Hybrid Throw Down: Dell Inspiron Duo vs Asus T101MT

For whatever reason tablets are all the craze this year. The tiny laptops known as "netbooks" that had dominated the couple of years prior are forgotten by many. Those of us that do real work on our computers know the value of having a physical keyboard. At the same time some of us have use for a touch screen, but don't want to carry two physical devices.

Enter the tablet/netbook hybrid. A number of different companies make such devices and I have personally owned ones made by Dell and Asus. Asus actually makes two such devices, you can see them compared here.

Today I would like to compare two 10" netbook/tablet convertables: the Dell Inspiron Duo and the Asus T101MT.

Size and Weight:
The Dell Duo is slightly larger and heavier than the Asus model with dimensions of:


11.22" x 7.66" x 1.03" and weighing 3.39 pounds.

The T101MT comes in at:

10.39" x 7.13" x 1.22" and only 2.86 pounds.

Keyboard:
Both netbooks have chiclet keyboards so typing on both is a pleasant experience. Because the Duo is physically larger though it's keyboard is just a bit bigger. Because of this it has an over all better layout. Even after a full year of usage I still miss hitting the right shift key on the T101MT every now and then because of the keyboard layout.

T101MT Keyboard:

Duo Keyboard:

Screen:

This is the first part we see a large difference between the two devices. The screen on the Asus is a resistive, multi-touch screen with a maximum of 1024x600 resolution. The Dell on the other hand has a capacitive, multi-touch screen which has a slick 1366x768 max resolution. Whether you prefer capacitive to resistive may be the deciding factor on these two devices for you.

Keep this in mind though. I personally use the touch screen largely for taking written notes. A resistive screen is much better suited for this purpose. 40$ and three capacitive stylus's later I have yet to find one that is as accurate/as good as using generic resistive stylus for such a task.

Ports:
External ports is the one area where hands down the T101MT crushes the Duo. The Duo only has three ports: 2 USB and an audio out. The T101MT on the other hand has pretty much what you would expect from a netbook. 3 USB, audio out, microphone in, SD card reader and VGA.

Thats right - they couldn't even squeeze an HDMI mini onto the Duo.

AC Adapter:
This may seem like an odd thing to mention, but the T101MT does have a much better AC adapter. The Duo power brick comes with a short cord by default and does not have a light on the brick letting you know it is on. The T101MT also comes with Velcro ties by default for packing up the adapter neatly.

Over All Design:

Dell and Asus both make pretty solid hardware. I haven't owned the Duo for quite as long yet, but I can say is built at least as solid as the T101MT is. While the Duo is a bit larger, there is no doubting it has a certain "sleek" factor to it with the clamshell design and the screen that flips back instead of spinning around.

Dell Duo

Asus T101MT

Processor:

The current versions of the T101MT ship with the exact same Intel Atom N570 that the Duo has. The N570 is a 1.66ghz dual core with hyper threading. Take note if you are buying a used T101MT that some of the first wave of these units had the older N450 atom chip in them.

RAM:

The Duo has one RAM slot and by default comes with a 2gig stick of DDR3 800mhz. The T101mt comes in two different revisions currently. The higher end T101MT comes with 2gigs DDR3 1066mhz (two 1gig sticks). The lower end T101MT comes with 1gig DDR2 by default (that can be upgraded to two).

Hard Drive:
By default both laptops make the choice of coming with a platter hard drive. The Duo comes with a 320gig 7200rpm drive. The higher end T101MT comes with a 320gig 5400rpm drive and the lower end model comes with a 250gig.

As someone who firmly believes hard drives with moving parts are a piss poor idea in both tablets and netbook I have replaced the drives in both units. In this respect, both units are poorly designed. With the T101MT you need to tear apart almost the entire unit to get to the drive. The Duo requires, not quite as much, but still a good deal of work to get at it's drive. If you are not someone that works on mobile hardware on a regular basis I would not recommend doing this upgrade yourself.

Webcam:

If you care about your webcam quality the Duo might be the right pick for you. The Duo sports a 1.3 mega-pixel camera, while the T101MT has a piddly 0.3 mega-pixel.

Bluetooth:

The Duo has an internal bluetooth module while the T101MT does not.

Battery:

The battery life of the two systems is fairly close. With the stock drive right under three hours of normal use is about average on both units. If you pop a solid state drive into either machine it increase to almost four hours. Also worth noting is that the T101MT has a removable/replaceable battery while the Duo needs to be torn apart to replace the battery.

Operating System:   
Both these units come with copies of Windows 7 by default. You are not stuck with this OS though. Linux works equally well on both the Duo and the T101MT. 

Cost:
The Dell Duo is right around 600$ (depending on where you purchase it from) and the higher end T101MT is close to this, right around 550$. If you are looking to pay a bit less than this the lower end T101MT comes in 100$ less around 450$. 

Final Thoughts: 
I'm not going to say here which unit is better. As with many things the answer to this question is "it depends". It depends on what you are looking for, it depends on what you need and it depends on what you are looking to spend. Hopefully my summary here will help you choose which of these two units is right for you though!

~Jeff Hoogland 

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T91MT vs T101MT - Hands on Review

Earlier this month I talked about why I feel Asus's T91MT is a better computer than Apple's iPad. What I failed to mention in that posting is that in addition to the T91MT Asus also has a T101MT netbook/tablet hybrid. If you are in the market for a tiny tablet computer you might be like I was, torn between which of these two netbooks to buy - they are fairly close in price! After having owned both a T91MT and the T101MT I have put together the following compare and contrast of the two tablets that will hopefully help you decided which of the two to purchase.
Size and Weight -
Lets start with the obvious - how big these devices are. The average consumer will first notice that the T91MT is an 8.9" tablet that weights in at 2.1 pounds while the T101MT is 10.1" that weights in at 2.86 pounds. Which of these is better? Its a personal choice really.

