WegianWarrior's ramblings

Tiny computer that wont break the bank

2012-01-11T14:01:00.000+01:00

As I'm sure some of you is already aware, there is a tiny little computer that is about to hit the market any minute now; the Raspberry Pi. Quite possible it's the only PC available today that is as big as the credit card that wont put much of a strain on the card - just 25$ for the basic version and 35$ for the high end model (with more memory and an Ethernet jack).

I have to admit that I do want... WANT! Must have new toy!

I can sort of, kind of see a use for one too; I have an old 15" LCD display with a DVI-D input... the Pi should fit inside the case, and a HDMI-DVI adapter should let me output to the screen with no trouble. A couple of patch cables should let me plug in the network and USB drives. I already have a wireless keyboard and mouse that isn't in use, so no need to spend money on that. End result would be a compact and self contained little Linux Box for casual surfing and streaming media.

If I do decide to do it, you'll be able to read all about it here :)

Finally - EeeUser forums back online

2011-12-19T05:52:00.000+01:00

Just head over to [url]http://forum.eeeuser.com/index.php[/url] and sign in - or sign up, if you're a new user.

Man, it's good to have the forums back :)

The EeeUser forums are coming back

2011-12-13T09:53:00.000+01:00

...hopefully :D

Right now the front page reads "switching to phpbb.. be back by the end of the week!", but when I checked this weekend (I tend to swing by once a day to check, just in case) Ant was clearly playing with the install of phpbb - I got logged in and everything :p

Granted, two new spammers signed up while it was up, and I moderated the post one of them made about boots into oblivion... Ant, could we pretty please get things like CAPTCHA and suchlike in place? I also liked this add-on, which prevents new users from posting links before they have made a number of posts...

Very much looking forward to the EeeUser forums to come back online - even more so since I'm seriously considering getting a Transformer Prime within a few months.

/edit: No, cant use bbcode in my blog...

EeeUser coming back on line

2011-11-26T09:35:00.001+01:00

It's been down for a while, but the frontpage and wiki are back up at least. The forum - which I feel is the heart and soul of EeeUser - is still down though.

EeeUser down? UPDATE 14 NOV

2011-10-23T12:18:00.001+02:00

Since the Eee first came out back in 2007, EeeUser have been the place to go to for information, help and plain chat with other Eee owners.

Now.. it seems to be down. I have not been able to access it for two days now. If it's gone for good it'll be the end of an era.

UPDATE:
It's up again - Ant was updating the back end to speed things up. So the place of all things Eee is still online!

UPDATE 2:
And down again... should have reported on it before, but new job keeps me busy. Is interesting though :)
Good to see all the guys commenting too; nice that I'm not the only one missing EeeUser.

UPDATE 3:
"Switching to new forum software, new infrastructure, etc." - well, at least something is happening today. Also I realised that comments on "old" blogposts here has to be approved - for those who havn't seen their comments pop up until today, my bad.

I'm a geek - a shaving geek

2011-10-18T22:17:00.000+02:00

As I was standing in the bathroom this morning, shaving my stubble off, I had a revelation: I am a geek*.

Not that it's a great shock to me; I've been pretty sure of my status a a geek since I was in school.

What caused the revelation is that I suddenly grasped what part of being a nerd is: A nerd will pursue an interest in depth, with great enjoyment and with scant regard for what the "normal" people think.** For example; If a "normal" person needs a computer, s/he will buy a desktop or a laptop and use it until it needs replacing. If a geek needs a computer, s/he will end up with, well:

Two desktops in use (mine and my better half each have one) with dual screens
Two desktops on standby, with three screens between them
One laptop in use
One laptop on standby
Three Netbooks (two for me, one for my better half)
One tablet (HP Touchpad, bought during the fire sale)
and one ultra small form factor computing device...

Anyhow, back to this morning: As mentioned, I was getting the stubble of my face while I was letting my mind drift and enjoying myself immensely. Actually enjoying shaving myself is still somewhat of a novel experience for me, since for the majority of my adult life shaving have simply been a chore at best and resulting in a bad case of razor burn at worst. Electric razors have always felt like they were ripping my beard out, and the various latests, greatest razors put out by Gillette have been like dragging a dull knife over my face - didn't matter if it was two or five blades, nor what can of foam I used. Shaving was a chore and something I just got over with as soon as I could.

Not so no more.

Shortly before I deployed to Africa last summer my better half directed my interest towards the recent resurgence of classic shaving; that is shaving with a brush, some soap or cream, and a simple one-blade, two edged safety razor of the kind your grandfather used. I figured I would give it a try and ordered a starter-kit from an online retailer in Norway - at the very least I would not have to worry about charging my electric razor or getting cartridges for my system razor while in Sudan...

Remember my comment on what will happen if a geek needs a computer?

