If I were to publish an eBook on the mating habits of the German Cockroach...
Insect pr0n? I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.....
I expect it beats David Pogue's ebooks anyway!
How do you replicate a 5-10 second start time?
You have me there! Running Kubuntu, my start up is a lot slower than the other EeePC running the stock Xandros based distro - it isn't bad, but nothing like the stock system. I probably *could* cut a second or two off the time - I haven't done much other than disabling a few things in the System Services tab. On the other hand, the system seems more useable than when it ran the Asus Xandros.
But you have encouraged me to see what start up speed I can reach with basic tweaks.
Whilst an iso would be useful, it isn't too hard to install a normal Ubuntu/whatever distro onto a laptop - or even an EeePC (my Eee runs Kubuntu).
Once installed, it is relatively easy to customise to your own tastes/needs. For example, I removed all the Bluetooth gubbins, as much printer related stuff as possible and a whole host of odds and ends (various fonts for languages I don't use saved me 70+ mb)
I haven't looked at the Notebook Remix specs, but I imagine the various tweaks are all going to be easy enough to replicate on your own machine.
Bearing in mind that the pre-installed Windows OEM versions are virtually free to manufacturers (costs are low plus recouping any cash via all the pre-installed bloatware trial versions etc), I suspect that Linux pre-installed machines will be no cheaper than Windows ones - and maybe even more expensive. Hopefully any machines which come onto the market will be decent spec - not the usual "hey, Linux is free, therefore lets give the purchaser the bottom end processor/amount of ram/graphics/hard drive....." . That really pisses me off.
I don't use Windows and would buy a Linux laptop if they were easily available at the same (or slightly less) cost as the Windows equivalent machines (I already have two EeePCs) - I hate paying the Windows Tax on laptops which I format the second I get them out of the packaging!
I cannot see why Asus don't simply ask the 900 owners to send in proof of purchase (receipt or whatever) and £10 to get the new battery pack. What is the idea behind requesting owners to send back their original battery to get an exchange? It would end up with Asus having a stockpile of old, "pre-used" batteries which they then need to dispose of. Or are they planning to re-sell these in "refurbished" machines at some point?
At the moment, Asus have a great lead in the market - the other cheap UMPCs are only now starting to appear and Asus could have kept up their lead by allowing users to keep their old battery and simply send in the proof of purchase and the cash. Hell, they *could* have simply asked for proof of purchase and soaked up the tenner price themselves!
Whatever, the Asus EeePC is still a great little machine for the money. I don't have the 900, mine is the 701, with a 5200 battery pack. The Panasonic astroturfers who have posted to this thread need to look at the cost of each machine before claiming that the Panasonic is somehow miles better! Yes, the Toughbooks are amazing, but they cost several times the price of the EeePC - they are also designed with a different user in mind. The Panasonic is specifically designed for harsh working conditions (building sites, garages etc), where the EeePC is not. Having said that, mine spends a lot of evenings outside in damp conditions connected to my telescope!
Mod up parent! A Monty Python joke is always good for a +5 funny - and the Moose gags in the credits for The Holy Grail rock!
No realli! She was Karving her initials on the moose.....
(and don't forget my funny mod for continuing the Moose joke)
Likewise for those with heart problems who use Glyceryl Trinitrate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyceryl_trinitrate_(pharmacology) to ease angina pains. I can just imagine walking into a fairly busy airport terminal, having a mild angina attack and using my GTN spray. A few minutes later, a squirt of this stuff and the snap of the rubber gloves, coupled with airport security pointing guns is really going to help ease the problem - not!
I can see someone getting sued big time here....
The EeePC will happily run Doom2, especially if you are keen enough to either set up the Advanced interface or install a different version of Linux (e.g one of the *buntu or whatever you prefer). Easy to do - just follow the EeeUser Wiki - http://wiki.eeeuser.com/
Use something like prboom to run your Doom2 - it works well on the EeePC.
