Place of Stuff

HP Mini Mi Netbook

Netbooks are pretty much this year’s thing.  I have seen a few people using them on the train and they look very useful and handy.  Particularly if you want to knock up a spreadsheet or document while you’re on the train.  They run a customised version of Windows XP, Windows Vista or a Linux distro which are designed to give you easy access to your applications without having to go through multi-layered start menus.  In all, they are useful and usable.

So do I want one?  Well, yes.  Mainly because I don’t have one.  In the UK, they are available for around £250 (~ $370 or 280 euros (according to XE)) and are about 1KG in weight.  They are very very portable and are really useful for office apps or web browsing/email.  They fit in a category between a laptop and a PDA.

In the UK, they are available from HP, IBM and from Acer.  They are all lightweight, stylish, handy and useful for the quick jobs you need to do whether on the way to/from work (if you use the train or plane) or before a meeting.  They are also very handy for people who can’t carry a full sized notebook.  They are designed for use outside the office.  And I want one.

So, if any company that makes these things would like to send me on to use and review, feel absolutely free.  I will happily accept it and review it and put it up on this site.  Linux distro for preference please.

Something which I have been thinking about recently is the rate of successes for individual users in

HPLIP

Linux.  For Linux as a whole, there have been numerous successes ranging from it’s growth into the mainstream (though there is still far to go) in the server world through to the desktop take up in the last few years.  One thing that I would suggest has slowed is the individual users that can report their own successes.

Let me elaborate.  Today I went out and bought an HP Deskjet F4280 all-in-one printer – it was on sale and I have needed a multifunction device for work and home for a long time.  I went with HP because I have long been a fan of their printers and I know that their Linux support is excellent.  I went with this model because I saw in the catalogue that it had Linux support (though it stated “web only”, I knew that it would work).  I plugged it in, ran the command sudo hp-setup and Kubuntu did the rest.  I now have the printer working as well (or even better) as it would in Windows.  I opened the HP toolbox and the scanner worked first time without errors.  It was an absolutely pain-free experience and was much much quicker than the whole thing will be on Monday when I install it to my work laptop running XP.

On the one hand, that is a clear success – HP now supports Linux to the point that I can put a new printer on my system and have it work, literally, out-of-the-box.  Enormous thanks to HP, to the coders who make this possible and to the community who have pushed hard over the years.  All we need now is for other manufacturers to do the same.  But, and this may sound ungrateful, where’s my success?  I remember the days when, with massive amounts of Googling and help from communities, I was able to install and run fairly commonplace hardware and software.  Instead, now, it’s all really easy.  I am positive that I’m not alone in having things work really easily with no problems, but wonder if I am the only left with an empty feeling when I realise that all the work is now done for me?