Simple Mode Frustrations.

I consider myself a beginner linux user. So maybe my input will have some meaning to those of you who are just now purchasing the eee. You're getting your feet wet, and you're discovering that sometimes software installs take you back to the command line.

Lame. I wish there was an alternative. But to my research, I still haven't seen a way of doing things the easy way, while maintaining Asus easy mode.

Why do i want to stick with the easy mode? Because even though the xandros set up looks nicer, I get so frustrated trying to navigate through the start menu options. Try using a super small touch pad and a super small screen to navigate and you will see what I mean.

The eee's gui is great simple, I just wish I could easily add my own installed software onto it VIA SYNAPTIC.

If you don't know what synaptic is, its cool, basically it is a library of anything you would want to install, you just click, and it will set it up for you automatically. That is probably a little too simple.

because somehow the eee is blocking synaptic, I have to look up the file I want in synaptic and then go into command line. This is really really dumb.

Even though i like the eee's user interface, as soon as they get those wifi drivers for ubuntu,... i'm so out of this, and you will see a whole new blog section.

Carrying Case for the eee

Found here: http://forum.eeeuser.com/

http://www.rei.com/product/733023

Made by Eagle Creek, very well made. Holds the Eee perfectly, with room for power supply, mouse, headphones, even a paperback or little sketchpad. Many pockets and storage places.

I like it cause it's a shoulder bag, dimensioned like the Eee, and especially because it doesn't look like a computer bag--better security if folks don't know what's in there.

Amazon.com This case looks pretty solid.

Uploading Videos

Most Unfortunately Youtube does not accept .ogg video formats, which is what your eee pc will by default record your webcam videos in. There are some options to translate the .ogg file into a uploadable format such as mpeg... but that would be a waste of time.

just use video.google.com! All .ogg files will upload, and from there you can send your video messages to anyone, and it will be in format virtually playable to anyone.

Playing Quicktime

The following was taken from eeeuser.com

Downgrading MPlayer

1. Open the console (In easy mode, press ctrl-alt-T. In advanced desktop, it's on the start menu, under system, or press alt-F2 and type Konsole.)
2. In the console, type sudo kwrite /etc/apt/sources.list
3. Add the line deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main non-free contrib (copy from here and paste in kwrite by right-clicking and choosing paste)
4. Save and exit
5. In the console, type sudo apt-get update
6. Then type sudo apt-get install mplayer=1.0~rc1-12etch1 (if your console window has a white background, you can copy from here and right-click in the console window to paste)
7. Type sudo kwrite /etc/apt/sources.list
8. Find the line deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main non-free contrib and put # (a hash or number sign) in front of it. This will disable the debian repository, so that you don't accidentally install incompatible software.

Instant Messaging

The eee pc comes preinstalled with Pidgin, which is a great application for those of you who use msn, aim, gchat, or any other instant messaging service. It combines them all into one useful application.



Its kind of big and clunky. I actually prefer meebo.com.




It looks a bit nicer, and it is portable anywhere. The folks at meebo have integrated a ton of great features, that I hope will all begin working on the eee as well.... For example they should have video chat going... I don't video chat, so it doesn't concern me, however if the folks at eeeuser.com ever figure out how to get adobe flash to recognize the eee's webcam, you are in luck!

Initial Tweaks

For those of you with good eyesight, I think the best and most useful tweak out there is changing the font size.

here is what I used:

Press CTRL ALT T, and a command line prompt will appear.



Then type:

kcontrol

a new window will appear:



To change the default KDE font size, navigate to the Display/Themes/Fonts page, and change the font sizes to your liking.

Unfortunately, for some reason this tweak makes the openoffice fonts very very tiny,and I'm not sure how to resolve it. Suggestions would be wonderful!

There are some other work arounds, like abiword perhaps, but I strongly reommend google docs. here is what it looks like on the eee.



As you can see, it isn't bad. at all. A little cramped, but the eee pc is a little cramped in general.

I recommend docs.google.com in general, because then you don't have to worry about memory wasting, or toting all of your documents on a jump drive. Also it is great for emailing, and having other people make revisions on your documents.

A couple other important tweaks:

When using Firefox, press F11. This will bring the internet window to full screen mode. To exit out of it simply press F11 again. Another great option in firefox, press CTRL + or - to decrease or increase the font size. This will come in handy for those with good or bad eyes.

Also, when in full screen mode in firefox, press alt-tab to toggle between windows, or the home key to bring up the start menu.

First Impressions

On my other blogs I wrote a review on the new eee PC, that my boss bought, and is letting me use. It is an awesome device, so i thought I'd show you guys a little about it. enjoy!

So, thanks to Metageek, yours truly is now typing out this blog on the ultra-portable eee PC. This thing is totally Awesome. I mean, absolutely incredible. I LOVE IT! I couldn't recommend anything else to a poor college student. Why? Because this fully functional laptopp weighs in at 2 pounds, and will onlycost you 400 dollars. When I say it is ultra-portable, check out the size of it in this picture:



That is it next to my ti-89 and my nintendo DS lite. It is incredibly small, yet completely usable. Now before you run off to the store and grab one of these things with your hot little hands, I probably should mention a couple minor details. The screen is only 7 inches, and the keyboard is cramped. But your hands will get used to it,. I've only spent about 4 hours on this thing, and I'm typing about as fast as I normally type. And for those of you who would love to have higher resolutions when you're not on the run, you can plug this into any standard monitor:



Yeah that's me snapping a photo of myself. The Asus eee pc has built in webcam, which is now compatible with skype video conferencing. Even though i don't video chat, and I probably won't use that feature, I figured it is a pretty awesome function that I couldn't help mentioning.



The thing has 3 usb ports, so you can plugin wireless mouse, or keyboard, jump drive, or maybe an external hard drive. Oh yeah, I might not have mentioned that this bad boy only has 4 gigs of memory. Which isn't a huge deal, if you're just doing documents, some pictures, and some music. Remember, we're talking ultra portability. You can expand them memory through the sd memory card slot, a jump drive, or just an external hard drive.

The operating system will be quite simple out of the box. They've installed a custom version of Xandros linux, and the actual windows look almost identical to windows xp, so you won't feel totally out of place. I'm an open source enthusiast so this computer is a total game changer for microsoft and even apple. (if you must you can run os x or windoze on this thing but they are quite sluggish so I read anyway).

It comes with word processing, database table, and presentation software comparable to word, excel, and powerpoint, which are free, and will always update themselves.

Overall impressions, if you're in the market for a cheap computer, you must, and i repeat you must consider the asus eee pc. It is a fun totally useful computer, that will impress anyone you show it to. this is totally a game changer in the laptop.

Thank you Metageek.net!!!