[thelist] iBooks, OS X, Macs, Web Development, Laptops, Etc, Etc

[Josh Nolan]

The Dell 8100 or the 8200 is great. The keyboard is not that hard to get use
to.... and just get a mouse don't use the touch pad or the little knobby
thing....

besides that great graphics card. Good battery life. Great for watching
DVD's when work is slow or during lunch time. :)

I have the 8100 series. Works great and I am really happy with the quality
of the product.

----- Original Message -----
From: <Jonathan_A_McPherson at rl.gov>
To: <thelist at lists.evolt.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 9:52 AM
Subject: RE: [thelist] iBooks, OS X, Macs, Web Development, Laptops, Etc,
Etc


> Hello,
>
> > If you're a developer (or anyone who uses a computer all day) thinking
> > about buying a laptop online, it's imperative that you find somewhere to
> > try it out in person, first.
> >
> > No matter how many reviews you read, it's impossible to know if you can
> > deal with the incidentals- wrist-panel speakers, how small an 85%
> > keyboard really feels, or whether the particular model you're
> > considering even has a full range of keys.  Also imagine it with every
> > port plugged in at your desk or couch or wherever- will the headphone
> > cable be resting on your hands while you type?  Will the mouse have to
> > get tangled up with the printer/ethernet/whatever to reach your dominant
> > hand?  These minor details become a lot more important when you can't
> > just switch out components for a coupla bucks.
>
> I agree with this muchly, but I have a bit of a problem on my hands
because
> the laptop I'm most interested in purchasing is a Dell -- which are sold
> only via mail order AFAIK, so it's exceedingly hard to try-before-I-buy.
> I've been reading reviews like crazy, but, as you said, that's really
> effective only so far. Most of the 'user reviews' are along the lines of:
>
> 'This laptop is great, itz got a super-cool screen thats really clear and
> plays all my cds and dvds real nice the sound is great and the laptop
doesnt
> make any noise and I recommend it go out and get it now' ...
> 'This laptop is horrible the screen has dark spots and its slow and it
> wouldnt play the dvd I ordered from germany last week so i sent it back
the
> computer not the dvd and Dell wouldnt fix it their support is horrible
dont
> ever buy one of these stupid lemons there is even a hissing noise in the
> cheap plastic speakers.'
>
> > So you want/need to work in a Windows environment, but that interface is
> > totally irritating, right?  You'd love it if it were only prettier/
> > uglier/ easier/ more feature filled/ whatever...  Take some time to
> > check out Litestep (www.litestep.net): an open-source Windows shell
> > replacement that's smaller, faster, and more stable than the Microsoft
> > offering.  It's infinitely customizable, although if you don't choose to
> > install someone else's theme (there are thousands), you could find
> > yourself killing a whole lot of time creating and editing config
files...
> >
> > As an added bonus, Litestep is based on AfterSTEP, so if you're coming
> > from or headed to Linux, it can definitely ease the transition.
> >
> > Many Litestep themes are packaged with the LS executable and config
> > files.  Good starting points are desktopian.org and
deviantart.com.</TIP>
> >
> > I'm not affiliated, I just wouldn't give up my on-desktop resource
> > monitor and right-click start menu for anything.
>
> Tried Litestep, couldn't get it to work as I desired in a resonable period
> of time -- and it did a lot of crashing and didn't work well when it *was*
> running. I want to someday, though, because I adore a lot of the features
I
> get in Linux window managers, especially the virtual-desktop capability. I
> mostly used fvwm2 when I was at WSU-TC.
>
> Speaking of alternative shells --
>
> <tip type="Command shells" author="Jeduthun">
> You're a Unix or Linux person who has grown addicted to the power that
bash
> or other command shells have. You feel inhibited when you sit down at a
> Windows box with 'command' or 'cmd.' You wish you could do things in
Windows
> that you can do in Unix.
>
> You need Cygwin (http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/).
>
> Cygwin brings a slew of GNU tools -- most or all your old friends from
Unix
> -- to Windows. It provides a Unix-comaptibility layer so you can compile
> some Unix programs for Windows. (I actually did this successfully with
some
> of my own code -- it's *very* slick).
>
> Later versions of Cygwin even come with X, so you can run X on top of
> Windows if you want. (-: (The X is fully server-capable, so you can run
> remote X apps without expensive software like Exceed!)
> </tip>
>
> --
> Jonathan McPherson, LMIT/SD&I
> Software Engineer & Web Systems Analyst
> email / jonathan_a_mcpherson at rl dot gov
> --
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>
>
>