Keyboard -
The T91MT has a flat key board while the T101MT has a chiclet keyboard (some space inbetween the keys). Coming from my old EEE 900A model/normal laptop the chiclet keyboard took some getting used to, but after a few days I was typing away on it with no issues. The image below is the T91MT keyboard on the left and the T101MT keyboard on the right:


Track Pad -
The track back on both the devices is essentially the same. Same look and feel, same silver mouse button. Neither supports multi-touch on the track pad and both support scrolling on the right side.

Screen Resolution/Design/Finish -
Both the netbooks contain the fairly standard 1024x600 resolution netbook panel. Both panels fully support multi-touch. For some reason though the touch layer is much more noticeable on the T101MT than it is on the T91MT. If you look at the screen from the wrong angle the contents appear blurry almost. Another thing you will notice right away between the two laptops is that the T91MT has a shiny finish on the back of it's screen - meaning it is a giant finger print magnet. The T101MT has a matted finish that tends to stay much cleaner.

Lastly the hinge on the T101MT is much smoother than the one on the T91MT. When closing the T101MT (or putting it in tablet mode) it has rubber stoppers that are designed to slip into slits cut into the screen so the keyboard part does not rotate out form under the screen while you are moving the device around. This was a much needed design additive as it always annoyed me that the T91MT screen does not sit straight on when the device is closed.

Processor -
The processors in these two devices are very, very different. The T91MT uses a Z series 520 chip that is clocked at 1.33ghz, while the T101MT sports an N series 450 chip that runs at 1.66ghz. Both chips have hyper-threading technology and of the two only the Z520 supports virtulization (just in case you wanted to run a virtual machine on your netbook). The extra speed of the N450 is decent noticeable. It is much "snappier" when multi-tasking than it's Z520 cousin.

RAM -
Both tablets come with 1gig of DDR2 memory and are upgradable to 2gigs. The only thing worth noting here is that the T91MT has a 1gig stick that you have to replace with a single 2gig stick in order to upgrade it's memory. The T101MT on the other hand has it's default 1gig of memory soldiered to it's mother board - meaning in order to upgrade it's memory you need to purchase a 1gig stick.

Hard Drive -
The T91MT comes stock with a 32gig SSD while the T101MT comes with a 160gig 5400rpm standard laptop drive. The T91MT hard drive uses a PCI mini port to connect - meaning if you want to change the drive in it you are somewhat limited on selection. The T101MT on the other hand uses your standard 2.5" sata hard drive connector so you can drop any mobile drive in it (personally I ordered an SSD with my T101MT, I feel a normal hard drive is just a bad idea in a netbook).

Webcam -
Both the netbooks come with very sad .3 mega-pixel cameras. Good enough to make a video call over Skype, but not a quality image by any means.

Graphics Card -
The T91MT comes with the Intel GMA500 graphics card while the T101MT has the more standard Intel GMA3150 graphics controller. An important thing to note here is that while the GMA500 is a physically faster graphics card, the drivers for it are decently horrid on all platforms (although they are the best under Windows 7). The GMA500 should do 720p video playback however do not expect it to be 100% smooth if this is what you want to play on the device. The driver issue with the GMA500 is largely due to the fact that Intel doesn't actually make the GMA500 chip, they just stamp their name on it.

Operating System -
The T91MT ships by default with Windows 7 Home Premium while the T101MT ships with Windows 7 Starter. Not a big deal right? Actually it is. Windows 7 Starter does not support multi-touch functionality regardless of your hardware. Meaning if you want multi-touch on the T101MT you will need to upgrade/change the Windows version installed on it. Both of the netbooks run Ubuntu quite well with a small bit of hacking (and have multi-touch with kernel > 2.6.33). If you are going to keep Windows 7 on the tablet however, do yourself a favor and make sure to upgrade the RAM to 2gigs.

Bluetooth -
The T91MT has a built in bluetooth controller while the T101MT does not. So if you are needing bluetooth on the larger tablet be sure to pickup a USB bluetooth adapter.

Battery -
The T91MT claims "up to 5 hours" and the T101MT claims "up to 6.5 hours". Off a full charge while streaming audio over the speakers from Pandora the T91MT gets just over three hours and the T101MT gets just under four hours. The T101MT has has a removable battery while the T91MT does not, personally I really like having a removable battery so I can carry a spare.

Follow Up -
I ended up keeping the T101MT and selling the T91MT to a friend. The two main deciding factors for me in this decision was the battery life and graphics card (the GMA500 is a giant pain under Linux). Which of these two tablet is right for you? How would I know! Hopefully if you have been trying to decide between the two of them this article helped you decide on one or the other.

~Jeff Hoogland

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Starcraft 2 and a bit of Wine - Linux Performance

EDIT: If you stumbled upon this page looking for a HOWTO for getting Starcraft 2 working under Wine check here.

I mentioned earlier this month that I was enjoying the Starcraft 2 beta on Ubuntu 10.04 thanks to Wine software. In my previous posting I had simply stated that SC2 was "playable" under Wine. I have a fairly powerful gaming laptop that sports an nVidia 260m GTX and a 1680x1050 resolution panel. SC2 defaulted itself under Wine to "ultra" settings on my system - after playing one game at these settings (well it was really more like playing a slide-show). I promptly lowered the details and textures to low (while leaving the resolution the same).

