Episode: 1147
Title: HPR1147: Eulogy for the Netbook
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr1147/hpr1147.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-17 19:45:41

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Want to do something different this coming New Year's Eve? Want to make some new friends,
share some laughs and give something back to the community? Then please come along and join
in with the Hacker Public Radio New Year's Eve Show, a 24 hour oddcast marathon. We're running
for the full 24 hours starting from Monday December 31st at 1200 UTC. I'll be there and I really
want to spend my New Year's Eve getting to know you too. Full participation details are available
at www.hackerpublicradio.org
Friends, hackers, fellow geeks, lend me your ears. I come not to bury the netbook, but to praise it.
I remember my first netbook, the ASUS Triple EPC 701, the tiny keys, the tiny 4GB SSD,
the tuck sticker I slapped on the back of it, the black matte finish of the case, which made it
feel like Sinclair would made a laptop. The 7-inch screen introduced me to the F11 key in Firefox.
I watched all my illicitly acquired TV shows during my lunch breaks on that screen,
stored on an external stick, or the 8GB SD card slotted on the side.
The tiny chunk of graphics memory somehow managed to run Compass and its spinning cube.
I wrote a short story and after noon on that tiny keyboard.
Did I imagine how tiny it was? You could just about fit it in my coat pocket.
I took it to my PC repair and give it in classes to take notes. I would lay in bed at night with
it propped on my chest, falling to sleep in the glow of the LCD screen. I bought a white one for
my sister. Her and her friends used it so much for I.M. the keys knackered. Those poor, poor, tiny
keys. In the end, I gave it to my brother to use for college while I replaced it with a Dell Mini
9. I loved it just as much as the EPC, bigger screen, nicer keyboard, but shiny, prone to fingerprints.
A year later, I got the Dell Mini 10 with an extra big battery. I sometimes regret that.
It got too big, too heavy. But the Mini 10 was my longest running netbook and was my main
machine after I moved to Croatia. Nearly three years before I got a full-size laptop again,
but the netbook is still used for casual use. Beyond what my phone can do.
Ah, my Android phone. I love my XSS, but the tech is out of date now. Too many apps and games coming
out which are made for more powerful phones or tablets. And that's the crux of things.
My beloved netbook was killed by the tablet. Yes, yes, no one can prove anything. There's no
smoking gun or blood spatter, but when I see the rows of iPads and cheap Android tablets on the
shelves where there was once lovely netbooks, it sickened me. I'm tempted, of course, especially
the new Nexus 7 and 10, but I feel sick with guilt. I know when my Mini 10 finally gives out,
I will likely get a tablet. But I can't prop it up in my lap and type something on the tablet.
I can't easily just install the Linux distro on it. The only thing tablets really have over a
netbook is a sexy touch screen, and thanks to the humble bundle I have a load of games to play on it.
In an ideal world, there would be netbooks with retina displays, but as small as my beloved and
much misty PC. Perhaps if the current push for flashing your bundle on the Nexus 7 spreads to
other distros and tablets, and if I can find a decent keyboard dock, well, time will tell.
If you have an old netbook laying around gathering dust, take it out and give it some love.
Install a nice lightOS on it and write something. Watch something.
These wonderful little machines of chains computing and I'm sure gave Linux a boost as well.
I'm OkonDK at AUKONDK.com. Thanks for listening.
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