racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

Just when I thought Asus had bagged it for the ultraportable category, here comes the HP Mini Note 2133. Jayvee gives his initial impressions, having had the opportunity to bring home a demo unit. Notebookreview also has a more extensive review. Some specs:

HP 2133 Mini Note PC Specs:
1.19 kg
8.9 inch wide XGA display 1280 x 768
Close to full size keyboard
3D DriveGuard with accelerometer for parking the hard drive when the computer falls
Webcam
Two battery solutions: 3 cell for ultralightweight config // 6 cell for extended battery life
802.11g WLAN
Bluetooth
Option for Windows Vista Basic, Windows Vista Business or Linux Preinstalled
Scratch resistant screen
Hp DuraKeys

There are three options, and in my opinion, they’re so affordable that I would consider the Mini Note a direct competitor to the Asus EeePC 900. And it’s an HP!

P24,950.00 — BEST DEAL EVER!
Via 1.0GHz Processor
1GB RAM
120GB Hard Drive
Preinstalled with Linux

P29,950.00
Via 1.2GHz Processor
2GB RAM
120GB Hard Drive
Windows Vista Basic

P34,950.00
Via 1.6 GHz Processor
2GB RAM
160GB Hard Drive
Windows Vista Business

In comparison, both Windows and Linux versions of the EeePC 900 retail for about PhP 24,000 in my last price checks.

Gizmodo calls it the rich man’s Eee. I don’t know if I’m going to jump for joy or weep. I just acquired a 12-inch Presario B1200 recently. Damn gadget lust! Oh well, maybe in a few weeks (after kids’ tuitions, car repairs, rent, etc.). Nah.

But then again, I tell myself, the B1200 is my work machine. The Asus EeePC 700 (acquired last December) is my portable machine–for bringing just about anywhere. I doubt I can still use an ultraportable as my main work machine after having getting used to larger screens again.

HP, I’m an avid Compaq user–you know that! Perhaps you can send over a demo unit for me to review one of these days!

So I went ahead and got myself a Compaq Presario B1256TU notebook computer for use as my mobile workstation. The retail package did not include an operating system (that’s why it’s relatively cheaper), and so while paying I was thinking whether to:

• Install Ubuntu Linux as my primary OS,
• Install a bootlegged copy of Windows XP or Vista.
• Purchase an original copy of Windows Vista.

A new copy of Windows XP was out of the question, since in my mind this is already a dated OS. Sure, it’s more reliable than ever, given the seven or so years since its first release. But seven years? That’s old!

Ubuntu, meanwhile, is cool, but sometimes I still find the need to run Windows apps that simply cannot run on Wine. So this could perhaps be a hobby OS. I do run eeeXubuntu on my Asus Eee, though. And so my wife and I decided to go for Vista, so we can have some exposure to some new OS at home.

And so we bought a copy of Windows Vista Home Premium to go along with the laptop. The shop gave us a discount with an OEM package (I wonder if it’s legal to bundle a separate OEM package with a laptop sale, though). I also asked for a copy of the HP-Compaq drivers for the B1256TU, as I also read that while drivers are available from the HP site downloading can take some time.

Our home is now a multi-platform one, with a Mac that runs OS X Tiger, a notebook that dual-boots Windows XP and Ubuntu Feisty (due for upgrade soon), an Asus Eee that runs eeeXubuntu, and this new Presario that now runs Vista.

The Compaq came packaged with 1GB of memory, though, and from what I’ve read 1GB is inadequate for use with Vista. But the first few days I was using the laptop, it was responsive enough. I noticed a significant improvement when I plugged in a 4GB SDHC into the built-in card reader for use with ReadyBoost, which basically uses flash memory as cache. This is faster than having to access virtual memory from the hard drive, whenever physical RAM runs out.

But then I was planning to use this machine for photo manipulation and some video editing. So I replaced one of the 512MB RAM sticks with a 1GB one (not able to find a 2GB stick yet, and because the sales person mistakenly told me that Pentium Dual Core machines only supported up to 2GB RAM). Some improvement. And when I found a 2GB stick cheap enough (PhP 2,000 flat for a Kingston branded one), the laptop now runs on 3GB. Good thing I didn’t go for two 2GB sticks. I read you needed to run the 64-bit version of Vista to fully harness the extra gig. So it’s effectively a 3GB maximum for me!

