First I should mention the reason that I bought the computer in the first place, given that I already owned a very nice laptop. Really I just wanted a machine that I could throw into my "man purse" and take wherever I went, ie. work. Secondly I should specify that I bought the 1000H model which came with a 10 inch screen, 1.6 GHz Intel Atom, 1 gig of RAM and a 160 gig hard drive. It also came with Bluetooth and wireless N capabilities. Installed on this modest system was the dreaded XP Home. Out of the box, it was a fun little beast to play with and a breeze to set up, I think I was surfing the "net" within 5 minutes of the unboxing. Even with the admittedly modest specs that this machine, it never seems like it is overly taxed by day to day tasks.
I have heard some people(Wes) talk of theirs just randomly shutting off, but I have never had this issue. In fact, other than not getting a BIOS splash screen at boot, I have had no problems at all. Well that is, I haven't had any issues with the hardware. Windows is a whole other story all together and my beefs with Microsoft could probably go on forever, but for my sanity and yours I will not talk about them. Nor will I have any of those problems anymore since I deep sixed XP in favor of Eeebuntu 3.0.
Non-geeks should go check their Facebook now.
Are they gone?
Good.
So now that it is probably just Vanberge and possibly Vanlandw reading I will go on. Eeebuntu is a Ubuntu variant that was built to work with the modest hardware of the Asus Eee PC line, and other "netbooks" out on the market. Everything works out of the box, so to speak. I tried the last build of Eeebuntu which was 2.0 and was very impressed, but I have to say that the improvements made in 3.0 are like night and day. First is the version of Ubuntu that is used as the base, 2.0 being based on 8.10 and 3.0 on 9.04. Second is the overall look and feel to the system. 2.0 had a nice Gnome desktop with AWN taskbar much like the one that is on Mac OSX. 3.0, or at the least the base version of it, does away with AWN if favor of the standard Gnome desktop. I personally like this a lot better. Also the artwork got a major overhaul and it is so much nicer from an athstetic perspective and lends itself a polished and professional feel. As to performance, I have to say that 3.0 is loads better than its precursor. If nothing else, the updates to the wifi are worth the upgrade alone. I don't know if they changed the driver for the wifi or what, but my connections are faster then ever. Other than that it is very much like any other Linux distro, very well put together and easy to use and limitless in its configurability. Anyone with a "netbook" (Wes) should look into installing Eeebuntu, and anyone looking for a small mobile computer should look into the Eee PC 1000H.
BRB Wings pregame. GO WINGS!!
