A quick bit of advice, if you want to extend the battery life of your Linux (and probaby windows) netbook and use Firefox, install Flashblock. It turns out when ANY flash animation is playing, the processor clocks to maximum and the CPU use goes way up. The faster the clock, the more power it uses and the more heat it generates. The nice thing about Flashblock is that you can decide if you want to see something like a Flash video you can, but most of the time you can just load a web page quickly and easily without sucking down the battery. What made me realize this was thinking about the iPad. It is very quick on the net, and the reason, partially, is that it does not run Flash. So, no Flash increases battery life, speeds page load times, and makes the machine look like it is blazing fast on the internet. You only really notice the lack of Flash on some sites, like Ikea and Rolex, both of witch are impossible to use without flash. Most of the time, it just blocks annoying ads.
Category Archives: Computers
Wow, what a really pointless device. It looks like a giant iPod touch. Wait, it IS a giant iPod touch. Runs the same software, single tasks. (Let me digress, single tasking in 2010 is totally unacceptable.) and starts with 16GB of storage. My not the greatest netbook has 10 TIMES the storage, a fast processor, can can multi task as good as any desktop since it runs desktop software. Oh, and my netbook can display flash sites correctly and has a real keyboard. It also only weighs about a pound more than the iPad and costs a couple of hundred less.
I am sure the Apple lovers will snatch it up, but is just seems so impractical. You can’t put it in your pocket, you can’t type a novel on it, and you can’t watch Flash videos on it. You end up with a fast, but limited web surfing computer that is not a portable as an iPhone, but not as practical as a netbook. I guess the real advantage is that is will make a half way decent e-book and it runs existing iPhone/iPod touch apps. It looks like a great way to make money at Apple, but not a great overall device. The iPhone is much more practical, sad to say, at least you can use it as a phone.
But, hey, even I am talking about it, so it has succeeded in getting our attention, however short lived it will be. By the way, the name sounds like a feminine napkin. Just saying.
Ah, finally, some Linux again on the Netbook. I fully agree with a statement my wife Tiffany made last night, Netbook makers should just admit they really suck at running any version of Windows and just install Linux on there all the time. It is much smaller, can run on much less RAM, and never crashes. The never crashes is the most crucial thing to me. My typical Windows XP computing experience on the netbook:
Boot the machine. Pretty quick.
Wait the desktop to load and wait for the hard drive to stop grinding away.
Acknowledge even more updates are needed.
Install operating system updates.
Acknowledge virus scan updates needed.
Install virus scanner updates.
Reboot machine
Wait for updates to install while shutting down.
Wait for the desktop to come back.
Get more warning about updates.
Rinse, repeat about 3 times.
Finally get to working desktop (which I have unused icons on, acknowledge that warning.)
Try to run a web browser and virus scanning software at the same time.
Cry
The sad thing is, under Windows XP, the netbooks can surf the web, ok, and run basic productivity, barely.
Under Linux I can surf at almost full speed, perform real world computing, such as image editing and word processing, and not worry about if I have extra icons on my desktop or an update needs to be performed. All at the same time. I know for a fact Microsoft wants netbooks dead. Why do you think paid pundits are all saying netbooks are dead already. It’s because you can’t charge $300 for an operating system on a item which often costs less than $300. Heck, even the OEM price is close to $85 for most versions of Windows. This is a HUGE chunk of the price of a netbook. We have not even begun to count the price of some decent productivity software, like Office or Photoshop, which cost more than the hardware!
Under Linux (Ubuntu in this case) I have a FREE (As in free beer) Office Suite, OpenOffice 3.1. It is not a stripped down, basic office suite, but the exact same software I run on my desktop. Then I have the GIMP. Again, this is not stripped down, basic graphics program, but something that can rival Photoshop for any home user. They both free and run much better under Linux than Windows. I also have video editors, sounds editors, games, and a thousands of other applications, for free, available to me. So, to summarize, I can pay Around $400 for a decent netbook + $300 for MS Office, + $80 for Photoshop Elements (or $600 for full version) + $??? for everything else. So, you are looking at spending $1,000 or so for your “Cheap” netbook, or you can get it with Linux on there and spend $350 nothing extra. Hmm, which should I choose? This is why Mircosoft wants netbooks to die, and die quickly. Sadly, the makers of netbooks want them to die as well. Not enough profit and just as many warrany repairs and unhappy customers as a $1,500 laptop they made a couple hundred bucks on.
If netbooks go away, it is not because the public does not want them or abandons them for iPhones or tablets, it is because the makers and Microsoft can’t make much money off of them. In the end, that is why companies are in business, to make money. If they don’t, they kill the product, and who can blame them? They just won’t be honest why they killed them off.
Well, have not been in much of a blogging mood lately. I use a computer all day at work, so about the last thing I want to do when I get home is spend even more time in front of the computer.
Glenn is doing ok, a little cold right now, but there is always something new with him. More words, more communication, louder crying.
Technology wise, I really like the netbook we got for our birthdays. The price can’t be beat and it can do 99.9% of any computer I have seen. I would not want to edit video or photos on there, but for everything else, it is just fine. It is going to be very handy on the trip, for entertainment and photo backups.
Work is ok, nothing too new. No more layoffs on the horizon, but there is some voluntary time off for some of the hourly workers. I have never seen the global economy slow down like this before. Is it the start of a new era, or just a really deep recession? Time will tell.
Ah, spring is in the air and I pulled the grill out of the garage. Nothing compares to grilled meat. I forgot how wonderful the sound of t-bone sizzling on the grill is. Even it is just a tease, better weather is around the corner.
We are going to have our combo birthday party tomorrow, since Tiff’s and my birthdays are just 5 days apart. I am sure it will be a fun time.
Firefox for Linux sucks. Unstable as hell, can’t play full screen Flash videos. Don’t give me it’s Flash’s problem. In Opera it works just fine. So, I am switching back to Opera. It works great, the text looks great, and it is fast. The speeddial is cool as well. Try it is is free.
Edit:
Another thing, I like the ability to change themes on the fly. I am looking at you Firefox.
By the way, Opera basically invented tabbed browsing before it was called tabs. Everyone is just copying.