Some additional thoughts about the asus eee 900.

First, it's excellent ebook reader. With the screen brightness turned down a few notches, the battery out, and the wifi radio off, it is light, cool, and eminently readable. The print size can be set at any level; the text can be rotated so that the machine can be held like a book. I's weight is somewhat less than that of a typical hard-back. FBReader keeps track of your place in the book so that all one needs to do is open the program to resume reading at the correct place and close it when tired of reading. A simple menu system allows one to have as many books on the computer as one likes, and the program keeps track of your location in each book.

Of course, the same features that make the Eee 900 a superb ebook reader also make it a fine browser. It connects with wifi networks readily. Firefox works as expected with "Noscript" and "Adblocker" add-ons to improve security. Linux is not plagued with viruses so I have not bothered to use the anti-virus software on the machine -- though it is nice to know it's there. Most wifi networks that I'll use will probably not be WPA or WEP protected, but that does not particularly worry me. I've got all open ports locked down tightly so I don't think this is a very vulnerable system--even in an open environment.

The very best features of the machine are its small size, light weight, and rapid boot-up (25 seconds) or shutdown (<10 seconds). The keyboard is tiny, but I find it no more difficult for typing than a full-sized keyboard--just different. All-in-all it continues to meet all of my expectations of the perfect netbook.

Interestingly, the world market for netbooks seems to be rapidly evolving away from the type of machine I prefer. I was able to get such a great deal on my Eee because the market is moving away from 8.9 inch screens to 10 inches or larger, and away from Linux to Windows XP. The $300-400 price point is holding firm, but even that makes my $215 price seem like quite a bargain.

Continued Adventures with My Eee PC

Despite having vowed to keep my Xandros Linux operating system as simple as possible, I continue to find myself tinkering. I had initially planned to use this only as a web-browsing ebook reader and to avoid using it for online purchases or for any other activities that would require real security. But as I have grown fonder of the machine and as I have found that it could totally replace my Ubuntu-loaded Acer laptop, I have been drawn into further explorations of security issues.

Generally speaking, Linux is so much more secure than a Windows system that it is unnecessary to run antivirus software, but it is desirable to protect any computer with a firewall of some kind. Fortunately our DSL router allows creation of a very strong firewall in our own wifi connection. I checked this with GRC's "Shields Up" and found the protection excellent. Most Linux releases also include a firewall for the individual machine (Iptables, which is often invoked with Firestarter). The version of Xandros on the Eee PC does not, however, allow Iptables. Then, too, to speed boot time and simplify things, all Xandros Eee's log in with "user" (instead of allowing or demanding unique user names); this further compromises security. I see the advantages to skipping a login screen on a netbook so I'm not complaining, but from a security point of view it is not ideal. Since I very much want to keep running the trim, efficient Xandros that came with the machine, I started looking into alternative means of creating security.

The answer is easily found on the excellent wiki.eeeuser.com site. Their guide for owners has a whole section on security, which taught me much about Linux security in general and about the particular quirks of the standard Xandros OS. A step-by-step guide walked me through the necessary terminal commands for closing all the open ports on my Eee. (The vulnerability exists only because the base installation is set up to allow networked printing with Windows computers through the Samba service.) After closing down these open ports, this is probably the most secure computer I have ever used. True, it does not operate behind a formal firewall program, but firewalls basically control traffic through open ports. No open ports equals no need for a firewall--at least so I'm told. And who ever knows the hard facts about any of this?

Days Two and Three on the Eee PC

It's easy for me to get addicted to this computer. The small keyboard is almost exactly like the one I had on the Misubishi CN1, so I don't have too much trouble getting reacquainted with it. The "Easy" Xandros interface has it limitations, but I love how quickly it boots and how easily it does all the things I really need a computer to do--web browsing, word processing, spreadsheet, ebook reader, xbridge, and a few tasks with the terminal window. During the past two days I worked up my nerve enough to download SublimePorte's Launcher Tools and install them so that I could customize the Easy interface a bit more to my liking. I created desktop icons to launch xcbridge, konqueror (a browser/file manager), FBReader (for ebooks), kate (a text editor), and kstars (a wonderful planetarium program). I also changed my default terminal to konsole. Except for xcbridge and FBReader, the relevant software was already part of the basic Xandros installation. I may still decide to install xmms for music, though the mplayer already on the system is probably all that I really need.