With these settings I average around 40 FPS at the main menu and in game. At the high end I see just over 50 FPS while playing and at the low end it bottoms out around 20 FPS in combat. (For those wondering how I obtained these numbers press control+alt+f to put an FPS counter in the upper left hand corner of the screen while in SC2). These numbers come from the latest SC2 patch as of today (05/25/10).

Now for a bit of an ironic story regarding SC2. Late last night I dual booted my system with Windows 7 Ultimate again due to the need for an embedded youtube video to work in an Office 2007 power point presentation (it failed to work under Crossover and youtube plays poorly in VMs, thus native install was my only option left). Back on topic - since I had Windows installed anyways I figured I would copy over my SC2 files (god bless Blizzard and their portable installs) and see how comparable the performance was on the native operating system.

Needless to say it performs better, in fact the FPS I see under low settings on Wine is about equal to the same FPS I was seeing under high settings on Windows. That is about where the things that worked better under Windows ended for SC2 on my computer.

I would like to prefix my following statement with the fact that my network drivers are installed, working, and I had used several other applications online just fine.

When I joined my first SC2 game on Windows I had just selected my workers to start mining when the lag started, around two minutes later I was dropped from the game and it counted as a loss in my ladder league. I figured it was just something funky with my internet line, even though I had not had any issues in SC2 under Wine in the last three weeks, as such I promptly selected "find match" to start another game. Two minutes later I had "lost" another ladder game due to "connection" issues.

Fan-flipping-tastic.

Just out of curiosity I decided to boot in Linux to see if the issue existed there as well (I'm hoping the irony of rebooting into Linux to play a game isn't lost on anyone). Needless to say the problem was not present there, after sweeping two ladder games without any connection issues on Ubuntu I can indeed confirm that it was a "connection" issue with the SC2 was only happening under Windows.

Yes: I know this game is still in beta.
Yes: I know odds are this issue is limited to my system.

Is it still annoying? Yep. It is ridiculously ironic? You bet.

Anyone else have fun story they would like to share about an application working better under Wine than it does on Windows itself?

~Jeff Hoogland

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HOWTO: Linux Mint 8 on T91MT

The Asus's T91MT is a fantastic device for many reasons, but one thing I dislike about the device is that it ships by default with only Windows 7. I firmly believe a computer is a terrible thing to waste, so as such the first thing I did was to install Linux on the system when I opened the box. After trying many different flavors of Linux over the course of two weeks I finally settled on Linux Mint 8 as the primary operating system for my tablet device. The following is a summary of how to get the T91MT mostly functional under Linux Mint 8.

#1 Fixing the Wifi
There are two issues with the wifi I have under Linux Mint, one I have corrected and one I have not. The first is that for some odd reason the wifi in the laptop is disabled at startup - meaning I have to press function+f2 to toggle the wifi on before I can get a connection.

The second issue is one we can easily fix. If you notice once you do get a connection to something it will not be a very strong signal. To fix this we need to install the back-port modules for the wireless drivers. To do so run the following in terminal (while you are online):

sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-karmic \
linux-backports-modules-wireless-karmic-generic

My wireless signal jumped from 2 bars to 4 bars at my desk after I installed these.

#2 Fixing the Microphone

By default you will notice your microphone does not work (which is a killjoy if you are like myself and want to use skype on your netbook). This is a simple fix again - just run the following in terminal (while you are online):

sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-alsa-karmic-generic

#3 Resolving the Graphics Card Issue
The graphics card in the T91MT is the notorious Intel GMA500 (look for a rant on this one coming soon), in short it is not really an Intel graphics card. It is a chip made by an outside company that Intel stamped their name on, as such it needs some closed source drivers installed to function properly. To install the drivers run the following in terminal (while you are online):

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && \
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic && \
wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1338581/Gma500/scripts/poulsbo.sh && \
sh ./poulsbo.sh

After this finishes (and it will take some time) reboot the computer and it should boot into the beautiful 1024x600 resolution.

Also note if you ever upgrade/change kernels you will need to run this command at start-up to fix the "low graphics mode" issue:

dpkg-reconfigure psb-kernel-source

#4 Setting up the Touch Screen
The default evtouch package in the repositories does not support the T91MT by default, to resolve this download this file. The following assumes the file was downloaded to your ~/Downloads folder, run the following in terminal:

cd ~/Downloads
tar zxvf xf86-input-evtouch-0.8.8-T91MT.tar.gz
sudo cp 69-touchscreen.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo cp 50-asustek.fdi /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/20thirdparty/
cd xf86-input-evtouch-0.8.8-T91MT
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-evtouch xserver-xorg-dev
make clean && make
sudo cp ./.libs/evtouch_drv.so /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/evtouch_drv.so

For some reason the calibrate program does not function on the T91MT while the display manager is running (meaning you might want to open this page on another system for the next few steps). Press ctrl+alt+f1 to drop down to a tty, enter your username and password and then run the following:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
sudo /usr/bin/calibrate_touchscreen

The on-screen instructions do not appear, instead you are simply presented with the calibration window. To calibrate the screen first place the pen in one corner of the screen and trace along the edges of the entire screen until you get back to your starting point (you know it is working if the numbers on screen are changing). After you have traced all four edges of the screen press the enter key. After a moment one of the Xs on screen will turn red, tap the center of the X that is red. Repeat this with each of the Xs as they appear red. After you have finished this, if the calibrate does not automatically close press the enter key, this should return you to the terminal login. To start your display manager back up run the following in terminal:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

That concludes the configuring of the three key functionalities on your T91MT under Linux Mint 8. If you are looking for some fun/useful touchscreen applications I use the following on my tablet:

Utilities:
CellWriter - Best on-screen keyboard I've found for Linux. Also includes hand-writing recognition if you train it some to your writing style
EasyStroke - Allows you to fire command or push buttons when you pen in certain gestures on screen. Some of the things I use it for are right clicking, switching desktops, and loading my favorite programs.

