HP Stream 11 - A Windows notebook that's not a "Chromebook killer"

So this is Microsoft's answer to Chromebooks, low spec laptops and "Windows 8.1 with Bing" - as if the mere adding of default IE defaulted to Bing search is anything to boast about. I'm sure most sensible users will install either Chrome or Firefox browsers anyway. This is the HP Stream 11 and the build of it looks quite similar to my HP Chromebook 14 but actually feels cheaper in the flesh. It has an 11.6-inch 1366×768 display and 2GB RAM, much like many Chromebooks. It has 2.16 GHz dual-core Intel Celeron N2840 Bay Trail processor, which is somewhat slower than the Haswell CPUs of many Chromebooks.

Some articles have called it a "Chromebook killer" but I think that's far from the truth. Even with it's 32GB SSD, more than most Chromebooks, it only has 17.5GB of free space, which will soon fill up with the detritus from Windows updates and registry bloat, aswell as all those apps the user will install. Advanced users could remove the Windows Restore partition to recover 7.2GB of storage. The user could just install only a few apps or not install any extra apps at all, and just use web apps, but then that would defeat the purpose of getting a Windows laptop, might aswell have bought a Chromebook in the first place. And the hardware with just 2GB RAM is not going to be much fun with anything more than light office work either.

The advantage of a Chromebook is even with meagre hardware it is much quicker than Windows on the same or similar hardware.  And you won't have to worry about intrusive updates (and their many reboots), viruses/malware and there's no overhead of a bloated OS. Even if there is a problem, it takes minutes to wipe the entire OS and restore your Chrome extensions and data. Windows boots in around 30 seconds out the box on the Stream 11, but given time I'd wager that time will only get longer and longer, whereas my Chromebook 14 boots from cold to in use in just 7 seconds, and will stay that way. Not that I often boot mine from cold, I use it all the time, shut the lid and then open it again later and it's connected and working in a second. I actually find it more convenient than waiting for my Nexus 7 to wake up.  

Chromebooks have been a massive hit both in schools and in the consumer market, judging by their appearance in Amazon's best selling laptop list. It is going to take more than cheap hardware and Bing to kill Chromebooks. I would only really recommend buying a HP Stream 11 if you absolutely positively have to use a lightweight native Windows app for something that cannot be done on a Chromebook!

Sources: ZDNet, Arstechnica, Amazon, HP

Revitalizing a Sony VAIO with Xubuntu 14.04 (Part 2)

Back in June of this year, I rescued a 2008 Sony VAIO VGN-N31S/W from a fate worse than being recycled, a life with Windows Vista. It had a dodgy power cable,  dead battery and a missing letter 'O' on the keyboard. I have bought a new PSU, upgraded the RAM from 1GB to 3GB and have just replaced the missing key.

When I first got the VAIO, I replaced the broken Windows Vista installation with Xubuntu 14.04 32bit, but I now wish I had installed the 64bit version. I wanted to reinstall but could not get it to boot from USB or DVD, which is odd because I managed it before. And I check every time that the boot settings are correct in the BIOS. I would also like to replace the dead battery but I am wary about spending more money it. I have recently switched from the Xubuntu desktop to Cinnamon desktop using the PPA and the how-to detailed in this article and it runs very well on the VAIO with it's 3GB RAM.

Having used the VAIO for about 2 months now I now know it's strengths and weaknesses and faults. Although it weighs 6.6lbs, it does not feel heavy when sat on my lap, but it does feel back-breaking when carrying it in my rucksack! I am not usually a fan of glossy screens but I love the VAIO's beautiful 15.4" screen that gives a 1280 x 800 (16:10) resolution. My family always remark how good it looks when I am showing them photos on it. I can also store plenty of photos on the 320GB hard drive, which is handy when away from the Internet. It also suspends and resumes perfectly and is very quiet in use, it's cooling fans can barely be heard. It's also the only laptop I have with an Express card slot.

