anyone else here play with the EEEPC?

[EffieRover]

I'm shopping for an EEE for my 8yo who really wants a computer. But I don't know how you guys can type on it -- I had one for three days to try out and I couldn't get my fingers over the right keys. Maybe the new ones are better...

[Geron]

I'm shopping for an EEE for my 8yo who really wants a computer. But I don't know how you guys can type on it -- I had one for three days to try out and I couldn't get my fingers over the right keys. Maybe the new ones are better...

I had the same problem at first. Takes some motor reprogramming in the brain. bit i tinke i gto ity worked out nwo.

g

[Mike B]

I mostly use mine for surfing the Web, but when I want to type a lot, I hook up a nifty flexible full-sized USB keyboard. When I'm not using the keyboard, it rolls up and stays out of the way.

Mike
Hayden Lake, ID

[Geron]

I mostly use mine for surfing the Web, but when I want to type a lot, I hook up a nifty flexible full-sized USB keyboard. When I'm not using the keyboard, it rolls up and stays out of the way.

Mike
Hayden Lake, ID

got one that I keep at the desk but rarely use it.

g

[mikeschn]

When I am at work I sometimes use the EEE PC for a quick perusal of the forum. If I find that I need to type more than a few works, I'll usually grab the full sized keyboard.

I find that strange, because I was quite comfortable typing on a Jornada 720 and 728 keyboard, which has an even smaller dot pitch.

The one thing I haven't found yet is a comparison list of all the keyboard pitches in the subcompact arena. The Jornada 720 has a 15mm pitch, and a full sized keyboard has a 20mm pitch. I just laid a ruler on the eee pc keyboard, and it looks like a 16mm pitch!

Mike...

[mandy]

Mike do you have to have a Cell modum to get on the web with an eee pc?

Mandy

[Gaelen]

Mike do you have to have a Cell modum to get on the web with an eee pc?

Mandy--I'm not Mike...but...
With my 900 eeePC, you need either a Ethernet LAN modem (either hard-wired broadband modem, like my home connection; or wireless from a hotspot like a hotel/Starbucks;) or a USB cell modem.

However, some of the earlier models and some of the competitors also have a regular dial-up modem in addition to the broadband/LAN connection and the on-board wireless.

[mandy]

Thanks Gaelen the wireless will work out for my purpose.

Mandy

[mikeschn]

At home I use the wi-fi connection. But at work I use a cell modem. And when camping I could also plug the cell modem into a router so that both of us can surf!





Mike...

[EffieRover]

I found this video really interesting after trying, and failing, to type properly on the EEE.

http://www.pcworld.com/video/id,766-page,1-bid,0/video.html

I like that the HP also has bluetooth built in, so I could have my cell in my pocket and it would still link up and surf. It's accordingly more expensive. Come Christmas, my kid is likely to have a cooler laptop than I do. I'll have to fix that somehow...

[MrBuzz]

Fellow-Netbookers;
I finally made my decision and bought an Acer Aspire One. It's the Linux version with 8GB SSD....instead of WinXP and a hard drive. I got a great deal fro Buy.com $310 including overnight shipping!!
When the Dell came out it wasn't what I wanted and as usual for Dell, everything is optional. By the time I would outfit one of those like the Acer it would be well over $400. I wanted to wait for the next Acer One model which will have XP and a 6-cell battery but the delivery date on that keeps getting pushed back. The IBM/Lenovo 10" looked good but that delivery date is getting farther away all the time too.
So far the little AcerOne is pretty amazing. The boot time is about 20 seconds! The wireless works great, no issues there so far, nice bright display too. The keyboard is large enough to touch-type on...that was one of the major decision factors over the Asus....Well, that and the price. Acer is really the lowest price for an Atom cpu netbook right now.
I have spent most of the morning getting it working with my Razr phone...that was a big deal for me since it's my only internet access.
So far I'm a very satisfied netbooker!

[mikeschn]

What is the keyboard pitch on that Aspire One?

Mike...

[MrBuzz]

Mike;
The Aspire keyboard is 17.5-ish. Not too bad to keyboard on.
Hey, maybe you have run into this on your cell modem setup....
After copying a couple files, installing wvdial, GnomePPP and Moto4Lin I have every configured so that the O/S can find the modem and get connected. The GnomePPP connection monitor shows that it is connected to the internet, I'm getting an IP address from a DNS server so I know I'm getting out...But the browser never finds a page. It's like I'm missing a setting to tell the O/S to use a PPP connection. Also I tried to ping hp.com and that immediately fails...doesn't even try to ping...like it doesn't know it's connected to anything.
Let me know if you think of anything clever.

[TheDuke]

I was thinking about one of the small PC's but a local computer guru said to wait a while, cuz the digital HD's have a definite limit to the number of read/writes they can do, after which they're throw-away. Have any of you heard this?

[Mike B]

I was thinking about one of the small PC's but a local computer guru said to wait a while, cuz the digital HD's have a definite limit to the number of read/writes they can do, after which they're throw-away. Have any of you heard this?

I'm afraid it's true. We are talking a pretty high number, though - between 1 and 5 million write cycles. I have an EEE PC and that 'problem' was never a consideration for me.

If I were you, I would get one that ran Linux, as Windows creates a virtual memory file that it uses for memory overflow. This means more flash memory write cycles, resulting in a shorter life. Linux is configured to not do that.

Mike
Hayden Lake, ID