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I just got an Eee PC 900. I'm still running the preinstalled Xandros, but I'm thinking of switching to Ubuntu once the ath5k driver stabilizes.

tepples wrote:I just got an Eee PC 900. I'm still running the preinstalled Xandros, but I'm thinking of switching to Ubuntu once the ath5k driver stabilizes.

How is the keyboard? It seemed small a little bit. Rencently in japan (more or less 1 week) ago, Toshiba started to sell their first UMPC. The design look nice and the size is small. But this is the issue too: the keyboard is so small that you have a hard time to type, even if you have small hands. It's a shame because it looked nice. Looks can be deceiving I guess.

Banshaku wrote:

tepples wrote:I just got an Eee PC 900. I'm still running the preinstalled Xandros, but I'm thinking of switching to Ubuntu once the ath5k driver stabilizes.

How is the keyboard? It seemed small a little bit.

It is small, and sometimes I need to press harder on the Ctrl key to do Ctrl+clicks in Firefox than I would think, but I got used to it. If it bothers you, stick with the Acer.

tepples wrote:I just got an Eee PC 900.

I was considering getting one of those. Seems more interesting than the Acer, IMO.

Care to give us a quick review? Besides the keyboard, what issues have you run into?

Yeah, the keyboard was one of the reasons I went with the Acer.

tokumaru wrote:Care to give us a quick review? Besides the keyboard, what issues have you run into?

The other issue is that I can't seem to get a C compiler. As I understand it, I need GCC to install cc65. But the pre-configured APT repositories don't have GCC, and when I tried following the instructions that I found on various forums and wikis to add unofficial repositories, it turned out that the version of libc6-dev, needed to compile Hello World or anything else that does #include <stdio.h> or #include <stdlib.h>, refused to install because the version of libc6-dev on the repository wasn't the exact same point release as the libc6 on the machine.

But that has to do with the OS they put in, right? Isn't there any decent Linux distribution you can put in there? It seems that even Windows XP runs fine with it. Although I'm trying to get Windows out of my life (with a bit of frustration, because I can't seem to be able to perform the most basic tasks in Linux - having to compile everything you want to use is a bit too much for my stupid head!).

Anyway, can you run emulators with it or is the CPU too weak? How about the graphics? And games in general (not that I'm such a big fan of games, but still...)?

I was going to ask you how well Visual studio express run on it but after reading the answers about the other questions, I will not

After asking the question to Tepples regarding the keyboard, I went yesterday on my way back home again to check them to see which one I would like to buy someday and the keyboards is always what annoys me the most.

Most of them (eee pc 700, 900, dell 900, toshiba n100) have small keyboard and it make it hard to type fast. And the fact they are in japanese... They have more key, which mean even smaller.. But now asus say they will discontinue all model under the 1000 so I don't know how many will still have small keyboard in the future.

The acer one was almost acceptable for me but the mouse is what kill the deal in the end. The MSI one was nice too but the function key in the corner (I think it this one), grr. The only one I could type nicely with a JP configuration what the eee PC 1000h and maybe the HP one but I didn't try it.

Now Samsung will have one out soon and some no name japanese made some too but those one may be only available in japan. I guess I will still wait for the right price.

In Japan, if you see a UMPC with Linux, you're lucky. I didn't see any yet. It could be that bigger store like Yodobashi don't have any stocks because the demand is not there or the demand is too small in japan. It's quite a pain to use Linux in japanese for non server app.

tokumaru wrote:But that has to do with the OS they put in, right? Isn't there any decent Linux distribution you can put in there?

I'd put Ubuntu with Adamm's kernel on there, but it didn't come with an optical drive, and I don't have a second computer that also runs Ubuntu in order to make a USB installer.

In [url=https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/installation-guide/i386/boot-usb-files.html]this page[/url], Canonical wrote:To prepare the USB stick, you will need a system where GNU/Linux is already running

My PC runs Windows XP, and it doesn't have enough RAM to run both Windows and a virtualized copy of Ubuntu. Has anybody reading this tried UNetbootin?

Anyway, can you run emulators with it or is the CPU too weak? How about the graphics? And games in general (not that I'm such a big fan of games, but still...)?

There's an included 3D game, "Penguin Racer", that sort of works. And SWF (which is like an emulator) seems to work.

I correct my statement, you cannot get a UMPC with linux in japan... Only the windows models are available. But nothing stop you to install linux on it thought.

to my knowledge you should be able to get a USB install going with ONLY an 8.10 live-cd. (& of course a thumbdrive ) Installing the installer on a thumbdrive was one of the cornerstones of the 8.10 release.

If it isn't in the main installer, try to boot as a live CD ("Try ubuntu" in the boot menu)

Also if/when you get Ubuntu running, remember to kill the loggers, bluetooth & maybe even the task schedulers in the services sub-menu. I'd also set the filesystem to writeback as well. (requires modifying some system files, but boosts HDD write time nonetheless)

tepples wrote: My PC runs Windows XP, and it doesn't have enough RAM to run both Windows and a virtualized copy of Ubuntu. Has anybody reading this tried UNetbootin?

Yes, that's the program I used to create a bootable USB stick with Xubuntu 8.10.

Banshaku, have you considered Kohjinsha's UMPCs, if you're in Japan? I have one, and they've got some good features over the Asus eeePC. They even have different size keyboards among their different models. (Their newest, smallest model had keys that were way too narrow, but their older one(s) have a decent size keyboard that's actually usable.

ccovell wrote:Banshaku, have you considered Kohjinsha's UMPCs, if you're in Japan? I have one, and they've got some good features over the Asus eeePC. They even have different size keyboards among their different models. (Their newest, smallest model had keys that were way too narrow, but their older one(s) have a decent size keyboard that's actually usable.

I saw some of them since they have a few at Yodobashi in Akihabara but it's not a company that I saw many products yet like Buffalo or Elecom that sells all kind of peripherals for example. I will check it again then. It just the form factor of the japanese keyboard that always been an issue for me but I got used to the Thinkpad X32 with japanese keyboard at the office and I was fine.

atari2600a wrote:to my knowledge you should be able to get a USB install going with ONLY an 8.10 live-cd. (& of course a thumbdrive )

Which would require me to take down my Windows PC (which also doubles as an occasional server). I managed to get Ubuntu onto my Eee by burning the ISO to an SD card using UNetbootin, and I set it to do 200+ updates after I went to work. I had to pull the battery for 30 seconds after I installed from SD in order to get Ethernet going. Then I installed a customized kernel to fix Wi-Fi and did other various fixes, and it's almost fully working even with Compiz effects, although the mouse pointer tends to freeze a bit when the system is under load.