So there's nothing on TV, and I was thinking more about my eee pc setup and just because I can't have hundreds of songs on my eee pc, doesn't mean that I can't enjoy music. The catch, I have to make plenty of playlists to satisfy my listening needs. So, bored again....
--
CafeNinja
Saturday, February 9, 2008
The EEE PC.....what it is
Back in November I wrote about a new little device without having the experience of putting my hands on it. I had a pretty good grasp of what it seemed to be about, but again...that was all sight unseen.
As I work for a large ISP, our engineers (myself included) have laptops so that during our on-call rotation we can all log into the equipment from remote and fix issues. I convinced our IT manager to get one so that I could put it through the paces for use as a device for the on-call team since for the price of one of the nice shiny new laptops we have, you could get 3 - 5 of the eee pc.
Well, I now have one in my hands, and I'm writing this post from it. I've had it for two weeks and tried using it "in the field", at my desk and everywhere in the middle. I won't let you read my very opinionated views to hear that this devices is a great value. I would recommend it for anyone who thought it COULD be for them, I'm here to tell you that it IS for you.
Let's set the stage so that everyone can beat me up over it. I'm a professional geek and use linux/Mac exclusively at home now for 4 years and at work for 8 years. So a linux envrionment is very comfortable for me. Getting under the hood and doing the command line thing or adding "questionable" software is a non-issue for me. With that being said, here goes my review.
Before I get too carried away, please read my previous blog post on the eee pc. I have and I don't want to repeat myself too much, but almost 100% of what I said there does stand the test of actually having this in my hands. Please read it so you can understand some of the items I'll discuss here.
I have several points and would like to look at this from the "big picture" so I'll make my laundry list of good and bad points and then explain:
The Good:
For the good points. For the price it is outstanding. When I consider that the same money would buy me only a 8G iPod Touch, I can do a LOT more with the eee pc. I would like very much to get my wife a new Macbook Pro 17" to replace her Linux desktop, but for the price of the tricked out model, I could buy 8 or 9 eee pc's!!!!!!
In regards to size and weight, I have a backpack by Crumpler that is designed for carrying a 15" laptop and my Dell Latitude (also a great box) fits in that perfectly. Using the same pouch for the laptop body, I can put the eee pc, rubber keyboard, mouse, power supply and have room for a sandwich at 2/3 the weight (with all the accessories).
The screen is small but amazingly crisp. I have heard the rumors that they may produce the same machine with a larger monitor. I also know that would affect the overall size of the device. That could be a plus or a minus and remains to be seen. From the video reviews available on YouTube I was worried that the screen quality might be good enough for a geek to do his remote command line, but not for average computing. Totally wrong, this screen is remarkably clear, obviously limited by the physical dimensions of the screen. It is great for on the fly and really, in ambient sunlight, still viewable. It (as any other) screen looses out to direct sunlight.
Performance was another concern I had with a Intel Celeron 900mHz, just how fast could it be. It would seem that what it misses in raw processor power it makes up for in the SSD hard drive speed. I have only managed to tap the machine and see a performance issue as I launched the 5th application (which was Java - ouch). I could do everything with the eee pc as I could from the Dell with little to no degradation in performance.
The USB ports allow me to add to it any peripheral that I might need. Maybe too many. I find that my keyboard, mouse and external hard drive fill my 3 USB ports quickly. A minor investment in a powered USB hub quickly resolve those issues. I had recognition of the USB bluetooth dongle also. The addition of my external mouse and keyboard immediately remove any issues one might have with the included track pad and keyboard size.
The user interface that comes with the eee pc (Easy Mode) cannot earn enough praise. It takes what could easily be a daunting task of migrating a user from windows/mac to linux or even a completely new computer user and makes it easy to digest. For more advanced users, something more desktop like is only a few tweaks away. This is the best of both worlds. I've spoken with a friend who recalled stories of having to guide his father through a format and install of windows on more than one occasion due to the fact that the senior doesn't understand the impact of what software he is installing may have on his system. This interface doesn't make the addition of software impossible, but not likely and therefore prevents new user errors. Basically, they applied the mobile phone user interface attitude where one button does web and you don't question "with which program" ....it just works and that's fine.
For the aspects of the device I find less desirable, let's begin with the point that the hard drive is solid state memory with a finite number (even though it's a lot) of write/rewrites to the drive. This portion of the box has a limited life span and knowing that I would be able to buy it's replacement and change it out would be nice. Not a show stopper since at this price, there should be a new and better one to get when this one dies.
