💾 Archived View for ehrin.space › Log › netbook.gmi captured on 2023-07-22 at 16:16:43. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-07-10)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
I'm back with another fun old laptop. This time it's a Compaq Mini 110, made by HP. It's rocking an Intel Atom n270, 1c2t @1.6ghz. 1gb of ram, and a 250gb spinning drive.
I really, REALLY like this little machine. The keyboard is actually fantastic (in typing tests I only fall about 10wpm slower than on a full sized keyboard). The screen as well looks pretty nice. It's a 1024x600, 10.1 inch display, so many UI elements don't fit correctly, but the screen gets plenty bright as well as having damn fine viewing angles. The trackpad is servicable, though I definitely wish I could somehow retrofit a trackpoint type thing on here.
I'm running Q4OS Trinity on it, though I"m using i3-WM to offset how small the screen is. I3 has been a learning experience for me. And while I don't see myself ever using it on my desktop (KDE my beloved), I absolutely love it on these smaller devices.
Out of curiosity, I've loaded the little netbook with LMMS just to see what kind of creative endeavors I can get up to with such an underpowered little device. I'm happy to report that as long as you mostly work with small samples and light synths, it works perfectly fine.
Another area of software I've been trying out is some HTTP browsing. I originally used SURF, and while it's fine and fast, I do actually prefer the slightly heaver QuteBrowser. Pages load a little slower, but it does seem to be more supported overall. Of course gemini space is a breeze for this little thing. It would be a bit more pleasurable if it weren't for the lacking vertical resolution though.
I've got a new battery coming in the mail for it (6 cells!), as the current (3 cell) one seems to stop charging at 85% and then drains in about 30 minutes of light use.
Some history of this particular netbook: My mom bought it for my sister as a Christmas gift around 2010 if I remember correctly. My sister used it as her only computing device for several years until falling into the world of tablets. Which I suppose is one of the main reasons why these types of devices aren't really made anymore. For under $200, you can get a basic Android tablet with a significant boost in power compared to this basic little netbook. Throw in a keyboard and your favorite Android terminal emulator or SSH app and you can do damn near everything I can on this netbook and more.
But part of me will always have a soft spot for these dumb little computers. There's something nice about being able to use a computer this size. It's not distracting in the way that a big 15-16" laptop can be. I don't feel like I'm hiding behing a screen. Rather, I'm using a tool. The smaller screen also means that Multitasking is a bit more difficult, so I just avoid it for the most part. Also for the low low price of "free," I can't comlain too much. I can browse Lemmy and Mastodon well enough, though any web video is a no-go.
Overall, I'm completely enamored by this thing. I next want to try doing some basic emulation and get to actually starting my Retro Adventures gemlog.
Thanks for reading,
-Ehrin