EeePC at work: Day 1, Post 5

More thoughts:

Wobbly – If the screen is opened to far the unit can become a bit wobbly…not bad but a bit wobbly.

Battery – I know the battery has lower spec on the $299 unit (which I am using currently) with that being said I am not overly impressed with the battery life.  I will run a real test shortly.

Keyboard – still not very proficient on the “small” keyboard.  I think it might be more the key placement than the size!?

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EeePC at work: Day 1, Post 4

Thoughts:

-Wireless works fine but MUST be manually reconnected each time…wondering if a more robust OS (Ubuntu 7.10) would fix this?

-The keyboard is small.  I am still not used to it.  Will be interesting to see how I feel at the end of the week?!

-Google Gears with FF would be great on this thing for Google Mail, Calendar, Docs…

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EeePC at work: Day 1, Post 3

The EeePC is a little slow coming out of standby mode but if I put it that way by closing the lid and opening and hitting the power button it does come back.  One major issue however, when I come out of standby mode after previously having been connected to an open wifi access point, the connection doesn’t come back.  I have to manually reconnect…not good!

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EeePC at work: Day 1, Post 2

Just had a emergency call from one of my Elementary schools.  Put the EeePC in standby mode hooked up to external monitor, keyboard, and mouse.  Tried to “wake up” EeePC at location with power button….unsuccessful.  Had to power down and up again.  The machine starts up in less than 30 seconds!

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EeePC at work: Day 1, Post 1

So I have decided, to really put the EeePC thru its paces I must use it myself.  What better way than to use it exclusively at work (REMINDER: I am the Director of Technology for Stonington Public Schools in CT, USA).  I have hung up my MacBook, attached a monitor, usb keyboard, and usb mouse to the EeePC, plugged into the wired network and I am up and running.

I will post a blog entry today and everyday this week with my thoughts.

Success:
-Up and running using web-based apps in firefox immediately
-Installed ScribeFire add-on to blog (using it to write this)

Failures:
-Didn’t recognize manually configured 1024×768 resolution immediately.  Had to set it 3 times to get it to stick.  Problem was that bottom OS tray was stuck in the middle of the screen still displayed for native 800×400

Need to test more/MISC:
-Because I am testing with the minimum specs EeePC ($299 model) the 512mb of RAM seems a touch slow.
-I don’t miss OS X yet….haven’t done any multimedia work….

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Asus Eee PC…second impressions….

I have now been using the Eee for  3-4 days now and contineu to be very impressed.  I am impressed espically from the view point that we can and should be putting this machine in the hands of students.  I do have some first generation gripes:

• Software installation:  I can only install what Asus allows me to install.  The point of running a FOSS system is to have open access to many, many apps.  The only way around this is to install extensions/add-ons in FireFox (which works very well).
• Wireless networking:  I can connect fine each time, but that is the problem.  Each time I restart or sleep/wake the computer I must manually re-connect to my open wireless network.
• Flaky BIOS: I tried to install the latest BIOS upgrade.  Once restarted I couldn;t use the built in scratchpad.  Another restart seemed to remove the BIOS update and return scratcpad control to me
• Trackpad button:  It is great that it is one button with two sides(right and left click), however, the button is way to stiff.
• Easy GUi only….I want full control of the Linux environment or at least the choice of one or the other.

And some praise:

• I am writing this connected to a Samsung Syncmaster monitor and a usb keyboard and mouse.  This a a wonderful way to use the laptop as a full-fledged workstation.  Only problem is that I have to keep the lid open on the laptop.  if not the machine sleeps.
• Just tested a basic headset with mic…worked great connected via 1/8 male for both.  USB adpater didn’t work at all.  Easier/cheaper to find the working 1/8 male!

Overall…when this thing gets to $300, I will recommend it to EVERY parent!

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