open source

[Darren B]

Well it was kind of the guy to give you all the details aswell, no stopping you now

D

[NormanRouxel]

I've been doing hardware hacks like that since the 70's. When I was at university there was a DEC PDP-8 minicomputer connected to a 110 bits per second teletype. I snuck some circuitry and a little switch into the CPU cabinet so I could up the serial clock to a (then) speedy 1200 baud, which I could connect to home-brewed VDU that I'd made.

Components were a bit bigger then, of course. Nowadays you need a good desk magnifier and very steady hands.

[Duncan Rounding]

Years ago I used to mess about with Z80 and 8085s which was fun. I just wish I had more hours in a day to get that involved with the EEE.

[RuralWeb]

involved with the EEE

Im looking for one - where did you get yours

[NormanRouxel]

I got mine from www.ebuyer.com but only the 2Gb one there now.

See:
www.clove.co.uk - list price + shipping charge.
www.expansys.com - overcharging + shipping charge.
www.play.com - list price - no shipping charge.

Don't order a cheaper 2Gb one by mistake. It's the 4Gb that will be best for most people.

[RuralWeb]

Thanks norm - Ill check those out

[party_pete]

I've just been looking at the Asus Eee PC here;
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/351664...k/Product.html

So have I got it right that on this model, I can install Actinic and run it without problem out of the box, or would I need to install a windows xp o/s?

[Duncan Rounding]

I have one. It comes with a linux variant as standard but can run XP as the drivers are supplied. You would need to get the XP OS yourself. Also the 4Gb SSD is quite small for XP although there are ways you can trim XP down. You might want to think of the 8Gb model if you want to use XP really but then at that price you may as well consider a full sized laptop.

I use it extensively but do not design on the machine - not because of the OS but because the screen is just too small. I connect to my office machine using Logmein (with a 3G modem) and work directly on an XP Pro desktop if I'm out and about and want to do something like that.


There is a very good user forum here:
http://forum.eeeuser.com/

EDIT: Note the price is only £250 for the 4Gb model at PCWorld and I would expect it to be cheaper elsewhee so shop around. Play doesn't seem so cheap right now.

[pinbrook]

I've been doing hardware hacks like that since the 70's. When I was at university there was a DEC PDP-8 minicomputer connected to a 110 bits per second teletype. I snuck some circuitry and a little switch into the CPU cabinet so I could up the serial clock to a (then) speedy 1200 baud, which I could connect to home-brewed VDU that I'd made.

Looks like Norman's time has come....

http://eeepc.asus.com/global/news03262008.htm

here's a link to the launch of eee pc for windows

http://eeepc.asus.com/global/news03052008.htm

[pinbrook]

Duncan...

if your Asus is linux what mobile broadband do you use, as i have been reading that most 3g broadband providers are for windows not linux?

do you know if there is a slot for the vodafone data card which uses the pcmcia card? i've got an unlocked 3G/UMTS/GPRS vodafone data card

what 3g are you using?

[Duncan Rounding]

I'm using the Huawei E220 modem from Hutchinson 3, I think it's also available from Vodafone and maybe others. I chose this modem in particular because it's the supported usb modem for the ASUS on linux - no additional software drivers required.

There's no PMCIA slot.

[jxm28788]

Can anyone suggest an open source (or freeware) graphics package that allows editing of .ai files?

I have one image that I need to make a minor modification to...

[TraceyHand]

if it's a one-off thing, why not download a 30 day trial of Illustrator? (added advantage that you can then save as something edittable in another package after your trial expires)

[Duncan Rounding]

If you just want to view it as a flat file then try changing the extension from .ai to .pdf and open it with Adobe Reader.

I think Inkscape can open .ai files: http://www.inkscape.org/

[jont]

Taskbar Shuffle

One utility that I do use is Taskbar shuffle ... does what it says on the tin and allows you to move stuff around on the taskbar so you can work more efficiently... my copy came off a cover disk but think this is the same http://www.freewebs.com/nerdcave/taskbarshuffle.htm