Sunday, May 24, 2009

Quick Update, Little to Tell

Well, it's my bi-weekly update again, and I haven't really done much that's worth mentioning (besides finishing my exam and then relaxing), so I will quickly outline what I'm looking forward to, and what I plan on doing (blog-wise) in the near future.

Basically, I graduate (officially) from high school in a weeks time. After I graduate I will be purchasing a Samsung NC10 netbook to replace my battered and temperamental speaker-less laptop for a little under 400€ off amazon.de (haven't seen a better deal anywhere else yet). Once I get it and play around with it for a bit, I'll install Ubuntu or ArchLinux on it as well (if Ubuntu, then the Netbook Remix edition). If battery life (which is supposedly anywhere between 6 and 9 hours depending on usage and review) in Linux is similar to the windows one (Samsung seems to be offering a custom power savings utility that is very modular, so Linux may be a little bit subpar compared to the XP battery life), I will most likely be shrinking XP to the most minimal size, mainly for itunes (since I have an iPod touch, and while I am sure I could get it working in Linux, I see no point in doing so since I don't update my music or my ipod every day). Basically, I'm taking the lazy way out, which is to say...I'll just boot XP and use iTunes if I need to update my ipod. I'll also be writing up a review of the netbook as it runs under XP and Linux (whichever distribution I choose) and posting them on here. It may or may not be up before I go on summer break. If it's after, then it won't be up before September, since I'll be living with dial-up for quite a few weeks.

Also, I may be purchasing a couple of things with the netbook if I order it, depending on if I can afford it or not. The two other things would be a 2GB stick of RAM (only one slot in the NC10), and a slim drive, since I will probably buy CDs over the summer, and it'd be silly if I can't put it on my iPod. Altogether (this is an offer on amazon.de) it'd go for about 430€, which is not bad, considering.

I'll post back once I order and receive the stuff, which may be in two or three weeks. If anyone wants to post here with an opinion as to whether or not the 2GB of RAM will make much of a difference on this netbook for mainly command-line tools in Linux and itunes (being the most resource heavy program I'd run) in XP, it would be appreciated.

Besides the netbook I'll also be working on whatever coding ideas I can come up with over the summer, and so I'll be posting those on here as I go. Not only that, but I have to write my FCM articles in advance, since I won't be able to send them in for two or three issues, meaning I'll be busy. Also, I'm going to be going to see Angels and Demons today, and I may post a quick update with my opinion on the movie (if it's worth mentioning) later today.

6 comments:

fit said...

one gigabyte RAM is just enough for netbook

Lswest said...

Alright, thanks for the comment! I think I'll still be purchasing the 2GB stick (unless I can't afford it, then I will opt for the slim drive, as that's more mission-critical for me).

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the world of netbook ownership :) I bought an acer aspire one a while ago, lovely little thing. What sort of iPod do you have? I've got a touch - and the only way that I have been unable to put music on it is to transfer the songs over to it using scp/ssh. Apple really ought to make a proper version of itunes (or at least release a driver) for linux- We shouldn't have to break the law by jailbreaking the ipod if we just want to use linux :(

Lswest said...

Haha, thanks :P Haven't ordered it yet though, should be tomorrow. I have an ipod touch and use Windows to sync music, but I've used gtkpod and floola with my old mini on Linux, maybe give those a shot?

Noah said...

Hello, I just discovered your blog through the byline at your contribution for Full Circle Magazine. It's nice to read blogs by Linux users.

Anyway, I'm also considering buying a netbook, too. That might soon be the case in the future, when I graduate in college (just a few months to go).

In Manila, Philippines, the price of netbooks has doubled since last year! It says much about the demand for netbooks. Apart from the trend-following masses, I actually want a netbook to have a more portable device to code simple programs.

You haven't mentioned anything about Angels and Demons. So wasn't it worth mentioning? (I've read the book, but I don't watch movies these days.)

- Nick

Lswest said...

Haha, actually, Angels and Demons wasn't bad...sure, they changed the story (considerably), but as a movie it was good. Probably helps that I don't think of movies made after books as such, but rather just movies with the same name as books.

If you want to buy a netbook in a few months I'd wait until either ARM netbooks hit the shelves, or until the ION-platform ones do, since you'd, ultimately, get more bang for your buck. Shouldn't be too much more expensive than the ones out nowadays. Just my thoughts on the matter. Nice to know you read my FCM articles!

Regards,
Lswest