Subject: Re: ultra-light notebook recommendations
To: None <port-i386@netbsd.org>
From: Andy Ball <ball@cyberspace.org>
List: port-i386
Date: 07/10/2002 12:14:05
Hello Curt,
CJS> Uh...the name's "Curt", actually. :-) And you want to be a bit
> careful with the quoting; you pulled my text out of Brad's
> message where he quoted it and attributed it to him rather than
> me.
Yes, I can see that now: Brad had just indented your words. In text
mode it wasn't obvious to me that he hadn't written that. Sorry Brad
for attributing Curt's text to you.
CJS> Well, I find many laptops fit that description exactly, which
> is why I didn't buy one. Yet my Libretto doesn't fit that
> description.
No, I understand that. It's probably quite a capable machine, and it
sounds like it meets your needs well. Mine are different - Ideally I
would like something that fits in a jacket pocket. I'm seeing specs
in the region of 500g, although I would probably tolerate more than
that.
CJS> ...but you didn't give us any indications of what sort of size
> and weight you are looking at, if I recall correctly,
> or what you have now that you consider to big.
If I hadn't before, then I just did.
CJS> Well, the 640 x 240 screens on the palmtops are going to make
> VNC or web browsing a bit painful. Lots of people seem to be
> able to live with ssh and so on on tiny keyboard, though,
> although I can't.
640x240 would be fine for text mode: the key thing (for me) is that I
get to see all 80 columns at once. With an 8x10 dot font, I get the
all-important 80 cols x 24 rows. I think web browsing usually
benefits from an 800x600 pixel mode, but a lot of my web work is just
quickly looking up specs - I know I can do that in 640x240: I have
tried. VNC lets me pan around a user's desktop. Not ideal, but
potentially useful in a crunch. I envisage spending most of my time
in text mode.
CJS> if you want to do the "wireless download" thing, make sure you
> can get the wireless access you need. You may not be happy
> trying to download an 8 MB build of something or other over a
> 32 Kbps link.
As always it's the application that makes the difference. CDPD at
19.2 KBpS would be fine for the uses I have in mind, and I understand
it has good coverage out on the prairie. We're heading upstate, so I
will keep an eye out for faster options like GPRS. I suspect that for
>80% of the time, even 9.6 KBpS GSM would be fine for a ssh into a box
connected to a fatter pipe. For the record, I don't know that anything
I ever wrote built to 8Mb ;-)
CJS> But usually I find the client site has Internet access for me,
> so it's not such a big deal.
That's okay so long as nothing hits the fan when you're between client
sites. I would like my next palmtop to have at least one PC-Card slot,
then I've got most bases covered. Ethernet, wireless Ethernet, CDPD
and even analog modem if it comes to it.
I'm seeing more CompactFlash network/comms cards these days, but PC-
Card's installed base probably saves a premium, and in any case a $15
dollar adaptor gives you the best of both worlds.
- Andy Ball.