On the downside, the keyboard is not as comfortable as most of my other laptops. I don't know whether this is because of age or dirt or it was built that way. I often find i get more typos than I do with my other laptops. The trackpad buttons aren't very responsive either, you have to hit them in just the right place for response. the trackpad itself is just fine though. It also would be nice if Sony had put Gigabit onboard rather than just 10/100 Ethernet.

Overall it does feel more of a consumer grade laptop than a corporate one, but I am fairly happy with the Sony VAIO, especially considering it has not cost me much to obtain and repair so for now I shall keep it running until it dies. I find it very useful for showing photos and videos to my folks, mainly because of that fantastic screen. I used to use my Samsung N145 netbook for this but the screen is tiny and not very bright, so despite it's weight, the power and screen of the VAIO makes it better suited to the job.

 

Windows 9: Microsoft’s Latest Effort to Stay Relevant

Microsoft will announce Windows 8′s successor, codename “Threshold”, at their annual build conference in April this year, and most likely release it as Windows 9 in April 2015.



First a little history lesson. After the poorly received Vista and popular Windows 7, and after having missed the smartphone and tablet boom of the Apple iPad and Google’s Android systems, Microsoft decided to muscle in on the smartphone and tablet market with Windows RT and Phone 8 operating systems. But Microsoft made the big mistake of forcing the Metro (“modern”) interface in Windows 8 onto every platform, including non-touchscreen desktop and laptop computers. This has confused and frustrated a lot of users, no matter how many expensive TV adverts Microsoft put out. Microsoft Surface and Windows Phones have not made much of a dent either.

First Microsoft already has a  minor fix for 8 called 8.1, which merely brings back the Start button as well as some other fixes. This is a mistake since users don’t only miss the Start button, but actually miss the Start Menu too. As I have said before, switching from the touch-friendly Metro to the not very touch friendly desktop and back again feels awkward. Doing that every time I want to search for an application gets old fast! Both Apple and Google have sensibly, generally, kept desktop and mobile devices on separate operating systems (OSX and iOS, ChromeOS and Android) although Android seems to have jumped to all-in-one desktops at CES2014. However Android with it’s many OEMs, is far more flexible than Windows when it comes to custom interfaces. With the right skin, Android could make some inroads into all-in-one or laptop markets.




As Microsoft blogger Paul Thurrott states here, Windows 9 “needs to be everything that Windows 8 is not.” Although nothing has been set in stone yet, it will most likely have a windowed version of Metro that will work better on the desktop. This will supposedly make Metro apps, however few and little-used they are, integrate better into the desktop.

Microsoft’s backtracking fix to Windows basically makes Windows 8/8.1 the new Vista/SP1, but it might be too late for Windows to stay relevant for long. Google Chromebooks have outsold Macbooks in the US, and iPads are still leading tablet sales in the US. With Android dominating smartphones worldwide and making fast inroads into desktops and hybrid laptops, Microsoft Windows seems to becoming increasingly irrelevant. As Thrurrott put it, “Windows 8 has set back Microsoft, and Windows, by years, and possibly for good.” With many home users only needing browser based web apps and social networking sites, a Chromebook or Android desktop/laptop/tablet could be all they need. Even in the usually Windows dominant gaming market, Steam boxes that run Valve’s Linux-based SteamOS could eventually replace Windows once enough games are available in Steam for Linux. In the corporate world, most businesses will probably stick with the familiar Windows 7 until mainstream support for it ends in January 2015 while planning a switch away from Windows to a more secure, flexible platform, be that Chromebook and server based apps, Ubuntu or other desktop Linux, Android or OSX. One thing’s for sure, Microsoft Windows has a treacherous rocky road ahead.

Sources: winsupersite Ibtimes Cnet SteamOS PC World

Updating Maps and Exporting Custom Routes From Google Maps to Garmin GPS Devices

I've been helping to setup a Garmin Nuvi 2445 SatNav for a friend, including updating the maps and planning some custom routes, and I've found the process to be a little frustrating. To check for map updates and OS updates a browser plugin from Garmin is needed, but it does not support Firefox on Linux but works with Firefox on Windows and OSX. It also thankfully supports TenFourFox on OSX PowerPC. I updated the software on the device using it but then it needed Garmin Express, which has to be one of the worst programs I have ever encountered. It only works on Intel Macs or Windows and it barely seems to work! I tried about a dozen times and it still failed to download and install the latest maps. Having Googled around for a bit I found out that the older Garmin software, Map Updater, is more reliable, though sadly Windows only, but I finally managed to update the maps.