Or even install Windows if you really must (or buy the Windows installed version)
Whist an older laptop may seem a good idea, I would be worried about the battery. Most of these old machines have batteries which have reached the end of their life and will soon crap out. Even if the machine comes with a replacement, it will most likely be a cheap copy with a poor lifespan. Not that the battery life on the EeePC is fantastic I must admit! But you can maximise it if you need to by turning down the brightness on the screen and disabling stuff like the wireless.
The EeeUser website is very useful for info regarding these machines - including modifications such as bluetooth etc for the really keen!
Just a quick update to say that I have got the Sugar desktop running in a VM install of Hardy. It was a bit of a pain to get it going - there were several dependancies not mentioned in the package requirements. Although I am using a virtual install of Kubuntu, which meant I had to install some Gnome components to get the Sugar interface running, the missing dependancies would not have been there in a standard Gnome system.
Once I get a few minutes, I will draw up a list of those other odd deps and send them to the devs.
Sugar runs very well in the VM to be fair to it - I can even connect to Slashdot using the modded Firefox browser.
OK, I can understand that we have different views, but someone modded me down for my comment?
I can appreciate that not everyone agrees with my post - and I can fully understand the opposing viewpoint from the less rabid posters.
I am classified as "disabled" in the UK because I have heart problems, and one of my friends is in a wheelchair because he suffers from a genetic condition, so perhaps I can sympathise with the disabled more than some of the younger, fitter slashdotters. But some of the comments have been downright illogical on this thread. Yes, most perhaps were aiming for +5 funny, but to suggest that people may wish to lose limbs to win athletic events is quite sick. I have three coronary artery stents - which in theory *could* improve bloodflow in the heart of a perfectly healthy person - so, would those people risk the possibility of having their heart stop or worse to perhaps gain a 0.01% increase in their chance of winning a race? Believe me, the procedure is pretty scary! As for having limbs sawn off to stand a chance of winning an event? The risks of embolism alone are simply not worth it.
The fact that this guy has taken part in the Paralympics is, in itself, proof of his commitment to sport. The fact that, despite the 1 second plus gap between his best time and the Olympic minimum qualifying time, he is prepared to give it a go, should be applauded.
The guy was 11 months old when his legs were amputated below the knee. Regardless of whether these J blades give him a slight edge or not (personally I am not a sports person oddly enough!), he deserves a chance to compete based on his determination if nothing else!
He is a great role model for other disabled persons in his way - just as Stephen Hawking is in his.
As the proud owner of two Asus EeePCs and someone who has experimented with the Sugar interface in virtual machines (I live in the UK, so no G1G1 option was offered here or I would have bought the XO machine as well), I think that is a little unfair.
If nothing else, the OLPC project was responsible for the low priced UMPCs which we can now buy - remember the price of a UMPC a year or two ago? It was cheaper to buy a pretty high spec (but full size) machine.
The OLPC project has lost its way - perhaps because of Negroponte, perhaps because of Intel or maybe pressure from other (Redmond?) forces. Whatever, the OLPC original idea was great - create a functional, robust laptop and include a user friendly interface, a simple peer to peer networking system to allow sharing of files between these machines, an OS which allowed you to learn how things worked etc.
Because of the political infighting which has taken place, the project seems to have lost the support of those who would be of most use to it - i.e Open Source enthusiasts who could have worked on the XO machines and the Sugar interface to create new programs. So the folks behind that Sugar interface have taken it to the community in the form of this new effort called Sugar Labs - intending to develop, with the assistance of the community, the interface and make it available for other small UMPC machines - including the EeePC.
IMHO, this is to be applauded and I for one will certainly have a look at it again. The only small snag at the moment is that it doesn't seem to like running in my VM install of Kubuntu. But I am sure I can find a spare drive here somewhere to install (K)Ubuntu 8.04 or another supported system and fire up the Sugar interface.
Thanks for the replies. I must admit that I hadn't checked out my apt sources.list and,although I had updated, the gb archives were not working for some reason. Once I removed the gb, then updated the system I spotted the sugar components!
