[PVRCNC] Asus Eee PC (was One laptop per Child Computer)

[Brad Hedges]

I just bought an Asus Eee PC laptop a couple of weeks ago with the express
intent of using it for portable ops. There are a number of Linux programs
for Ham Radio use - just see last month's QST for more info.

The keyboard is *small*. I find myself adjusting to it fairly quickly but it
is easy to overshoot keys; for me the most common mistakes are the o/0 and
w/2 keys... YMMV. Touch typists beware.

It does come with fairly detailed instructions on installing Windows XP
which I am considering. Given its 4 GB solid state HDD however, you'd have
to be careful about what else you install. I have a 2 GB SD card in mine;
you can get up to 16 GB cards which should take care of any reasonable need.
Also, you can upgrade the 512 K RAM to 2 GB for ~ $50 or so. Pretty
reasonable, I think.

I haven't yet made up my mind if I'm going to go that route, but it does
call to me every time I visit the Newegg web site...

All in all, I'm pleased with it. It boots fast, is reliable, the screen is
remarkably readable; it generally resizes web pages well and formats them
for maximum readability. I think it'd be just the ticket to accompany a
Yaesu FT-817 for portable PSK/CW operating, for example. But I wouldn't want
to do a serious contest with it, at least, not without using an external USB
keyboard/mouse. And I haven't tried using those with it yet; I'll do that
tomorrow if I think about it.

73,
Brad


Bradley D. Hedges
AL4T
Sergeant First Class, Infantry
82d Airborne Division



Cliff,

<snip>

Thanks for your usage report of the OLPC.  Now, has anyone tried one of 
the Asus Eee PC units?  The reviews by non-ham users indicate that it 
may be a better choice for our purposes.  I am looking forward to 
trying the 1M RAM/8G SSHD version when it becomes available here in the 
US.

73,
Henry - K4TMC

<snip>