Hard drive space is a premium, I am currently using the 4G model and really look forward to getting an 8G model when it's available in my area. Not that I have a problem with the space limitation for how I use the machine, but when I travel it would be nice to put some of my video or music content on without needed an external drive. Obviously with my previously mentioned USB solution or a card for the SD card reader, some of that problem just goes away. But would be nice :). I do NOT consider this point a show stopper for the reasons I mentioned in my previous eee pc blog post.
There are times, at more than arms length that the screen size is frustrating as words disappear into an ant trail of gibberish on the page. Again, for most things it's great, and when connected to an external monitor this is immediately a non-issue.
As a linux user, both at home and work, I'm quite used to having different accounts for different people. Not having a superuser switch to just turn that on is a little disappointing. I can understand trying to make linux easy for the masses, but this may not have been the best solution. My personal beef with this is that if someone wants to just give this thing a "test drive" that I cannot offer them a guest account, so in effect they are using MY firefox and MY skype. When a real linux distro or windows are installed, this is something you could do without issue. Again, not a show stopper since the single user can be protected with a password so that the system is not wide open at boot.
In conclusion, this is a fantastic little machine. It won't replace my desktop for heavy duty tasks like video editing, but could replace my office workstation with all the correct peripherals. The eee pc receives an A+ from me especially considering that the first generation of this machine is such a fine product. Expect to hear more about the glowing qualities of the eee pc here in my blog as I intend to infect my family with them. I probably won't go into advanced modifications to the OS or anything here, but you will probably see it mentioned in the future. The website eeeuser is a great place to get tips and howto's on things you might want to do with an eee pc if you should get one, they have a great community forum and wiki.
--
CafeNinja
As I work for a large ISP, our engineers (myself included) have laptops so that during our on-call rotation we can all log into the equipment from remote and fix issues. I convinced our IT manager to get one so that I could put it through the paces for use as a device for the on-call team since for the price of one of the nice shiny new laptops we have, you could get 3 - 5 of the eee pc.
Well, I now have one in my hands, and I'm writing this post from it. I've had it for two weeks and tried using it "in the field", at my desk and everywhere in the middle. I won't let you read my very opinionated views to hear that this devices is a great value. I would recommend it for anyone who thought it COULD be for them, I'm here to tell you that it IS for you.
Let's set the stage so that everyone can beat me up over it. I'm a professional geek and use linux/Mac exclusively at home now for 4 years and at work for 8 years. So a linux envrionment is very comfortable for me. Getting under the hood and doing the command line thing or adding "questionable" software is a non-issue for me. With that being said, here goes my review.
Before I get too carried away, please read my previous blog post on the eee pc. I have and I don't want to repeat myself too much, but almost 100% of what I said there does stand the test of actually having this in my hands. Please read it so you can understand some of the items I'll discuss here.
I have several points and would like to look at this from the "big picture" so I'll make my laundry list of good and bad points and then explain:
The Good:
- Price
- Size/Weight
- Screen
- Performance
- Flexibility to expand via USB
- Interface
- Non replaceable hard drive
- Hard drive space
- Screen
- Single user
For the good points. For the price it is outstanding. When I consider that the same money would buy me only a 8G iPod Touch, I can do a LOT more with the eee pc. I would like very much to get my wife a new Macbook Pro 17" to replace her Linux desktop, but for the price of the tricked out model, I could buy 8 or 9 eee pc's!!!!!!
In regards to size and weight, I have a backpack by Crumpler that is designed for carrying a 15" laptop and my Dell Latitude (also a great box) fits in that perfectly. Using the same pouch for the laptop body, I can put the eee pc, rubber keyboard, mouse, power supply and have room for a sandwich at 2/3 the weight (with all the accessories).
The screen is small but amazingly crisp. I have heard the rumors that they may produce the same machine with a larger monitor. I also know that would affect the overall size of the device. That could be a plus or a minus and remains to be seen. From the video reviews available on YouTube I was worried that the screen quality might be good enough for a geek to do his remote command line, but not for average computing. Totally wrong, this screen is remarkably clear, obviously limited by the physical dimensions of the screen. It is great for on the fly and really, in ambient sunlight, still viewable. It (as any other) screen looses out to direct sunlight.
Performance was another concern I had with a Intel Celeron 900mHz, just how fast could it be. It would seem that what it misses in raw processor power it makes up for in the SSD hard drive speed. I have only managed to tap the machine and see a performance issue as I launched the 5th application (which was Java - ouch). I could do everything with the eee pc as I could from the Dell with little to no degradation in performance.
