Alia Iacta Est
Yesterday, the inventory of 120 GB Acer Aspire One's at the local Microcenter went from zero, where it had been for quite a while, to 85. Today I drove over and bought one. I have now downloaded and installed Firefox and Open Office, am in the process of installing Ubuntu using wubi while downloading to my desktop an image of the Linpus restore DVD. My plan is to install Linpus Lite on a flash disk, giving me three operating systems to play with--XP, Ubuntu, which is a full fledged Linux but may have some problems with the hardware, and Linpus, which is a toy Linux but designed to run on this machine--or at least the flash disk variant of it.
My only real problem so far was with Ubuntu. The first time I installed it I didn't keep careful track of the user name and password I put in at the beginning, didn't remember that the former was lower case, and couldn't figure out why the password seemed to not be working. I'm now reinstalling, having discovered the error in the process of doing so.
A few comments on my choices, for anyone else currently considering a subnote. I went with the Acer because it is about as small as the 9" eee and has a much better keyboard. I went with the XP version in part because 120GB>>8GB, in part because Linpus Lite, unlike the Linux on the eee, doesn't give you the option of using it as a normal desktop OS. You boot in a beginner's version and you stay there, unless you are willing to do some detailed tweaking of the system with no help from Acer. Also, it looks as though Ubuntu with wubi will give me a real Linux with relatively little hassle installing it. I went with the 3-cell battery, instead of waiting for the 6-cell version to become available for an extra $50, on the theory that most of the time I prefer light weight to longer battery life, and if the latter is going to be an issue--as it will be on a trip to Europe--I can always buy an extra battery.
And finally, of course, XP will let me play WoW without worrying about Wine's foible's. At least, it should; I haven't yet tried installing it.
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Postscript, a little before midnight.
Ubuntu is successfully installed; after a little work, I even got a wireless connection. The instructions I was trying to follow included editing some files, such as /etc/modules. When I tried to do so, I was unable to save the altered version. I assume this is some issue of permissions, but I haven't yet figured out how to get around it. My guess is that it means I will have to put a command in at the terminal each time I reboot, if I want WiFi.
A downloaded an image of the Linpus Light restore disk, copied its contents to my flash disk, but have not yet figured out how to get the computer to boot off it, or if I can.
Fun.