dave.ofmassdestruction.com

My history with operating systems is fairly simple. When home computers
were new I started out with an Epson computer(!!) that had its own
operating system which was quirky by today’s standards but was quite
nice in its simplicity. I then moved to an intel-driven DOS machine and
had a love-hate relationship with it. I moved to UNIX/Linux in work and
home life sometime later and obviously concentrated fairly heavily on
that until OS X came along.

I got my first Apple mainly to accommodate my photography obsession
because (even still) using a linux machine with photos absolutely
blows. I enjoy OS X but I also enjoy linux/gnome. However, I have
noticed in the last few years that I have slowly moved away from
OS-dependence. Call it what you will – the Cloud, SAAS, whatev. All I
know is that it is incredibly convenient to be able to sit at any
computer and do all the things I would normally do at my home
computer. In fact, about the only apps I use that aren’t cloud-centric
are emacs and my photo-software. Even still, with emacs I mostly use
org-mode for my work and I keep all my org files online. As long as I
have emacs on a machine, I can do my work. But in a pinch, I could use
another editor on those files since they are simply text-files.

That still leaves photos. The only non-standard,
not-practical-in-the-cloud thing I do. I’ve seen the attempts at photo
editors online, I know that one can use online tools to store and
categorize their photos – but none of those services come close to how I
can do it at home with old-fashioned, closed-source, non-standard,
key-on-the-back-of-the package software. Maybe this means there is an
opportunity in the market or maybe it means that camera manufacturers
are behind-the-times… or maybe it means I am particular with my
photos – I’m not really sure.

I’m not sure what this means for Operating Systems – at least, OSes that
aren’t powering “the Cloud” – but it does feel like a trend that would
lend itself to devices that start quickly and get me online. I see this
progress in the direction the iPad has taken us. Whatever your opinion
is on the particular of that one device – the idea that I can have
a small, “instant-on” device that can get me online is incredibly
appealing. I think the future of such devices in grand.

You know, a lot has been said about the OLPC – good and bad. Many folks have tried to make some controversy out of the project (most expectedly, Microsoft but also some non-MS techy folks). But when you see the photos of the first kids to get the computers I find it baffling that anyone could be against such a thing.

Look, I gotta admit. The Kindle thing is really intriguing to me. I read… a lot. I mean.. a whole lot. One of my problems is that I can’t seem to bring myself to remove books from my house. Ask my wife, she’ll tell you. So its pretty desirable to have a bunch of books in one small package. I mean, I could still get an old 1st edition, hardback Amis for the shelf, but I could read that biography of Tom Waits on an electronic device – right? As long as it looks something like paper – doesn’t make my eyes hurt – isn’t too heavy to hold – etc, etc, etc.

$400! yikes. Using EV-DO and not charging for it – innovative. Are the books DRM’d? does it matter.. does the thing even have a USB port? If I delete a book to make room for another, do I still have access to that purchased book later?

I should probably wait till the launch event is actually complete.

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while but for some reason never hit the “publish” button.

At work we support the fine folks at System76. Why? Well, we use Ubuntu and its easier to get some hardware in which you know it will work than trying to coax it to. Personally I use the Darter Ultra which is their ultra-portable model. First impressions tell me that this thing could be far more “ultra” in its “portable”. I also have an HP NC2400 on my desk and that redefines the category coming in at 2lbs – nice. The Darter is bigger and heavier than I expected but its still very manageable (I’ll try to remember to revisit that after my trip to Rwanda).

Out of the box the Darter looked good, felt a little cheap but not too cheap, and there was a rattle…. hmmm. Flipping it over and looking through one of the vents I saw that the rattle was a memory card flopping around inside…. not good. I fixed that, would everyone be comfortable doing so? I am not sure if that is the fault of the manufacturer (they are built in Taiwan or somewhere similar, contracted out from System76) or the folks at System76 as I don’t know where they apply the chosen specs the customer wants. Nonetheless, I fired it up after reinstalling the memory and all worked well.

Until, I put a disc in the DVD drive. The drive ate it. Literally. An email to System76 got a very prompt reply apologizing and informing me of the new drive being sent. Cool. It arrived a week or so later, works great.

The other problems I’m having are GNOME/BIOS/Other:

First, the battery applet in GNOME was telling me lies. You’re plugged in (no I wasnt), Your battery is dead (no its not). I have seen reference on the System76 forums that this is a BIOS problem and they are working on it. I have to say that while I have received a great amount of support, questions, and suggestions from one particular guy at System76, I have never been told that personally. Who knows. Its not a deal breaker.

Second, the network applet is screwy – and this might just be a GNOME problem. Nonetheless, I cannot simply select a wireless network and join it. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t. Sometimes I have to select manual configuration and set it up as it would have set it up automatically and it works. I don’t know why. Also, once I’ve gone wireless, I can never go back wired with the network applet until I’ve logged out. I have to use another tool (ifup) to go wired. Annoying. Again, I think this might be a GNOME – or perhaps an Ubuntu problem.

Finally, when headphones are plugged in, the speakers still output sound. D’oh! I’ve read on the forums again that this is about to be fixed in an update.

OK – so whats the tally? 5 problems. Some serious, some not. Still, not the most pleasant experience with a laptop that I’ve had – but also not the worst (Dell still shatters the record there). The wireless problems I can kinda live with and I see windows users having equal or worse trouble (I’ve not seen OS X users having trouble though). The battery thing is annoying and I can’t tell how much charge I have left, but its no big deal. The speakers are funny and the network is lame.

I will reiterate that the support guy has been super nice and responsive – but I think he is very overworked. System76 seems to be a very small company and that’s great to support but they could use a little bit better manufacturer.

I am going to give this laptop a grade of B- at least for now. If those last few problems are resolved that could rise, though it will never rank at the top.

• A+: Apple Powerbook ti
• A: IBM Thinkpad 330(I think that was the number).
• B+: Apple Macbook, IBM Thinkpad 600
• B-: System76 Darter Ultra
• F: Dell (forgot the devil spawns model number)

I think the new Apple keyboard is beautiful. Simply beautiful. I haven’t actually tried one yet to see if spacing and feel is good – but I imagine its very much like my Macbook (the Bluetooth oen looks more like the Macbook in key size). However, to replace my work keyboard (1980s IBM “clicky” keyboard) its going to have to have extremely great feel. It would really help if it was “clicky” too. Actually a modern-styled clicky keyboard would be excellent!

You have to hand it to Apple in that they remembered the keyboard. The majority of new keyboards these days are some of the cheapest toys ever. Truly awful plastic crap. At least Apple is trying to keep some apparent quality in theirs.

I was lucky enough today to play with an OLPC. It was very very cute. Seriously. I dig the interface even though the one I played with was having some stability problems (don’t we all?) It has the tiniest little keyboard on it – which is only obvious if you are designing it for children… but still, tiny. The music app kicked some serious butt and I’m told the browser part does too… but that was part of the stability problem with the one I was using.

I’m hoping we will be able to use them on one of our projects – we’ll have to see.

Oh, by the way – that’s the first piece of hardware I have ever seen Open Firmware on – go figure.