Waiting for my TC1100

I've been fooling around with Ubuntu for a while now, and have three laptops (all HPs) running various editions of Xubuntu.

My main desktop-replacement is an old 17" HP NX9600 that I just love. Got it off eBay, three or four years ago. It arrived without an OS, so on went Xubuntu 8.10 or such. It traveled to Southeast Asia with me, where it turned out to have an overheating problem -- one that is not apparent if you don't install an OS. The NX9600 runs hot anyway, so I didn't recognize the problem at first. Later, I thought it was just a fan problem.

Fortunately, SEA is a great place to get electronics repaired. So for $70 or so, my mainboard was fixed. Really. Here in the US, I'd probably have had to sell it for parts, at best. (And at that, they charged me more because I was a foreigner!)

Since then, I've upgraded the HD to a 7200RPM Hitachi, and the CD/DVD to a slot-loading dual-layer burner. I've maxed the RAM, bought a new battery, and even managed to get an HP USB DIGITAL DRIVE -- not too special that, but unique; it's an SD card reader that fits in a special USB slot. It lights up with a nice Indiglo sort of light, and is pretty useful at times. It looks like a Zippo lighter.

The NX9600 does the job of my main machine. Runs Xubuntu 9.04 right now, but I'm thinking to upgrade to 9.10. It's not a screamer, but it doesn't whine too much, either. And it's heavy, something like 10 or 12 pounds with battery and power supply. Which is why it sits on my desk, playing music, playing movies and processing text.

While in Asia, I bought an Asus EEE 1000H and a Smart Q7. Looking for a portable solution, particularly one where I could read e-books easily. The Asus was okay, did the job, excellently portable, not so good for e-books. Ran Xubuntu just fine. The Q7 wanted to be great, but suffered from bad software, and a terrible digitizer (I had to ship it back for repairs, actually.) Would be a good format for reading, but wasn't easy to use, even with a native Ubuntu environment (ARM).

Later, when I got back to the US, I thought I could make some money by buying HP machines suffering from the Nvidia-chip overheating problem for cheap, then getting them fixed and reselling. Turns out that new laptop prices are falling too fast for that. I realized this after buying an HP Pavilion DV6663 and a TX1320 and sending them off to get fixed by mail, from a service I found on eBay. Good guy, and he warranteed the work, which, as it turns out, was necessary because I've had to send them both back for repair. The DV6663 just quit without warning, and the TX1000 has had both video-scrambling and wireless failure. The wireless is a symptom of the Nvidia heat issues, and HP, as a good, sociopathic corporate citizen is pretending not to know this.

The guy fixing the machines added a heat-sink to the DV6663 (which, really, he should do as part of his normal service -- it only adds a few cents to his cost, after all. And he wouldn't have to deal with disappointed customers as often.) The TX1000 is currently back with him, and I'm waiting for it to return.

(Aside -- I'm out around $175 per laptop for repairs and shipping at this point. Doesn't compare to $70, and two years of perfect function for my NX9600.)

Once I realized that I wasn't going to get rich reselling repaired laptops, I decided to migrate from the Asus to the TX1000 -- better performance, screen size, memory, etc, yet not too much bigger in terms of portability. Heavier, though.

The Q7 was just a bear. Long irrelevent story about bricking the firmware won't be told. I finally managed to fix and sell it, and the Asus, too, after resetting it back to Windows XP.

The TX1000 is a pretty good laptop, good performance and ergonomics, nice styling, feels good in the hands, highly portable and works solidly. But with the second hardware failure, and its general lack of impressiveness as a tablet (inaccurate, pressure-sensitive screen), I started thinking about getting another, lighter netbook with the newer chips and specs, or a smallish, lighter-weight, older laptop, maybe a mini-Vaio. Another, long boring story later, I had discovered the HP TC1000 and fallen deeply into techno-lust. Search the web for details -- short take is that it seems to be the convergent, portable device I've been looking for, with a huge fanbase and support-system, lots of tips and tricks, and excellent design. The performance is the equivalent of a netbook (better video), and the screen-size looks right for reading PDFs when necessary.

I've spent the last three days reading the entire internet (well, 9% of it) about this machine, and found an awesome auction on eBay for a late-model, 1.2ghz version. The auction included just about every option available, from extra batteries, external charger and original documentation to a dock and case, etc. Seller claimed not really to have used it. I think this is the latest version, capable of 2gb memory, and with the indoor/outdoor wide-angle screen. I was so excited about this thing, I even set up sniping software so I wouldn't lose it. First time ever. Seller's been great about shipping it, too, as I can't accept his usual FedEx service.

So, I'll be selling the TX1000 for sure, now -- at a loss, of course -- and either the NX9600 or the DV6663. Can I trust that the DV6663 won't fail again? And its screen is smaller. But the NX9600 is definitely not a screaming performer anymore (not bad, though -- 3.2ghz P4, not too many of those on the market.) The DV is smooth, and pretty, and seems to be running well now. Guess I'll migrate, and test for a few weeks -- if it doesn't die, and if I like using it in spite of the smaller screen, I'll sell the NX. I have to pay for the TC1100, after all, and no one needs four laptops. I've got a Nokia 770 that should probably be on its way as well. And a camera, and a smartphone. And probably more if I look around.

I have too much stuff distracting me. Trying to maintain all these devices is not a good use of my time. So, while I will probably try to reduce to just whatever desktop-replacement I pick and the TC1000, I'm also sort of thinking that I might be able to go to just the TC1000 and it's docking station, at home (with a second monitor) and buy a second dock for the office (and maybe a dumbphone with a good mp3 player.) If the TC1100 is as good as claimed, I expect to get a lot of use from it. And a lot of fun from setting it up. But it might not be up to replacing my desktop-replacement. We'll see.

And this long, somewhat-tedious story finally gets to the point: I'll be using this blog to document what I've done, and explain to myself how to get the TC1000 working with Xubuntu -- not just getting the hardware to work (everything must work!) but figuring out the best software to use. Probably with commentary about whether or not I am successfully simplifying things, too.

If anyone actually reads it, it'd be great to hear your ideas, and get your advice and help. Two days and counting until it arrives!

m a r