Note to self: Check all is up to date before querying TFA:)
According to TFA -
It has already been bundled with the most recent releases of the Ubuntu and Fedora Linux operating systems
I just fired up my Kubuntu 8.04 system and, looking through the available packages from the Ubuntu repositories, I can find no trace of it. I tried various searches - sugar,olpc etc - but nothing. Can anyone discover the alleged bundled sugar interface?
I have run it in VMs in the past, but would have liked to have another fiddle with it.
Whilst I have no doubt you are correct, it seems British Airways are bucking the trend. Apparently they made a profit of £833 million in the last year - and that is despite rising fuel costs and the debacle that was the opening of Terminal 5 at heathrow (although that only opened a day or two before the end of the fiscal year).
Obligatory BBC linky to the details - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7404085.stm
Ok, so I can (sort of) understand the Gates Foundation not wishing to fund this, but the UK National Lottery turned it down too!
For the benefit of those not in the UK, the National Lottery is where you buy a ticket for £1 and choose six numbers. If the numbers you pick come up - then you win a load of cash.
This Lottery was supposed to raise money for what are deemed "Good Causes". These Good Causes are chosen by some committee who seem to have a strange idea with regard to what constitutes a "good cause". Running an elitist venue such as the Royal Opera House and maybe your clientele is dwindling because your prices are bloody ridiculous? Lottery funding to the rescue! There are plenty of examples of this "Old Boy" network, where obscure or unpopular elitist "causes" are funded, whilst small local projects - or indeed projects of National Historical value, such as Bletchley Park, are turned down.
Only a very small percentage of the takings from the Lottery actually makes its way to the causes - the vast majority goes to the company which runs the Lottery. That is one of my biggest complaints about it - Richard Branson has offered on at least two occasions to run the Lottery and to make it a non-profit organisation, but has been turned down on both occasions, despite having the backing of most of the UK!
I am not familiar with how Bletchley is currently funded - presumably by entrance fees? - but I would expect the UK Government to help out, rather than see this go under.
The BBC has a reply to Mr Icahn from Roy Bostock today -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7404012.stm
in which Mr Bostock states that it is not in the shareholders interests to allow Icahn and his "handpicked nominees" to take over.
This is going to get very interesting!
NotBornYesterday said -
I can honestly say that I don't think that Microsoft as a company is concerned about these kids' education
If you read the blog by Ivan Krstic in the submission, it would seem that Nicholas Negroponte isn't too bothered about education when compared to shifting the OLPCs -
Nicholas told me -- and not just me -- that learning was never part of the mission. The mission was, in his mind, always getting as many laptops as possible out there
It is a huge shame that the OLPC project has deteriorated in this way. When first announced,I was really keen on getting hold of one of these machines to see what I could do to help. I downloaded the.iso of the Sugar GUI and ran it in a VM - very clunky in the VM, but you could see the potential. Others I demonstrated it to were equally impressed. Now it seems to be floundering desperately and the Microsoft sharks are closing in for the kill.
I submitted the same basic story (beaten by the bell!), but quoting the BBC article - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7402365.stm
It is a very interesting story indeed. The blog by Ivan Krstic (link in submission) is well worth looking at too. He has some very forthright comments to make, including his response to a certain Richard Stallmans comment regarding the XP inclusion. Krstic doesn't seem to be a rabid anti-Windows fanatic, but he does oppose Windows being installed on the OLPC machines -
while I'm unequivocally enthusiastic about Sugar being ported to every OS out there, I'm absolutely opposed to Windows as the single OS that OLPC offers for the XO
I actually had a look at the link! One of the issues was -
Finally hit ctrl-alt-return to restart the window manager and found it had hung trying to mount swap off the fstab. For some reason, the installer didn't like trying to reuse the swap partition left over from the previous install, and it made something go pear-shaped during the initial boot.
This is something which seems to plague some Linux installs - if I recall correctly, Vector Linux (or was it Puppy?) has a similar problem with re-using swap partitions which are also used by other installed distros.