Next up I needed to export a route from Google Maps to the Garmin. For a few days or so this worked fine, just had to go to Google Maps, make a custom route, click Link, then Send and select Send to GPS. Then suddenly yesterday without warning, Google Maps lost the GPS option. This has meant looking for another way round it. I tried other online maps services but none of them worked the way I wanted.

With a bit more Googling I have discovered Tyre To Travel, and a useful how to on YouTube. Sadly it's still Windows-only, and does not work in WINE (despite what it said on their website), so I'm still looking for a possible Linux option.

The Garmin Nuvi device itself has actually worked well with custom routes, the key to having working custom routes is having plenty of Waypoints, otherwise the device figures it's own route out. Once you have them exported over, you need to go to Apps, route plotter/planner and load the one you want. When Google Maps had the export option, the Garmin plugin sent the route to Favourites too but not so with other software. Interestingly, the OS of the Garmin seems to be Android based, a custom version of Froyo or Gingerbread judging by the lockscreen. It's just a little annoying that for a company that uses a Linux-based OS that they have yet to release any software for desktop Linux, or at least make their browser plugin OS-agnostic. At least my Powerbook comes in handy as it can at least access the storage of the Garmin, which for some reason does not show up on Linux.




 

Windows 8 and Ubuntu 12.04 Beta On a Dell Latitude XT

I have acquired a slightly faulty Dell XT convertible tablet/laptop, the screen no longer stays up in laptop mode and it's also lacking it's pen stylus. Specs-wise it's similar to my Latitude D430, a Core2Duo CPU at 1.33Ghz, 2GB RAM, except this has ATI X1250 graphics instead of Intel 950 and an 80GB 1.8" hard drive instead of a 60GB 2.5" drive. I am unsure as to how to get multi-touch capabilities in either Windows 8 or Ubuntu, in neither does it work out the box, perhaps the Windows Vista drivers may work in Windows 8.


Windows 8

When it was new it would have come preinstalled with Windows XP or Vista. Since the Windows 8 'Consumer Preview' had just been released I decided to have a little play with it on the XT. I used the docking station's DVD drive to install it and it took about 30 minutes. Single finger touch works out the box.


















Windows 8 feels clunky to me, like Windows 7 with the ugly Metro interface bolted on the front. Switching from the touch-friendly Metro to the not very touch friendly desktop and back again feels awkward, and doing that every time I want to search for an app gets old fast! I'd much rather use an OS that is built for touch screen mobile devices from day 1, such as Android, iOS etc. I did like the on-screen keyboard, but for web browsing it wouldn't pop up for Firefox, only IE, although apparently there will be an 8-friendly version coming soon.

Ubuntu

After a brief test of Mint with Gnome3/Cinnamon (which I can't get on with, not keen on the menus and the Mint hijacking of the Search Add-ons), I formatted it and installed Ubuntu 11.10 64bit liveCD. Then I upgraded to the latest 12.04 beta. Although I'm not that keen on Unity for the desktop, in this case it does suit a tablet and has improved a bit recently. Having said that I still don't like Global Menus and would prefer to be able to easily disable that feature. Again, the single-finger touchscreen works out-the-box. Unity is still not touch-friendly enough (grabbing those overlay scrollbars is tricky for instance) but feels and looks a lot nicer than Metro and the MyUnity tool is very useful too if you want to tweak Unity settings. Sadly, ATI dropped support for the X1250 graphics card, which means I can only use Unity 2D and some 3D games/apps don't work very well.

