My shave this morning started out with me giving my face a wash with Dr Bronner's peppermint soap, putting out my two safety razors - a Merkur 39C slant bar for the initial pass, and my Parker 22R for the second pass and touch-ups - before I spent a couple of minutes deceiding what brush and soap I would use... ended up picking my newly acquired horse hair brush^ and matching that with a soap that I've had trouble getting to lather with one of my other brushes; Proraso soap with eucalyptus and menthol. The combination made a wonderful lather by the way.

So yes, if a "normal" person needs to shave, he'll pick up an electric razor or whatever wunderbar new system one of the big names sells at inflated prices. If a geek needs a shave, he might end up with a new hobby and an array of kit:

A Parker 22R butterfly razor - a good first razor, and a wonderful one for the second pass.
A Merkur 39C slant bar - a more aggressive razor, and not one for those just starting out.
A Body Shop synthetic brush - a decent brush and a good one for travelling; it dries quickly.
A Prosaro boar bristle brush - came with my starter kit and is pretty okay; handle is a bit on the big side for me.
A Turkish horse hair brush - wonderfully stiff and can make good to great lather out of anything. Smells like wet horse though, but I'm sure that scent will diminish over time.
A tub of Maca Root shave cream from Body Shop - procured before I started with classic shaving, and a pretty decent shaving cream. Contains a fair bit of nasty chemicals though...
A tube of Aubrey Organics North Wood shave cream - for use without a brush. Not too impressed with the glide, but will be good for travelling.
A tube of Proraso eucalyptus and menthol cream - part of my starter kit and my sole cream while in Sudan; I like both the scent and the soft glide it has.
A tub of Proraso eucalyptus and menthol soap - pretty much the same as the cream, but as a soap. A little harder to build the lather, but that's partly down to skill.
A tub of Crabtree and Evelyn Sandalwood soap - smells great and works great. One of my favourite soaps.
A stick of Arko shaving soap - haven't tried it yet^^ but some people online swears to it - and some swears at it. Like everything about classic shaving, your mileage may vary considerable.
An alum block - antiseptic and astringent, it's used to clean and seal any minor nicks. Stings a fair bit if you got a larger nick, and tastes really weird if you get it on your lips.
A selection of blades. So far I've been using Feather Hi-Stainless, but trying new things is part of the enjoyment. So far I got the following blades lined up to go: Zorrik Super^^^, Merkur Super, Willikins Sword, Gillette 7 o'clock, Astra Superior, Lord Platinum, Shark Super Chrome, Personna Platinum, Derby Extra and Persona Super...

Off course you don't need so much to make shaving enjoyable again; on my recent ToD to Sudan (12 months in Africa) I brought my Parker 22R, my synthetic brush and the tube of Proraso cream - but I find that having to make a couple of choices in the morning adds to the enjoyment. And compared to some people out there my combined kit is definitely on the small side...

The actual shave itself has become somewhat of a ritual, a very comfortable and manly ritual. First I'll wash my beard stubble with some Dr Bronner's peppermint soap, which helps soften up the stubble and prevents the oil on my skin from breaking down the lather. Having done that, I'll rinse off and start laying out the tools of the trade; my razors and the combo of brush and soap / cream I've decided upon. After soaking the brush in warm (not hot) water, I proceed to adding wetness to the stubble with the brush. This both softens the brush some and gets the water down between all my stubble. Then it's time to build the lather, and how I do that depends a bit on what soap / cream and brush I've picked. Some combos work best if built in a bowl (I use a cheap, plastic bowl from IKEA), some combos turn out better if built directly on my face.

Having built the lather, it is time to apply it. No reason to put on an inch of lather - the idea is to create a lubricated surface for the razor to glide over, as well as softening the stubble even more. At the end the brush is still heavily loaded with lather, which is good. Putting the brush aside, I rinse the slant bar under hot water - not to clean it but to prewarm it - and starts the actual shave. Slow, short and controlled strokes does the trick - letting the weight of the razor do it's work as I guide it. First pass is with the grain, and leaves me with a shave just as good as anything I could manage in the past. I'll rinse and put away the slant bar, rinse my face and apply lather again.

Yes, a second layer of lather for a second pass. I've found that my brushes will easily hold enough lather for three passes, even if I mostly stick to two. The second pass is with the 22R, and going across the grain of my beard. Short, controlled strokes, letting the razor work for me again. When done correctly, and with a decent blade, you can actually hear the sharp edge cutting the stubble down to nothingness. A second rinse, check for any obvious misses and then stroke my block of alum across my neck and face to clean any minor nicks and cuts. Then it's a simple matter of rinsing and putting away the razor, the brush and the bowl, plus cleaning all the little beard bits from the sink. Some people goes for a third pass too, usually against the grain, but I've found that two is enough for me.

