Re: Inspiron Mini 9?
On 01/09/2009 10:21 PM, Mark Komarinski wrote: Does anyone have one of these wee beasts? I'm headed to Hawaii for a week in February and want to take something that's even smaller and lighter than my Thinkpad X61 (which is already pretty small). I'd like to hear your thoughts. I want to use it to: - charge various USB devices (i.e. blackberry, ipod touch, etc.) - upload photos from my camera to my home server - IMAP for my mail, web browser for gmail - remaining amused on the plane (or is that overly hopeful?) Thanks everyone who gave suggestions. I wound up getting a refurb Mini 9 for not a lot of money (under $400 for 16GB SSD, 1GB RAM). The cost was right, I wanted something without a spinning hard drive, with wifi and bluetooth. As far as my requirements above, it plays full screen video nicely, can charge all my USB-aware devices and has Thunderbird and Mozilla. As for my camera, I couldn't get it to be recognized directly, but the memory card works fine. It had Windows XP on it, but installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix was very simple. So simple, I didn't have anything on the display except a flashing cursor while it installed. I was wondering if there was a problem with the CD I used until it rebooted and the ubuntu logo showed up. The keyboard issues people have mentioned are there, but it's not a showstopper for me. The trackpad is more annoying, but it looks like all netbooks have them. Battery life so far is decent and the interface for UNR is really nice. There's less need for the keyboard than you think, at least for something that's just acting as something that's bigger than a PDA but smaller than a laptop/desktop. I figure if I can deal with a Blackberry or Treo keyboard, I can get used to this one. I can see this becoming really popular in the next few years. As wifi and/or WWAN becomes more of a utility, it doesn't matter if you have 16GB or 250GB or 1TB of storage so long as you can get to the Internet, you're set. I'll see how far I can take this. -Mark ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Inspiron Mini 9?
On Fri, 2009-01-09 at 22:44 -0500, Jarod Wilson wrote: I rather like the AAO, but if I were getting a netbook today, I'd probably go with a Lenovo IdeaPad S10. I just received mine this week (after having ordered it in early December). So far, thumbs up. Ubuntu installed without a problem and the restricted broadcom driver had the wireless working in minutes. Keyboard is ok - it's my first netbook so I'm still trying to get used to the smaller keyboard. I got the default battery offering (not sure what's available for alternatives) and battery life seems a *little* low, but not horrible. -- A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet and in e-mail? Cole Tuininga co...@code-energy.com http://www.code-energy.com/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Inspiron Mini 9?
We have about 40 HP 2133 subnotebooks. The keyboard is almost normal sized. No special keystrokes needed to reach common keys, at least none I've noticed. The Lenovo Thinkpad X series is very small, though arguably not a subnotebook. Close to normal sized and laid out keyboard as well. Linux (System Rescue, which is Gentoo based) seemed to recognize all the hardware on the HP. We've had Mandriva on the Lenovo. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Inspiron Mini 9?
Does anyone have one of these wee beasts? I'm headed to Hawaii for a week in February and want to take something that's even smaller and lighter than my Thinkpad X61 (which is already pretty small). I'd like to hear your thoughts. I want to use it to: - charge various USB devices (i.e. blackberry, ipod touch, etc.) - upload photos from my camera to my home server - IMAP for my mail, web browser for gmail - remaining amused on the plane (or is that overly hopeful?) -Mark ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Inspiron Mini 9?
On Fri, 2009-01-09 at 22:21 -0500, Mark Komarinski wrote: Does anyone have one of these wee beasts? I'm headed to Hawaii for a week in February and want to take something that's even smaller and lighter than my Thinkpad X61 (which is already pretty small). I'd like to hear your thoughts. I want to use it to: - charge various USB devices (i.e. blackberry, ipod touch, etc.) - upload photos from my camera to my home server - IMAP for my mail, web browser for gmail - remaining amused on the plane (or is that overly hopeful?) A buddy brought his Dell Mini 9 w/him down to FUDCon today, and me my Acer Aspire One. First I'd seen of the Dell in person. The screens are on par (pretty much identical size and appearance), and the Dell is slightly more configurable, but the Dell keyboard SUCKS. Its almost an inch narrower than the AAO's (which is already 85% the size of a normal keyboard), and the pipe and one other key are in a goofy place and require using an fn modifier key to enable, making it rather sub-optimal for anything cli-ish. I wouldn't last more than a few minutes before returning one myself (or chucking it out a window), but I have fairly large hands and have to type a lot, so... *shrug*. I rather like the AAO, but if I were getting a netbook today, I'd probably go with a Lenovo IdeaPad S10. -- Jarod Wilson ja...@wilsonet.com ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
RE: Inspiron Mini 9?
We have two of these Dell Mini 9's (XP and Ubuntu) at school and are about to purchase ~65 of the Linux version for a grant-funded netbook project for our 4th grade. I have compared these to the Acer Aspire One and the ASUS EEE 901. The Lenovo S10 wasn't out yet when I did my demos The Dell's keyboard isn't quite as friendly as the Acer Aspire One, but the Dell still has one of the largest netbook keyboards around. They made the regular alpha keys close to full-size, but shrunk the border keys and removed the top row of function keys. I would guess that linux folks would have a harder time with the unusual placement of exterior (non-alpha) keys than windows folks, because they are accustomed to typing more. For example, it drives me batty that the \ char on the Dell requires an alt+, but I've had several colleagues try our XP Dell and absolutely love it, because they never type in backslashes! We selected the Dell for this grant project with 4th graders because we wanted Linux and 1. It has Ubuntu 2. It has a SSD, not HDD (a plus when working with kids, as well as very quiet) 3. It seems solid and well-built 4. Upgrades are easier than in some other models (good accessibility to the RAM/SSDs) 5. Fairly large keyboard and nice, bright screen. I have used USB devices with the Dell Mini 9, and have also plugged in a Microsoft Wireless travel mouse (the one that comes in all of the colors) - it was seamless. Installing some apps on some of these linux netbooks requires some workarounds because of the Atom processor (lpia?). Once I switched to a netbook for travel, meetings, and taking work home - and this was just about a month ago - I would never go back to a full-sized laptop. I am using the Acer Aspire One (XP) for my own travel/meeting laptop, but have not tried their Linux version. I like the keyboard and the price point of the Acer, as well as the bright screen. But, it seems flimsy compared to the Dell and is noisy with its HDD, whereas the Dells are very quiet. I have made different choices of netbook for myself than for our students ... we have different needs. Pam McLeod Director of Technology, Alton School District (603) 875-0394 voice (603) 875-0380 FAX pmcl...@alton.k12.nh.us From: gnhlug-discuss-boun...@mail.gnhlug.org [gnhlug-discuss-boun...@mail.gnhlug.org] On Behalf Of Mark Komarinski [mkomarin...@wayga.org] Sent: Friday, January 09, 2009 10:21 PM To: Greater NH Linux User Group Subject: Inspiron Mini 9? Does anyone have one of these wee beasts? I'm headed to Hawaii for a week in February and want to take something that's even smaller and lighter than my Thinkpad X61 (which is already pretty small). I'd like to hear your thoughts. I want to use it to: - charge various USB devices (i.e. blackberry, ipod touch, etc.) - upload photos from my camera to my home server - IMAP for my mail, web browser for gmail - remaining amused on the plane (or is that overly hopeful?) -Mark ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