 

For touch use, I've found it best to disable auto hiding of the launcher (Settings, Appearance, Behavior). Ubuntu's default onscreen keyboard is called Onboard. It's OK once you resize it so you can actually use it with your fingers, though I wish it would automatically pop up and hide for dialogue boxes, like Caribou does. Enable the onscreen keyboard from Settings, Universal Access Preferences. Onboard should also appear on the LightDM login screen too. If you have upgraded from an earlier version of Ubuntu that used the GDM2 login screen (or if LightDM is trashed and you have switched to GDM), you can make Onboard appear by adding "onboard -s 684x200 -x 170 -y 568 &" to /etc/gdm/Init/Default between the last 'fi' and 'exit 0' as shown in this how-to. No need to change any other settings as shown on there though. Update: The only really frustrating thing about Unity is the dock which on this device is far too easy to accidentally open apps when trying to scroll the dock!




















Overall Ubuntu 12.04 works fairly well on the XT, despite the lack of proprietary graphics drivers. With a bit more improvement, Unity could be a good touch friendly desktop, though I still don't plan on using it on my main dual-monitor desktop or other laptops and desktops where I prefer Gnome Classic or XFCE (Xubuntu). And despite the odd bug here and there which should be fixed by it's release, 12.0.4 should be a decent LTS.

Choosing hardware and software for your next Linux computer.

Software

When choosing to buy or build a computer, I would first off think about what you want it for, and then choose the software then the right hardware. If you going to be doing professional graphics/audio/video work, I'd consider a Mac, as there are some good second hand deals out there. My Powermac G4 (dual 1Ghz MDD, with 2GB ram, room for 4 IDE hard drives) is still a good usable machine, even for light multimedia usage. The only real reason to use Windows is really for games, although there are quite a few, mostly non-commercial, games for Linux and Mac. Even then you can still dual-boot a PC or a Mac. I only boot into Windows for the occasional game of GTA SA and Need For Speed games. You can also play a certain amount of Windows games using WINE. For native Linux games, DJL is a great Steam-like game manager that makes it easy to find what you want.

If you need a machine for an everyday desktop work, web browsing, playing music, media server, and everything else, you can't go wrong with Linux. For me, Ubuntu is the most user-friendly distro. It's the one I have had the best experience with and I feel like it keeps getting better. Feel free to play the distro feild, as it costs nothing but a little download usage. In fact you can get an Ubuntu disc sent to your door for free! Distrowatch is a good place to find the right distro for you. These days there's no reason not to go 64 bit, unless your hardware doesn't support it, as it supports more than 4GB of ram and can give a performance increase.


Hardware

When building or buying hardware for use with Linux, do a bit of Googling to see if anyone has had problems with your chosen hardware. At the moment Nvidia is the best choice for a smooth Linux experience. You'll be rewarded with good performance and lovely compiz goodness! I would avoid onboard graphics as the performance is not so good and it usually borrows from your RAM. Motherboard-wise you can't go wrong generally, except with specific makers e.g. Foxconn. For wireless cards, I have had the best luck with those cards with ralink chipsets. I've had several Edimax and Belkin cards (USB, PCMCIA and USB) that work well with Linux. I have to say I don't like USB dongle-type devices anymore as i have had them overheat and die on me. Most soundcards seem to work OK with Linux, some better than others. Despite problems in the past most Creative cards work fine, though you might need to research a little with X-Fi cards. For printers, HP and Epson work well, avoid Lexmark/Dell. Similarly as HP/Compaq support Linux a lot of there hardware works well with it. There's a good list of hardware makers that support Linux here. Also have a look at the Linux Hardware Compatibility database. After choosing the main hardware, choose a suitable case to house it in, with a decent power supply.