It may sound complicated, but overall it takes about the same time as using a cartridge razor and cleaning up the resultant mess in my face. My skin is happier, I got a new hobby and gets to enjoy my mornings. And it is cheap too; the initial outlay may be a bit more than using the "latest and greatest" thing from Gillette or the other Big Names in shaving, but when you look at the math it turns out significantly cheaper in the long run:

A Parker 22R costs 295 kroner (it is far from the cheapest DE razor around), and a pack of ten (10!) Feather Hi Stainless blades costs 40 kroner. Since each blade lasts about a week, that's about 0.60 kroner a day for shaving.
A Gillette Fusion Power Stealth costs 185 kroners, and a pack of four (4!) cartridges costs 139 kroner. If one cartridge lasts a week, that is about 5 kroner a day for shaving.

In other words, you pay about as much for a razor and a pack of blades independent of your choice of cartridge or DE razor - but you can shave for six more weeks with the DE razor... and after that, the gap keeps increasing. Your costs may vary depending on where you live off course, but the basic premise holds true: Classic shaving is significantly cheaper than using cartridges - if anything the cost difference should be greater in most countries. It is also better for the environment; no plastic waste, less packaging and the blades can easily be recycled. On top of that it provides a better, closer and more comfortable shave - so why not give it a try?

A basic starter kit can be pretty cheap; if you live in the US (for example), you can get a basic DE razor for less than 10 USD, a ten pack of good blades for less than 2 USD, a shaving brush for less than 5 USD and a shaving stick for under one USD. A modest outlay that will save you money in the long run, as well as providing you with some personal spa time each morning. You do deserve a bit of pampering, don't you?

*) Or nerd, or tech-head, or whatever other description you prefer.
**) Other definitions of geek / nerd includes:

A person who is interested in technology, especially computing and new media.
Geeks are adept with computers, and use the term hacker in a positive way, though not all are hackers themselves.
A person who relates academic subjects to the real world outside of academic studies; for example, using multivariate calculus to determine how they should correctly optimize the dimensions of a pan to bake a cake.
A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who passionately pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance.
A person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream. This could be due to the intensity, depth, or subject of their interest.

^) From Turkey. Cheap at 2.45$, hand made and cruelty-free - the hair comes from trimming the horse's mane.
^^) Also ordered from Turkey. At 1.78$ I can afford for it to be mediocre.
^^^) A freebie, came alongside the horse hair brush and shaving stick in the package from Turkey.

Ben NanoNote - a short review

2011-08-13T19:39:00.000+02:00

The Ben NanoNote, as built by Qi Hardware, is billed as an ultra small form factor computing device - I guess that means it's not quite a palmtop, not quite a PC, not quite a smart phone and not quite a PDA. It is small though; when folded up it is roughly 10cm by 7.5cm (or about 4" by 3"). I've had mine for about a week and a half by now, and I'm very happy with my purchase. It is important to remember that the NanoNote is not a consumer device, and on the website great pains are taken to point this out: this is a toy / tool for geeks and fans of open source. Not only is all the software open source on the NanoNote, but the actual hardware is too; in other words if you should happen to have access to the needed equipment, you can just download the schematics and build your own - or improve on it.
For being aimed squarely at developers, the Ben NanoNote is surprisingly usable. Not straight out of the box; the OpenWrt software image mine shipped with was quite out of date and needed to be updated. Reflashing the on-board NAND was pretty straight forward with the scripts supplied on the Qi Hardware Wiki - well, easy once I installed a more up to date Linux Distro on one of my Eee's, that is. My old installation of Xandros didn't cut it, neither did my copy of PuppEee. However a copy of Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Edition soon sorted that out. The actual update was done in less than ten minutes, and that includes the time it took me to sort out my typos.
It took me a bit longer to get used to the interface though; a desktop without a mouse or touch screen is a radical departure from what I'm used to. There is little to no built in help in the default software, but once again the wiki came to my aid. It says something about the size of the NanoNote when even the abbreviated list of commands for the applications takes up more space than the actual ultra small form factor computing device...
The software supplied in the default image is versatile, diverse and... well, lets say it shows that it has been put together by enthusiasts. In addition to the near obligatory address book, calender and notebook applet, there is a couple of different browsers, a handful of text editors, six (count them) programming languages and seven different terminals! Talk about being spoilt for choice... and off course you won't have any excuse for not finding one you like. I', pleased to see that such old standbys as GMU media player and MPlayer for video have been included, but if you want to turn a NanoNote into a portable music player you have to keep in mind that this is - with the supplied software - a completely open device; any music in a proprietary format is unlikely to play.
In addition to the OpenWrt operating system the Ben NanoNote ship with as default, I've also played around a bit with Jlime. I'm running it of a 2Gb Micro SDcard, but it feels as responsive and fast as the OpenWrt image on the onboard NAND. The selection of software that comes pre-installed with Jlime is somewhat smaller than what ships with OpenWrt, but it does include an free software copy of Doom; FreeDoom. All things said however, I do think I prefer OpenWrt - at least so far. On the other hand Jlime does come with a mostly preconfigured wikireader, so I will keep it to read Wikipedia while off line - if I can find a copy of the wiki dump that is. The link on the Qi Hardware Wiki is pushing up the daisies and pining for the fjords and I probably should go to the IRC-channel and ask for help.
Overall I'm very impressed with the little device so far. The only trick that has eluded me so far is setting up an Ethernet connection over the USB cable, which is needed since the NanoNote does not have WiFi (it is impossible to have a fully open WiFi - too many patents blocking that option). I have more or less tracked the problem down to the Eee side of things, since it seems like Ubuntu is just different enough to make trouble. I have found a potential solution, but further tinkering have to wait until I'm done with my UN Tour of Duty. For being a geeky toy aimed at developers, it is surprisingly usable once reflashed. For anyone wanting an ultra small form factor computing device I can strongly recommend the Ben NanoNote!

