A month later

It took a month to get my new computer in. Happened just yesterday, so if they think they'll get plug after that, well think again! I can tell the hold up was not motherboards as first claimed. The hold up, was getting their BRAND embedded into the system boards cmos. Anyway it here now, and it appears to just be an AOpen S135. with Intel Atom processor.

I'm no stranger to AOpen. I have one that runs a Penteum II, and is still working! Slowly, but it never was exactly fast. We still have Windows 98 on it. And IE 5 was the last browser. IE6 disabled any number of programs on me, and caused me to fire Microsoft from my office. Which is why I now blog about Linux.

The new box came Ubuntu. And we hear a lot of rumbling about Ubuntu, so it was nice to see it in action (installed on a hard drive).

Clearly my old computer's manufacturer did something wrong on the video system, and none of the new software will work. Which is like a Microsoft trick, but it true in Linux too. I had heard that some manufacturers had some misunderstanding about Plug-n-play, but I didn't expect it to bite me, on equipment that is three years old, honestly.

Back to the new box, because you want to know about this ITX Atom processor, now don't you? Well, it seems to be fast, but while it's running something like a 80watt power supplies, but this thing is putting off heat like a toaster- which causes me to worry about reliability in the long run.

The thing is HUGE compared to what I expected. I really expected it to only be about half the size this turned out to be. So I'm really no closer to my ideal of a tiny box that could fit in a drawer, at all. By the way, don't ever stuff a computer into a cubby whole or a desk drawer.

Let's talk a little about computer placement. They need air circulation big time, and some computer desks don't even understand that. I've seen lots of computers fail from proper air flow around them, it's surprising how little it takes to overheat one. And just how much damage can happen to a motherboard overnight! Keep them out ON the desk! If there is a cubby hole, you might want to find a fan that can blow fresh air into it, EVEN IF THEY WERE DESIGNED TO HOLD A COMPUTER THERE. Otherwise, within days or weeks, you're going to be shopping for a new computer, and calling that brand a P.O.S.

I'm sorry to tell this industry this; but even $300 is a lot of money. Granted it's not $2000 we use to spend on PC's. And yes, they were that expensive back in 1985. What do you think kept Atari and Commodore in business so long? That and horrible graphics- gad they were bad! It's still under the what the hell was IBM thinking file?

Back to the size issue. It's 9 inches tall, and 2 1/4 inches wide, seems small so far? It's 13 inches deep. I expected something is a tad bigger than the second generation Play Station 2, and this isn't even close. 7 1/2 inches deep is what I had hoped for. Got to read those specs rather than going by pictures. It's the size of a full size ATX motherboard, which is extremely disappointing to me. This is even much bigger than a laptop, and I just don't get that? What's the deal here, guys, when they use the same parts inside?

The DVD burner on this thing, doesn't even have a servo driven door. Which makes it seem cheap and cheesy! Not to mention clumsy to handle.

Clearly I'm disappointed. But really only with size. The DVD isn't that important anymore, with Flash Ram coming in the size it is, these days.

Even though I've been around since the mid 80's building boxes. I'm always excited to have a new one on my desk. So there is always a Honeymoon Period. Granted it is one 3rd of the size of the ATX it will replace in the long run, so I'm happy about that, just not ecstatic. I wanted to be WOWed.

Anyway, here I am talking hardware, when I should be talking Linux, in particular UBUNTU. Next posting, I promise!