Set your expectations right
I did extensive research on the shelves
and netbook computers before settling on this little gem. I think this
computer has two kinds of satisfied customers:
1) Those who have very specific uses in
mind (and are willing to adapt to the use of a computer with obvious
limitations). In my case, web browsing (especially reading and research)
and read PDF files (in addition to my Kindle).
2) Those who are not afraid or even happy to do some hacking Linux.
If you happen to be both then chances are you’ll be a customer very happy, esp. considering how little you pay for it.
What are the face-clinchers for me? It
is the lightest netbooks in two books. The time to start up or wake up
is very short, which greatly improves the user experience. And you do
not have to pay for a watered down version of MS Windows.
Because this computer is based on Linux,
I’m pretty confident that I can avoid most problems that come with a
GUI is not yet well polished. Keep in mind that Meego package is just
the user interface while the operating system underlying the industrial
strength.
Here are some tips that came to play with this thing:
0) Liberally use Ctrl + to increase font size. You will find a much more enjoyable experience for better eye reading font size.
1) PDF viewing: Due to the smallness of
the screen you really want to use the full screen mode. But in full
screen mode, you do not have access to menus so you want to remember a
few combinations of shortcut keys, esp for the zoom (hint: ctrl-1, 2, 3
until you get what you want). You should also play with the preference
settings of Acrobat Reader for viewing in full screen.
2) Certainly learn to use shortcut keys
to get around the fact that this is not a touch pad. Alt-Tab is much
easier to use to switch between windows application that stupid toolbar
Meego “zones”. Chrome shortcut keys are good to know. One caveat:
mapping to alt-arrow has a conflict with Chrome. Alt-left sends you to
the virtual terminal before you go to the previous page in the browser.
It is a conflict notorious for Linux it seems that the packers Meego
dropped the ball here. I worked around this by doing “sudo-s kbd_mode”
in the terminal to switch the keyboard to RAW mode instead of UTF-8.
(NOTE: … It was a temporary hack and is not recommended as it does the
hose from the keyboard to a virtual terminal should instead update the
package kbd For details see my website)
3) Learn to use the terminal
(Applications-> System Tools->). An introductory book on Linux or
website certainly helps here. In theory, this gives you complete control
over your computer. Let’s face GUI (even in MS Windows or Apple Mac OS)
could never give you the same control. For example you can use RPM
(package manager) for information on all packages installed on your
computer – and I am pleasantly surprised that installed packages are
rich enough. The standard “man” works well, allowing you to view command
syntax easily.
4) As another critic of my Chrome
browser has trouble setting default Google search engine (mine was set
to Google dot com dot tw). It’s about Chrome that affects not only Meego
but I need to fix it. So in the terminal, I edited my ~ /. Config /
chrome / local files of the State (using vi) after closing all browser
(do “ps-A | grep chrome” to ensure ) windows. The change needed is to
edit the variables and last_known_google_url last_prompted_google_url in
this file to set the country the right Suffix code (not for USA). Note
the file browser does not appear to show the special files (starting
with’.').
5) The restart is quick and painless (in
the terminal “sudo reboot”), so if your computer is slow or otherwise
misbehaves, do not be afraid to give it a reboot. Reboot is really fast,
not your standard Windows experience, and some changes (such as date /
time settings) seem to take effect only after a reboot.
I hope I have given you a taste of how you can deal with software problems.
The computer does not run so hot on the
bottom (user manual that I downloaded before buying warned about this
but it is still warmer than I expected). It is not so hot that you can
not put it on your lap, but it is warm enough that you want something
between it and your skin for a comfortable stay. This is mainly a
problem with Intel – they run surprisingly warm, even with SSD. I look
forward to buying one day ARM netbooks.
Touchpad does not support pinch zoom is
disappointing (NOTE: horizontal scrolling can be enabled via the
settings). Hopefully they will be supported with future updates.
Battery life is a little to try (I would say less than 4 hours announced with a real serious use) but it recharges quickly.
Slim!
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