Yes, it really is that small. Photo© Qi Hardware, free use.

Links:
    http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_NanoNote
    http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Applications
    https://sharism.cc/
    https://www.tuxbrain.net/shop/index.php?cPath=28

Just a little FYI

2010-09-13T08:00:00.033+02:00

As a heads up to those who didn't know - and a gentle reminder to those who did - I'm deploying to Africa today, where I'll spend a year working as an UN Military Observer. Blog posts will be few and far between on this blog I think, but should be more plentiful on my other blog... even if the subject of that one is radically different from this one.

So take care and enjoy your Eees everyone!

PuppEee v1.0 released!

2010-08-08T14:37:00.000+02:00

And it's a beuty!

A couple of broken tools removed, but nothing broken in the process as far as I can see. For the most part, my review of RC2 still holds - only more so. And I'm not sure what Jemimah did, but it seems that my battery life while watching movies has improved considerable... I just finished watching two 90 minutes movies back to back on my big battery, and I still are showing 60% left.

I've been waffling a bit lately between using the Netbook Launcher desktop versus the more standard Rox - after I've noticed that I launch most software from the 'start menu' anyway.. speedwise they both feels equally snappy.

While PuppEee may not take over as my primary OS on my Eee, this release is making a brilliant attempt to do so - who knows what I'll do in the future?

PuppEee RC8 posted

2010-07-27T11:39:00.000+02:00

While some of us have been slacking off in the summer, Jemimah has worked on PuppEee Relase Candidate 8. I've downloaded and installed it (painless - it easily accepted my old savefiles) and have messed around for a couple of hours with it.

So far, I can't find anything that is broken, or not working as it should. I'll report back when I given it a more througout run - or the 'real deal' is released. In the meantime, go grab RC8 - it's worth the download.

PuppEee 4.3X Release Candidate 7

2010-07-01T19:32:00.002+02:00

Jemimah has been hard at work while the rest of us have hardly been working, and has put out RC7. So far I have detected no real (ie; visible to me) changes from RC6, apart from the updated Chrome browser. The minor bug in the boot script that caused me some issues with RC6 seems to be fixed - to be fair she put a patch out for RC6 as well, so it ended up being a very, very minor issue anyway.

An definite upside was how it recognised and loaded my save file reasonable seamlessly - just taking a couple of minutes to update the file system. All the add-ons I had under FireFox still works, as do Xchat.

More review when I had time to use it more.

Petition to ASUS a new, small Eee

2010-06-24T05:16:00.000+02:00

Like your small Eee? Or would like a small - that is, a 7" or 9" - Eee? Zoev at EeeUser has written up a nice petition to ASUS to release a new model:

Petition to ASUS for 70x Model Petition

Go sign it :)

PuppEee 4.3X RC2

2010-05-25T11:00:00.002+02:00

It happened again... just as I was about to write up a review of the latest beta, the first release candidate rolled out. And then, as I got halfway through the review, the second release candidate came out. The third one is probably just around the corner... It's amazing how quickly the developer of this nice little distro works.

Overall, I'm (still) extremely impressed by how much have been shoehorned into such a small package. Not only does PuppEee give you a full distro in a bit more than 120Mb, but it's stuffed to the gills with tools for browsing, social networking, productivity and much, much more.

I really like the fact that the last beta and the RC gives you the option to pick and choose between not only x-servers, but also windows managers and desktops. Right now I'm running it with LxLaucher on top of FLWM under Xvesa - about as lightweight and usable as I need. And if I want to switch desktop, windows manager or even X-server, I don't even have to reboot any more. All that's needed is to restart the X-server and you're home free. Most impressive.

The selection of internet aware apps should cover most users needs well - in addition to the obvious browser and email client (Chrome and Claws, respectively), PuppEee offers a website mirroring tool, a FTP client, pidgin and much more - pretty much anything a modern internet user can need.