Writing:
GIMP - You classic image manipulation program for all operating systems. It is fun to play with on the tablet.
Xournal - Turns your computer into a pad of notebook paper. Allows for easily importing pdf files to write on and does one click pdf exporting for documents you create. I use this for all my note taking in class.
MyPaint - For free hand drawing this one I prefer to GIMP (also a bit less resource intensive). This one is not included in the repositories however, you need to install it from GetDeb.net

Games:
Asileroit Solitaire - Because who uses a real deck of cards anymore?
Palapeli - A jigsaw puzzle game.
Phun - A 2D physics game, lots of fun to poke around with. This is another one that has to come from GetDeb.net
World of Goo - Runs quite well on the GMA500, this one is a blast on the tablet. You do need to purchase this one though.

Finally, I would like to mention these instructions pertain only to Linux Mint 8. Due to an issue with the GMA500 graphics driver and the Xorg server higher than 1.6.x these instructions will not work with a version higher than Linux Mint 8.

Have any trouble or questions feel free to drop me a line below and I will do my best to answer.

~Jeff Hoogland

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10 Reasons the T91MT is better than the iPad

VS

This is no doubt the Year of the Tablet computer. As such I began searching some months ago for a tablet I could add to my ever growing list of gadgets, I researched and played with many different devices before deciding on my Asus T91MT. I have had my tablet for a couple of weeks now and it amazes me how many people do not even know they exist when they released almost a year ago! The iPad on the other hand got more press than you can shake a stick at and everyone under the sun knows what it is after just a few weeks.

The following is my list of reasons why Asus's T91MT tablet/netbook hybrid is better than Apple's iPad:

#1 - It is also a Netbook
Touch screens are fantastic, don't get me wrong but honestly some things are much quicker to do with a physical keyboard and a mouse. Having the option to flip my T91MT around and use it as a netbook is a wonderful option to have. Plus I personally feel my device's screen is much safer when I can "close" the screen instead of just sliding it into a case.

#2 - It runs a Full Operating System
The T91MT ships with Windows 7 Home Premium by default and my personal T91MT is currently running Linux Mint 8. While I am not saying the iPad OS is bad, it is a bit limited in the extent of what it can do and what it allows the user to do (doubly so if you don't jailbreak your iPad - until OS 4.0 releases the iPad is still a single-tasking device). The ability to install the operating system of your choice (full desktop operating systems at that) on the T91MT is wonderful and makes it an extremely adaptable device.

#3 - Price
Apple is known for their high hardware prices and the iPad is no exception to this. I purchased my T91MT brand new for 460$ (including taxes and shipping fees). The iPad starts at 500$ and goes all the way up to 800$

#4 - Processor
Like most netbooks the T91MT has an x86 processor in it. This means it can run all of your standard applications you are used to using on a computer. The Z520 chip in the T91MT is clocked at 1.33ghz and has hyper threading, this will easily out perform the 1.0ghz ARM chip the iPad has.

#5 - RAM
The iPad is locked at 256megs of RAM, the T91MT comes stock with 1gig of RAM and it can be upgraded to 2gigs.

#6 - USB Ports
While the T91MT only has two USB ports, that is still two more than the iPad has. Do I really need to emphasize the usefulness of USB ports? Flash drives, cellphones, printers, mice, joysticks...

#7 - VGA Out
I use my netbook for presentations all the time - an external monitor output is a must have for this purpose. The iPad has no form of video out by default.

#8 - Wired LAN
Ever tried to push several gigs of data through a wifi connection? Even with 100% signal strength it is not a fun experience. The T91MT has a wired gigabit network connection, the iPad again lacks any sort of wired network connection by default.

#9 - SD Card Reader
Not a huge deal for some people but having a built in SD card reader is useful for when you want to pull some images off that digital camera's memory card. I'm going to let you guess which device has an SD card reader and which one does not.

#10 - Resistive Touch Screen
This last point will more vary based on personal preference but as a student and future math teacher the main reason I wanted a tablet is so I can take written notes on the default with a stylus. The resistive touch screen on the T91MT allows me to do this while the capacitive screen on the iPad does not allow this with a normal stylus.

These are the top ten deciding factors that lead me to purchasing the T91MT instead of Apple's new device. Did I miss any key points here? If so let me know by leaving a comment below.

~Jeff Hoogland

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Elive 2.0 - Distro Review

Elive: Where Debian meets Enlightenment

This is Elive's slogan. As I am sure you can guess, it is a Debian based distribution that uses the Enlightenment window manager. I always like to jump in with both feet when it comes to playing with technology, so to get the best feel for what Elive is and how it works I downloaded the LiveCD and installed it as the primary operating system on my Sager Laptop.