The fact that the author managed to get things going by telling the installer to repartition the drive seems to confirm this. It is a long time since I tested Fedora, so I have no idea if this problem is common with that distro.Luckily, most users will probably not have multiple distros installed and this should not prove an issue to them.
Kudos to the author for reporting the issue as a bug though - that may help to get this sorted for the next release.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7397811.stm which also mentions that you CAN run the Worldwide Telescope on a Mac.... as long as you run Windows on your Mac!
They quote Bill Gates who said he was hoping the project would -
"inspire young people to explore astronomy and science"
Presumably also requiring Windows is a mere co-incidence!
At least the Beeb article has the decency to mention the Open Source project Stellarium http://sourceforge.net/projects/stellarium/
As mentioned by another/.er, it appears to be the project nMod, which happens to have a page at http://code.google.com/p/nmod/
Why did the OP not link to that page? Surely Google can handle a little slashdotting!
For those who don't want to follow the link -
The nMod nBody Modelling Toolkit provides software to run experiments in the field of nBody modelling on a normal home computer.
This means modelling asteroid/comet motion, spacecraft flight, planetary systems, or stellar cluster/small galaxy systems.
The toolkit contains a Particle Particle nBody model, an OpenGL viewer to display the output of the nBody model, and a number of utilities for generating new projects and editing existing output files.
If you really want people to jump onboard with your project, then you need to publicise it. No point complaining that nobody helps if folks have never heard of it.
Both my wife and I have an EeePC. Hers runs the standard Xandros based OS it came with, mine runs Kubunu 7.10.
The wife uses her machine all the time - in preference to her "normal" laptop or her two desktop machines.
At no point has she desired to install Windows or even another distro - she can do everything she wants a laptop for on the EeePC. Hardly gives me the impression that the machine is "lobotomised". Think about what you use a laptop for - with the exception of those who must have a top of the range machine to play games, it is basically for email, surfing the webby, writing a few notes... So the EeePC makes a nice lightweight alternative to lugging a 15" machine around.
I installed Kubuntu because I have more "specialised" needs - running my astrophotography webcam for one - which really meant having a "full" distro. Installing a full distro was hardly complex - certainly not a task needing "expertise". In fact, the only "difficult" part is that you don't have a cd drive. But there are easy instructions on the EeePC forums to enable you to install from a USB stick or you could simply use an external optical drive.
It may be an idea to actually *try* an EeePC before commenting on their abilities.
Slashdot Mirror
Insect pr0n? I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.....
I expect it beats David Pogue's ebooks anyway!
You have me there! Running Kubuntu, my start up is a lot slower than the other EeePC running the stock Xandros based distro - it isn't bad, but nothing like the stock system. I probably *could* cut a second or two off the time - I haven't done much other than disabling a few things in the System Services tab. On the other hand, the system seems more useable than when it ran the Asus Xandros.
But you have encouraged me to see what start up speed I can reach with basic tweaks.
Whilst an iso would be useful, it isn't too hard to install a normal Ubuntu/whatever distro onto a laptop - or even an EeePC (my Eee runs Kubuntu).
Once installed, it is relatively easy to customise to your own tastes/needs. For example, I removed all the Bluetooth gubbins, as much printer related stuff as possible and a whole host of odds and ends (various fonts for languages I don't use saved me 70+ mb)
I haven't looked at the Notebook Remix specs, but I imagine the various tweaks are all going to be easy enough to replicate on your own machine.
Bearing in mind that the pre-installed Windows OEM versions are virtually free to manufacturers (costs are low plus recouping any cash via all the pre-installed bloatware trial versions etc), I suspect that Linux pre-installed machines will be no cheaper than Windows ones - and maybe even more expensive. Hopefully any machines which come onto the market will be decent spec - not the usual "hey, Linux is free, therefore lets give the purchaser the bottom end processor/amount of ram/graphics/hard drive....." . That really pisses me off.