Productivity tools are also well catered for, with AbiWord and Gnumeric as the two big office tools on top of a host of text editors and other applications. For those in a more artistic line of work, a full range of image editors, managers and viewers - a very nice change from RC1 to RC2 is the added ability to view djvu-files. It's not like I have a lot of them, but more than a few I had been limited to viewing at my desktop until now. Two small applets that will come in handy for me is the Expense Tracker and/or the HomeBank finance management applet - either should be useful in keeping track of my money when I go to Sudan for a year.

But all is not work - the selection of games and multimedia software is pretty staggering by itself - a nice range from solitaire to arcade, and enough players, editors and mixers to keep a video freak and an audiophile happy. Me? I'll settle for a nice game of Space Invaders and watching some movies, thank you.

And don't even mention utilities - this distro is packed full. One I really like is Startmount; it lets you specify which drives should be mounted at start up, and what (if any) software that should be opened as you boot.

Now, a full, or even partial, list of all the installed software would take too long in this post (not to say I wont post one later), but for now, lets talk desktops, window managers and x-servers.

The RC2 offers four choices as far as desktops (file managers) goes; ROX Filer (the default) which acts much like any other computer desktop, Netbook Launcer (as far as I know, a tweaked LxLauncher and also my current favourite) which organizes everything into useful tabs for easy access, and PCManFM which I haven't tried. The fourth choice is 'None', which I'm slightly worried about trying... I'm sure it's safe though. PCManFM looks quite interesting, but I've gravitated towards the Netbook Launcher since I like that style on the smaller screen. Although, it may be that I'm just lazy and like getting my software on a silver platter.

For the actual windows management, you'll get three choices - IceWM (the same as the default Xandros uses on my Eee) which acts pretty normal, FLWM (my current favourite) which plays nicer on the small screen by placing the title bar on the left side of the windows) and OpenBox which to me looks very much like IceWM. To me the second choice makes the most sense - on a small widescreen such as the Eee (in particular the 70X series), horizontal real estate is more plentiful than vertical real estate. FLWM lets you conserve the later by using the former.

For the x-server you get the normal choice of two; X-org, which is heavier and more capable, or X-vesa which is lighter and loads faster. Choose the former if you need accelerated graphics or OpenGL, while the later is good if you care about boot times.

Some screen shots:

This is the Netbook Launcher desktop coupled with FLWM - showing the contents of the Internet tab.

This is the Rox Filer desktop coupled with FLWM - again showing how to get to the Internet applications.

Running the Evice document viewer under FLWM - note the titlebar and max/min/close buttons along the left side of the window.

This is the Netbook Launcher desktop coupled with IceWM - showing the contents of the Internet tab. Note how the bar at the bottom of the screen don't hide under the launcher, eating precious vertical pixels.

This is the Rox Filer desktop coupled with IceWM - again showing how to get to the Internet applications. This is how PuppEee will look out-of-the-box - at least in RC2.

Running the Evice document viewer under IceWM - note the titlebar and max/min/close buttons along the top of the window, eating pixels.

Overall, a very decent little Linux, and well suited for running on your Eee. I'm not sure I can recommend it as the only OS you need, but right now it's of three I boot, and the one I prefer for surfing and other web-work.

RAM upgrade

2010-03-19T22:13:00.000+01:00

Thanks to a kind soul at the EeeUser forums, I got my hands on a 1Gb PC2-6400 RAM chip. Now, despite the fact that my Eee originally shipped with PC2-5300 RAM, I was 99% sure based on posts in the forums that the faster RAM should work - the MoBo would simply down clock it to suit.

Long story short... yeah, it works. Works wonderfully! Xandros is moving quicker than before, WinXP is trotting along at an almost acceptable rate (keeping in mind that I run it of a USB stick, and PupEee... well, PupEee was so snappy to begin with it's hard to say if there is any improvement.

Having armed myself with a screwdriver and a pot of coffee, I prepared my Eee for brain surgery:

Above is a screen shot from Xandros before the upgrade, showing the available RAM - this is what I've seen since I got the Eee almost two years ago.

The envelope with the new-to-me RAM. Securely wrapped, capable of withstanding what the postal service dished out, it arrived in pristine condition.

My Eee on the operating table, brain case opened, just before the lobotomy.

Just carefully insert the orbitoclast behind the eye socket and swing it medially and laterally to separate the frontal lobes from the... eh... wrong handbook. Sorry... where was I.. yes; undo the two hatches on either side and carefully lift the RAM chip out of the socket.

There you have it - one Eee with a terminal lack of memory... but no worries, in a few minutes the patient will feel a lot better.

New memory module inserted... all that was needed at this point was a light and even preasure on the two upper corners to make the module snap in like...

...this. The patient is about to be sutured up and brought out of anaesthesia.

No worries - this wont even leave a scar - unlike my every day treatment of my Eee. If you look carefully, you can see a scratch on the RAM cover.

A quick peek at the BIOS - yeah, looks gooood. Should be smooth sailing from here on in.

Recreated the same screen shot as above - except the RAM is twice as high!