First Impressions:

Booting the LiveCD for the first time gave me one of those "wow" moments. This was the first time I had ever used a distro that used the Enlightenment window manager. It is stunning, to say the least. (minus my function+mute, all of my hardware worked OOTB).
Taking a step back a moment, I'd like to mention the start process for the live environment. I like the way Elive boots up. It asks a few simple questions about your system at start up that help things to run smoothly. By asking for resolution, it allows Elive to have a seamless X loading (no black flickering or things of that sort like most distributions). The live system also loaded the appropriate closed source driver for my nVidia card on its own (I know this is a turn off for some FOSS people, but I like to use my hardware to its full extent).

Booting from a flash drive using the live system is smooth and flawless and the UI is easy to use. Located at the bottom of the screen is a dock bar for loading commonly used applications. Just to the right of this is a dock bar for battery, wifi, and audio controls. In the upper right hand corner of the screen, you can switch quickly between your multiple work spaces. (additionally, alt+fX keys switch between each of the twelve desktops).

Installation:
Located on that handy dock bar is the installer button. Before I go any further, I feel I should mention something that sets Elive apart from many other distributions (and keeps it from making the top ten on DistroWatch IMO). It is, that in order to install Elive on your system you have to acquire an online "installer" module. How does one obtain one of these modules? By making a donation to the project of course.

That is right: You have to pay to install Elive.

It's not a large cost. For a minimum of 15 dollars (USD - payed via paypal) you can receive the installer module. I logged into paypal, sent the funds, and was on my way. Other than a brief system hang at one point in the installer (which only took a moment to recover from) the install went flawlessly. Again, I would just like to mention the unique feel the installer has (like the rest of the system). A particular feature that is kind of small, but worth mentioning, is the descriptions the installer has for each of the file-systems before formatting. Like I said, small feature, but useful, I feel, none the less.

Using the System:
Elive only offers a 32bit image. My system has 4gigs of RAM. As such, one of the first things I do when installing a 32bit distribution on it is obtain a kernel that supports my memory in the 32bit environment. Enter another feature that is unique to Elive (and almost worth the donation all in itself):

Nurse Mode

Equatable to Window's system recovery mode, "Nurse Mode" allows the user to perform a number of recovery/restore options on the system. Among these is a one click install for different system kernels, among which include a "highmem" kernel to allow up to 64gb of RAM on the 32bit operating system.

After a restart, I was quickly loaded into my Elive system. Using enlightenment as a window manager took some getting used to at first, but after a couple of hours I had grown accustomed to it, and I must say, I like how enlightenment handles itself as a whole. There are only two issues I had with Elive. The first was some stability issues (Elive uses a mix of e16 and e17, the latter of which is the testing branch of enlightenment), and the second was purely visual - there was no way I could easily find what appeared in my applications menu (all the guides I found online were for e16 and the files they referenced did not exist on my Elive system). Beyond this, I also experienced this bug, which was rather annoying.

Two final notes about the system. I'm a gamer off and on and I run Steam through CXGames on my Linux system. Under all other window managers I have used thus far, the Steam GUI has this pesky habit of "jumping" from workspace to workspace so it is always visible in your active one (regardless of its settings). Under enlightenment all my Steam windows stayed where I left them. And lastly, while it is an easy fix: by default there are no source repos enabled under Elive. Meaning apt-get build-dep does not work OOTB.

Software:
The default software configuration on Elive is strange, to say the least. For starters, there is "demo" software installed on the system. Very "Windows Like" IMO. No open office. Abiword is installed, however I prefer the former of the two. There is no pidgin or multi-messenger client by default, but there is a Linux "amsn messenger". A fun idea is that solitaire is installed by default and it auto-loads it for you to play when you begin the system install.

Lastly, I use Google's Chrome browser on all my systems. Chrome did not play friendly with enlightenment. It did not want to add itself to my application launcher at the bottom of the screen and it had no idea what to do with any of the files it downloaded by default (.deb files didn't open with gdebi and "open containing folder" out-right failed).

Final Thoughts:
Also worth mentioning is that the Elive community as a whole is rather small(which is a shame, it's a wonderful distro). The two threads I posted are still unanswered some three days later, so if you do run into an issue with the system, best of luck finding help solving it!) Had enlightenment been a bit more stable as a window manager Elive would have stayed as the staple distro on my Sager for some time, but as of now my Sager is moving back to Debian Squeeze.

All in all, if you have never personally used the enlightenment window manager, I highly recommend you, at the very least, download the Elive LiveCD and give it a test drive. Once e17 fully matures, Elive will easily be one of the best distros out there.

~Jeff Hoogland

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The Year of the Tablet Computer

There is no denying the fact that we have become a touch-centric society in regards to our technology. Thanks to the "iPhone standard" every new handheld device better sport at least some form of touch screen if it expects to compete with the competition. Where is our technology headed though? With the idea of "bigger is better" in mind: if a 3.5~ inch touch screen is good a larger screen must better right?

Apple announced their "iPad" earlier this year.

With a revolutionary device such as the iPhone already under their belt, can Apple hope to dominate the tablet computer market in the same way that they have crushed the smart phone market in recent years? Initial signs point to no. Sure, there is going to be that collective of die hard Mac users that flock to the latest shiny product Apple releases and buy the iPad the day it releases, however consider the following about the iPad:

• Like iAnything, the iPad is going to have a locked amount of internal storage
• It lacks USB ports, meaning you can't really connect anything useful to it
• It lacks flash support. Meaning a large portion of the web will not function on it
• I could go on...

With the iPad apparently set to fail to satisfy our touch-technology needs from the start: Where is one to turn when looking for a tablet computer in 2010? There is of course long term contender in the tablet PC market the touch screen laptop. At this point such devices, while functional, are far from being anything "special" or "revolutionary".