The eye candy that comes default with Vista Home Premium (which Home Basic does not have) is both functional and aesthetically-pleasing. I’m a fan of OS X’s Expose, and Compiz Fusion’s scale, which make switching windows easy and intuitive. Vista doesn’t have that, but instead has Flip 3D. It’s not as intuitive as Expose, since you don’t get a full view of Windows thumbnails (just the top left edges), but it does its job fine.

SpeedStep Problem on Windows Vista

My only gripe with Vista so far is that it’s not able to adequately make Intel Speedstep work! I was wondering why the laptop got hot at the bottom, and the battery lasted only one hour. The Intel T2370 processor the B1200TU ran with was supposed to have SpeedStep. That meant the processor could run at low clock speeds when it didn’t need power, and could step up the speed (and voltage) when performance processing was needed. This translated to cooler operation and power savings.

And so I installed various CPU monitoring apps like CPU-Z and RightMark CPU Clock, and they all showed that the CPU speed was hovering somewhere between 1.72 and 1.73 GHz–hardly SpeedStep-like adjustments.

So I did some research and found out that a lot of other Windows Vista users had problems with SpeedStep on Intel dual core processors. These users had no problems with SpeedStep on XP or most Linux distros on the same machines, but Vista was simply unable to control SpeedStep. It’s a pity, since Vista does have a built-in way to define the speed ranges you wanted your processor to run on.

This was a really big speedbump in my book. Having the processor cores run at full speed all the time meant fast battery draining and a hot laptop, much like using Celeron-M processors.

With much tweaking, I discovered that on the Compaq B1256TU, the Processor will SpeedStep properly after waking from sleep. So after a cold boot, SpeedStep doesn’t work. After resume from hibernation, SpeedStep doesn’t work. It will only work after the computer has been awoken from standby state.

If you have a Pentium Dual Core machine running on Windows Vista, you can verify this by using CPU-Z or RM Clock. You can monitor the processor frequency adjusting from 0.7 GHz to 1.73 GHz according to CPU load. If you want to be able to customize this (such as by under-volting, or specifying which P-states or frequencies to use), you can use the “performance on demand” setting of RMClock.

Actually, this serves as a warning to people running Vista on their laptops. I know a few people whose laptops have been overheating for no apparent reason. I’ve even read reports that the Presario B1256TU was running at abnormally high temperatures out of the box. Now I know: it’s most likely that SpeedStep is not running properly. So this means the processor is always at full speed, and depending on the load, this likely causes high temperatures.

Does anyone else have similar experiences with Vista?

As for the notebook, I’ll post a more in-depth review soon. I paid in cash, btw, so I got it for less than the published PhP 35,950 price. With Vista Home Premium included, I paid just a bit over PhP 40k.

The new school year is just around the corner and I can see kids asking their parents to buy them laptops (among other gadgets, like cars, perhaps?). Here’s one practical choice: the Compaq Presario B1256TU. It’s not your top-of-the-line gizmo, but it sure packs a wallop for a compact 12-incher. I’ve been reading rave reviews about it, not mostly because of its performance, but because of its value-for-money.

For PhP 35,990 you get a dual-core machine with 1 Gig of RAM and 80GB of SATA hard drive space. It comes with a dual-layer DVD burner, a webcam, built-in mic, and most standard laptop peripherals these days.

This can practically be the next hit laptop after the Asus Eee–at least, in the Philippines! The B1256TU was, after all, designed to be targeted at the Asian Market. It is (relatively) affordable. The specs are reasonable. And Compaq is a trusted brand. And did I mention it looks sexy, too! It’s no MacBook Pro, but it looks sleek and slick, from what I see at stores and pics online.

Sure, my Asus Eee sells for half that price, but in terms of being a portable workhorse, the B1200 series can compete. And you can’t really compare them. It’s like comparing a main arm to a side arm. Like comparing the range, efficacy and accuracy of an M-16A rifle with a 9mm pistol. Both of them excel at what they’re made for, but they can’t necessarily be compared head-on because they were designed for different (though related) purposes.

One of the reasons it’s cheap is because there’s no OS pre-installed. Well, there is, if you consider DOS still useful these days! But that’s not a problem. If copyright is a concern, and you’re a penny-pincher, you can try Ubuntu. I suppose it should work like a charm, with this baby’s specs. As I’ve written before, Ubuntu can even give a better out-of-the-box experience than Windows. If you want Windows, the cheapest editions, I think are about PhP 4,000 for either Windows XP Home or Vista Home Basic.

Worried about RAM? You can upgrade down the road. 1GB sticks are cheap these days. Ubuntu will be fine on 1GB. XP, too. Vista would need more, but you can always just spend the extra PhP 1k each for 1GB sticks. That’s still a practical choice, compared to buying PhP 100,000+ machines with all the bells and whistles.