Problem with PupEee

2010-03-07T10:25:00.001+01:00

I've been playing with the latest beta of PupEee 4.31 for a bit, with the intent to do a 'proper' review, but I have hit a problem.

Or rather, I have not. Apart from a vague desire to replace Pidgin with xChat, there is nothing that don't work as I expect it to. In fact, pretty much everything works better on the small screen of my 4G than I expected.

Booting is fast too, after I switched from Xorg to Xvesa my Eee now boots PupEee of a slooow SD card in about 30 seconds, and only takes 8-10 seconds after that to have a stable connection to my home WiFi - both is actually ever so slightly faster than the Xandros install I have on the SSD!

The offered suite of software may not be engulfing enough for everyones taste, but it covers the basics and covers it well. Connectivity is well covered by Chrome for web, Claw for email and Pidgin for IM. Creativity and office work is taken care of by AbiWord, Gnumeric, mtPaint and InkScapeLite. For those wanting to plan ahead there is the Osmo personal organiser, and if all you wish to do is to lay back and watch a movie gxine seems to handle pretty much every codec I've tried so far.

And that's just the stuff on the desktop - once you start going through the menu the choices simply multiply. Not bad at all for a distro weighting in at about 100 Mb.

PupEee 4.31 Beta 6

2010-03-01T20:46:00.000+01:00

Go grab it - just replace the old files on your USB stick or SD card, delete eee-435.sfs and boot up.
First boot takes a little longer than normal, but the second one is nice and quick again. Not much has changed, according to post #109 in this thread, but it looks a little slicker and nothing seems broken.

PupEee 4.31 Beta 5

2010-02-13T13:37:00.003+01:00

I've been running the latest beta of PupEee 4.31 for two days now, and I am impressed.

In addition to cleaning out the last leftovers from SeaMonkey, the most noticeable and useful change is the fact that eee-control now is accessible from a quick launch icon on the task bar. One stop shopping for most eee-specific settings, including over-clocking if you like to burn your battery faster.

Other useful additions include a battery meter and CPU temperature gauge on the task bar... almost makes my install of pwidgets redundant, but the eye candy is soo pretty...

Overall the most important improvement of PupEee 4.32 over previous versions is the change to Chrome and pwireless2 - those two changes alone is worth the trouble of upgrading.

PupEee 4.31 is discussed in this thread at EeeUser.com, has it's own forum here, and can be downloaded from this site.

Above: Beta 5, with eee-control, powertop and chrome running

Below: The various functions on the task bar

More PupEee stuff

2010-02-08T06:19:00.000+01:00

One of the things I discovered that I really like under PupEee is the multiple workspaces - it's almost as good as having a multi-monitor setup. In one workspace i can have my browser and IM running, in the other I can open AbiWord and get some typing done - all without cluttering the narrow task bar too much. And I can simply change between the two with a simple key-combo.

Never saw the utility of running multiple work spaces when I'm fiddling with Linux on my desktop, but on a pocket-able computer with a small screen it's a godsend.

PupEee 4.31 Beta 3

2010-02-07T23:14:00.000+01:00

Recently i find that I do more and more of my 'serious' work under PupEee - PupEee 4.31 beta 3 to be exact. There is a number of reasons for this, firstly the rather impressive boot time (30 sec from I pick the SD card in the boot menu until the desktop is usable, 41 sec until my WiFi is connected). The change from SeaMonkey to Chrome as the browser certainly helps too - SM never felt like a modern browser to me, and since I don't download mail to my Eee the loss of the built in email client is no loss at all.

I also like that 4.31 - or at least the betas - is not downloaded as ISO files, but rather as separate files. This means that updating the beta is as simple as replacing one squash file (.sfs) with a new one and the distro is updated.

Pretty much the only addition I've done to the basic distro is adding pwidgets - useful little widgets sitting along the side of the screen giving me the basic info on the status of my Eee.

PupEee in a very '60 style

A somewhat calmer PupEee

Not much has happened

2010-01-18T10:26:00.001+01:00

Not too much has happened since the last post - my Eee simply works as it should.

The RunCore SSD I won is working wonderfully - from a subjective point of view it serves up files faster, and it consumes less power while doing it as well. For now it works as my repository of movies while I'm at work, but Really Soon Now™ I'll try to put a WinXP install on it - hopefully it'll be somewhat faster than the USB stick I'm currently running WinXP from.

The other piece of news is that I've updated from PupEee 4.2 to the 4.3 Beta - not much have changed apart from the connection manager, and that works much, much better than it used to. It also seems to boot somewhat faster, but I have no hard numbers to back that up. Next step will be to install an up to date FireFox on it and I'm set.

Initial review RunCore 2.5 Inch Pro IV SATA SSD

2009-11-14T11:42:00.000+01:00

I've gotten a lucky break, and won a RunCore 2.5 Inch Pro IV SATA SSD from MyDigitalDiscount. It arrived just the other day, and this morning I finally had the time to unpack it and form my first impressions.