Slightly more recent is the hybrid of last year's craze the netbook and what is bound to be a theme for this year the tablet computer found in Asus's EEE T91.

Next: Enter the latest addition to the touchscreen devices set to da-beau in 2010: MeeGo. In a joint effort between the Intel and Nokia companies. MeeGo, a Linux based operating system, is going to be targeted at both ARM and x86 based devices (despite the former of the two not being made by Intel). While MeeGo is still in the very preliminary stages of development, other Linux-based touchscreen-orientated operating systems, such as Android and Maemo, have shown us that the Linux platform is more than capable of functioning on such devices in an elegant manner. With backing from such large companies MeeGo is going to be hard-pressed to not get at least some publicity.

Speaking of Android - the Notion Ink ADAM contains some of the most impressive tablet computer specs we have seen thus far. If the initial announcements are held true over the course of development, then this little tablet computer might just be that "revolutionary" tablet the world is looking for. The first set of tech specs boast:

• HDMI Output
• 3 USB Ports
• 16 hours video playback
• Adobe Flash (thank god)
• Camera
• And More

While it isn't official which operating system will be shipping with the device when it finally goes to market - there is a tech demo video of the device, found here, running what is said to be "a wrapper around Android". Other mentioned operating systems that might be possible to run on the device include Google's Chrome OS and Ubuntu ARM.

Finally I would like to mention the product I think should end up being the clear winner in the "tablet-orientated" marketplace in 2010:

Lenovo's U1 Ideapad

Now with the hype have I just given the ADAM you might be thinking "What makes the U1 so special/interesting/unique?" Simple:

The U1 is two computers in one.

In addition to being a fully functional 11.6 inch touchscreen laptop sporting an Intel Core 2 processor, two gigs of RAM, and a 128gig SDD the U1's touchscreen is detachable. When detached from the computer the tablet-screen contains it's own 1ghz snapdragon ARM processor, RAM, and 16gig SSD. When in "laptop" mode the system by default runs Windows 7 and when the screen is detached the tablet-screen runs Lenovo's Skylight Linux. Both computers contain their own batteries (which are each rated at five hours duration), and each of the computers are fully functional without the other (if you hook the laptop base up to an external monitor of course, because naturally while tablet-screen is detached the laptop is missing it's screen).

Needless to say there is not going to be any lack of tablet computers on the market in 2010. Another point I feel worth noting is that a majority of the devices listed here are running various forms of Linux (Just like many of the smart phones being released recently). So while 2010 might not end up being the year of "desktop" Linux, with the flood of penguin-powered touch screen devices it may still be the year Linux makes it's way into countless homes.

I have just highlighted some of the top competitors for upcoming tablet computers I have come across/researched thus far. Know of any other upcoming tablet computer releases (or perhaps one that is already released)? Drop a comment to let me know about it.

~Jeff Hoogland

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Linux Advocacy: The Right Way

I am a full time student, one of the primary uses of my computers thusly is for school work. At any given point I typically have my netbook (which runs Ubuntu) and my phone (which runs Maemo) with me. Having and using these devices in the public on a daily basis has made me realize that there is a right way and a wrong way to promote Linux to those who are unfamiliar with it. What is the right way to promote Linux you ask?

Simple: You don't.

In two different instances this past week I've found people are more interested in stimulating a conversation about the operating system if you let them ask the questions - don't force information on someone they very well might not want or even care about.

I'm currently taking a Number Theory class this trimester, the class involves a lot of algebra at times. So I don't get bogged down with such menial work I typically always have my netbook out with wxMaxima. As I was going through some group work with a few other students this past week, I was showing the results of some equations I had the computer solve to a classmate when he made me pause for a moment. The conversation went something like this:

"What was that?"

"What? You want me to double check the numbers?"

"No, not the math. Your window, when you moved it - what did it do?"

He was referring to the "wiggle" my window had when I moved it around. Compiz is a wonderful eye catcher. I then proceeded to show him the desktop cube and a few other effects that are easily enabled. After a couple of moments he asked my favorite question:

"What version of Windows is that? Its pretty neat."

I mentioned that it was not Windows, but something else - Ubuntu. Alright, I lied before then he asked my favorite question:

"Oh, never heard of that before. How much did that cost?"

I smiled.

"It's free."

He then asked:

"Free? Really? What can it do?"

"Oh, you know everything you expect a computer to do. Type a paper, surf the internet, solve math equations, play games..."

He then asked where he could get it from, I gave him the web address and told him if he had any questions about it he could feel free to ask me next week at class.

This is the right way to get someone interested in something. You don't force it down their throat or rant and rave about how it is better than something they are already using. People are often comfortable with things they find familiar and they are naturally resistant to change. Many users (myself included) find themselves over excited when they first discover the world of choices that open source presents them. As such I think they feel it is their "duty" to make others "see the light" and "convert" to this new way. Even though they do not mean to - this attitude hurts the image of the FOSS/Linux community and is where the negative term "Linux Zealot" comes from.

In closing, if you feel you must make the general public aware of Linux remember this: mention - don't preach.

