STFU && RTFM

It’s been a while since I last wrote of my trying out Opera. Since then, my tech-savvy friend has taken it upon himself to bring me into the light. A calm evening of beer and pizza quickly turned into just that, with the addendum of him prodding me to use Opera in no uncertain terms. Indeed, so much so that he convinced me to download and install Opera to my EeePC so that I could see the marvels of Opera in all their splendour.
 
It all started by him being amazed that I still used Firefox, and wasn’t Opera so much better? After a while, his line of questioning turned towards aren’t you convinced it’s the superior choice etc. Frankly, I wasn’t. My friend said, OK, here’s what we’ll do: Try it exclusively for a week, and then tell me what you think.
 
After using it for a week, not only am I not convinced it’s a superior choice, though it does have some things I’d like to see in Firefox, like syncronisation of bookmarks, and easy customisation of search parameters. The reasons I’m not convinced all have to do with usability. I’ve tried the same version on three different computers and two different OS’s.
 

• Ctrl+click does not open in a new tab
• Shift+click opens in a new tab, and moves focus to the new tab
• Ctrl++shift+click opens in a new tab, leaving focus in the active tab
• Ctrl+tab opens the last active tab (this can be changed)
• Closing a tab moves to the last active tab (this can also be changed, but is still erratic and unpredictable)
• Does not work properly in Google Docs Spreadsheets or Lotus Notes Webmail
• Opera sync does not sync settings, meaning that you need to tweak every install

 
The first six of these examples are counterintuitive, and simply don’t work well. Even though they may be tweaked, changing their behaviour to mimic that of Mozilla Firefox does not seem possible.
 
I stand by my original assessment, all in all, Opera is a good browser, but it will not be the browser that makes me move away from Firefox as my default browser.

Hardware
Hardwarewise, there’s nothing truly astonishing about the Eee. Let’s have a look at the specs of our unit:
 

• 900 MHz Intel Celeron CPU
• 1024 MB RAM
• 16 GB SSD
• 8,9” TFT
• 1,3 Mpix WebCam
• Atheros 802.11g WLAN card
• SDHC card reader
• Output/Input:
• 1xVGA
• 3xUSB
• 1xRJ-45 TP NIC
• 1×3.5mm Minijack audio out
• 1×3.5mm Minijack audio in

 
As I said, there is nothing revolutionary about the specs of the Eee. That is, not until you take its size into consideration. Weighing in at 0.99 Kg, and sporting its 8,9” TFT monitor, this computer is definitely an impressive bit of kit.
 
Software
The Eee comes with either Windows XP Home or Xandros Linux. Our model was the latter. Bundled with the computer we find OpenOffice, Mozillas Firefox webbrowser as well as a suite of games.
 
I assume you know what Windows XP is all about, so I’m only going to cover Xandros in this review. If you’re a basic user, the Xandros setup will most likely suit you fine, no problems. It works well for all it should work for.
 
If you are any kind of sysadmin, computer tech, or other kind of power user, the basic OS installed on this computer simply will not do. My suggestion is to reinstall it with Ubuntu Linux. First off, it works excellently, and secondly there are several guides out there to help you work out all the kinks (just make sure you have a internet hardline handy, as the Atheros WiFi-card is not supported out of the box).
 
Practical use
I have heard it commented that the keyboard of the Eee is too small for actual, practical use. I’ve got to disagree. Granted, this might not be the computer you use to write the Great American Novel, but it is most definitely workable. Indeed, so much so that this entire review has been written using the Eee.
 
Watching movies is no problem, nor is connecting it to a larger display. I’ve even used it to watch movies on my 37” TFT display, and connected it to my soundsystem at home. It works excellently.
 
Conclusion
The Eeepc is not what I’d recommend for your primary computer. Frankly, it is too small for that. It is ideally suited for a secondary computer. It’s small enough, and has no moving parts, making it an ideal companion for trips.
 
My immediate reaction was that it was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. I still think it is, but I also see its limitations. A 900MHz CPU has many of them, meaning that its multitasking skills lack something to be desired. Even so, it is a good bit of kit, and works very well.
 
My recommendation is this: if you’re not willing to wait, get it, but don’t complain to me later. If you are willing to wait, wait for the 901, which is rumored to have a 1.6GHz processor, which promises to be an improvement. Also, get the 9-cell battery, which will double to triple your batterylife.
 
Note: This entire article was written on the EeePC reviewed.

U3 and PortableApps are two competing systems designed to run software off external storage media. This is most relevant for thumbdrives and the like, but you could run PortableApps from a harddrive, or even your iPod!
 