Now, considering I’ve been on the lookout for a laptop, do you think this cuts it? I’ve been a Compaq user for almost two years now, ever since I acquired my V2000 in July of ’06.

My V2617TS was my cheap laptop find back then, at only PhP 31,000 (less if paid in cash, which I did). But that didn’t have built-in WiFi. The B1256TU has all the works!

So parents, do consider the Presario B1200 series for your kids this June. Hey, my 5- and 3-year old kids are already asking for my Mac Mini and widescreen LCD!

Since my work involves all things new media, my wife suggested I get a new laptop as a backup device for those times when I need power and mobility. Apart from the Mac Mini I use as my main work machine, my two-year old Compaq V2000, and the Asus Eee I carry around almost anywhere, I do certainly think I need another one.

We’ve been eyeing several brands and models previously. And this included the new Acer Gemstone series. From experience, I wasn’t too keen with Acer laptops, given some (perceived) quality issues. I thought this would be fixed with the Gemstone. But some colleagues who have been using Acer Gemstone laptops say otherwise.

So we’re left with other brands. With a budget of PhP 50,000 or less (that’s about $1,200) I know the choices are a bit limited. We could get a Fujitsu or a Sony Vaio (usually costing PhP 100,000 plus)–expensive, but probably more durable and usable than others.

Any suggestions?

If you want to skip the long story and go straight to the fix, click here.

I’ve been a Windows guy for most of my computing life (I have used DOS, of course, then desQview on top of that, and then Windows 3.1 onwards). Then I got hooked on the Mac. Since then, my computing was split between Windows and OS X, with the Mac dominating sometimes, and PC the rest of the time. When I got my PC laptop back from the service center (with a lot of parts being replaced at the tail-end of warranty period) I shifted my preference toward PC. But I wanted something more, and Windows XP just didn’t cut it.

Sure, it was stable (as how I usually build up my machines), but after a year of every day wear and tear, XP was starting to slow down.

So I took the plunge and installed Linux on My Presario V2000.

It’s not actually my first time to explore Linux, as I may have mentioned before. I used to use Linux on my work machine back in the corporate world (cost saving measures, and because some tech companies tend to have this preference for open source). I tried running Ubuntu on all my laptops so far using the Live distribution CD (from 5.10, to 6.06 LTS, and now 7.04, a.k.a. “Feisty Fawn”). I even ran 6.06 on my PowerBook the first time I got it, since the pre-installed OS X release was 10.1, and it didn’t support some of my devices, such as the Cardbus wireless adapter. But that’s not the same as actually installing it and using it as your main OS.It’s only now that I’ve committed Linux to my laptop.

So here are some thoughts about blogging on Linux, and Linux in general.

A quick comparison

First off, a comparison among Windows, Linux and the Mac, from my perspective. That means someone who’s not really a hardcore hacker, and someone who’s not exactly an idiot, either. I’m an enthusiast who loves to explore, but I don’t have the time to do uber-serious tweaking. I just want something that works.

Windows XP – Seems to be a reliable and stable OS–that is, if you know how to secure yourself from malware. XP is solid as a rock as long as you prioritize security, meaning you’ve installed a good Antivirus (AVG recommended), anti-spyware (such as Spybot S & D), and you let auto-update do its thing. Of course, there’s the human aspect, so security doesn’t preclude your being victim to social engineering attacks.

Don’t even ask me about Vista (I’ve used it, but I’m not about to install Vista on any of my computers anytime soon).

OS X – It just effin’ works. I hope that’s enough said, but then again to the uninitiated, OS X was supposed to be designed from ground up by Apple to work 100% well with Apple hardware. So there should be no glitches, hardware incompatibilities, and other such difficulties you might expect with an OS of wide distribution like Windows.

The Mac is supposed to be simple and straightforward enough for a dummy user to use. But it also accommodates the more advanced users–it’s a UNIX-like operating system, after all. I’ve had my share of command-line hacking and tweaking via Terminal, myself. So basically, it’s a solid, secure UNIX-based operating system with great eye candy for a user interface. Actually, the GUI is not all eye-candy. There are usability and efficiency concerns, too. Like Expose is not only supposed to be a beautiful way of switching across windows. You can make your workflow more productive and efficient with it.