Initial assessment was very favorable - the packaging is sturdy, yet not impossible to open. Thank you for not using a f---ing blister pack runCore!

Opening the package simply acts to assert that my initial assessment indeed was correct - this is a very well thought out and put together piece of kit. You'll get the following:
- the 2.5" SSD
- a aluminum enclosure to allow you to use it as an external drive
- two screwdrivers
- a USB cable
- two stickers for bragging rights

In the package I received from MDD I also found a nice RunCore tshirt, but somehow I don't think thats part of the standard kit.

Since my beloved 701 4G does not come with room or connectors for a second SSD, my plan is to use the RunCore as an external drive for now. Later - when I'm done traveling abroad - it will end up either as the primary drive in a newer Eee or as the system drive in my desktop. This means that it'll for now have to live in the enclosure.

The enclosure consists of two aluminum half shells, held together by a plastic hoop piece. Inside the hoop there is just enough room for the drive and the supplied PCB - but a snug fit here is good since it means there is no way the drive will disconnect from the PCB and cause problems. Once the hoop was in place, it was a simple matter to fix the alluminum shell to the hoop with the supplied screws and the smaller of the two screwdrivers.

This is the one point where the kit fails somewhat - the smallest screwdriver is a little large for the very tiny screws that comes with the enclosure, meaning you risk stripping the heads if you're not careful. A very minor niggle, but the only one I found so far.

The drive was recognized both by my Eee and my desktop with no trouble. It has some software on it to help you migrate an exiting installation, but that is Windows Only... but a Linux user can manage much the same with a few simple commands in the terminal.

Since I havn't had much time to play around with it et, I can't say much for it's speed and such yet - but I can say as much that it's faster than ye old external drive for moving between directories, pulling up movies and playing them.
And now: pictures!

Hints, tips and tricks part six

2009-11-03T10:30:00.022+01:00

Yet again, more hints, tips and tricks I've picked up so far:

I can't get out of Advanced Mode / I can't get back to Easy Mode

The "brute force and ignorance" way is to do a F9 Restore - however this will lose all your changes and settings.
A subtler way is to run the personalization applet - open a console and use the command /opt/xandros/bin/password_dialog This ought to give you the option to choose between Easy Mode and Advanced Mode as your Login Mode.
Or you can replace the startsimple.sh and startfull.sh scripts with unmodified copies. This should as far as I understand make the Eee boot into Easy Mode with the option of using the shut down dialog to go to advanced mode. You can find unmodified copies of the two scripts right here.

I want (software) to start when my Eee boots

Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+t), type sudo kwrite /etc/alternatives/x-session-manager and hit enter.
Add (software) & to the end of the file. In other words, if you want FireFox to start when your Eee boots, add firefox & to the end of the file.
Save the file, exit KWrite, and exit the console by typing exit and hit enter.
Reboot and enjoy.

Hints, tips and tricks, part five

2009-10-27T10:30:00.040+01:00

Still more tips and tricks I've picked up while owning my Eee:

Forgotten super user password

The superuser password is the same as the one you set as you powered on your Eee the first time and went through the first run wizard.
If you can't recall it, set a new one with sudo passwd user
The easiest way to change the username is to delete the hidden file /home/user/.firstrundone and restart. You will go back through the First Run Wizard where you can re/set your username, password and locale.
If you want to delete that file, but cant log in on your Eee (since you forgotten the password), you can start your Eee in Rescue Mode, or boot from a USB stick using a Live Distro like PupEee or BrowserLinux.

Enable Advanced Mode, aka Full Desktop

Download pimpmyeee.sh from this location to /home/user/
Open the File Manager, rightclick on the file you just downloaded and rename to pimpmyeee.sh (in other words, delete the version mumber from the file name).
Open a console (Ctrl+Alt+t) and type chmod +x pimpmyeee.sh and press enter. This will make the script executable.
Type sh pimpmyeee.sh, and press enter. This will run the script.
Select 'Enable extra repositories' by pressing the coresponding key and press enter. Magic will happen.
Select 'Enable full desktop' by pressing the corresponding key and press enter again. More magic takes place.
Exit pimpmyeee, and close the console by typeing exit and pressing enter.
You should now have the option to go to the advanced desktop on the shut down menu, and you might also have the option to set your login mode to Full Desktop Mode with the Personalization app on the Settings tab.

Review of the Sony Reader PRS-505

2009-10-24T21:45:00.001+02:00

I've bought a used PSR-505, and I must say that it promises a lot and delivers it too.

