Windows 7 Netbook

Want to try out a Windows 7 Netbook. Check out this beauty from HP. Notice that the LCD screen actually has a matte finish!  I picked one up today. More comments to come as I get a chance to play with it.

A $279 Mini Me from HP

Check out this article on Engadget on the HP Mini 110 Mi. This is an Ubuntu Linux based netbook with a 10" screen, 90% full size keyboard, and 8 Gig solid state drive, 1 Gig of RAM and an Atom N270 processor. All for $279 dollars. This is freaking amazing. The prices and features on these things keeping getting lower and cooler. For more information check out the following links:

• Full Engadget Review


• Video Review

Freakish Linux Desktop UIs

Why do hardware manufacturers continue to slap these freakish Linux desktop UIs on NetBooks? I just got a Dell Mini 12 with Ubuntu 8.04 (more to come on the NetBook). The main reason I got the NetBook was I wanted a bigger screen and a REAL Linux distro. Not some bizarre 3rd party Debian distro with a UI designed by drug crazed gnomes.

The default Ubuntu UI is very similar to Windows. The start menu is called "Applications" and appears at the top of the screen instead of the bottom. But it is very easy to figure out and works great.

The Dell came configured with a special "Dell" desktop mode. So instead of the nice easy to understand text at the top of the menubar, there are just icons. And in the middle of the screen is this bizarre, giant launch bar thingy. Why?????? How is this an improvement over the default?

You can make the same complaint about the Asus eee 1000 UI and its hideous tab interface. You have to do a fairly serious configuration change just to get a Start menu. I just don't understand it. If you are trying to appeal to Windows users, the closer the thing looks and acts to Windows, the easier it will be to use for 90% of the users out there. And if you take the default Ubuntu UI, you need to make 0 changes for an average Windows user to get off and running.

Fortunately, Dell did include a "Switch Desktop Mode" menu option off the main Application menu. This allows you to switch to the default Ubuntu desktop. Yay!!!! So I'm back to normal.