The USB ports allow me to add to it any peripheral that I might need. Maybe too many. I find that my keyboard, mouse and external hard drive fill my 3 USB ports quickly. A minor investment in a powered USB hub quickly resolve those issues. I had recognition of the USB bluetooth dongle also. The addition of my external mouse and keyboard immediately remove any issues one might have with the included track pad and keyboard size.
The user interface that comes with the eee pc (Easy Mode) cannot earn enough praise. It takes what could easily be a daunting task of migrating a user from windows/mac to linux or even a completely new computer user and makes it easy to digest. For more advanced users, something more desktop like is only a few tweaks away. This is the best of both worlds. I've spoken with a friend who recalled stories of having to guide his father through a format and install of windows on more than one occasion due to the fact that the senior doesn't understand the impact of what software he is installing may have on his system. This interface doesn't make the addition of software impossible, but not likely and therefore prevents new user errors. Basically, they applied the mobile phone user interface attitude where one button does web and you don't question "with which program" ....it just works and that's fine.
For the aspects of the device I find less desirable, let's begin with the point that the hard drive is solid state memory with a finite number (even though it's a lot) of write/rewrites to the drive. This portion of the box has a limited life span and knowing that I would be able to buy it's replacement and change it out would be nice. Not a show stopper since at this price, there should be a new and better one to get when this one dies.
Hard drive space is a premium, I am currently using the 4G model and really look forward to getting an 8G model when it's available in my area. Not that I have a problem with the space limitation for how I use the machine, but when I travel it would be nice to put some of my video or music content on without needed an external drive. Obviously with my previously mentioned USB solution or a card for the SD card reader, some of that problem just goes away. But would be nice :). I do NOT consider this point a show stopper for the reasons I mentioned in my previous eee pc blog post.
There are times, at more than arms length that the screen size is frustrating as words disappear into an ant trail of gibberish on the page. Again, for most things it's great, and when connected to an external monitor this is immediately a non-issue.
As a linux user, both at home and work, I'm quite used to having different accounts for different people. Not having a superuser switch to just turn that on is a little disappointing. I can understand trying to make linux easy for the masses, but this may not have been the best solution. My personal beef with this is that if someone wants to just give this thing a "test drive" that I cannot offer them a guest account, so in effect they are using MY firefox and MY skype. When a real linux distro or windows are installed, this is something you could do without issue. Again, not a show stopper since the single user can be protected with a password so that the system is not wide open at boot.
In conclusion, this is a fantastic little machine. It won't replace my desktop for heavy duty tasks like video editing, but could replace my office workstation with all the correct peripherals. The eee pc receives an A+ from me especially considering that the first generation of this machine is such a fine product. Expect to hear more about the glowing qualities of the eee pc here in my blog as I intend to infect my family with them. I probably won't go into advanced modifications to the OS or anything here, but you will probably see it mentioned in the future. The website eeeuser is a great place to get tips and howto's on things you might want to do with an eee pc if you should get one, they have a great community forum and wiki.
--
CafeNinja
When I'm bored
So, it seems when I'm bored I look for things to do on the net....last time that took me to Boomshuffle where I enjoyed setting up a couple of playlists. Now, I am looking at that and thinking... I need to put that somewhere :) For you enjoyment and to let you ridicule me as an "old man" I'm embedding my most recent playlist here. And before you ask, yes, I do like this music.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Coffee Unplugged
Why I take no sugar in my coffee.
I have to say that most people don't look at me very strange if I ask for coffee in America and take it black. When I do the same abroad, I have looks of doubt and perplexity coming from my peers. I have an explanation of why I am that way, it's not a grand affair, but rather a cute story.
I served in the USMC for 4 years. During that time I was stationed in Naples Italy. It was late one night while standing my guard shift when the supervising Corporal of the Guard decided to make rounds with a thermos full of Italian espresso coffee.
He asked me if I wanted "Coffee?". I said "sure" not understanding what kind of coffee was about to flow into the small plastic cup placed before me. It was about to be the first espresso coffee I would enjoy in my host country and I was thinking the cup was a bit small.
Once he had provided what would be a double serving of espresso (since he wasn't going to make a second round) I asked in my naivety "Hey, don't the Italians take this stuff with a bunch of sugar?". His gaze seemed clearly distressed, it would seem that my question had sounded ungrateful. He replied quickly with "I'm no waiter, you going to drink it black or do I give it to someone else?". I recoiled, quickly apologized and consumed it as it was.
This became my indoctrination into drinking espresso and to this day, I cannot stand the taste of coffee with sugar in it. I now refer to the addition of sugar or milk products as "foo"...an adjective I usually reserve for describing things which I find girlish in nature.
