Monday, May 19, 2008

The beast, the beauty, and the wee eee

This is the Beast (the Dell desktop to the left, which nowdays just sits there silently chuckling away as a Linux server and VPN launch point), the Beauty (the elegant and refined Macbook, hooked up to the Dell monitor via the DVI input while the Beast is hooked up to it via the XVGA input), and the wee little Asus Eee PC 900 20G, which uses an ultra-low-voltage Celeron 900 processor (Dotham) and 20gb of flash memory (i.e., no hard drive to get cratered by bouncing around on a motorcycle). The monitor is on top of the Art of Computer Programming in order to get it above the line in my bifocals -- otherwise I get driven nuts by that. Luckily the monitor is big enough so that I can shove it far enough away to somewhat focus on it with the top part of my bifocals. One of these days I need to get some "computer glasses" (single-power glasses halfway between reading strength and far-sight strength). Sigh.

Nope, no political or news post today. Too busy playing with my wee Eee.

-- Badtux the Geeky Penguin

6 comments:

  1. Yea , " toys " are fun . I am a mechanic by trade and a skier by choice . Been too long since I got any exciting toys . But then , living in the gold country this past year , seeing the sun rise over the hill behind or set into the nearby river canyon . Hearing the rush of a snow fed wild and senic river , hearing the wind in our pines and oaks , the cool afternoon breezes , the compelling peace of living out here and away from the rush of city life . Well , I guess this all is my lastest toy , and boy am I having fun for a change . May you enjoy your toys as much as I do mine Mr Penguin .
    w3ski
    the contented skier

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  2. Hey there, ask your optician about computer progressives such as the Zeiss Gradal RD (Room Distance) or the Access Lens. Normal posture your eye looks dead ahead @ the monitor (32"), glance down and the lens gradually changes to working distance of 16". Tip your chin down and you can see to about 10 - 15'. I've dispensed them for years and all the patients rave about them! Regards, Mike (GOPnot4me)

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  3. Okay, I have a serious case of Eee Eeenvy. I configured my XO to act like an Eee by blowing away the preinstalled, kid-oriented GUI and installing Xfce to give it a more traditional desktop look. But the XO's solid state drive sure as hell ain't no 20 gigs. Penguins have all the bestest toys...

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  4. gopnot4me, I tried progressives. They literally make me vomit and my eyes feel like prunes. Yes I gave them time for adaptation, but it just did not work. So I'm back to good ole' regular bifocals, which required some adaptation but thus far are working for me. And on this wee Eee, I need the bottom part of my bifocals because the screen is so small, whee!

    Fnord, in some ways your XO is superior to my Eee. It has better wifi range, for one thing, and you can see the screen in daylight (not true for the Eee), and the keyboard is much more rugged. But true 'nuff that it doesn't have the internal flash of the 900 series Eees, though it is on par with the 700 seres Eees.

    -- Badtux the eeePenguin

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  5. Okay, I guess *I* need new glasses. I thought you said you were playing with your wee-wee, you perverted penguin.

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  6. Silly 618, I suggest you look up the anatomy of penguin elimination before you make that mistake again!

    -- Badtux the Anatomy Penguin

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