Imitation is not always the sincerest form of flattery

Monstrosity: Windows 7 Theme for Linux

I've occasionally seen a red Fiat Coupé with Ferrari badges all over it. It looks pretty tacky and unconvincing, yet on various desktop customisation pages such as Gnome-Look, Stardock and others, I've seen countless themes that emulate the complete look of another operating system.
Why would you want Linux to look or work like a hideous bloated and buggy closed-source operating system? I've also seen Ubuntu brown themes for Windows, whilst it's nicer to look at than Windows XP and Vista default themes, why not just use Ubuntu, at least in dual boot? I also find the lack of themes on OSX to be a little irritating, what if i don't like brushed metal? The only feature of Mac I emulate in Windows (on the rare occasions I boot into it) and Linux is the dock. For Linux I use Cairo Dock and for Windows I use Object Dock. This is only because I like the way it works and keeps all my favourite programs close to hand. I just don't want my whole desktop to look like or work like OSX, the Starbucks of OS's, or the Mcdonalds of OS's, Windows.

The Second-Hand Mac Keyboard Experiment

For a week I thought I'd try an Apple keyboard on my PC with Ubuntu Linux and Windows XP, as I have just acquired one for free, it's not a new silver one though, but an old white one from 2005.


On Ubuntu 8.0.4 (and other Gnome using distros), it's easy to set up with the gnome keyboard tools (System → Preferences → Keyboard). Choose Apple under Models and add 'Apple United Kingdom' (or whatever your locale is) to the layouts. Also it is useful to select 'Press right control for third level chooser' under Layout Options, so you can access unusual keys like copyright symbols and double inverted commas etc. I set up F14, F15 and F16 as Previous, Play/Pause and Next track, but you can choose whatever you want them for in System → Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts. I also set up F13 as Print Screen but I kept hitting it accidentally whilst aiming for backspace, so I set it to Alt + F13. Apple's help key is Insert, and the equals key is unassigned, and I gave up trying to assign it.

On Windows XP I had problems with the Apple keyboard. The volume keys worked straight away, perhaps because I had the Microsoft keyboard tools installed. I could set up F14, F15 and F16 for
Previous, Play/Pause and Next track but only with Winamp (with the RMX plugin which can also use joysticks and remotes) The eject key did not work straight away. To actually reassign keys its tricky, although possible with third party freeware. I tried Sharpkeys and Autohotkey but I almost messed up my Windows install using them. It was much more difficult to set up in Windows than in Linux.

On using it for awhile I liked using it with Ubuntu, the volume controls and eject shortcuts I like and the look of it, but I'm switching back to my Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 as its much less strain on my fingers. Perhaps because it's old, the Apple keyboard needs more force to press the keys, and the key travel is too long. I hope the new Apple keyboard is better for the sake of Apple users, I now realise why a lot of Mac users use non-apple keyboards.

Update: Since then I've aquired a Powermac G4 which has the old Mac G3/4 keyboard with built in power button, I actually prefer this keyboard to the later one as it feels more comfortable!

5 Reasons for not using Windows Media Player

I have compiled a brief set of reasons not to use Windows Media Player 9 - 11. Winamp and Foobar are good alternatives. I've not mentioned DRM here, but that is more than just a WMP problem. Anyway, here we go:


1. Inadequate CD ripping facilities.

By default, WMP rips into WMA at a poor bit-rate, so you have to remember to change this in it's settings. Also, by default, error-checking is disabled. Even with it enabled, WMP may be fast but it hasn't got the best encoder out there.

2. Album Covers

If you put your own high quality album covers as folder.jpg in an album's folder, it replaces it with its own poor quality image. It also hides folder.jpg files (marks them as system and hidden files). To prevent this you have to disable it from retrieving album covers and managing your music library.

3. WMP messes with tags and filenames

Firstly when you rip an album with WMP, you have to individually edit the album/artist tags for each song and editing the playlist is a pain. There's also no overall playlist time. There's also little annoyances like it uses 'And' and 'Of' instead of 'and' and 'of' in tags, although these are down to personal taste.

4. Overall 'Bloatedness'

Media Player 11 uses around a 100mb of memory just to play a track! (Itunes also uses similar amounts of memory too) It just tries to do too much being a video and audio player and doing both poorly. Also, I don't like to allocate the huge amount of disc space it requires, just for a media player.

5. VBR

WMP has poor support for playing variable bitrate mp3s, displaying the wrong average bitrate and seek time. Some other software and hardware players have the same problems.