[sword-devel] ...EEEPC ?

[fred smith]

On Sun, Jul 13, 2008 at 10:45:12PM -0400, John Gammon wrote:
> I am very interested in the EeePC.  Anyone having comments and experiences
> they would care to express, please forward to me off-line.  I am looking at
> this unit for a number of preacher students (in coming freshmen, and
> soon-to-be graduates) as a very reasonably priced unit for beginning their
> work.
> 
> I would like to know the following:
> 
>   1.. What model did you purchase and why?
>   2.. Did you leave the OEM operating system on the unit or not?  Why?
>   3.. What is your impression of the unit you have purchased?
>   4.. Has it lived up to your expectations?
>   5.. What has been the most frustrating about this unit?
>   6.. What has been the most pleasing concerning this unit?
>   7.. Did you install the Sword software on the unit?  (and for which OS?)
>   8..
> I appreciate it.  Again, I am interested in having comments, experiences
> with the unit using the SWORD software.  This information will help aid many
> preachers, and Bible students to obtain a reasonable platform and highly
> useful software at an entry level and without jeopardizing their livelihood.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> John
> zorkermobile at ameritech dot net
> <...snip...>

John:

i've had my eeepc 901 for about 4 days now, so I'll try to answer your
questions above:
1. eeepc 901 linux white. because it's "terminally cute" ?? I wanted a modern
laptop that didn't cost a boatload, and didn't break one's arms to haul it
around, and had good battery life, wirelss, linux.
2. so far i still have the OEM operating system. I may switch later, but
not for a while, til I've figured out all I can about how to make this
one work.
3. it's cute! :) the screen is very sharp, 1024x600 so even though things
are pretty small, it's still readable--even at my age! I CANNOT get wireless
to work on any wireless lan in any mode. I think they may be using a different
wireless chipset in the 901, though I'm not positive, and so far it simply
doesn't function for me. at least the wired lan works.
4. well, it's early days yet. I'm disappointed about wireless. the keyboard,
besides being tiny, is a little touchy about how you press some of the keys--
it's easy to hit akey and not have it register. practice, I assume, will
help. I may eventually spring for an external USB keyboard--there are some
small ones available (more or less the size of a "normal" laptop keyboard).
While the track-pad works reasonably well (it even has a two-finger mode
where you can use two fingers to scroll the screen up and down, which is 
a lot easier than manipulating the small pointer to a small scrollbar and
holding it there while you find and click the--rather stiff--buttons below
the trackpad then drag the scrollbar) I may also eventually spring for a
wireless laptop mouse of some sort.
5. wireless!
6. nice display as noted above. plugged in a usb cd/dvd read/write drive
and it "just worked" (though I haven't found--or installed--any cd/dvd
writer tools yet. dunno if it comes with any--if so they haven't leaped
out at me yet). it even plays DVD movies fairly well. Battery life
seems to be very good. I worked at home on Thursday and had it turned
on nearly the whole day and the battery lasted the whole time. it was
idle with a blank' screen for some part of that time, but it did not go
to standby, so it was drawing juice the whole time. (note that the 901
has a higher capacity battry than the previous models.)
7. I just installed BibleDesktop (java) and it ran fine the first time.
having exited the program I'm now trying to figure out where it went so
I can fake up some kind of launcher for it. So far I haven't FOUND it.
I've also got several homemade modules I'd like to transfer from my Linux
desktop, so again I need to figure out where it went and where it hides
its modules. I"m sure I'll figure it out, I just now started looking.

I imagine that small computers such as the eeepc (there now seem to 
be a bunch of vendors getting into that market) may be a great tool for
students/missionaries who need a low-cost machine. The good battery life
would probably be very helpful, especially for people who live in or 
go to un-electrified areas. I saw, somewhere while browsing a week or
two ago but now don't recall where, a lengthy discussion of its power
supply needs, and it sounds as if it would be possible to power it from
a 12V car battery (but not one that is in a car while the car is running
because that would be 13-15 volts which was reported to be too high.) I'd
think a 12-v car battery would last a looooooong time on a small load
like this. (btw, I've got a "kill-a-watt" meter for finding out how much
juice various things draw, and I checked it the otehr day and found 11-15
watts when running and the screen turned on. about half that with the
screen blanked and idle. so it's pretty low power usage.)

Let me know if you can think of any other info I can provide.

Fred
-- 
---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us -----------------------------
                       I can do all things through Christ 
                              who strengthens me.
------------------------------ Philippians 4:13 -------------------------------
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