For this comparative test, I used a SanDisk U3-enabled 4GB thumbdrive. When I bought it, U3 launchpad was already installed. After having tested U3 for a while, I formatted the drive, and installed PortableApps with the same, or similar software testing it once more.
 
Why run software off a portable drive in the first place?
If you travel a lot, it is often advantageous to be able to bring with you both the files and the programmes you need with you, not having to download or install them. There is also the issue of security to be considered, seeing how as you leave behind fewer tracks. In addition, a portable drive with your applications will enable you to run them from wherever you might be in the world, or even off it. Today, memory in general, and thumbdrives especially are very cheap. Many people have one or more thumbdrives around them on a day to day basis. Why not use the possibilities this entails?
 
Price
U3 is not available for purchase; you have to buy a thumbdrive which has it preinstalled. You will also need to configure it when you start it up for the first time.
 
PortableApps is free, and can be installed on any external storage unit you might wish. It comes in suites from 1MB upwards. The standard suite is recommended for thumbdrives with a capacity of 512 MB and above. This is the one I have used, along with some additional programs.
 
Installation
U3 comes preinstalled when you purchase a U3-enabled thumbdrive. All you need to do to set it up, is to give it the information it asks for, and it should be up and running. U3 is delivered with a password protection system which, should you wish to enable it, locks the drive fully unless the password is provided. Once you’ve set U3 up, you can download additional software for it from the U3 software central. The U3 software central leaves a distinctly messy impression, and it is not easily searchable. It has a load of programmes, many of which cost money.
 
PortableApps needs to be downloaded, and then installed. Installing PortableApps is very simple, and will take roughly twenty minutes, depending on what suite you choose, and what storage media you have chosen. After installation, you can download more programmes from the Portable Apps website, or browse for them online. All programmes for PortableApps are Open Source, and by far, most of them are free (I have yet to find any that are not free). There is no built-in security system, but at the PortableApps website, there is a perfectly good backup, synchronization and encryption/decryption tool called Toucan, which works very well and intuitively, and is able to encrypt separate files, instead of locking the entire drive, which seems to be the U3 approach.
 
Usage
The U3 Launchpad is automatically loaded, and will open a password prompt, if password protection is enabled. If password protection is not enabled, the launchpad will be loaded anyway, and can be found as a start menu in the right hand side taskbar in Windows. When you eject the U3 Launchapd, the drive itself is also unmounted, and so, should you wish to use the files on the drive, you will have to unplug the drive, and plug it back in, whereupon U3 Launchpad will once more be loaded.
 
PortableApps is not automatically loaded, but when Windows reads the drive, one of the options in the launch-menu is to launch PortableApps. Should you not wish to load PortableApps, you will still be allowed access to the drive, and once you do wish to launch PortableApps, there is a loading-option for it in the drive. When you eject PortableApps, the drive is still available, and should you wish to relaunch PortableApps, this is no problem.
 
Usage of the storage media
U3 and PortableApps are as close as makes no difference when it comes to how much memory they use on the storage media. PortableApps
 
Conclusion
All things considered, both systems stand up to the test, but PortableApps seems to be a notch or two better in all parts of the system. The choice is, of course, in the end up to the user, but my recommendation in this case is clear; PortableApps is the better tool. U3 comes in a very tidy second, but loses out when it comes to software costs and security. I have to admit that I am partial to the ease of encryption in PortableApps, and I dislike having to enter a password to reach non-sensitive files.
 
Note: This article has been written, in its entirety, on four different computers, running OpenOffice off a thumbdrive running PortableApps.
 
The U3 website
The PortableApps website

A friend of mine whose tech savvy is usually worth listening to waxed religious about Opera the other night. When he does, there’s usually a good reason, so I decided to check it out.
 
Setting it up
Setting up a webbrowser shouldn’t be a complicated process, and Opera is as simple to install as most other browsers. When you open it, you get what Opera has decided to call “Speed Dial”, basically a page with nine “buttons”, previews of nine websites, to be defined by the user. Here’s what it looks like:

 
Using it
I’ve used earlier incarnations of Opera, but it’s been a while, and they’ve gotten very far since then. Opera has a decent ease of use, but utilizes different hotkeys than comparable browsers Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, which makes crossing over a bit difficult. Nevertheless it presents itself as an intuitive and simple webbrowser.
 
One of the major features of Opera has since its inception back in 2000 been tabbed browsing. As an extension of this, Opera now features a preview-function of open tabs, which is activated by simply hovering the mouse pointer over the tab you wish to see as shown below:

 
All in all, Opera, like Safari presents itself as an impressive, intuitive and helpful addition to the family of webbrowsers. I’d like to have seen a higher degree of standardization when it comes to hotkeys, but mostly it’s a good browser, even though I doubt it will replace Firefox as my standard browser