Netbook Digest

Before I jump into this, some background.  I’m a bit of a techie, but when it comes down to it everything I’ve learned about computers is from a whole lot of trial and error and messing around with files and functions I probably shouldn’t have.  The result has been several hard drive re-formats that were probably not totally necessary.  In a few words, I have no idea what I’m getting into.

First, on the device itself, I have almost no complaints.  It’s durable.  I know this because I’ve dropped it once or twice or five times already and it’s barely scratched.  Hard plastic serves it well, because you forget how small and light it is when you’re pulling it out of your bag and end up tossing it in the air by accident.  Battery life is all together good, but not quite long enough.  It usually lasts me until I can get out of class but on a few occasions has shut down on me mid-sentence while taking notes, which has led to the unfortunate use of pencil and paper.  I haven’t taken notes on paper since I got it, which is saying a lot considering it’s actually a good deal smaller than your average notebook.  The tiny keyboard took a week or so of getting used to before I stopped hitting the dreaded insert key and accidently typing over all my work.  I now have the required pinpoint finger accuracy to hit the delete key midstroke without staring hopelessly down at my hands and the keyboard.

Next, I chose a Linux netbook for the obvious reason. I didn’t want to fork over the extra 50$ for a Windows OS that would probably produce more Blue Screens of Death than readable documents. Having never used a Linux-based OS before, I was jumping into the proverbial deep end in regards to laptop choice. Having had enough experience with both Windows and Mac OS’s I was ready to have to relearn basic commands and keystrokes, struggle with platform specific nuances, and in all probability struggle to do basic tasks on my Linux netbook that have become second nature to me with all the other systems I’ve worked with.

My actual experience has been, thus far, an odd conglomeration of let-downs and pleasant surprises that’s unique to both owning an Linux-based piece of hardware and owning a netbook in general. In brief, the Asus Eee PC I own operates out of the box in an uber simplistic “easy-mode” where all the programs that come basic can be accessed from a tabbed Firefox-esque menu system that made it very easy to find most of the extremely basic options. OpenOffice Writer, Internet Applications, Wireless Networking Setup Wizard are all neatly organized right where you’d expect them to be. Immediately upon turning my shiny, new netbook on I could easily open up a word processing program and blog about how awesome it is to own a shiny, new netbook.

Linux’s “easy-mode” boot option and out-of-the-box options may make it easy to use, but, for someone who considers themselves computer-savvy, the more intricate aspects of running a computer such as setting up a connection to a hidden wireless network, installing new programs, and updating existing programs becomes more of an ordeal than usual with an Linux set-up. The reason for this, is merely that Linux doesn’t hold your hand like commercial desktops. While that may be a good thing for those who aren’t object to a little trial and error, it can cause some problems for the user who needs the hand-holding a PC or Mac provides to get things done.

However, not having three pop-ups asking me if I’m sure I want to remove that program every time I attempt to delete something is refreshing. Also refreshing is the fact that I don’t have to disable seven different firewalls and allow port access for every program that has anything to do with the internet. The lack of barriers to click through and elaborate system hurdles to deal with is immediately apparent. If commercial Operating Systems learned to utilize the simplicity that Linux does there wouldn’t be a need for service pack after service pack and a few hundred patches to make sure everything works right and can’t be exploited.

Being on a liberal arts school campus means that I am essentially my own tech support.  If I have any issues with a computer, especially one that runs Linux, I have to either experiment on my own until I solve the problem or scour the internet for a solution.  In fact, when I went to the campus tech center and slapped my netbook down on the counter, the nearest employee cringed away in fear, printed out two sheets of paper with some haphazard instructions that he said “might work” and sent me packing.  Thus, as of writing this, I have yet to figure out a reliable way to connect to my college campus wireless internet.  It’s been a complicated process even figuring out the basics of running Linux through the command prompt. Fiddling with passwords and root commands is not something I’m used to, but a necessary evil if I’m going to be changing any of the defaults on my netbook which I will be, even if I have to learn how to program Linux on my own.

The first thing one learns when opening the konsole is that every single attempt at a command has to be prefaced with the “sudo” command. It won’t be long before you get the joke behind the popular “Sudo Make Me a Sandwich” XkCD webcomic. Whether or not you understand the purpose of this command is another story entirely. The purpose of creating documents via the konsole and the various lettered prefixes which one needs to know in order to get anything done via the konsole are still a mystery to me. This blogger can’t begin to guess what any of them do or what I’m not accomplishing by making an effort to learn what they do.  Undoubtebly they do a variety of useful important tasks that are vital to maintaining my system and solving basic problems in my system, but it’s just not immediatly clear what they do and that makes me hesitant to use them, lest I blow something up accidentally.  Expect to see a future update regarding what I may have accidently blown up and how a chunk of my LCD screen missing affects my ability to skype relatives.