Finally picked one up; they had a model that lists for too much money on sale for just barely cheap enough for me to consider, and then when I convinced myself I’d actually write on the bus with it, I finally succumbed.
So there it is, the little devil — and to justify the expense, I have actually been writing on the bus with it! Well, attempting in some cases, as there are definitely some lessons to learn when trying to use it. Like, those twisty windy roads near my house? I shouldn’t try to use it when we’re driving on those. And when some rude SOB leans all the way back in their chair? Yeah, it’s not real useful then. Especially because the keyboard layout is a little modified from the usual — scale is slightly smaller, and keyboard layout is scrunched a bit, so typing blind won’t work until I’ve relearned the keyboard. Soon, but not yet.
Aside from that, though, this morning was a great proof of concept. I napped until the highway, then broke out the little beast, lit up OpenOffice and went to town. Already knew what I wanted to do, and while I didn’t finish, I certainly made enough of a dent to know I’ll be using this even more.
If I can snake some lunchtime I’ll pop the hood open and do some more, but at least I can start reclaiming some of the travel time I thought I’d sacrificed forever to the gods of Transit last year.
…must… resist temptation… do not install… no WoW… no WoW!
February 10th, 2009 at 6:32 am - Edit
It is an incredibly cool little machine.
February 10th, 2009 at 4:29 pm - Edit
hehe, so twisty roads on a bus aside… you have absolutely zero excuses now for not writing! gone and shot yourself in the foot now haven’t ya!
I also think they’re a tad to small for comfort, but I’m more concerned with people having reclining seats on a bus in the US! really?
anyway, nice purchase and /snigger at the laptop desk lock.
February 11th, 2009 at 12:54 am - Edit
Ha! Yeah, was a shot I kind of needed to take though, there’s too many hours lost on that damned bus to let it keep up any longer.
The keyboard is definitely a learning challenge, but I’ve learned smaller keyboards before — I think you remember with some “fondness” the old Vaio craptop I used to use as a baseline for indie game coding, and that’s not really much better. Just a getting-used-to process, another couple of weeks and it’ll be second nature.
And, yeah, they really do recline. Right smack into your face. Given your height I don’t think you’d manage too well on a NJ Transit bus man.
Hey, don’t laugh at the desk lock, people actually steal shit at the Agency. Nice, right?
February 13th, 2009 at 11:54 am - Edit
[...] noticing something odd:Â ever since I got my new little netbook and started writing on the bus, my job has gotten easier to [...]
March 4th, 2009 at 11:38 am - Edit
[...] are in progress; my new netbook is a truly excellent technical partner, but I also have to give some credit to TextBlockWriter, [...]