~Jeff Hoogland

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Sager Notebook & PowerNoteBooks.com - Review

So I have been using nothing but Ubuntu Linux as my home operating system for almost a year now and one thing that always kind of irked me was having unused Window's licenses laying around that I was not using. I mean what is the point in not using Windows if Microsoft is still making money off of the product I purchased? When I purchased my netbook was I able to get one of the EEE PCs that shipped with a copy of Xandros on it (I know, still not open source but at least its Linux & was easy enough to over write with Ubuntu. Plus I got it on the cheap.). Now only one of my two computers I owned had a Windows license that was not is use. A few months back I had started searching around for a laptop upgrade (anyone who has owned a laptop knows they date quickly), I was looking for something decently specific in my laptop purchase along the lines of the following specs:

1. Size - 15.4 inch or smaller. I really dislike 17+ inch laptops, they are massive to lug around. When your laptop weighs over ten pounds it might as well be a desktop if you ask me.
2. Resolution - The laptop I had been using contained a high resolution screen (1680x1050) and I had grown acustomed to viewing things at such a resolution, I did not want to revert back to a lower end one (1440x900)
3. Graphics Card - I wanted something powerful in the system. The laptop I was upgrading from had an nVidia 9500M GS in it. I wanted something at least 50% faster than this card.
4. Operating System - I did not want a Windows sticker stuck to the bottom of my shiney new laptop. I wanted something that either A.) Came with Linux pre-installed or B.) Came with a blank hard drive

Enter PowerNoteBooks.com - recommend by a fellow user on the LinuxQuestions message boards - they make custom high-end gaming laptops. Their prices are comparable with other places I had found around the internet, how ever they had one advantage others did not - they where the only one I found find that would ship me a custom laptop with a blank hard drive. Surprise, surprise being able to get the product with out Windows packaged with it allow me to cut around 100$ off of the price tag. In addition to this I was able to customize, hard drive, RAM, processor, graphics card, screen resolution, and accessories all to the exact specifications I wanted. In the end the laptop I ended up order sang to the tune of around 1,600$ with the following specifications (If you want a good laugh compare these specs VS price to the Macbooks I listed here):

• Processor: Intel p9700 - 2.8ghz Dual Core
• RAM: 4gigs of DDR3
• Hard Drive: 320gig, 7200RPM
• Graphics Card: nVidia 260m, 1gig DDR3 dedicated
• Size: 15.4 inches and weighing in at just shy of 7 pounds
• Screen Resolution: 1680x1050

Good laptops at a fair price how ever is not the only good thing about PowerNoteBooks.com - their customer service is fantastic, easily one of the best companies I have ever had dealings with. I ordered my custom laptop on a weekday morning, not even two hours later I received a phone call from a real person calling to confirm my order before the credit-card I had entered on the web-page was charged. The associate I spoke to on the phone was both knowledgeable and helpful, he ran down a quick list of the parts I had ordered to be sure I did not want to make any last adjustments. From that point on I was kept up to date on the status of my laptop via email and around twenty days later I had received my new gaming rig in the mail.

The laptop as a unit performs wonderfully! It easily takes everything I can throw at it and then some. The only two down sides to it are the short battery life (around an hour and forty-five mins) but then what full size laptop (with a good graphics card) lasts much longer than that anywho? I have a netbook if I want extended battery life. The second (and this is rather irksome) is the fact that it lacks a boot menu key. Meaning if I want to boot from external media (such as USB drives) I have to go change a BIOS setting so it's priority is above that of the internal disk. This really isn't a big deal and it doesn't affect performance at all but it is bothersome none the less.

All in all I had a fantastic experience PowerNoteBooks.com and will be putting all my future laptop orders through them. (Although I don't plan on upgrading again for another couple years hehehe). I would recommend them to any looking for a good place to buy a powerful notebook from - Linux or Windows.

~Jeff Hoogland

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Macbook Comparison

I work at the Beverly Arts Center, in Chicago. I have found that many arts people prefer Apple laptops to any other brand. Why is this? The long standing art-computer myth is that Apple computers are superior for doing art work and 3D design. Now I will concede that at one point in time this was true – but this is no longer the case and has not been for some time. The simple fact is that Apple computers use essentially the same hardware as any other computer you will buy: same processor, ram, hard drive, etc. In addition to the hardware all being essentially the same, all of the applications you are going to be running to do arts work (in most cases this is Adobe software, such as Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign) run on both the Windows and Mac platforms.

Following I am going to do a series of comparisons between a couple different Macbook Pros and other laptops, of different brands, that are of comparable price.* Note: I round off all prices to the nearest whole five dollars because I dislike that whole “1.99$” mind game.

Round – 1:
Macbook Pro #1
Cost: 1,200$
Size: 13 inches
Processor: 2.26GHz Dual Core
RAM: 2gigs DDR3
Hard drive: 160gigs – SATA 5400RPM
Graphics Card: nVidia 9400M – 256meg Shared

Asus G50VT-X6
Cost: 1,250$
Size: 15.4 inches
Processor: 2.53GHz Dual Core
RAM: 4gigs DDR2
Hard drive: 320gigs – SATA7200RPM
Graphics Card: nVidia 9800M GS – 512meg Dedicated DDR3

HP Pavilion dv7-1270us
Cost: 1200$
Size: 17 inches
Processor: 2.4GHz Dual Core
RAM: 4gigs DDR2
Hard drive: 320gig – SATA 5400RPM
Graphics Card: nVidia 9600 – 512meg Dedicated DDR2

Round – 2:
Macbook Pro #2
Cost: 2,500$
Size: 17 inches
Processor: 2.8GHz Dual Core
RAM: 4gigs DDR3
Hard drive: 500gig – SATA 5400RPM
Graphics Card: nVidia 9600

Asus G71G-Q2
Cost: 2,250$
Size: 17 inches
Processor: 2.0GHz Quad Core
RAM: 6gig DDR2
Hard drive: 640gigs – x2 SATA 7200RPM
Graphics Card: nVidia 9800M GS – 512meg Dedicated DDR3

HP HDX 18-1180US
Cost: 1,800$
Size: 18.4 inches
Processor: 2.0GHz Quad Core
RAM: 4gigs DDR2
Hard drive: 500gigs – SATA 5400RPM
Graphics Card: nVidia 9600M GT – 512megs dedicated DDR3

Alrighty, the information posted above is a wonderful comparison for those who under stand it all. For those who are a bit hazy, or want to read my thoughts on the above specifications, let me break down a few of the more important facts about the above information.

