xythian (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} xythian) wrote in perci, |
My Aunt was visiting last week and saw my mom's Eee PC and went out and bought one the next day. One thing I've noticed with both my mom's and her usage from what I observed -- people that already mostly run one app at a time barely notice that the machine is a little too slow/small to run several apps at once.
I'm not sure either of them would've been comfortable setting it up initially (though I remain convinced some of that "oh I just can't do it" is a clever ploy to get me to handle it, because both of them work in highly technical though not computer-related professions).
I set up CUPS-PDF on my aunt's so she could print-to-pdf -- it's pretty straightforward -- I added debian stable to the apt sources and installed cups-pdf and then just added the virtual pdf printer. I probably should've just downloaded the .deb and installed it rather than adding the apt source.
They've been using Skype on it to do video-chatting (my aunt lives in Texas and went back on Saturday). Both Eee PCs needed to have Skype upgraded to the latest version because the version that ships on the machine hasn't been modified to understand it is running on a tiny screen and thus some of the important UI is off-screen. Once it had the latest Skype then it all worked rather better than I expected it to including using the built-in webcam on the 4G to do video.
I had actually forgotten that the 4G was upgradeable and the 2G wasn't when my aunt and I were standing in the store and I was explaining the differences (battery, memory, webcam). I haven't upgraded mine and I don't really anticipate a need to -- my Eee mostly runs xterm and ssh. The only time I feel the memory pinch is if I try to run a Firefox session for too long.
My aunt picked up a cheap wireless optical laptop mouse and it works great with the Eee PC if you're the type (like she is) that can't stand trackpads. No extra drivers or install step -- it just plugs in and works.
I suppose I should collect these notes and post them somewhere other than a comment on here since I had more to say than I thought about it.
I'm not sure either of them would've been comfortable setting it up initially (though I remain convinced some of that "oh I just can't do it" is a clever ploy to get me to handle it, because both of them work in highly technical though not computer-related professions).
I set up CUPS-PDF on my aunt's so she could print-to-pdf -- it's pretty straightforward -- I added debian stable to the apt sources and installed cups-pdf and then just added the virtual pdf printer. I probably should've just downloaded the .deb and installed it rather than adding the apt source.
They've been using Skype on it to do video-chatting (my aunt lives in Texas and went back on Saturday). Both Eee PCs needed to have Skype upgraded to the latest version because the version that ships on the machine hasn't been modified to understand it is running on a tiny screen and thus some of the important UI is off-screen. Once it had the latest Skype then it all worked rather better than I expected it to including using the built-in webcam on the 4G to do video.
I had actually forgotten that the 4G was upgradeable and the 2G wasn't when my aunt and I were standing in the store and I was explaining the differences (battery, memory, webcam). I haven't upgraded mine and I don't really anticipate a need to -- my Eee mostly runs xterm and ssh. The only time I feel the memory pinch is if I try to run a Firefox session for too long.
My aunt picked up a cheap wireless optical laptop mouse and it works great with the Eee PC if you're the type (like she is) that can't stand trackpads. No extra drivers or install step -- it just plugs in and works.
I suppose I should collect these notes and post them somewhere other than a comment on here since I had more to say than I thought about it.