As a result, my palette has become adjusted to this way of tasting coffee and I can easily discern between coffee which is "burnt", poor quality or just bad. I don't believe in "foo" for real men, but I don't disparage the ones who must take something in their coffee. I have a slightly different opinion of the flavored creamers as these produce a different taste, but would always prefer actual Irish Creme to any artificial creamer flavored in that way.
So everyone, please enjoy your coffee and maybe for the sake of quality test, try it "unplugged" if you aren't scared to discover that the coffee under all your "foo" is actually pretty bad. :)
I have to say that most people don't look at me very strange if I ask for coffee in America and take it black. When I do the same abroad, I have looks of doubt and perplexity coming from my peers. I have an explanation of why I am that way, it's not a grand affair, but rather a cute story.
I served in the USMC for 4 years. During that time I was stationed in Naples Italy. It was late one night while standing my guard shift when the supervising Corporal of the Guard decided to make rounds with a thermos full of Italian espresso coffee.
He asked me if I wanted "Coffee?". I said "sure" not understanding what kind of coffee was about to flow into the small plastic cup placed before me. It was about to be the first espresso coffee I would enjoy in my host country and I was thinking the cup was a bit small.
Once he had provided what would be a double serving of espresso (since he wasn't going to make a second round) I asked in my naivety "Hey, don't the Italians take this stuff with a bunch of sugar?". His gaze seemed clearly distressed, it would seem that my question had sounded ungrateful. He replied quickly with "I'm no waiter, you going to drink it black or do I give it to someone else?". I recoiled, quickly apologized and consumed it as it was.
This became my indoctrination into drinking espresso and to this day, I cannot stand the taste of coffee with sugar in it. I now refer to the addition of sugar or milk products as "foo"...an adjective I usually reserve for describing things which I find girlish in nature.
As a result, my palette has become adjusted to this way of tasting coffee and I can easily discern between coffee which is "burnt", poor quality or just bad. I don't believe in "foo" for real men, but I don't disparage the ones who must take something in their coffee. I have a slightly different opinion of the flavored creamers as these produce a different taste, but would always prefer actual Irish Creme to any artificial creamer flavored in that way.
So everyone, please enjoy your coffee and maybe for the sake of quality test, try it "unplugged" if you aren't scared to discover that the coffee under all your "foo" is actually pretty bad. :)
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Geek makes $$
I'm of the opinion that the popular Open Source model for generating revenue is right on. The idea that that the software is free but support you pay for seems to be the best. This offers a wider spectrum of the market, I mean if a large business can take the software and use in-house programmers for improvements and support then there should be nothing wrong with those people gaining jobs for that. Where for the smaller companies who can't afford to hire the expert staff needed can hire consultants to do that for them.
I have to say that I have been considering the idea of trying to strike out on my own and make my mark on the world, but trying to hold myself to this same standard (trying to be the consultant) is challenging. The idea of working for a big company that has too much work coming in and a marketing team selling the services is reassuring.
I'm still trying to find the perfect blend of my passion and earning potential. It would be a wonderful experience to have a few hours to speak and share with someone who has already made that dream a reality. My personal experience is that I gain more information, strategy and inspiration from meeting the people who have "done the do" than from reading hundreds of self-help books.
The model is sound, and I would like to see if there is anyway to make what is produced as an outcome perpetual. The idea of "...Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for life." is one that I have near and dear to me. In the linux community I've gained a great deal of knowledge from people who only were willing to share. And I find myself in the position now of being able to share. My problem is that no one is asking me here where I am.
I'll have to ponder this one more.
I have to say that I have been considering the idea of trying to strike out on my own and make my mark on the world, but trying to hold myself to this same standard (trying to be the consultant) is challenging. The idea of working for a big company that has too much work coming in and a marketing team selling the services is reassuring.
I'm still trying to find the perfect blend of my passion and earning potential. It would be a wonderful experience to have a few hours to speak and share with someone who has already made that dream a reality. My personal experience is that I gain more information, strategy and inspiration from meeting the people who have "done the do" than from reading hundreds of self-help books.
The model is sound, and I would like to see if there is anyway to make what is produced as an outcome perpetual. The idea of "...Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for life." is one that I have near and dear to me. In the linux community I've gained a great deal of knowledge from people who only were willing to share. And I find myself in the position now of being able to share. My problem is that no one is asking me here where I am.
I'll have to ponder this one more.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Linux: Support =recognition
Why is linux still getting the bad rap?
We (Linux users) deserve the same kind of support as other OS's. We are a consumer base that is mighty and powerful and who spend all of our spare revenue at thinkgeek.com because they are the only vendor that "gets us".
