Volpone, you better be fucking right!

[Ancalagon]

So. Today, I made the plunge.

Anne's been looking at laptops, and then today I take my laptop in to get it checked out. It hasn't worked since Sept of last year, but for my Xmas present my parents wanted to fix it. If went tits up first night I was back, buddy knocked a beer over on the table it was sitting on.... Half a tour in Iraq, and it dies first night back in civilization. Anyway, so I got my diagnostic back. Not only will the water damage be in the realm of 500, but it'll be FOUR HUNDRED BUCKS just to get all the dust and sand out. They say fuck it. I say fuck it. My parents say fuck it.

Anyway, so today it comes out my laptop is tits up. And this week my parents box of goodies came in. $300 towards Anne's laptop fund.

Well she finds a laptop she wants. Less than half the ring payment we've been making and which we just finished off this month. Good deal.

Then she says they have an offer where with the laptop you can get half off a Mini. Until a week ago I've never seen a mini. Then Volpone brought one to the meetup. I like. I pretty much only use a computer for BBSs, porn, email, and IM. Ubuntu works for that. I've never used Ubuntu, but I got word from my roommate (works for M$ knows good shit) that it'll work for that.





So long story short. You better be right mother fucker!

 

[ctmelvital]

I take it your not talking about the car? :ramen:

Wouldn't the screen be kinda small for porn?

 

[Volpone]

You're talking about it as your sole computer? I dunno. I've used mine for as much as a week at a time. I've got pretty small hands and even so, the keyboard on the Eee takes some getting used to for that.

But the OS on the Eee is very nicely integrated, it comes bundled with Open Office (which can read/save things in MS format), and a host of other fairly clever open source goodies, nicely arranged. I've had less problems getting it onto WiFi hotspots than my ThinkPad, and like I say, you can put it in a bag and practically forget it is there. Oh, and mine has an itegrated mic and webcam.

Ah Hell. You'll be fine.

 

[Ramen]

The ultraportability of it is nice. But if it was my sole computer, I would make sure I could hook up a monitor, keyboard, and mouse to it.

I'm currently typing on a $750 refurbished Dell that sells new for twice that amount. I've been very satisfied.

 

[Colonel Kira's Left Tit]

Then she says they have an offer where with the laptop you can get half off a Mini. Until a week ago I've never seen a mini. Then Volpone brought one to the meetup. I like. I pretty much only use a computer for BBSs, porn, email, and IM. Ubuntu works for that. I've never used Ubuntu, but I got word from my roommate (works for M$ knows good shit) that it'll work for that.

I'm sort of thinking about getting a netbook myself...which one are you looking at, specifically?

Ubuntu is a really nice OS, even the pared down version used on netbooks, so you shouldn't have many problems with that at all.

 

[Ancalagon]

You're talking about it as your sole computer?

Well I've got my desktop, which does everything I need it to do. The Mini would be my sole laptop, but I've survived a year and half now without my old one so no big deal.

 

[Ancalagon]

I'm sort of thinking about getting a netbook myself...which one are you looking at, specifically?

Eh... uh.... The one from Dell.

She says an Inspiron Mini 9

Ubuntu is a really nice OS, even the pared down version used on netbooks, so you shouldn't have many problems with that at all.

Eh.... I'm kinda scared. I haven't messed with another OS since we traded in the LCII for our first PC back in 97 or 98.

 

[Ramen]

I tried Ubuntu for a week and reinstalled WinXP. That was about a year ago, so perhaps it's gotten better.

 

[Ancalagon]

I tried Ubuntu for a week and reinstalled WinXP. That was about a year ago, so perhaps it's gotten better.

I didn't think about this till later, but one reason I didn't really about having big huge processing machine is that I don't do much besides Netsurfing on it. Besides CivIV I don't play any new games. Mostly just old abandonware. And who needs processing power for that.

Then I just realized that uh... Ubuntu just might not really like DosBox.

Anyway to get around that? Does M$ make a netbook OS that I could buy?

 

[Volpone]

Every one I've seen runs XP. I suppose you could probably put Windows Mobile on it (for PDAs), but XP should be OK.

 

[Ramen]

I just did a new build for a Dell Mini 9 with WinXP and a 16GB solid state hard drive. They're running a $40 off promotion AND an additional 9% ($40) off when you add it to the cart for a total of $408.59 with $8 shipping before taxes.

That additional 9% expires on the 8th. Looks like a good deal to me.

 

[Colonel Kira's Left Tit]

Eh... uh.... The one from Dell.

She says an Inspiron Mini 9

It looks like a pretty decent little machine. It might be worth the extra money to bump the RAM up to a gig and maybe boost the size of the solid state drive, though.

Eh.... I'm kinda scared. I haven't messed with another OS since we traded in the LCII for our first PC back in 97 or 98.

It's pretty intuitive, really, but it may take a bit of time and immersion to get into the swing of things. If you'd like to kind of test drive and familiarize yourself with the OS, you can always download and burn a Desktop/LiveCD, boot with it and test it out without actually installing it. Of course, it will run quite a bit more slowly off the CD than it does when it's actually installed, but it's a good way to familiarize yourself with the basics.

I tried Ubuntu for a week and reinstalled WinXP. That was about a year ago, so perhaps it's gotten better.

I've been using Ubuntu as my primary home OS for almost 3 years now, and I'd say for the most part it has gotten better, especially with hardware support issues. Unless you're a hardcore Windows gamer, there's really not much Ubuntu can't do that XP can, and it's certainly a metric fuckton less annoying than Vista.

 

[Ancalagon]

I just did a new build for a Dell Mini 9 with WinXP and a 16GB solid state hard drive. They're running a $40 off promotion AND an additional 9% ($40) off when you add it to the cart for a total of $408.59 with $8 shipping before taxes.

