which-netbook

Date: Sat, 08 Aug 2009 13:55:57 -0500
From: "gzeus" <address deleted>
Subject: RE: Which Netbook to Buy

The MSI Wind can be found for ~300usd or less. I bought a refurbished one on ebay, stuck a 500gb hd in it, and still came out under $400usd.
I'd like another gig of RAM, not that I need it(stumpwm, emacs, conkeror mplayer, cmus and zsh for me) but... I WANT it...

In any case, they're sturdy, so don't be afraid of the refurbished ones. I doubt I'll need the warrantee(/me knocks on wood).

Date: Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:46:30 -0300
From: "David Bremner" <address deleted>
Subject: Re: Which Netbook to Buy

gzeus wrote:

>The MSI Wind can be found for ~300usd or less. I bought a refurbished
>one on ebay, stuck a 500gb hd in it, and still came out under
>$400usd.

Thanks for your comments.

I see the first place I looked for the U100 was a bit overpriced, so I adjusted my table. 

David

From: "Paolo Casaschi" <address deleted>
Date: Sat, 8 Aug 2009 23:07:15 +0100
Subject: suggest MSI WIBD U100

saw your post about netbooks on planet.debian.org

I have a MSI WIND U100 where I installed debian lenny and it works perfectly.

I strongly reccomend the higher end version (with 6 cell battery and
802.11n). Especially the battery I think it's important... I get about
3 hours with the 6 cells battery, I wonder what would you get with the
cheaper 3 cell version.

There are just a couple of config tricks you need to know to get lenny
to work perfectly on this MSI WIND U100:
- wifi needs the rt2860-source from testing
- the webcam needs you to add "options uvcvideo quirks=2" to
/etc/modprobe/uvcvideo

Paolo

From: "Russell Coker" <address deleted>
Subject: keyboard and networking
Date: Sun, 9 Aug 2009 08:24:23 +1000

In regard to networking, I think that correctly functioning wireless is more 
important than correctly functioning wired Ethernet.  Using a USB Ethernet 
device in places where there is wired networking is less inconvenient than 
using USB Wireless on the move.

In regard to the keyboard, 10 inch machines may be OK.  But it depends a lot 
on personal preferences.  Definitely go into a shop or visit a friend who 
already owns one before you make a purchase.

Date: Sun, 09 Aug 2009 07:09:09 -0300
From: "David Bremner" <address deleted>
Subject: Re: keyboard and networking

Russell Coker wrote:

>In regard to networking, I think that correctly functioning wireless
>is more important than correctly functioning wired Ethernet.  Using a
>USB Ethernet device in places where there is wired networking is less
>inconvenient than using USB Wireless on the move.

I'm sure your right, except for the initial install where I often find
getting wireless working a hassle on e.g. WPA networks.

Thanks,

David

Date: Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:35:31 -0300
From: "Ben Armstrong" <address deleted>
Subject: Reference for wired ethernet problem please?

I'm unaware of a wired ethernet problem with model 1000HA.  In fact,
the model isn't even listed at http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEeePC/Models

If you have information on this, please update the wiki or send it to
me and I will.  Is this another model that uses atl1c?  If so, I
already know about that issue.  I would be mildly surprised to find it
did, though, as 1002HA uses atl1e.  I thought only the very newest
models used atl1c and 1000HA was one of the old ones still using atl1e
which has no issues that I'm aware of.

Some new 100xHA models do use atl1c (e.g. 1005HA, 1008HA).  I wouldn't
say ethernet is "dodgy" for these models; it simply fails to work at all
in 2.6.30.  However, the patches needed to make it work are now staged
for 2.6.30.  I expect they'll be released with 2.6.30.5 in a matter of
weeks, so full support is not far off.

In the interim, users can get ethernet working with 2.6.31-rc5 (see
http://wiki.debian.org/DebianKernel dists/trunk) with these systems. Two
users have independently confirmed this works well.

Thanks,
Ben