They’re an extremely durable and reliable device in my opinion. I love that it’s light-ish at 1.6 kilos but doesn’t compromise on the keyboard size. I actually purchased it just before the Netbook craze kicked into gear in 2007. Sometimes I wish it was lighter but I’ve read enough complaints from people regarding the keyboard problems on Netbooks that I’m happy.

I run Ubuntu on the laptop and it’s getting better with a couple of gripes. Originally in 7.10 there were some fan and wireless problems but now 9.04 has everything working except two parts broke that I’ll detail here.

• The external sound controls are no longer responding. Annoying but not too bad. I haven’t researched what has changed but I will update this post when I find out.
• A more pressing problem was a small change in the xorg.conf file. The result was a bizarre, sluggish effect on the entire interface of laptop that was worst when minimizing windows and scrolling a page in Firefox. By sluggish I actually mean unusable

The omission was (under the device section):

Option “AccelMethod” “XAA”

The responsiveness is back to normal with that inclusion.

I personally don’t need Compiz on my laptop (a waste of battery I find) so here’s my current xorg.conf file for anyone that’s interested.

Gnome Do on its own is an equivalent to QuickSilver which is an OSX search and command program. By hitting the super key and the space bar on your keyboard Do will pop up a box to type a command or search term into. It’s got an interesting plugin system that enables it to perform tasks such as:

• Initiating chat with Pidgin contacts
• Quickly searching for a GMail contact’s details
• Searching files and folders on your PC
• Playing a particular song in Rhythmbox
• Searching your Google Calendar
• Searching for programs to call by via command-line

An example of initiating a conversation would be:

• Hit super key and space bar together
• Type ‘chat’
• Hit tab
• Type ‘Chr’
• Hit up and down arrows to move through Pidgin contacts containing the text ‘Chr’: Chris B, Chris N, Chris O
• Hit enter and Pidgin gains focus with the Pidgin contact conversation open

To install Gnome Do with the Docky theme available you’ll need to add Gnome Do PPA Repository to your sources:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main

Simple sudo edit

/etc/apt/sources.list

And append the deb lines to the end. Then open Synaptic and reload the manager. Then search for ‘Do’ and install Gnome Do.

Full example screenshot:

The only thing I dislike about the Docky theme is that it loses the listing of possible actions that Gnome Do normally provides as it autocompletes your typing. Try out the regular Do themes and then try Docky’s and you’ll see what I mean.

Otherwise it’s a pretty awesome app and much better than Cairo or Sim dock which I have tried previously.

Kudos to the Do team!

EDIT:

As David points out in the comments, Gnome Do can also (and apparently is optimised for) start its search process by object and then interact with it via its possible actions. In other words, I can type the name of a friend on my pidgin contact list, hit tab and then select to begin chatting with them. Or I could select to copy their email contact information.

Hence, any of the actions that are possible with that friend would be listed. Very cool stuff. Thanks for pointing this out David.

Personally I prefer the original approach as it relates more to English and feels like a more natural language processing flow for the user but that’s just me. I’m sure users in countries where the verb follows the object will be appreciative of the Do team’s efforts!