That additional 9% expires on the 8th. Looks like a good deal to me.

Yeah, we got a pretty good deal. First she gets some kind of discount through her job, then b/c she got a full sized (and priced!) one, they were like "Hey, get a Mini for $300!"

300 was completely base of course.

 

[Ancalagon]

It looks like a pretty decent little machine. It might be worth the extra money to bump the RAM up to a gig and maybe boost the size of the solid state drive, though.

This is what she ordered me:

1 224-0776 Inspiron 910 Intel Atom processor N270, 1.6GHz, 533Mhz512K L2 Cache
1 311-9264 Obsidian Black Color with Gloss Finish
1 311-9263 1GB,DDR2,533MHZ,1 DIMM
1 320-7130 8.9 inch Wide Screen WSVGA TL
1 320-7126 Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
1 341-8510 32GB Solid State Drive (mini-card Module/PATA)
1 420-9205 Mini OS powered by Ubuntu 8.04.1
1 430-3223 Base LCD Assembly
1 430-3225 Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
1 320-7128 Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
1 312-0776 32WHr 4-cell Battery
1 950-3339 3 Year Limited Warranty
1 992-2068 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus Return To Depot, Extended Year(s)
1 992-2067 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus Return To Depot, Initial Year
1 990-8212 Type 12- Mail-In Service, 24x7 Technical Support, 2 Year Extended
1 991-0320 Type 12- Mail-InService, 24x7 TechnicalSupport, Initial Year
1 950-5442 Warranty Support,2 Year Extended
1 960-2780 Warranty Support,Initial Year
1 900-9987 Standard On-Site Installation Declined
1 313-7127 Base LCD Assembly in Black
1 467-7316 Dell Remote Access Basic Email

It's pretty intuitive, really, but it may take a bit of time and immersion to get into the swing of things. If you'd like to kind of test drive and familiarize yourself with the OS, you can always download and burn a Desktop/LiveCD, boot with it and test it out without actually installing it. Of course, it will run quite a bit more slowly off the CD than it does when it's actually installed, but it's a good way to familiarize yourself with the basics.

Huh! I might have to give that a try! :techman:

I've been using Ubuntu as my primary home OS for almost 3 years now, and I'd say for the most part it has gotten better, especially with hardware support issues. Unless you're a hardcore Windows gamer, there's really not much Ubuntu can't do that XP can, and it's certainly a metric fuckton less annoying than Vista.

What's good about Ubuntu? And bad?

 

[Ramen]

Good decision on the HD. You'd have to be crazy to order one with the base 8GB drive. The WinXP OS alone is going to take up over half that!

 

[Colonel Kira's Left Tit]

This is what she ordered me:

<snip>

That should do quite nicely. :techman:

What's good about Ubuntu? And bad?

The good:

1. The price can't be beat.

2. It's easily the most user-friendly Linux distribution out there, especially for n00bs.

3. The package management system. There are many thousands of software titles available with just a few mouse clicks or a simple command in a terminal, and they're all free.

4. No need to worry about viruses or spyware, or antivirus and antispyware software, either.

5. It comes with several pre-loaded apps, such as Firefox 3, OpenOffice, the GiMP (it's a Photoshop clone), Pidgin Instant Messenger (think MSN, Yahoo, AIM and several other instant messengers all rolled into one application), a built in torrent client and several media players, among other things.

6. It's completely customizable in every way imaginable.

7. If you like flashy eye candy, it comes with Compiz-Fusion, too.

8. The installation process takes about 10-15 minutes as opposed to however long Windows takes these days. A base installation also only uses a bit over 3GB of drive space.

9. Excellent support from other users and plenty of online documentation. If you have a problem with something you can always get a quick answer just by hopping over to http://ubuntuforums.org

10. Probably a lot more that I'm not thinking of offhand.


The bad:

1. Certain wifi cards can be kind of problematic to set up, but I think this has mostly been settled now.

2. ATi video drivers for Linux aren't quite what they should be, though they're coming along nicely. Intel or nVidia cards work fine.

3. Lexmark printers require a bit of manipulation to get working properly. Most other brands will work out of the box.

4. The default theme is a little off-putting, unless you like orange and brown. :lol:

 

[Colonel Kira's Left Tit]

Oh, one more "bad", though it's a minor one. Due to licensing issues, it's illegal for Ubuntu to distribute mp3 and DVD playback codecs in the US. This can be alleviated in 30 seconds or less by installing the ubuntu-restricted-extras package, though. The Dell Mini already comes with those codecs installed, at any rate.

Ancalagon: You may want to stash this away for future reference: http://www.ubuntumini.com/

 

[Ancalagon]

DosBox works with Ubuntu, and very nicely.

Which one works best?

 

[Ramen]

I've thought better of this post. :ramen:

 

[Ancalagon]

Oh, one more "bad", though it's a minor one. Due to licensing issues, it's illegal for Ubuntu to distribute mp3 and DVD playback codecs in the US. This can be alleviated in 30 seconds or less by installing the ubuntu-restricted-extras package, though. The Dell Mini already comes with those codecs installed, at any rate.

Ancalagon: You may want to stash this away for future reference: http://www.ubuntumini.com/

:techman:

Thanks for all the help. I went and checked out the Beginners Forum at Ubuntu, but it seems to be more of a 'new to Ubuntu, but actually know a shitload about computers' forum than a 'teach me from the ground up' type beginners forum.

Back in HS I was pretty good with computers, but my skill set hasn't improved much from there..... and technology has. My wife's good with computers, but outside of a couple classes has no experience with Linux.