[LINK] Fwd: Today on Catch - Asus EEE PC 701 Netbook only $259.90

[Richard Chirgwin]

Brendan Scott wrote:
> Pilcher, Fred wrote:
>> Jan wrote:
>>
>>> in case anyone was considereing.
>>> http://www.catchoftheday.com.au/index.php
>> I travelled around the UK and Europe with one of those and it was
>> flawless. I had it turned on, charging on a high-ish benchtop at a
>> mate's place, tripped over the power cord and sent it flying down onto
>> and across his tiled floor. It never skipped a beat. It sold me on Asus
>> gear and I replaced the 701 with a 901. Their recent desertion if Linux
>> has cruelled the brand for me though.
> 
> The 701 is a tad too small (also Linux developers seem to code arbitrary restrictions into screens, assuming more real estate than is present

...so right.

I converted my wife to a Linux lappie with external screen some time back.

I get called by her from time to time because even the stupid file manager
window refuses to understand screen real estate. So instead of launching a nice,
polite file manager (Dolphin) screen when she puts in the USB key, it makes the
xxxxxxx screen larger than the available real estate, making it hard to even
resize the darn thing.

The problem is that while such issues are trivial to someone like me, they upset
the unfamiliar user.

The more recent desktop environments are starting to go the way of Windows, and
are turning into crappy and unnecessary eye-candy. Fools: bad GUIs were why I
left Windows in the first place. The next person who says to the KDE or Gnome
teams "I have a great idea" should be hanged, drawn and quartered!

RC

 - OOo and it's context sensitive toolbars are a particularly egregious example)
- although I travelled around Europe with one in my pocket (yes, pocket) and
found it very convenient.
>  
> I recently got a chance to pick up (literally, not as-in-purchase) a 1000H.  Screen and keyboard size-wise they're great, but I think they're probably a tad too heavy (guess at 1.5x the 701). 
> 
> Asus have got what they wanted with Linux Eee (ie astounding leverage over Microsoft), and are now trying to upsize it into a Windows notebook (and one in which Windows is actually commoditised as a complement to the hardware).  That they've now deserted Linux is not good for Linux.  However, they've proven the market and others (dell, hp etc) are now entering it - albeit at gratuitously high configuration/price points.  Hopefully they'll all be eaten out from below when ARM equipped versions hit the market later this year. 
> 
> 
> Brendan
> 
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