I don't use Windows and would buy a Linux laptop if they were easily available at the same (or slightly less) cost as the Windows equivalent machines (I already have two EeePCs) - I hate paying the Windows Tax on laptops which I format the second I get them out of the packaging!
I cannot see why Asus don't simply ask the 900 owners to send in proof of purchase (receipt or whatever) and £10 to get the new battery pack. What is the idea behind requesting owners to send back their original battery to get an exchange? It would end up with Asus having a stockpile of old, "pre-used" batteries which they then need to dispose of. Or are they planning to re-sell these in "refurbished" machines at some point?
At the moment, Asus have a great lead in the market - the other cheap UMPCs are only now starting to appear and Asus could have kept up their lead by allowing users to keep their old battery and simply send in the proof of purchase and the cash. Hell, they *could* have simply asked for proof of purchase and soaked up the tenner price themselves!
Whatever, the Asus EeePC is still a great little machine for the money. I don't have the 900, mine is the 701, with a 5200 battery pack. The Panasonic astroturfers who have posted to this thread need to look at the cost of each machine before claiming that the Panasonic is somehow miles better! Yes, the Toughbooks are amazing, but they cost several times the price of the EeePC - they are also designed with a different user in mind. The Panasonic is specifically designed for harsh working conditions (building sites, garages etc), where the EeePC is not. Having said that, mine spends a lot of evenings outside in damp conditions connected to my telescope!
Mod up parent! A Monty Python joke is always good for a +5 funny - and the Moose gags in the credits for The Holy Grail rock!
No realli! She was Karving her initials on the moose.....
(and don't forget my funny mod for continuing the Moose joke)
Ooops - my bad! Having rtfm'd, it should be layer
Presumably the correct phrase is laser recording medium?
You mean it could be made out of Hormel Spam?
Likewise for those with heart problems who use Glyceryl Trinitrate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyceryl_trinitrate_(pharmacology) to ease angina pains. I can just imagine walking into a fairly busy airport terminal, having a mild angina attack and using my GTN spray. A few minutes later, a squirt of this stuff and the snap of the rubber gloves, coupled with airport security pointing guns is really going to help ease the problem - not!
I can see someone getting sued big time here....
The EeePC will happily run Doom2, especially if you are keen enough to either set up the Advanced interface or install a different version of Linux (e.g one of the *buntu or whatever you prefer). Easy to do - just follow the EeeUser Wiki - http://wiki.eeeuser.com/
Use something like prboom to run your Doom2 - it works well on the EeePC.
Or even install Windows if you really must (or buy the Windows installed version)
Whist an older laptop may seem a good idea, I would be worried about the battery. Most of these old machines have batteries which have reached the end of their life and will soon crap out. Even if the machine comes with a replacement, it will most likely be a cheap copy with a poor lifespan. Not that the battery life on the EeePC is fantastic I must admit! But you can maximise it if you need to by turning down the brightness on the screen and disabling stuff like the wireless.
The EeeUser website is very useful for info regarding these machines - including modifications such as bluetooth etc for the really keen!
Just a quick update to say that I have got the Sugar desktop running in a VM install of Hardy. It was a bit of a pain to get it going - there were several dependancies not mentioned in the package requirements. Although I am using a virtual install of Kubuntu, which meant I had to install some Gnome components to get the Sugar interface running, the missing dependancies would not have been there in a standard Gnome system.
Once I get a few minutes, I will draw up a list of those other odd deps and send them to the devs.
Sugar runs very well in the VM to be fair to it - I can even connect to Slashdot using the modded Firefox browser.
OK, I can understand that we have different views, but someone modded me down for my comment?
I can appreciate that not everyone agrees with my post - and I can fully understand the opposing viewpoint from the less rabid posters.
