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Been trying out the netbook more, now that I have Linux on it.  Ubuntu is a little quirky, but it is pretty intuitive.  The simplified desktop is very nice and perfectly suited to the small netbook screen.  I did a little test today:

Ubuntu:

Cold boot to desktop, no disk activity, 43 seconds.

Time to load Firefox, first load 4 seconds.

Time from cold boot to online, able to open a web page, 48 seconds.

Windows XP:

Cold boot to desktop, no disk activity 65 seconds

Time to load Firefox, first load, 17 seconds.

Time from cold boot to online, able to open a web page, 82 seconds.

Mind you, this is on identical hardware, dual boot system.

Kinda telling, don’t you think?

The image at the top of this post was taken using the webcam built into the netbook and resized using the GIMP.  This whole post was done on the ideapad.

These netbooks are too much fun.

Not too much happening.  Mother in law was over yesterday.  She is possibly the slowest Scrabble player on Earth.  Went my sister’s new apartment today.  Helped her build 2 Ikea pieces and get her cable Internet up and running.  It’s a nice place, reminds me of some apartments I have had.  Classic Chicago apartment.  Hardwood floors, nine foot ceilings and a some charming features like built in cabinets.  The zoned parking really helps.  I hated living in a non zoned area.  Nowhere to park.

In geek news, we are trying out Ubuntu Linux 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope?) netbook remix on the ideapad.  It is really really fast on that hardware.  I think all the software was recompiled for the Atom processor and all the hardware drivers are installed (like the webcam.)  It goes from cold to fully loaded (NO DISK ACTIVITY) in 42 seconds.  Windows XP is getting a little long in the tooth and not that fast or stable on the ideapad.  It even imported all the documents, bookmarks and even the desktop image from Windows XP.  Nice touch guys.  I see why Microsoft is terrified of Netbooks.  No profit and Linux runs circles around it on low end hardware and it forced them keep XP for years longer than they wanted.

Have not had much to post recently.  Work has been keeping me too busy at times.  When I get home, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a computer.  Life is going ok otherwise.  In a bit of re-using computer parts, the burner on my computer was getting flaky and Tiffany does not use her’s much, so, I got her DVD-RW and gave her my DVD ROM.  Took about 15 minutes and now I can burn disks again.  Why buy new when you already own one?  In other computer news, a few months ago I parted with my Zaurus.  I really wasn’t using it much and I wanted someone who could really use it to have it, so I sold it off.   The proceeds paid for most of the Lenovo netbook we have now.  PDA’s are just a dead end.  My cell phone manages all my contacts (and that’s where I need them, anyway) and the netbook is much better at web surfing and general computing than the Zaurus ever was.  It was a nice toy, but, time has moved on.  When I no longer use something, I like to sell or donate it, so I don’t have to worry about maintaining it.  On the plus side, I was able to free up a few gigs of hard drive space on my computer, since I don’t need the install files anymore.

I have found that my watch collecting and family are much more fun than gadgets.  I have been in the electronics profession for 13 years now.  It has been a while since I have felt excitement when soldering a board or programming a micro controller.  Now they are just tools to me.  It pays the bills and it is a pretty interesting field that has some changes.  Nothing too thrilling in the last 10 years, but I do read the trade magazines to see what is new.  Everything is the same, just smaller, is the general theme in electronics.  That, and parts consume too much power and batteries are lagging woefully behind.  Same problems they had a decade ago.  It must be neat to be like the brother Ron and sister in law Evelyn and still be excited by electronics.  It is a new field for them.  I still learn new things, but the basics don’t change.

Glenn  is doing fine.  His language skills are really developing.  5 to 6 word sentences are pretty common and crying is down 2%.  I taught him how to climb a ladder with Daddy’s help last weekend.  He liked it.  He is no longer afraid of slides and loves them.  “I wanna go down the slide, wee!” is what he says when he sees a slide.  Wanna, already a Chicago accent.  Wanna, gonna, etc.  Tiffany is out for nice girls’ afternoon out, so I hope she is having fun.  It lets me put up a new blog post, since Glenn is napping.

I was thinking about the popularity of Facebook, and what it reminded me of.  Back in the 80’s and early 90’s, before graphical web browsing, there were BBS.  What is a BBS?  It is a Bulletin Board System, a place for people to dial in with their modems and connect to a larger world.  It was text based, allowed you to message other users, share files, play games, and most importantly, it was localized.

This is where Facebook really reminds me of BBS.  It is very local, and a very small part of the Internet.  The problem with the Internet is that it is too global and too large to really understand.  You have a hard time connecting with people in your area.  I love in Facebook, when you are searching for someone, they return the people who are physically closest to you first.  So, Facebook is just old BBS reborn.  Still mostly text, still a place to meet, play games, and like BBS, it is not dependent on real time.  You can post something on your wall (Hmm, sounds like a Bulletin Board), and someone else can comment on it when they have time.  It proves that the BBS system was valid, and people liked how it worked.  Now we have something that does almost the same thing, just with updated hardware and new protocols.