Posted by Brian Cui on August 6, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Since netbook keyboards and trackpads are rather cramped compared to full size laptops, it’s wise to get a wireless mouse and keyboard set. Some people can deal with their keyboard, some people can deal with their trackpad, but regardless, full sized keyboards and mice are still the way to go. I have an Inland Pro 70119 Wireless Optical Mouse (Mice) Keyboard set (click to enlarge the above image) that I got from Fry’s not too long ago. It’s relatively cheap, and can be found at around $20-$40. Is it any good? Read this first hardware review to be published by Netbook Network to find out!
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Posted by Sastry on July 29, 2010 at 10:31 am
In today’s rapidly growing world of technology, Operating Systems are growing ever larger. Microsoft’s Windows 7 takes a substantial fifteen gigabytes of disk space. Linux distributions such as Ubuntu take up seven-hundred megabytes. Arch Linux, which is supposedly a distribution with a “stripped down” set of tools and no GUI takes up almost four-hundred megabytes of hard disk space. Then we come to supposed “light” distributions. For a long time, Damn Small Linux (abbreviated DSL) was the to-go distribution for a small hard drive. It was only 50 megabytes, and had most of the features of a fully-fledged operating system. However, DSL is based off of the 2.4 kernel line, which is now seriously outdated. Also, it lacks much of the fantastic aesthetic appeal that newer distributions contain.
Enter SliTaz. Conceived in 2006 by Christophe Lincoln as the Simple Light Incredible Temporary Autonomous Zone, it was not based off of any previous Linux distribution and weighed in at an elegant thirty megabytes. It’s hard to make Damn Small Linux look bloated, but by knocking off forty percent of the size and adding features, SliTaz does it handily.
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Posted by Sastry on July 6, 2010 at 10:17 am
A desktop environment (DE) is a collection of programs that creates the Graphical User Interface of the desktop. Taskbars, start menus, and window borders are all part of a desktop environment, and are all packaged so they work together. In the Linux world, there are many choices of DE, such as Gnome and KDE, the two environments we will be reviewing today.
To begin, let’s start with KDE. KDE (pronounced kay-de-e) was created in 1996 by Mathias Eldrich when he perceived a lack of unity in the UNIX desktop. He designed KDE so that all the components worked together seamlessly, with a common style, just like in the MS Windows and Mac environments. To build this environment quickly and cost-effectively, Eldrich used a traditional open-source development model. Programmers, artists, and graphic designers from around the world contributed to the development of KDE releasing the first version in just 2 years.
KDE uses the Qt (pronounced kyoot) toolkit. A toolkit defines the style of the GUI. With a single toolkit, all applications looked similar. The choice of Qt as a toolkit initially sparked some concern because it was not under a license that the Open Source Initiative and Free Software Foundation approved of. The company that engineered Qt, Trolltech, later released Qt under a free software license and most critics were satisfied.
A screenshot of the KDE 4.4 desktop with several windows open
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Posted by silentcascade on July 1, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Lightweight OS’s are popping up all over the place seemingly with similar blazing fast speeds and loads of features. But are they really that similar? In this article, two popular netbook OS’s fight to the null in terms of features, appearance, and usability.
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Posted by silentcascade on July 1, 2010 at 11:26 am
The Linux Mint team recently released the 9th version of their distro, called Linux Mint 9 “Isadora”. Along with their Gnome version they released a sister KDE version, with a KDE desktop. This is a really cool move because KDE has some features that Gnome has yet to offer.
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Posted by silentcascade on June 30, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Without a doubt, you’ve seen some of the operating system reviews that we’ve put up on our site, ranging from Puppy Linux to Meego. But the real question you want to ask yourself is, what do I want from my netbook?
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Posted by Hofstee on June 30, 2010 at 3:18 am
Mentha x piperita is the binomial name for peppermint, and today I tested out Peppermint OS, after 3 or 4 other OS’s wouldn’t work with my flash drive. Peppermint is another OS like Jolicloud, combined with the full blown Ubuntu interface we all know and love.
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