Even skype is supporting us, (slowly, but they are) with a closed binary which I support just fine. If a company wants to keep it's code closed but produce the port for Linux, I think that's fine. My biggest complaints are about companies who write software to access other online premium (or pay) services. So the software is free as a front-end to an online store. Why would you not want to include Linux in the fold and only gain more consumers.
I know that this is a consumer driven market, so I am not spending any money online with any service that doesn't make it's products available based on OS used. That is just insane. I mean if any company wants to give me just the excuse to not easily give them my money, it is their loss.
Join me in my boycot if you have the guts. Geeks need to defend their right to be treated as first class computing citizens...I mean, we only make the internet work and all. :-P
We (Linux users) deserve the same kind of support as other OS's. We are a consumer base that is mighty and powerful and who spend all of our spare revenue at thinkgeek.com because they are the only vendor that "gets us".
Even skype is supporting us, (slowly, but they are) with a closed binary which I support just fine. If a company wants to keep it's code closed but produce the port for Linux, I think that's fine. My biggest complaints are about companies who write software to access other online premium (or pay) services. So the software is free as a front-end to an online store. Why would you not want to include Linux in the fold and only gain more consumers.
I know that this is a consumer driven market, so I am not spending any money online with any service that doesn't make it's products available based on OS used. That is just insane. I mean if any company wants to give me just the excuse to not easily give them my money, it is their loss.
Join me in my boycot if you have the guts. Geeks need to defend their right to be treated as first class computing citizens...I mean, we only make the internet work and all. :-P
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The EEE PC ... What it could be.
I've been looking at the EEE PC from ASUS. It seems to me to be a wonderful thin client. I know everyone is keen on pointing out it's shortcomings.
Let's start with the lament that it has a small keyboard, but that's what USB is for. It is also common to point out it's small screen, and that is what VGA out is for. They also point out that the hard drive is small, and that again is what USB or SD is for.
In my mind, with the simple addition of a bluetooth dongle, this could be the best all around computing solution. But this comes from a geek who uses mutt on a server and does most other things in the cloud like on google. I'm waiting only for gen two of this device only to see if they manage to sneek in bluetooth on board.
Likewise when I try to compare similar functionality, I find it in devices that cost 3 times as much. So for someone who has really taken to heart the idea of computing in the "cloud". So, like with the other models doing about the same work, they are all useless without access to the internet. As a business traveler the EEE PC is enough to watch the one or two movies I might take with me. Even if the drive is full, then a single USB key and that's fixed up. I mean if you are using Google Docs then using OpenOffice off-line should be more than enough. Simple text files are what drive the world anyway. So if you write a blog post in kate, then you can post it once you are online again.
I find that most of the bashing of the EEE PC is by people who expect to find PC power in an ultra-portable laptop. There has been a wish that the price could be a little lower, but when you consider that most people would pay the same price for an iPhone, then I think the functionality to price is still there for the value.
This discussion reminds me of a rant I need to do on text vs. everything else....I'll pick that up next time. If I should hear something that makes me change my mind, I'll be the first to declare it. Until then, I'd enjoy any comments from any geek EEE PC owners out there.
Cheers,
CafeNinja.
Let's start with the lament that it has a small keyboard, but that's what USB is for. It is also common to point out it's small screen, and that is what VGA out is for. They also point out that the hard drive is small, and that again is what USB or SD is for.
In my mind, with the simple addition of a bluetooth dongle, this could be the best all around computing solution. But this comes from a geek who uses mutt on a server and does most other things in the cloud like on google. I'm waiting only for gen two of this device only to see if they manage to sneek in bluetooth on board.
Likewise when I try to compare similar functionality, I find it in devices that cost 3 times as much. So for someone who has really taken to heart the idea of computing in the "cloud". So, like with the other models doing about the same work, they are all useless without access to the internet. As a business traveler the EEE PC is enough to watch the one or two movies I might take with me. Even if the drive is full, then a single USB key and that's fixed up. I mean if you are using Google Docs then using OpenOffice off-line should be more than enough. Simple text files are what drive the world anyway. So if you write a blog post in kate, then you can post it once you are online again.
I find that most of the bashing of the EEE PC is by people who expect to find PC power in an ultra-portable laptop. There has been a wish that the price could be a little lower, but when you consider that most people would pay the same price for an iPhone, then I think the functionality to price is still there for the value.
This discussion reminds me of a rant I need to do on text vs. everything else....I'll pick that up next time. If I should hear something that makes me change my mind, I'll be the first to declare it. Until then, I'd enjoy any comments from any geek EEE PC owners out there.
Cheers,
CafeNinja.
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