Linux – It’s the OS for enthusiasts. Frankly, I’ve tried a handful of distributions in my life (including Red Hat, Mandrake / Mandriva, Slackware, and even locally-developed Bayanihan Linux, and as well as several live CD distros like Damn Small Linux and Knoppix), but none have been desktop- and laptop-ready as Ubuntu.

By this, I mean Ubuntu is the only distro I’ve encountered so far that a user can just pop into his computer, install, and run without much trouble.

Of course, this is relative. Sure, you will still encounter some incompatibilities, and you still have to tweak configurations and install patches. But compared to other distros, this one is less of a hassle. Great thing with most distros is that as long as you’re online you could download or install updates straight off the web (like with apt-get). You’ll have to spend some time searching for fixes to problems or issues, though.

I could go on and on, but that would be too much rambling on my part (and something that I would rather not do, as you would read further on).

Blogging about Linux

Now the thing with using Linux is that you would inevitably have to get online to read up on blogs, forums, bug reports, and other such online resources. That’s because you will encounter some glitches one time or another. And these are usually fixed either by updating your OS, or applying fixes/patches, or fixing something that doesn’t work natively–meaning a hardware incompatibility or unsupported hardware/devices.

For instance, I was really amazed by how Ubuntu Feisty got to detect all my hardware, including the built-in Intel Pro 2200BG wireless card. On Windows, I had to download and install drivers from Intel before this worked (silly, eh?). Same with audio and video drivers. Ubuntu worked like a charm when I first ran it. Windows XP needed specific drivers for the Intel 915GM chipset for video and the sound, and these I had to download from HP and Intel.

So here’s an observation I have with bloggers who blog about Linux (I’m generalizing here). Most of the time, the posts are about:

* Comparison between their experiences with Linux and other OSes, like Windows.
* How-tos, hacks, and fixes, like how to make incompatible or unsupported devices work.
* Bashing other OSes, or telling the world how better off they are with Linux than other OSes.

Okay, I guess I’ve adequately met most of these criteria. Now on to the fix.

ACPI and Network Manager Fix

While Ubuntu was generally able to detect my hardware and use the appropriate drivers (where Windows failed to do automatically), I still faced several issues. One, whenever I woke up the laptop from sleep, my wireless networking will not always turn on. In fact, sometimes, Network Manager would just stop working, and I would have to restart the computer just to get WiFi and wired networking back on.

I added a few scripts that forced Network Manager off before sleeping and forced it on again during resume. Here are the files I added (based on this fix on the Ubuntu forums):

/etc/acpi/suspend.d/05-network-manager.sh

#!/bin/sh

dbus-send --system \
--dest=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager \
/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager \
org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.sleep


And,

/etc/acpi/resume.d/91-network-manager.sh


#!/bin/sh
dbus-send --system \
--dest=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager \
/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager \
org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.wake

I made sure to make the files executable by running:

sudo chmod +x /etc/acpi/resume.d/91-network-manager.sh

and

sudo chmod +x /etc/acpi/suspend.d/05-network-manager.sh

I also had to edit /etc/default/acpi-support to include the following line, so the Intel Pro 2200BG driver would be enabled upon resume after standby:

MODULES="ipw2200"

Then another problem I noticed was that while my laptop LCD blanked when idle, the backlight would turn on after a couple of minutes, and stay this way until the computer was put to sleep or when the screen was awaken . This was so, even when the LCD had actually blanked out. I try manually turning off the LCD backlight using the command

xset dpms force off

but I still experience the problem–backlight turns on after a few seconds. Same if I substitute “off” with “suspend” or “standby.”

I scoured the web for a week until I found a fix that worked. Apparently, battery events (such as charging, full charge, switching to and from AC adaptor power) reported by the system caused the backlight to turn on. Using the NoPM option prevents these events from being misinterpreted (okay, not really a technical explanation, but it’s something like that).

The fix involves adding this line to /etc/X11/xorg.conf to add the following line under Section “ServerLayout”:

Option "NoPM" "yes"

I’m actually in doubt as to what this exactly does, since the X.org manual just says the following about “NoPM” “Yes”:

Disables something to do with power management events. Default: PM enabled on platforms that support it.

How descriptive, eh? At least it says the option has something to do with power management events, some of which–namely the battery events like charge update and power supply changes–were causing the backlight to turn on.

If you’ve been experiencing the same problems, I hope these fixes could help. For reference, my machine is a Compaq Presario V2617TS, with a Celeron-M 750 processor, Intel 915GM chipset, and an added Intel Pro 220BG mini PCI wireless card, DVD-RW drive (all of which work with Ubuntu 7.04).