I am classified as "disabled" in the UK because I have heart problems, and one of my friends is in a wheelchair because he suffers from a genetic condition, so perhaps I can sympathise with the disabled more than some of the younger, fitter slashdotters. But some of the comments have been downright illogical on this thread. Yes, most perhaps were aiming for +5 funny, but to suggest that people may wish to lose limbs to win athletic events is quite sick. I have three coronary artery stents - which in theory *could* improve bloodflow in the heart of a perfectly healthy person - so, would those people risk the possibility of having their heart stop or worse to perhaps gain a 0.01% increase in their chance of winning a race? Believe me, the procedure is pretty scary! As for having limbs sawn off to stand a chance of winning an event? The risks of embolism alone are simply not worth it.
The fact that this guy has taken part in the Paralympics is, in itself, proof of his commitment to sport. The fact that, despite the 1 second plus gap between his best time and the Olympic minimum qualifying time, he is prepared to give it a go, should be applauded.
The guy was 11 months old when his legs were amputated below the knee. Regardless of whether these J blades give him a slight edge or not (personally I am not a sports person oddly enough!), he deserves a chance to compete based on his determination if nothing else!
He is a great role model for other disabled persons in his way - just as Stephen Hawking is in his.
As the proud owner of two Asus EeePCs and someone who has experimented with the Sugar interface in virtual machines (I live in the UK, so no G1G1 option was offered here or I would have bought the XO machine as well), I think that is a little unfair.
If nothing else, the OLPC project was responsible for the low priced UMPCs which we can now buy - remember the price of a UMPC a year or two ago? It was cheaper to buy a pretty high spec (but full size) machine.
The OLPC project has lost its way - perhaps because of Negroponte, perhaps because of Intel or maybe pressure from other (Redmond?) forces. Whatever, the OLPC original idea was great - create a functional, robust laptop and include a user friendly interface, a simple peer to peer networking system to allow sharing of files between these machines, an OS which allowed you to learn how things worked etc.
Because of the political infighting which has taken place, the project seems to have lost the support of those who would be of most use to it - i.e Open Source enthusiasts who could have worked on the XO machines and the Sugar interface to create new programs. So the folks behind that Sugar interface have taken it to the community in the form of this new effort called Sugar Labs - intending to develop, with the assistance of the community, the interface and make it available for other small UMPC machines - including the EeePC.
IMHO, this is to be applauded and I for one will certainly have a look at it again. The only small snag at the moment is that it doesn't seem to like running in my VM install of Kubuntu. But I am sure I can find a spare drive here somewhere to install (K)Ubuntu 8.04 or another supported system and fire up the Sugar interface.
Thanks for the replies. I must admit that I hadn't checked out my apt sources.list and,although I had updated, the gb archives were not working for some reason. Once I removed the gb, then updated the system I spotted the sugar components! :)
Note to self: Check all is up to date before querying TFA
I just fired up my Kubuntu 8.04 system and, looking through the available packages from the Ubuntu repositories, I can find no trace of it. I tried various searches - sugar,olpc etc - but nothing. Can anyone discover the alleged bundled sugar interface?
I have run it in VMs in the past, but would have liked to have another fiddle with it.
Whilst I have no doubt you are correct, it seems British Airways are bucking the trend. Apparently they made a profit of £833 million in the last year - and that is despite rising fuel costs and the debacle that was the opening of Terminal 5 at heathrow (although that only opened a day or two before the end of the fiscal year). Obligatory BBC linky to the details - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7404085.stm
Ok, so I can (sort of) understand the Gates Foundation not wishing to fund this, but the UK National Lottery turned it down too!
For the benefit of those not in the UK, the National Lottery is where you buy a ticket for £1 and choose six numbers. If the numbers you pick come up - then you win a load of cash.
This Lottery was supposed to raise money for what are deemed "Good Causes". These Good Causes are chosen by some committee who seem to have a strange idea with regard to what constitutes a "good cause". Running an elitist venue such as the Royal Opera House and maybe your clientele is dwindling because your prices are bloody ridiculous? Lottery funding to the rescue! There are plenty of examples of this "Old Boy" network, where obscure or unpopular elitist "causes" are funded, whilst small local projects - or indeed projects of National Historical value, such as Bletchley Park, are turned down.
