1. Posted by Turtle - website02/14/2009 02:04 PM

Next step: put OSX on it!

http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2008/10/13519/

2. Posted by Keith02/14/2009 04:54 PM

Cool. You should stick OS X on it.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/09/it-lives-gadget.html

3. Posted by Joe Litton02/14/2009 08:22 PM

:) ...Those posts re turning the Mini 9 into a "hackintosh" are cool. I don't really know WHY I'd want to do that, but Shirley thought that sounded like a cool idea for when the time comes to replace her Macbook.

Personally, I love open source, and I REALLY like Ubuntu. So I'm not so keen on going back to a proprietary OS. But ya never know...

4. Posted by Kitty Elsmore02/15/2009 05:57 AM

Hey Joe,

I got a Samsung NS10 for Christmas and I am just loving it. So neat and yet its keyboard is almost - like 93% or so - fullsize so typing for a long time is not tiring either.

Not being a full-on programmer I'm afraid it is running the dreaded windoze but we managed to upgrade its 1gb ram to 2gb for about £15 and it is just grand.

Have fun and hope it all works as you want it to

5. Posted by Tony Kelleran02/15/2009 02:26 PM

I too am looking at a Netbook. I'm considering the HP Mini 2140. Had you considered this one? I may wait until June for the 2150 that will have cellular data capabilities.

6. Posted by Joe Litton02/15/2009 03:13 PM

@Kitty: I wasn't familiar with the Samsung, so Googled it and read reviews. Looks like a VERY nice machine; no wonder you like it! Makes me feel a bit better about my decision each time I hear of another happy netbook owner :)

@Tony: The HP gets great reviews ..and the upcoming higher res video sounds cool. Seems odd to me that they offer it w/ 2MB RAM ..unless I read incorrectly, I'd thought that Microsoft has 'crippled' Windows on the netbooks to only recognize 1MB RAM. Dunno. On the HP, the main thing for me was not wanting to pay for Windows, since I was definitely going to run Ubuntu. The HP *does* look like a sweet machine.

7. Posted by Tony Kelleran02/15/2009 08:17 PM

I hadn't heard of the Microsoft limitations before your post, but did a bit of searching around. Quite lame that they are putting the limitations on XP. Granted, I'm not that enthused about XP on it. I would consider putting OS X on it or Ubuntu. I think the HP can be ordered with Suse. I may need to check with HP on this limitation and their willingness to sell it with 2 GB. Thanks Joe.

8. Posted by Tony Kelleran02/15/2009 08:31 PM

I'm thinking about this Solo bag if/when I get a Netbook: http://www.solocases.com/item.aspx?id=1577

9. Posted by Lars Olufsen - website02/17/2009 05:37 AM

Another happy netbook owner chiming in. I have the Lenovo S10e and I'm extremely happy with it - even though it does run win-DOH!-s.

It has no problem with 2Gb of Ram, but won't address more than 2Gb (I actually have 2,5Gb in it but the last ½Gb is not usable).

Microsoft aren't crippling windows on the netbooks. They are crippling the netbooks if you want to run XP on them.
In all fairness, let's remember that XP has reached end-of-life, and as such, everybody _should_ be running Vista. The only argument for allowing XP to continue on netbooks is, that the netbooks aren't powerfull enough to cope with Vista.
Now, if you all of a sudden have netbooks running mulit-core processors and 4Gb of memory, where's the argument for XP then?
So Microsoft insist, that if a netbook manufacturor wants to run XP, the netbook specs have to be inside some set limits.
Fair enough, as such (IMHO), except when those limits then also apply when running Ubuntu, OSX or other alternative operating systems (me, I like gOS).

Back on the topic of netbooks themselves, I can definately say, that the advantages of having the small footprint, long battery-life and still full featured netbook greatly outweighs the negatives of small-screen, cramped keyboard and no optical drive (I connect to my business laptop over Bluetooth and map the drive on there).

My netbook follows me everywhere. It runs Notes 8.5 and Domino quite well ... no, better than well, actually. For testing things, demo purposes and the odd fecking about, it runs Notes/Domino brilliantly.
Heck - I even run Windows 7 in a virtual machine, and Notes 8.5 inside that.
The ATOM is a brilliant little chip!

Please be sure to keep us all updated on your netbook experience.

10. Posted by Joe Litton02/17/2009 07:37 AM

Lars, thanks so much for your comments. I'm feeling better and better about this decision each day and am very much looking forward to playing with the new machine. And I do plan to run Windows on a VM with Notes 8.5 inside that ...at least until Designer and Admin clients are available for Ubuntu :)

Cheers

11. Posted by Barry in Portland - website02/17/2009 07:15 PM

Let me know how you like it. I have been reading reviews, and some claim that battery life is 'disappointing'.

12. Posted by Jorge Coelho02/22/2009 08:09 PM

I read your post last week and today I happened to be reading the latest issue of Wired magazine when I came across an article (The Netbook Effect) about Netbooks, which reminded me of you.

Here is a small excerpt specifically:

"Netbooks violate all the laws of the computer hardware business. Traditionally, development trickles down from the high end of the mass market.

.....

But Jespen's design trickled up. In the process of creating a laptop to satisfy the needs of poor people, she revealed something about traditional PC users. The didn't want more out of a laptop - they wanted less."

Mary Lou Jespen is credited by most as the leading force behind the Netbooks of today. She started the XO (http://www.amazon.com/xo) movement, which you may have seen before on sites like Amazon.com.

In any event, it's a great article that discusses the origin and development of the Netbook. It's in the latest issue of Wired magazine (http://www.wired.com), which is usually available to read through the website a week or so after the magazine is released. It's not up yet, but should be in a week or so, otherwise I would have included a direct link here.

13. Posted by Joe Litton02/22/2009 09:20 PM

Jorge,

Thanks! I've just received my issue of Wired a couple of days ago. I'll have a look at that article.

Many thanks!
- Joe

14. Posted by Lars Berntrop-Bos - website03/05/2009 10:19 AM

Doh! This might be the perfect replacement for my old (2001) G4 PowerBook! It's getting a bit long in the tooth...

15. Posted by Mike Zens04/14/2009 02:41 PM

I've had my Aspire one (8.9") since March 7th. Bought it from Costco when I was in Oregon so I even saved on sales tax. I love it. Take it everywhere with me. Develop Notes stuff on it. Hate the Office 2007 but that's Microsoft pushing stuff on us.

I use it when playing darts on a bristleboard. Created a little Excel spreadsheet that does all calculations and even gives your ratings after the game. Next step is to create a much more interactive Notes database for darts.