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bert's blog v1.21 Powered by glolg Programmed with Perl 5.6.1 on Apache/1.3.27 (Red Hat Linux) best viewed at 1024 x 768 resolution on Internet Explorer 6.0+ or Mozilla Firefox 1.5+ entry views: 2168 today's page views: 111 (13 mobile) all-time page views: 3241304 most viewed entry: 18739 views most commented entry: 14 comments number of entries: 1213 page created Sat Apr 5, 2025 07:41:38 |
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- changelog - + sim lim square - changelog v1.12e --------------- * Long-lasting IE style bug with recent entries menu fixed. "px" required to be specified. Wednesday It's been a relatively eventful couple of days - went to meet my probable Ph.D. advisor on Wednesday morning, where I was informed that there happily might be a bit of extra grant money available in the area. That never hurts. Changed for a swim after that, after getting by the lifeguards on duty who were slightly suspicious at seeing a matriculation card beginning with 04. Didn't have to relate my long story, thankfully, and churned out ten laps before leaving for Sim Lim. Having officially completed my Computer Science degree without a laptop, and more importantly unwilling to venture computerless for a month, I figured it was time to get something cheap and small. After trawling the net to get an idea of what was available, I decided on the MSI Wind (some reviews) for its A) Price B) 160GB hard drive C) 2GB RAM and D) All-around solidness (see a comprehensive comparism without prices, or a briefer one with them). Note that some netbooks have a mere 8GB (or even 2GB[!]) Solid State Drive - I wonder how their users survive. At some point I realised it was useless dillying any longer, and it was out with the NETS card. A few stores stock the MSI Wind in Sim Lim, and the first one I went to told me I could have any colour as long as it was black, which was fine by me. It would probably somewhat be cheaper during COMEX, but S$699 was still decent (and pretty standard). For that, one gets a rather plain box, and a slightly flimsy but adequate no-frills carrying case: 
I confess, being a novice netbook/laptop buyer, that I had no idea what extras would be included in the package. As it turned out, there was a 100-240V, 50-60Hz adapter, which means no power problems in Europe, as well as a little optical USB mouse. That saved me a bit of cash, since I really dislike touchpads in general. It also turned out that the proprietor didn't know that there was a mouse included either, since I nearly bought one from them before asking for the package to be opened for checking. The externals looked pretty good - a shiny black finish, and the whole thing felt rather solid while not being too heavy (just over 1kg with batteries). There were no screen/keyboard protector freebies, just a basic protector for the cover, which I duly replaced to Manchesterunify it (slightly risky in selected UK cities, I admit): 
In any case, I let the netbook go through its first boot uninterrupted as told to, and Windows XP successfully infected it: 
First, I checked out its Wifi capabilities, both because a netbook without the Internet is rather pointless, and also because there have been scattered complaints about this functionality. And... nothing. Then, I realised that the Wifi had to be manually activated by pressing Fn+F11. Which makes sense, given that one doesn't want to drain the battery supporting devices that aren't being used, but really the manufacturers should activate all these by default initially. Would prevent quite a few headaches, since I suspect many users wouldn't bother thumbing through the manual or quick start guide. I also discovered that my wireless router connection hadn't been password-protected since the last time I reset the router, which may explain the connection slowing to a crawl occasionally. Oh well. I corrected that, and soon had the Internet up and running on the Wind. There were a few CDs or DVDs included in the package, which was rather ironic since netbooks generally don't have optical drives. The next step was naturally to let Windows Update do its job, and eventually IE8, WMP11 and all those security fixes were safely installed. Used IE8 to view my blog (which I haven't done for a long while, being a Chrome user), and was dismayed at the prominent menu bug, which should be fixed now. Next, I plowed through the software that they had bundled in - Adobe Reader and a bunch of company games were nice touches, but a 25-use trial of Office 2007 and an unregistered version of WinZip 11 weren't as impressive. Uninstalled those, and downloaded OpenOffice and 7-Zip as free and fully-functional replacements, using the Free Download Manager (which supports resuming interrupted downloads). Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox quickly followed, as well as avast! antivirus, CCleaner, the Essentials Codec Pack, FileZilla, GIMP, Launchy, Lavasoft Ad-aware, Notepad++, PDFCreator, Picasa 3, Skype, Startup Inspector and the Windows Live Suite, in alphabetical order. There really isn't a need to spend anything on software if you don't want to. I also made a few minor adjustments, such as bypassing the select user screen for Windows logon (don't anticipate any sensitive information on the netbook for now, and it won't make much of a difference if stolen), hiding most of the taskbar icons, reverting to my favourite XP Classic Theme, turning off highlighting of newly installed programs, etc. There was still the small issue of the function keys, though, and the little blue icons on them weren't all that intuitive to me. Fortunately, Mr. Ham G. Bacon was waddling around, and a bit of squeezing persuaded him to design a useful custom wallpaper for the desktop. He managed to throw in a few hints along the way: 
Now that's what hams are for - Mr. Ham's celebrity wallpaper is also available for download, if you would like a french-fry munching hamster to grace your computer. Final summary: The MSI Wind works like a charm (so far), and has everything I need from a netbook, or for that matter, a laptop. The screen is pleasingly bright and clear (trust me, I've seen far worse), and the keyboard nearly full-sized. Having a special Function key to the left of the left-Ctrl button, and smaller punctuation keys, takes a bit of getting used to, but is nothing that can't be overcome. The integrated 1.3M webcam is fine, though the microphone isn't too effective. The speakers are a common gripe, and indeed are quite weak, but for a guy who runs his main PC in silent mode this predictably isn't a concern. The whole thing boots up in about half a minute, and the battery should last for four or five hours, which is decent for a 6-cell battery. Applications load decently fast on the Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor, and it has Bluetooth, a 4-in-1 card reader, three USB ports, and doesn't heat up much. Quite the package, if I say so myself. Additional note: Tried to find a floppy disk drive to complete my main PC, but it appears as if new internal 3.5-inch floppy drives no longer exist, after trawling most of Sim Lim Square. Settled for a cheap second-hand one, but still considering whether to try and install it. That's another medium gone the way of punch cards and Iomega Zip drives... Thursday Watched United play Wigan in the wee hours of the morning, armed with my free Coke glass from McDonald's current Extra Value Meal promotion, filled with iced Pepsi. Ah, the simple pleasures of life. Rooney missed an absolute sitter of a header early on, and Wigan went ahead, but for some reason I was never too worried. Sure enough, Tevez made it 1-1 with a tricky backflick minutes after coming on, and Carrick won it in the 86th minute. Standard Man Utd fare, really. Headed to school for my pre-admission check up, and got my ISIC card on the spot at the STA travel outlet in the Science Co-op. That was S$15, but I estimate just four nights in a European hostel that offers a 10% discount to cardholders would have it pay for itself comfortably:  Continued on to the University Health Centre for the checkup, where I began my graduate life by paying S$30 (notably, the staff registers Ph.D. students as "postgraduates", which seems a little inaccurate). Went through the usual tests, which showed nothing amiss. The office of the doctor I attended was festooned with little jokes, e.g. "Doctor, I think I'm a garbage can; Don't talk rubbish" on the wastepaper basket. Good sense of humour there. Today (Friday) looks to be eventful as well... Next: Weekend B-activities
lwei said... what's haz. and dun anyhow feed my hamster rubbish. later i go home it die then u know.
Mr. Ham G. Bacon said...
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