The bottom line is the little Eee 900 continues to meet and exceed my needs--so much so that I am already using it as my primary computer. The Acer laptop sits unmolested unless I need its DVD R/W capabilities.

Netbook adventures--day 1

This entry deviates a bit from my normal subjects, but I have always been fascinated by computers--and especially by laptop, notebook, and subnotebook computers. I did plenty of writing on an Amstrad luggable laptop with a mere 64 K memory, two 1.4" floppy drives, and a tiny CGA display. Then for a time I also used a Tandy 100 three-pound tablet with even less memory and an eight-line text display. My favorite computer up until now was a Mitsubishi CN1, weighing less than three pounds and running Windows 95, Damn Small Linux, and Geoworks. Smaller and lighter have been my mantra, and thus I watched with great interest as the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program began a few years ago. When Asus came out with the first Eee 701s toward the end of 2007, I was immediate obsessed. I wanted one, I really wanted one -- but not at the initial price. I decided to watch and wait.

During the past eighteen months, the market for netbooks has blossomed with a hundred flowers (in the form of different models and specifications). As newer models have come on the market, the price of older ones--usually less than a year old--has dropped. Finally, last week Amazon made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I wanted a Linux machine that was very light-weight, quick to boot, wifi-enabled, web-camed and useful as an e-book reader. In truth, many different netbooks could meet my needs, but the 2.2 pound Asus Eee Pc 900 20 gig is what I bought. Its price of $214, including shipping, brought it to the level of an impulse purchase. Useful, to be sure, but not really necessary since I have a perfectly adequate Acer laptop dual booting Vista and Ubuntu.

So this is my first day with the Eee 900. During the days before purchase and the week of shipping, I read all I could about it. Naturally, some people on the web complained about it, but they seemed to mostly be people who made lots of radical changes to the original operating system--often replacing it with some other version of Linux or with Windows XP and encountering problems in the process. There may also be some problems connecting to certain kinds of password-encrypted wifi networks. So my goal is to make minimal changes and keep things simple. So far, I have had to update Skype in an effort to get the web-cam functional. Then I had to add some software repositories to Synaptic and boot it from a terminal window in order to download and install FBReader for e-books. I also dropped on a copy of Xcbridge (a contract bridge game) for recreation. And I think that will be about it.

It boots up in less than 30 seconds. Reliably connects to my wifi network. Surfs the web with ease. And generally does everything I think a netbook ought to do. Minor questions about fine-tuning the various Xandros Linux programs are readily answered by a Google search of the accumulated knowledge of the large base of Asus netbook users already around. It really seems to be a very satisfying machine.

The Merry Month of May

May and June are often the two nicest months of the year in the Ozarks. While that has still been true this year (so far), May was actually considerably cooler and damper than normal. The result is that swimming season was delayed from May 1st to about May 15th, but the cool weather was actually productive of better--faster--bike rides.

My normal 31-mile ride is fairly hilly. The profile on the map shows only half the ride; the full ride has 2,735 feet of climbing! For the past five years I have always felt that any ride with an average speed in excess of 16 mph was fast enough to deserve a special notation in my log. Rides faster than 17 mph have been exceeding rare--and only three times in the past have I ever exceeded 18 mph. This May all that has changed.

Last month I recorded 413 miles in 14 rides--a fairly typical total. But the rides were fast! Nine of them were at speeds in excess of 16 mph; four of those nine were faster than 17 mph; and one of those four was faster than 18 mph. So far in 2009 I have had 17 "fast" rides. By way of comparison, in 2008 there were only 13 fast rides for the entire year. And in all of 2007 there were 20 similarly fast rides.

So I'm off to such a good start this year that I need to reflect on what I've done differently. One possible explanation is that in early April I raised my saddle by 1/2 inch to get slightly better leg extension. Perhaps that gave me greater efficiency in my peddle stroke and that's all it took. I like that explanation, but I'd rather think that I've actually gotten stronger and better. I did some long training rides in April and I've been pushing the time trials in May. Then, too, I'm making progress in my push-up routine, building core strength. Lately I've occasionally hit 80 push-ups in my first set, maxing out at over 325 for the five-set routine. Could that help? Finally, I have to be grateful that my back and my right hamstring muscle have finally nearly recovered from some long-term injuries.

Whatever the reason, I'm fast now (by my standards) and hoping to get faster.