My Next Project
Something I am suddenly finding myself in need of is another laptop computer. The MacBook has been passed down to teh Lad and still working great, but I’m wanting something very portable, very small and very light. With enough power to write, do some light surfing, watch a video or Hulu and maybe process photos. Easy stuff.
So I have found myself eyeing the latest crop of Netbooks and I have to tell you something. They are pretty small. I mean, like tiny.
I thought I would cruise through BestBuy, just to see what they had so I could check them out. They had the Dell Mini 9 and the HP1000. Both seemed capable enough, but the 8.9″ screen is barely useable for me. And the Dell keyboard is awful. The keys are about the same size as those found on a pocket calculator and they are spaced even closer together. It’s completely unusable for someone with moderate-sized hands that can touch type (much like myself). The HP on the other hand had a very nice keyboard and everything was laid out as it should. But it still only had a 8.9 inch screen.
A little Amazon searching and some review reading later and I think I have settled on the Asus Eee PC 1000HA. 160GB hard drive, 10″ display, 1GB of RAM and the Intel Atom processor, plus a few other features that I think are cool. From what I can tell, the only true downside to this device is the fact that it’s running Windows XP. Not really a problem, but boy wouldn’t it be cool to have one running Leopard.
So more searching (and crowd sourcing) brings me to the OS X Netbook Compatibilty chart that BoingBoing has assembled. And what do you know, the Asus is on the list with almost 100% compatibility.
I poked around some more and it looks like a doable project that should keep me occupied for the better part of a few days. I’m hoping that when I do finally purchase this device and start the transformation that I can actually use it to dual boot OS X and Windows XP.
Is there anyone among us that is using a Netbook now? If so, which one and what do you think of it?
And don’t say buy another Mac. Both of money trees are dead and I didn’t win the lotto this week. Even from the refurb shop, the best deal I can get is either on a Macbook ($899) or an Air ($999). But with the pricing of the Eee PC (with 2GB RAM upgrade) coming in just under $400, it’s much more attractive to me. That and the fact that it kinda works, which means I’ll get to tinker a bit. Fun stuff!
Uninstall apps on the Mac
After my recent issues with the Adobe AIR runtime component in OS X, I started thinking about the uninstallation of apps on the Mac in general.
Sure, it’s simple, right? Find the app in The Finder, drag it to the trash and poof, it’s gone. Except that it really isn’t.
Over on Windows, MS made developers include a uninstallation routine with the installer. Sure it was hit or miss until Windows XP, but it was still there. And, it was there for many reasons, least of which is that uninstalling applications in Windows without it is practically impossible unless you are the original developer of the app. There are folders. There are .dll files. There are registry entries. Log files. Mold, mildew and soap scum. When you install an app on Windows, it gets everywhere.
Not so on the Mac. You open the .dmg, drag the icon out and that’s it. Everything that app needs contained inside of a nice package.
Time to Upgrade
After a brief email exchange with Mr. IE6 earlier this morning, I decided to cruise through the server logs here, here and here to see what browsers all y’all have been using to access everything. And, if I’m honest, I was shocked.
There are still more of you that are using out of date browsers than not. And, not just IE. Over at WRR, the bulk of IE users (20% of the 37.8%) are still using IE6. 3.5% of IE users are still using something older than that, but I have a feeling those might be bots that haven’t updated their user-agent string.
For Firefox, it’s 9.1% of the 11.8% that are using version 3 or better. That’s a little bit better. Opera (less than 1%) does not report it’s version, neither does Safari (5.8%), but Netscape (less than 1%) does. Honestly, Netscape 5?
I don’t mean to beat a dead horse here, but there is a reason internet browsers get upgraded, and there is a reason why you should take the few minutes to upgrade yours. There are patches that keep bad guys off of your system. There are stability improvements. Rendering improvements. UI improvements. All of these things are done to make your internet experience better and safer.
If you are stuck in an office with Internet Explorer v6 or older, you are stuck. You can ask your admins for Firefox since an IE upgrade will probably break an application used by your company. If you are a home user running Windows that is not XP or Vista, then you are also stuck with IE6.
Follow the jump for some suggestions. (Read on…)
The Sunday Post #65
So many things going on over here, but none of them terribly post worthy. So instead I have decided to punt.
The Sunday List Post
- New favorite app. this week; Trashit for when you just can’t get the trash emptied, no matter what. Yes, I tried that. Tried that too. This worked. And free.
- Another cool one Hazel. Nifty app that lets you set up rules for folders and it does stuff. Check it out.
- Merlin copying the w(t)f video hour, and doing a much better job.
- Even still, the WordPress HTML editor still can’t post embeded video. You would think that would be fixed by now.
- I’m excited about iLife ’09.
- Last week I upgraded the Storm to OS version .85. I think I’m going to take it back to .75 when I get a chance.
- I seriously need to reinstall OS X on my laptop.
- I hate the show The Gilmor Girls with the heat of 101000 suns
- It’s amazing how much of a time suck having a job is. Where is my money tree?
- The house I wanted to move into has been rented. I was not happy about that
- Diggin’ the new job. Diggin’ the fact that I don’t have to spend 4 hours in my car every day getting there and getting home too.
- I wish I had build-real-stuff-skills. Dad’s shed is turning out very nice and I can only sit back and watch it go up.
- Taking a photo of myself every day is fun.
- Need to rework my gym schedule. Get up at 5:30a or get home at 9p? Tough call, I know.
- Scales disappoint me, especially when they are telling me I weigh at least 10 pounds more than I want to.
- I would never pay $6k for a laptop. Even if I had a money tree. Even if I had 2.
Especially the Gilmor Girls one. Oh my god people! How can you watch that crap?
