According to a post on Engadget the new MSI Wind U90 netbook will be available here in Europe (no info abut specific markets) for €339 with SUSE Linux. Shipping should start by the end of September.
Engadget also has a new gallery of pictures.
Archive for August, 2008
MSI Wind U90 available in Europe for €339 (with Linux)
Sunday, August 31st, 2008Wikipedia Comparison of netbooks
Saturday, August 30th, 2008
I just noticed an useful page in Wikipedia. A comprehensive comparison of the various current and upcoming netbooks/sub-notebooks. If you’re in the looking to buy one of the many variants of netbooks on the market, this will certainly help you decide which one to get.
8.9″ MSI Wind U90
Saturday, August 30th, 2008
Here to accompany the 10″ MSI Wind U100 is the U90 with an 8.9″ inch screen. Specifications on this particular netbook (or sub-notebook, depending on how you see things…) are as follows:
- Intel® AtomTM N270 Processor
- 512MB/1GB RAM (DDR II 667MHz)
- 8.9″ Wide Screen Display
- 80 GB SATA HDD
- 1.3M / 0.3M Webcam
- 2 Stereo Speakers and Microphone
802.11b / g WLAN with Bluetooth - 4-in-1 Card Reader, SD/MMC/MS/MSpro
- 10/100 LAN
- 3xUSB 2.0
Unfortunately no word on whether this will be available with Linux as well, the MSI site on mentions Windows XP (which is a damn stupid OS to run on such low-spec machines).
Recap: 7 Stories I missed this week
Friday, August 29th, 2008Once again apologies for the pause in posts, it’s been a busy week. Here, to compensate, are seven interesting stories I didn’t have time to post about during this week.
One laptop for every Niuean child
Sunday, August 24th, 2008
A tiny island in the South Pacific has ordered and received laptops from the OLPC initiative for all its school children. Mind you Niue has a total population of only about 1700, I couldn’t find any figure for how many children they have in school. No word on whether they have the Linux or the Windows version, for their sake, I hope Linux.
Interestingly “in 2003, it became the first territory to offer free wireless internet to all its inhabitants.”
Acer Aspire One Price Cut
Sunday, August 24th, 2008
TechGadgets.in is reporting that the price for the Acer Aspire One sub-notebook is being cut to $329 USD (for the Linux version) in the states. This is the price before sales tax or VAT. at the moment the Aspire One seems to be retailing for about €299 here in Finland and if one adds VAT to the new price of the Aspire One it comes to about €272, so not a large cut in the end, but it still places the Aspire One at a very attractive price point (IF we see a similar price cut here in Europe).
And here’s my math, if anyone’s interested:
329 USD = 222.86 EUR [1 USD = 0.677 EUR]
222.86 * 1.22 = 271.54 EUR [22% is the VAT here in Finland]
ASUS N10 netnook, Eee PC without the Eee
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008
Looks like ASUS is launching a “premium” 10.2-inch netbook, the ASUS N10. This one comes without the Eee branding and is obviously meant for the image conscious. Digitimes is reporting the price at €330 to €430, but really there are few hard facts available yet. Blogeee.net has more pictures.
Is anyone else as tired as me of all the various ASUS netbook/sub-notebook variations?
Blogee (French / Google Translation) [via Engadget]
“The smallest Bluetooth AP in the industry” runs Linux
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008
Bluegiga, a company based in Finland, is offering what it claims to be the “smallest Bluetooth Access Point in the industry.” The BT AP runs an embedded Linux OS on a 200MHz ARM9 processor.
The heart of Access Point 3201 is Bluegiga’s customized Linux operating system with a number of built- in applications, such as SPP-over-IP and ObexSender (for Bluetooth marketing). For Bluetooth wireless technology, the product has extremely advanced, reliable and easy-to-use software interface called iWRAP, which enables you to connect your Bluetooth equipped devices into TCP/IP networks with built-in security and reliability.
To me, at least, it seems like a rather awesome product. I simply find it amazing how much can be packed into so little space. Not to mention the inherit coolness of running Linux on something that tiny.
Bluegiga [via LinuxDevices.com]
Songbird 0.7 beta released
Friday, August 22nd, 2008
A new version of Songbird, a popular open source media player based on Firefox, has been released. Version 0.7 beta brings with it, among other features and improvements:
- A new UI
- Faster scanning for media files on your hard drive
- Drag and drop support
- Smart playlists
- Built-in album art support
The best way to find out whether Songbird is for you is, as alwasy with FOSS apps, to try it out.
FOSS for students
Thursday, August 21st, 2008Linux.com has a great article covering some ways in which open source software can help students, whether they be in high school or university. The article only covers math and chemistry tools, such as “TiLP, wxMaxima, Kalzium, Gnome Chemistry Utils, and OpenOffice.org Math,” but I think that there’s a lot more out there for students of all professions.
What student would not benefit from using OpenOffice.org instead of the (expensive) MS Office, not to mention free graphics tools such as Paint.NET, The GiMP, InkScape etc. Of course everyone can save money by using a free OS such as Ubuntu, Fedora or any other flavour of Linux.
What are you’re favourite FOSS tools? Any that are particularly well suited for students?