Round 1 – Breakdown

First off lets take a peek at the processors – all three of them are Intel Dual cores; two cores means twice the power. Your processor is like the heart of your computer, the stronger it beats the faster everything is going to run. The processor in each of the non-Apple laptops listed are quicker than the Macbook; in the case of the Asus over 10% faster, for nearly the same price.

RAM stands for “Random Access Memory”; it stores short term information on your computer and data that has not yet been written to the hard drive (among other things). The more RAM a system has the better it is able to multi-task (meaning having many applications running at once). I will concede that the Macbook is using the slightly newer DDR3, but even with this advantage the Macbook only possesses half the total memory of the other systems. Even with the slightly slower DDR2 the fact that they have 4gigs makes each of the other laptops far superior to the 2gigs of DDR3 the Macbook has.

Most people are familiar with the purpose of their computer's hard drive. It is where all your information is stored. This again is an area where the Macbook get crushed by other laptops of comparable price. The Macbook only stocks a 160gig by default while each of the other two have 320gigs – so twice as much. Also in the case of the Asus the hard drive is 7200RPM (reads per minute) as compared to the 5400RPM in the other two – meaning it will access your data faster.

Last point between the three systems is the graphics cards. Again the Macbook gets crushed. Possessing only a 9400M, it is slower technology compared to the HP's 9600M GS and the Asus's 9800M GS. In addition to being slower technology, the graphics card in the Macbook is “shared” memory. Meaning that it has to take from the already reduced amount of RAM the Mac has to dedicated to video processes.

Whew, Round 1 over! I think you can tell for yourself who the winner is here...

Round 2 – Breakdown

The first thing I am going to mention here is the price of the three laptops compared in round two – the Macbook is 2.5k, while the Asus is 2.25k, and lastly the HP is weighing in at 1.8k. The main reason for the price difference is that they where the closest Asus and HP I could find in price to the highest end Macbook (on the site I order from), but do not let their lower price mislead you the Macbook is still in for a tough fight this round.

Point one is processer once again, now at first glance it may appear that the Macbook is far superior to the other two weighing in at 2.8GHz while the other two are only 2.0GHz. Now take a closer look – I'll wait. Ok, notice anything? Thats right the Macbook is packing the same old dual core it had in round one only slightly faster. Each of the other two brands knows that a high end laptop needs a high end processor – they are packing quad cores. Just as dual core means that the system is as good as have two processors a quad core means it is as good as having four. Another way to think of it is cores is to a processor as horsepower is to a car engine, the more the better typically.

Moving onto RAM the HP starts to show it's price tag a small bit, it is still only packing 4gigs of DDR2. The Apple has upped it's game and is now stocking 4gigs of DDR3. Asus is not about to slack behind how ever, it is now stocking 6gigs of DDR2.

Hard drive is again a close comparison between the HP and the Apple, the both come in with identical 5400RPM 500gig drives. Have no fear though, Asus is again going to come in and mop up the competition. This time stocking dual 320gig 7200RPM drives (for a total of 640gigs of space), two hard drives is useful because this way if one is ever to fail you still have a second place too store stuff. And for you more intense computer users out there it means the system is raid ready.

Lastly are the graphics cards again. For the third time in a row the HP, which is 700$ less, ties with the Apple. Again, three for three, the Asus comes in and crushes the both of them with its 9800 compared to their 9600s.

Post game banter – Last Thoughts

A couple other things worth noting is that the Macbook does have a slightly lighter and smaller design. In my personal opinion though if you are looking for light and compact do yourself a favor and go get a netbook – they are easily under 600$ for a quick one. Another thing Apple boasts on it's website is a lengthy battery life time for all of it's Macbook, while I will say that odds are it is going to out last the HP or the Asus by a bit your battery life is directly linked to what you are doing on the system. If you are only typing papers your battery is going to last much longer than if you are playing a 3D game or even just connected to wifi or playing audio. One of my friends had said that the reason they liked Apple is because they are an international company (which I will agree is useful for warranties/services when traveling over seas) while this is true they are not the only international company out there. Asus is one as well along with several others. Lastly if some sort of great hate for Windows/Microsoft is what is keeping you buying Apple again (And trust me if anyone under stands disliking Microsoft I can), there are other alternatives out there other than Windows and Mac (Such as Fedora or Ubuntu).

Also worth noting is that for the average computer user out there looking to buy a laptop – all of the laptops listed above are easily over kill. Most people will not notice terribly much difference between these higher end laptops and one that only costs five or six hundred dollars in their every day tasks.

Anyone who has spent a bit of time with me knows that I am decently anti-Apple, for many reasons including them being over priced for what they are, even so I did my best to try and present a fair comparison here if anyone feels there is anything I missed please feel free to drop a comment here or send me a message and I will consider adjusting the information/adding to it. Also drop a comment if you found any of this useful or interesting.

~Jeff Hoogland

*All Apple prices/specs where accessed from http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro on 06/09/09. All comparisons prices where done via http://newegg.com/ on the same date.

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