Lets start from the outside. The cover, which is made from a synthetic leatherlike material, is both sturdy and easy to keep clean. Compare this to the cover that came with the Kindle 1, which I know from first hand experience gets really funky with finger grease after a while, or the Kindle 2 which comes with no cover. The 505's cover is securely fastened to the - for lack of a better term - spine of the reader, and includes magnetic stripes to help keep the 'book' closed. It also opens completely flat - meaning I can keep the Reader open on the table and still have my hands free. Now, try that with a paperback... =)

The device itself is clean, uncluttered and oozes of build quality. Not only is the casing in brushed aluminium, the keys have virtually no movement in any other direction than down (ie; no rattling keys). All keys also have smooth travel and solid feedback - you know when you pushed a button on this device. The screen - 6" diagonally, just like the more well known Kindle 1 and 2 - is clear and very, very easy to read under most conditions. More on that in a bit, lets first return to the buttons and their uses.

The main buttons for changing pages are on right side of the device, naturally falling under my thumb as I hold the Reader as I would any other book with two hands. The secondary buttons for turning the pages are in the bottom left corner - right under my thumb as I hold the Reader in my left hand only. Or you can simply use the numbered keys along the right side of the screen to enter a page number directly. The centre of the right hand wheel works as an enter key, while the arrows around the wheel lets you navigate around pages too large to be shown at the Readers screen.

Flanking the wheels are three more buttons - zoom, bookmark and menu. The former lets you select from three levels of zoom, while the later brings up the devices various menu screens. To get to the top level, one have to hit the button multiple times - from reading a book it takes four clicks to get to the top. More on the menu system in a bit - first lets briefly mention the bookmarks.

Bookmarks is one function I didn't find much mention of in the various mainstream reviews of the unit, but one that strikes me as particularly useful - simply put it lets you place a dogs ear at the page you're currently at. These bookmarks can later be returned to, either in each individual book or - and this is the clincher - on a library wide basis. Imagine the uses for this when you got a Reader filled with technical documents, textbooks or various job documents!

The menu system takes a little getting used to, but once the basis is understood you can easily navigate it. The various options are presented lined up with the numbered buttons, and all you have to do to select any option is to press the related button. If you find yourself in a place you don't want to be - for instance you selected books by title, but meant to select books by author - all you need to do is to tap the Menu button to go back up.

Now, the important part of any eBook reader is it's screen... and the screen on the PRS-505 is very impressive. Granted, it takes half a second to update, and it 'only' displays 8 shades of grey, but compare that to a regular pocketbook; it'll take you about half a second to turn a page, and most illustrations are no better (and often worse) than they appear on the Readers screen. You can't read it in darkness as you can the screen of the Eee, but you can read it in full sunlight... in fact, I find the eInk display on the Reader as easy to read as a regular book.

The Reader also have two slots for memory cards - SD / SDHC and Sonys own MemoryStick DUO. While I havn't played around with that feature much yet, I've to say that the Reader not only reads my cameras SD card, but displays the photos in this blogpost beautiful.

Off course, no review of a device such as the Reader would be complete without a look at it's 'puter-side software. And I'm forced to say... despite how much the Reader shines, the eBook Library is somwhat... lacking. Not only is it somewhat clunky as far as importing files goes, but the fact that it insists on dumping everything into 'books' for me to manually go through to add to 'collections' later is somewhat unforgiving... also, the lack of being able to drag a valid book file from my file manager into the Library is counter-intuitive from what I have gotten to expect from software over the last fifteen or so years.

Despite the failings of the PC software, I can wholeheartedly recommend the 505. It simply rocks!

The 505 masquerading as a slim, leather bound book. Sharpie for size reference.

The opened book. Note how the screen is white - not black - when the Reader is off. All the controls can bee seen in this photo.

Close up text at the lowest level of magnification. Notice how sharp the eInk is, even in low light conditions.

Hints, tips and tricks, part four

2009-10-20T14:30:00.001+02:00

Over the last year and a half I've learned a few things about the standard Xandros installation, and made notes of some of them. I've decided to tidy up my notes, and share the answer to some of the more common questions asked on the EeeUser Forums here on my woefully infrequent blog:

Install FBreader on a 2G, or any other Eee that don't have it as standard

This is based on http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:install_thunderbird_on_2g

Change the repositories to point at 701 rather than 700 - this could be done either through Synaptic (sudo synaptic), Settings, Repositories, or else by running: sudo kwrite /etc/apt/sources.list Make the modifcation, then saving (Ctrl+o, Enter), then exiting (Ctrl+x)
Press “Reload” in Synaptic, or, type into a terminal (Alt+Ctrl+t): sudo apt-get update If you get an error message, try the next steps anyway. The error message may not be critical.
Staying in terminal, download and install FBreader: sudo apt-get install FBReader
Type exit and press enter to exit terminal.
To run FBReader, either type FBReader in a terminal, or use Launcher Tools to create an icon.
Once you have verified that it runs, change your repositories back - same procedure as stated in the first step.

I get f u n n y l o o k i n g text in fireFox (or other application)

Ty hitting Shift+Space - you may have to hit it twice.
The culprit is SCIM - Smart Common Input Metod - which is there to allow you to enter chinese text... you may want to remove it (see last weeks post for how).