Frog In North Georgia » wi-fi

Asus Eee Day 2

Christine Eclavea Mercer — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:36:51 +0000

Approximately 36 hours with the Eee in my possession and I have added a 2G ram chip and lost a screw. The screw on the back of the case, not in my head. Though I’m sure one could argue… In my usual irreverent way, I put on flip-flops then casually popped open the case in my living room. A screw went flying. It’ll turn up eventually.

I made a rookie move and forgot to check the bios right away. So Windows plowed on as if it had only 1G. I went back into the bios and voila, 2G. Bah.

I’ve been calling the little guy Netbook all day. So obviously, I name things like a pre-schooler. And I forgot to take his picture. Right, guess I’m not all that sentimental.

The mouse has a hair trigger, and doesn’t calibrate. But I am getting used to it. This morning tabs were closing and links were launching all over the place while I cursed the mouse as possessed. But not so much after working all day.

It has been my practice to keep my fingernails very short when working on a small keyboard or laptop. But I didn’t shorten them. And typos have been minimal. So apparently, that won’t be necessary.

The scrolling on the mouse was initially weird. But then I actually looked at the instructions. (Did I just lose my nerd card?) And two finger are supposed to be used. That really helps.

The position of the function, home, end and question mark keys is an adjustment. Twice I fired off messages and realized they should have had question marks in them. But somehow, I manage to proofread articles acceptably. Go figure.

StumbleUpon scolded me and suggested that my screen needs an upgrade. Ha. You try carrying around a big screen in your purse and a four year old.

No wi-fi signal at the park. Boo. Great wi-fi on my porch. Wee.

How do you like the frog? I found him on the porch last night. I took four pictures of him, mediocre at best, when the camera battery ran out. Too bad. I was hoping to keep trying until I got the shutter speed right.

I am completely nonthreatening to wild animals. Then just observe me. I must be in my natural habitat.

Oh yeah, the battery did last ten hours. Usually, they just say that, but right out of the box it’s two. But this one did the whole ten.

Asus Eee First Impressions

Christine Eclavea Mercer — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:42:33 +0000

The Asus Eee arrived today. Here’s how it went down.

The Order

Ordered from Amazon on Sunday. Shipped promptly by Adorama Camera.

Delivery

Arrived in three days. This is the only delivery ever stated to arrive within 3-5 business days, coming to this address, that has ever arrive in three days. Wahoo.

Weirdly, UPS man arrived at noonish, rather than evening, as I was pulling out of neighborhood. Since I saw him I raced back to my driveway to sign for my new pc.

Packaging all in order.

Equipment

Instructions are clear. Wow, tech writers have improved. But don’t believe me. I’m a gearhead. Ask somebody who will read the instructions, all of them. I read four pages. Just the ones I wanted.

Plugged my new little gadget in for three hours and ignored him. Yes, it should be her, like ships. But this one is going to be a male.

Booted up like a charm. (Maybe I’ll call him Henri.) Easy initial setup.

asus eee he workspace

Networking

Wi-fi kicked right in and found every network in the neighborhood: except ours. I restrained myself from trying to login to the neighbors network by typing in the names of all their kids and instead sent DH a text asking him where he hid it. Of course he hid it.

Attempted to login to DHs network, while he pretended to ignore me, but asking, “Did you find it? Do you have it now? Now, are you on?”

Promptly logged into network, then failed to get dns to fire up. Disconnect, reconnected, tried various reconfigurations, then got smart and moved closer to the router. Voila!

Downloaded as much stuff as came to my head instantly: Firefox, Scribefire, Yoono, Google Toolbar, BBCode and Mapthis.

Screen Keyboard Mouse

The screen isn’t bothering me one bit. I’m totally fine with it.

The keyboard is going to take some getting used to. I must revert to shorter nails, which I have always found a necessity for laptops. The control and home keys are very close together. And the function key is something I’m needing to use a lot. I find none of these things to be a deterrent.

I thought the mouse would freak me out. But it doesn’t. I am slow with the right clicking. But other than that find it intuitive.

Conclusion

None of the things I’m having to tweak are more bothersome than any other pc I’ve ever configured. This laptop is doing what I want. And it fits in my purse. This could be love.

The Wire and My Wire

Christine Eclavea Mercer — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:57:34 +0000

This quote is my new favorite. I think it’s hilarious. I think I misquoted it recently (in exactness, not intent). But anyway, funny.

“The Wire” All Prologue (2003) – Memorable quotes

Sergei ‘Serge’ Malatov: Family cannot be helped.
Proposition Joe Stewart: Who you tellin’? I got motherfuckin’ nephews and in-laws fucking all my shit up all the time and it ain’t like I can pop a cap in their ass and not hear about it Thanksgivin’ time. For real, I’m livin’ life with some burdensome niggers.

My pc is screwing up. I hate purchasing certain things, most especially cars and computers. This contributes to the fact that I typically have the most antiquated system in the household. Though at present, DD’s is not only older, but doesn’t work.

The one I have now previously belonged to SS, but did not perform certain gaming functions. So DH got him a new one – last year I think – and I inherited this one. I have actually never purchased a computer. Dozens of pdas, phones and other gadgets, and even approved the hardware to be appropriate for some corporate computers at one time, but not once my own pc. At least not that I can remember.

HP Compaq mini 110-2 by louisvolant

I so hate the drama that is shopping for this netbook or laptop thing I need:

How much ram is appropriate?
How much disk space do I need?

Blah, blah, blah.

Of course I ask DH and he says the ones I like are too small with not enough memory. This is okay. But of course, DH plays games and is a man. I mention that he’s a man, because he does not mind lugging a six pound object around with him. I mind. I am already minding a 34 pound child. 34 plus 6 is 40. 40 pounds is a lot.

Also, one does not require 4GB of disk space to write html, run a content management system (WordPress), Firefox, or Open Office.

Though… I won’t be able to upgrade it later. I want the pdas to perform like computers/the computers to be the size of pdas. That’s what I want. I want to be small, really small. I want it to fit in my purse, get wi-fi at the library, and still publish to my blog.

Ugh.

I feel the opposite about cars. I want it to transport me reliably, and to be able to fit a tree in the back.

Character Map and Disappearing Gmail