Only a very small percentage of the takings from the Lottery actually makes its way to the causes - the vast majority goes to the company which runs the Lottery. That is one of my biggest complaints about it - Richard Branson has offered on at least two occasions to run the Lottery and to make it a non-profit organisation, but has been turned down on both occasions, despite having the backing of most of the UK!
I am not familiar with how Bletchley is currently funded - presumably by entrance fees? - but I would expect the UK Government to help out, rather than see this go under.
The BBC has a reply to Mr Icahn from Roy Bostock today - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7404012.stm
in which Mr Bostock states that it is not in the shareholders interests to allow Icahn and his "handpicked nominees" to take over.
This is going to get very interesting!
If you read the blog by Ivan Krstic in the submission, it would seem that Nicholas Negroponte isn't too bothered about education when compared to shifting the OLPCs - Nicholas told me -- and not just me -- that learning was never part of the mission. The mission was, in his mind, always getting as many laptops as possible out there
It is a huge shame that the OLPC project has deteriorated in this way. When first announced,I was really keen on getting hold of one of these machines to see what I could do to help. I downloaded the
It is a very interesting story indeed. The blog by Ivan Krstic (link in submission) is well worth looking at too. He has some very forthright comments to make, including his response to a certain Richard Stallmans comment regarding the XP inclusion. Krstic doesn't seem to be a rabid anti-Windows fanatic, but he does oppose Windows being installed on the OLPC machines - while I'm unequivocally enthusiastic about Sugar being ported to every OS out there, I'm absolutely opposed to Windows as the single OS that OLPC offers for the XO
This is something which seems to plague some Linux installs - if I recall correctly, Vector Linux (or was it Puppy?) has a similar problem with re-using swap partitions which are also used by other installed distros.
The fact that the author managed to get things going by telling the installer to repartition the drive seems to confirm this. It is a long time since I tested Fedora, so I have no idea if this problem is common with that distro.Luckily, most users will probably not have multiple distros installed and this should not prove an issue to them.
Kudos to the author for reporting the issue as a bug though - that may help to get this sorted for the next release.
They quote Bill Gates who said he was hoping the project would - "inspire young people to explore astronomy and science"
Presumably also requiring Windows is a mere co-incidence!
At least the Beeb article has the decency to mention the Open Source project Stellarium http://sourceforge.net/projects/stellarium/
Why did the OP not link to that page? Surely Google can handle a little slashdotting! For those who don't want to follow the link -
The nMod nBody Modelling Toolkit provides software to run experiments in the field of nBody modelling on a normal home computer.
This means modelling asteroid/comet motion, spacecraft flight, planetary systems, or stellar cluster/small galaxy systems.
The toolkit contains a Particle Particle nBody model, an OpenGL viewer to display the output of the nBody model, and a number of utilities for generating new projects and editing existing output files.
If you really want people to jump onboard with your project, then you need to publicise it. No point complaining that nobody helps if folks have never heard of it.
Both my wife and I have an EeePC. Hers runs the standard Xandros based OS it came with, mine runs Kubunu 7.10. The wife uses her machine all the time - in preference to her "normal" laptop or her two desktop machines. ... So the EeePC makes a nice lightweight alternative to lugging a 15" machine around.
At no point has she desired to install Windows or even another distro - she can do everything she wants a laptop for on the EeePC. Hardly gives me the impression that the machine is "lobotomised". Think about what you use a laptop for - with the exception of those who must have a top of the range machine to play games, it is basically for email, surfing the webby, writing a few notes
I installed Kubuntu because I have more "specialised" needs - running my astrophotography webcam for one - which really meant having a "full" distro. Installing a full distro was hardly complex - certainly not a task needing "expertise". In fact, the only "difficult" part is that you don't have a cd drive. But there are easy instructions on the EeePC forums to enable you to install from a USB stick or you could simply use an external optical drive.
It may be an idea to actually *try* an EeePC before commenting on their abilities.