

Currently I’m running Ubuntu 8.10, or ‘Intrepid Ibex’ as the cool kids say. One of the most popular flavors of Linux currently out there, it worked right out of the box, aside from a few kinks that were easily straightened out thanks to the active Ubuntu Community and fansite UbuntuMini.  Boot-up averages around 45 seconds to just under a minute, which isn’t too shabby.  Many of the programs I used on my Windows desktop PC exist within the Linux environment, such as Firefox, VLC, GIMP, and Pidgin .  Using Mozilla’s Prism extension, I’ve created a number of SSB (single-site browser) applications (GMail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Reader, music-streaming service Lala.com, financial management site Mint.com, and other web-apps)  all of which are only a few context-sensitive keystrokes away thanks to the absolutely fantastic application launcher, GNOME-Do.

Getting used to the Mini 9 takes a little while.  The keyboard is significantly smaller than a full-sized one, and some of Dell’s choices in key placement are little unusual, to say the least.  I’ve often accidentally included semi-colons where they were not welcome, as well as unintentional taps on the Enter key.  The trackpad can be overly-sensitive at times,  but that’s just a matter of adjusting the settings.  After about a week or so of regular use I get by fairly well typing thing out messages and emails, but don’t expect to write the Great American Novel on it; maybe a few pages here and there, but leave the heavy workload for the desktop and a full-sized keyboard.

The Mini 9 is a great little machine, for a decent price.  If you’ve been considering a second (or third, in some cases) computer, good for couch-surfing, hotel stays, and general internet use, you could do a lot worse than the Mini 9.

Dual-Booting Blues

// December 29th, 2008 // View Comments // Technology

Recently upgraded the RAM in my desktop from 1GB to 4GB (what a difference, seriously!)

As such, I also upgraded to Windows Vista, both to give it a try and to start from a ‘clean slate’ as my XP install had become littered with various throwaway one-time-use programs, bogging it down.  In addition to Vista x64  I also wanted to install the latest stable Ubuntu Linux build, 8.10, a.k.a. Intrepid Ibex.  The developers of Ubuntu have taken to giving each of their releases alliterative animal ‘code names’ such as Jaunty Jackalope and Hardy Heron.

It’s been a learning experience, to put it simply.  I’ve installed and reinstalled Vista and Ubuntu a few times now, once after messing up the Vista Boot Loader (which is a much bigger pain to edit, compared to the old XP boot.ini file) another time I didn’t properly set up my harddrive partitions and unintentionally overwrote my already set-up Vista install (which means reinstalling my apps like World of Warcraft, all of my Valve games via Steam, etc.)

This morning I’ve done a bit more research on dual-booting, and found some really handy instructions, which I’ll link at the end of the post.  Hopefully this evening I’ll be able to get it all straightened out.  We’ll see.

Resources:

How to dual-boot Vista and Ubuntu - courtesy of apcmag.com

EasyBCD – highly rated program for simplifying the Vista Boot Loader’s compatibility with Ubuntu.