I never thought I'd miss Windows this much

There, I said it. I never thought I'd miss Windows this much. The XP variety, that is.

About a month ago, I was really all fired up about Ubuntu - and rightly so. From the horror stories of how complicated Linux is, Ubuntu's real-world experience (and looks) were amazingly great. Of course, then I realised that despite how great the open-source community was, it still had its limits. And the cruncher for me was that the email application, Evolution, didn't quite agree with the wierd resolution on my Eee PC.

So I ventured into loading an old copy of Windows I had lying around onto the Eee. It wasn't as simple a process as I had thought. Simply borrowing Kelvin's USB external CDROM drive wasn't enough as somehow, my Eee PC refused to boot from the CD. Resignedly, I had to search up instructions to install XP via a USB stick. Follow the instructions step by step and you shouldn't get into trouble.

After the install, I realised just how capable a machine the Eee 900 is for Windows XP. Boot up time is a respectable 18 seconds, even if it's not the 13 seconds promised by nLite (I ended up not using nLite). I've done manual cleaning and disabled stuff I don't believe I'll ever use.

I gave it a test run with Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Office 2007 and it works great. Documents open pretty fast (about 2 seconds) and the browser didn't stutter none. It might be because I have 2GB of RAM.

Shifting back from Ubuntu to XP, I realised just how under appreciated Windows is in general. Sure, a lot of times, we think it's the most boring operating system out there - wowed by the Mac OS and fancy Linux builds. But in its own way, XP is elegant and simple too. For one, I found the launch bar at the bottom (a la Mac, which I insisted on having in Ubuntu) was more pretty than useful. The Windows Start Bar method still appeals to me.

Also, maybe I'm just a noob, but I understand how applications ,files and folders work on XP a lot better than I did on Ubuntu. There's a certain logic to how Windows works and, maybe its because we were mostly brought up on Windows but, it DOES make computing simpler.

The one thing I loved best about the whole process? The untouched, unsullied desktop. I'd like to see how long it lasts :)

Finally, Windows XP on my Eee

The fruits of a long, 8-hour install process. More later. Need to work now, lunch break over.

Going back to Windows XP

After a month of living with Linux on my yet un-named Eee PC, I've decided to switch back to Windows XP and give it a go.



There's really only one reason for this and its that some applications on Ubuntu - particularly the Evolution email client - don't work well with the customised 1024 X 600 screen resolution on the Eee 900.

I'm hoping to see if Outlook or Thunderbird work any better on XP.

One thing that I did like about Linux was the fast boot times and faster shut down times. However, I've discovered nlite and a guide on how to install Windows XP without all the fat. The guy even claims a boot up time of just 17 seconds on his Eee PC. That, I'd like to see!

More reporting when I've done this - hopefully this weekend.

So I've decided to buy an Eee PC 900...

Yup, you're reading the post right. I was really going to wait until Intel Atom UMPCs started appearing, but I guess the itch couldn't wait to be scratched fast enough, so I've actually gone placed an order on a Black Eee. Mmmm....


Couldn't find a press picture of the black Eee, so the white one'll have to do.

Not that my Thinkpad's going to get any less love now, but I really see the Eee as an alternative carry-around computer for those computing needs that fit somewhere between my Nokia N95 and Thinkpad.

Web-browsing, RSS-reading, the occasional document editing, and possibly loading Baldur's Gate for another run through.

Right now, I'm still mulling over which operating system I should slap onto it. I have an old copy of Windows XP lying around which is no longer installed on my desktop (since I upgraded to Vista). I could possibly slap that on.

Or I could keep the Xandros (Linux) installation intact and work from that.

But what's really piqued my interest at this point is the thought of putting the Mac OS X onto an Eee.

Ah, choices, choices.

Intel Atom! My EeePC put on hold

I'm officially putting my project to get hold of an ASUS Eee PC on hold after Intel's introduction of the Atom today in China's IDF. A journalist was MSNing me live from Shanghai, and giving me the details:

[censored] said: eh you should see the new intel atom platform devices
[censored] said: they run vista, etc. and can fit into n800 profile
davidlian said:
BEST!
davidlian said:
Got pics? I want...
[censored] said: 3W power consumption
[censored] said: you can run quake iii on it
[censored] said: lol
[censored] said: quite powerful processor
[censored] said:
Got heaps!
davidlian said:
email me
[censored] said: soon la

Then the bloke goes running out for another briefing. I was piqued, but curious to see what devices actually looked like.

Surfing Engadget later in the afternoon and, Bingo! Lenovo Ideapad U8 (my client, but this post isn't fixed). Looks like this:Picture via Engadget

Lovely right? I'm just wondering if there'll be a version that looks closer to a mini-laptop (like the Eee PC). I'm told there are many various devices with many different form factors. I'm also told that they'll come pretty cheap (Eee PC range?). Guess I'll wait and see now.

davidlian wants: an Eee PC

A while ago, I was tagged by SlowCatchupKuan to post my "dream" gadget on my blog. So, I went home and took a nap, but quite unsuccessfully, I found that when I woke up, I couldn't remember what gadgets I had dreamt about.

After reading Kuan's post more carefully, I think she may have actually meant what gadget I would want. So here goes:

Pic from Slashgear.com

I had just gotten rid of my Acer notebook last year in favour of a home-brewed desktop setup (for the games) and have my Nokia N95 for my mobile computing needs. Then, I met this guy at an event with a cool looking, darn compact sub-notebook with a cool Linux interface. It looked like those RM 8,000 Viaos Sony had and i thought "Surely must be super-ex one lah."

We started to chat about general computing stuff when I popped the question: "How much?"

"RM 1,400."

"What?"

"Yeap. There are cheaper models."

That pretty much sold it for me. I love the concept of the EeePC - 4 - 8 GB of storage space (put everything else on your thumbdrive), 1 GB of RAM, Built-in Graphics Card, 7" Screen (with a 9" version on the way), nicely sized (though not full) keyboard, WiFi, BlueTooth. It's the perfect carry around sub-notebook for when you want to use a PC to do something.

It's light. It's tough enough (especially since everything is solid state) . And it looks cool.

I could see myself using this at Starbucks to browse the internet, or sitting in front of a TV typing up a blog post. Or paired with the N95 (you can install Windows on the Eee PC) to do some heavyweight browsing.

So why haven't I gotten one? Coz I'm waiting for this 9", 12GB version to come out sometime mid-2008.