sandwichesandapples

An update on the netbook:

I’ve been using my Dell Mini 9 pretty much as my main machine. Even coding on it. I just like the portability of it. This past weekend however, things went awry.

A batch of routine updates caused my install of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to break. At the same time, my network connections broke. No wireless and no ethernet. And though Ubuntu has a different way of managing packages and updates than Windows and it’s frustrating to have to open another machine and look up the instructions for Ubuntu, I gotta say, it’s nothing compared to the frustration of dealing with Windows’ blue screens and broken .dll files.

After much struggle and many choice words, I got the network connections back up. And after several attempts, I got JRE repaired and properly installed. But Firefox was acting crazy. The back and forward buttons didn’t work. The search bar didn’t work. And the Ubuntu toolbar was busted. When I’d click on the power switch to shut down or restart, the whole toolbar would just disappear. (I eventually found the Terminal command to shutdown so I didn’t have to do hard shut-downs.)

I decided to move from Ubuntu 8.04 which came pre-installed on the Dell Mini to 8.10 and 9.04 to try to fix all these remaining problems. The hiccup here was that the 8.04 version installed was a Long Term Support (LTS) version and not automatically updated with every new release. To change this I needed to go to Software Sources and change the Update option. But my Updates tab had also disappeared.

So after all these hours of working on it, I finally decided this combination of problems was a Dell-created error and not Ubuntu.

Today, I bought a new 2GB USB stick, downloaded the Netbook Remix of Ubuntu 9.04 on my Windows machine, used the Disk Imager to create a disk image on the USB stick, booted up the netbook from the USB stick, played with the Netbook Remix for a while and did the full install, wiping my machine of Dell’s version of 8.04.

So far, it’s working like a charm and I love the Remix desktop.

One further note: when I bought the netbook, I wanted the netbook qua netbook so I went with Dell’s default 4GB harddrive. Little did I know that Ubuntu 8.04 took up 3.5GB. Ubuntu 9.04 uses 3.8GB. Though I’m not planning to keep any files on the netbook, I have few resources left for additional applications which I might one day want. This annoys me. It’s bad service from Dell. Just as their custom version of Ubuntu is bad service.

But their hardware is top-notch. So I’m torn.

I heard today that Dell is actually going to discontinue the Mini. I wonder what the reasons behind that are. If a Mini 9 with 16GB harddrive goes on sale for less than $200, would I buy?

Not sure if it’s the dreaded Conficker virus / worm / thing but my Windows machine is eating it tonight. Two Blue Screens of Death before I just gave up and switched on the Ubuntu netbook. Hell yeah.

Am I going to get the pleasure of re-installing Windows on my other laptop for the second time this year?

I decided recently to get a netbook. I don’t have a really portable laptop and I thought a netbook would give me a bit more mobility and encourage me to write.

I did most of my shopping online for the deals and was pretty conflicted about which to go with. A couple of places had great deals on Acer netbooks, the Aspire One. It has a big harddrive, etc, etc. And I always liked the Asus eeePCs that I’d seen. But the Dell Inspiron Mini just looked so cool. A co-worker made the great suggestion that I head over to Best Buy just to try them out.

Getting hands-on with the machines made up my mind instantly: Dell won on hardware, easily. The Inspiron Mini just felt like a computer, not a toy. A very tiny computer, but still a computer.

I also made up my mind about another important point. I wanted a netbook to be a netbook. I didn’t want an 80GB harddrive and all that other crap. I wanted the internet-only machine. The Dell delivered. Also, the Dell could be configured with Ubuntu Linux and I’m doing my best to get away from Microsoft.

The Best Buy salesman clearly did not know how to sell a netbook. The whole appeal is that it’s a small computer with limited functionality. Basically just a browser and a keyboard. But he tried to sell it to me like a traditional machine. Historically, computer salesmen have touted the more, the faster, the smarter. Netbooks aren’t that. The guy actually said to me: “Do you plan to put Microsoft Office on it?”

I said, “Oh God, no.” And he stood there struck dumb for several seconds. “I don’t want Microsoft anywhere near it.”

I was going to order one directly anyway so I could customize it a bit. And then a few days after shopping for one, Dell had a one-day sale on their Inspiron Mini — $199. I went with Ubuntu (natch) and juiced the RAM up to 1GB. But I stuck with the default 4GB harddive.

I got the machine today and it’s very cool. The keyboard is taking quite the adjustment to get used to. And, aggravatingly, I’ve had to un-Dell it. I was a little stunned Dell would put their crap onto a tiny Ubuntu machine, but they obviously can’t leave well enough alone. I immediately removed their Dell Desktop configuration, the damn Yahoo toolbar they’d put in Firefox and then I renamed the icon “web browser” to the proper “Firefox.” (I wonder if Dell made a deal with Microsoft to un-brand Firefox on their Ubuntu machines; I heard that when Dell started selling Ubuntu computers, it ruffled feathers in Redmond.)

And oddly, it doesn’t look like it’s updating in the typical Ubuntu fashion so I’ll keep a close eye to see if Dell has made other concessions to reduce the usability of the OS.

A few years ago, an elementary school, having made the awful decision to switch to Windows machines, was selling off their fleet of Mac iBooks but only to employees and their relatives. They originally tried to get a couple hundred dollars for each iBook but the cheap machines had a huge caveat — they were running OS 9 and would probably need a memory upgrade to run OS X. Also, the batteries sucked. Since upgrades to make it run like a decent laptop would cost me as much as a new machine, I passed. (continue reading…)

I can’t wait to check this out — an audio, video, graphics suite for ubuntu.