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On Sunday 13 September 2009 12:21:26 pm Philip Webb wrote: |
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> I'm planning to buy a netbook sometime in the next few weeks. |
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> The most likely choice is an Asus 1005HA : |
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> |
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> |
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> http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=025389& |
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> cid=NBK.862.656 |
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> |
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> It has a 1600 MHz processor, 1 GB memory & a 160 GB hard drive. |
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> Asus is a very reliable manufacturer in my experience |
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> & this version is the cheapest & looks as if it would meet my needs. |
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> Hopefully, the price will drop a bit more in the near future. |
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> |
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> My intended use is simply to be able to read, edit & make notes on texts, |
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> esp books I have downloaded (eg Jane Austen, Gibbon), |
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> while lying back in my chair or on my bed, not sitting up at my desk; |
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> It may also be useful to take to my office at the UoT |
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> to work on my transit archives there occasionally |
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> & might help at public meetings, making notes or checking documents. |
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> My desktop manager wb Fluxbox, my typical app Gvim, |
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> other regulars Terminal (Xfce), Xpdf, Feh: no KDE or Gnome; |
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> I might install the binary OO for a spreadsheet; |
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> I don't see myself using it for wireless Internet, video or sound. |
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> Most of the time, I sb able to run it plugged in, not from the battery. |
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> |
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> It comes with M$ XP installed in the factory (with Firefox), |
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> which I may keep in case there's a hardware failure under warranty |
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> (I can demonstrate it's not Linux which is causing the problem), |
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> but of course I shall use Linux for all my activities above. |
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> I thought re other distros to avoid a lot of slow compiling, |
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> but the advantage is a mirage: Slackware & Arch users have to compile |
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> kernels & I would have to learn how to do things their way to get |
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> anywhere; Mandriva has a version for EEE, but it's likely to default to |
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> KDE 4 (ugh!). |
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> |
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> I see myself using System Rescue to get started, reducing the XP partition, |
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> installing the Gentoo system + Kernel 2.6.31 + X , then a sparse set of |
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> apps; I might try compiling on my desktop machine, then copying the binary |
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> across. There are howto's on the Gentoo Wiki & elsewhere, eg |
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> |
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> http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:installgentoo |
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> http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Asus_Eee_PC_901 |
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> http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Asus_Eee_PC_1000HA |
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> |
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> Does anyone have warnings, suggestions or advice ? |
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> |
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|
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I don't see a single problem with that. Compiles may indeed be a bit slow but |
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it will get done. And if you must compile on another machine look into |
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chroots. Another option is Sabayon. I know this is a Gentoo mailing list but |
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Sabayon is a derivative of Gentoo but with Entropy (it's package manager) it |
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doesn't have to compile and it even offers a GUI (though I don't use it much) |
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but it does keep portage and emerge can still be used. A CoreCD may be just |
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what you need (or a Gentoo chroot on a desktop and then transfer it to your |
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laptop). |
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|
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I personally run a Gentoo system after having Sabayon 4.2 and I obviously |
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stuck with Gentoo so... |