I have been reading about netbooks as of late. For me, the thought of an ultra portable laptop that will allow me to access the internet and use tools like ssh to manage linux systems sounds like a great idea. If you add Bluetooth support, I will be able to tether my AT&T Tilt to the netbook and use my netbook anywhere I have cell coverage!
Over the last 2 months I have researched many netbooks and with my brother in-laws input, I decided on and MSI WIND u100. Ultimately I went with the WIND over the HP mini because of disk size and price. For $439, I purchased the MSI WIND u100 (black) with 1GB of memory, 160GB hard drive, Bluetooth, Windows XP, and an upgraded 6 cell battery. The HP maxes out at 60GB hard drive and they only offer a 3 cell battery.
I plan on testing the usibilty, battery life, video playback, etc. I will post a 2-3 part review in the coming weeks. If you have someting specific you want me to review on the device, please let me know.
Excuse me while I get my inner geek on.
I had Red Hat system that needed to be upgrade from running Ruby 1.8.5 to Ruby 1.8.6. Unfortunately, Red Hat really lags in releasing RPM’s for many packages, and Ruby is one of the packages.
Now I have drunk the Red Hat RPM Kool-aid. IMHO using RPM’s on your system is the only sane way to manage a Red Hat based system. Compiling from source is ugly and hard to manage in the long run.
I called tech support (google.com) and found an RPM based solution to upgrade, but I ran into a few problems that I could find no solution for through “tech support” I am going to walk you through installing ruby 1.8.6 on a Red Hat system using RPM’s and solving a little issue after you have installed it.
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After the grand unpacking of the system (see the review part 2 HERE), I was very excited to power on the rig and see how the box performed! I attached a keyboard and monitor, watched the POST screen flash (with me rubbing my hands in rapt anticipation), waiting for this beast to jump into Windows Vista! Then, suddenly a flash and a screen appeared….”No Operating System Found”! I was thinking, “You have got to be kidding me”.
It is an ASUS motherboard and I had lots of little issues with my old ASUS. I rebooted and jumped into the BIOS configuration, hmmmm RAID is turned off on the SATA controller. Since I ordered the box with RAID-0, either CyberpowerPC never configured anything, or the BIOS got messed up.
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Oh, joy is upon us, dear readers! I FINALLY received my PC from CyberpowerPC. Read Part 1 HERE
I received the PC on the revised date that Cyberpower had promised (10/15/08). I arrived home to find a single HUGE white box, which looked quite beat-up. In case anyone was unsure of the contents of the box, the big “PERSONAL COMPUTER” stamped on the side was sure to clear up any confusion!
Beat-up big white box
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