News as of March of 2007

Sorry for not updating for so long. There have been several reasons for this. One, millions of school competitions and projects. Second, Unix problems on my machine. Third, I have been working for a while now with my new Poqet PC Plus, a DOS palmtop. It is wonderful! I have so much at my fingertips with it. It is great as it is like a palmtop, but runs DOS and everything else that runs on DOS. I use VDE, WordStar, and VisiCalc, among other things, with it. As for Unix, I have had some trouble to get to work on my Gateway, so I have had more installation problems. However, again I am sorry for not writing for so long. Good luck with Unix.

Thanks,
xatapu

The Blog

Hey Everyone,

Sorry I haven't been posting on the blog lately. There a couple reasons:

• School!
• School!
• School!
• I really don't know a lot about Unix to be truthful...
• I have a new blog! It's called How2Mac (you can find it at http://how2mac.blogspot.com/ )

Cya Later,
Harry

Poqet PC Plus Blog and News

Oh, I have some good news. Apparently UPS actually shipped my Poqet PC Plus! And on January 14, 2007! But here's the other thing: I ordered the thing on December 22, 2006!!! This company was playing games, but hopefully they shaped up. Oh well. Anyway, I will speak of the Poqet when is supposed to arrive on Thursday. I plan to mention connecting it to an updated Linux machine in the future. In addition, my other blog, which was supposed to cover my Palm III, will now cover the Poqet, and the new address (in a week or so) will be something like http://poqetplus.blogspot.com. Use that as well as my website for information on the Poqet.

New digs: Gnoppix and Repartitioning - or NetBSD

Well, I decided to go ahead with Gnoppix. I am through with NetBSD for now. Gnoppix, if you do not know, is Knoppix with a GNOME desktop environment. Now it is basically a modified version of Ubuntu, but I am using an older distribution. My plan to repartition my hard drive will take several steps. First, I will partition the hard drive under DOS (oh, well.........) and quickly install a CD-ROM driver for booting of the Gateway's CD-ROM drive. It is a Mitsumi drive, so I easily fetched a driver. Second, I may or may not upgrade the hard drive. I think I will put in a 6 GB one, since 1 GB is certainly not enough. After all, 449 MB is compressed on the CD. Third, I will test to make sure the CD is good first. Last time with NetBSD I messed up on installation twice. That eliminated X. Overall, I am glad this is possible, but it is too bad that NetBSD is acting in a bad way. Still, I may just try working more with NetBSD. I would rather be persistent than conceding.

New digs: NetBSD 3 and X

Well, recently I tried to install NetBSD 3 (3.0.1) on my Gateway. I wanted to try X on it as I have not had X ever on my Linux box. Well, things have not gone swimmingly. First, the sysinst utility did not work properly near the end of installation. Then X, which was said to have been installed, did not start up properly due to bad configuration. Hmmm. I am really confused about this one. I think I will need to repartition the hard drive and install some other distribution. Currently I am thinking about using Gnoppix.

A Poqet!, Update on Unix

I have been busy with my website at http://guofu.freeshell.org for sometime know, so I haven't gotten much time to update the blog. However, I have some news. I just got a Poqet PC Plus! It is that little DOS palmtop I mentioned once or twice. It is only 5" x 9"! It did cost $159, which is pricey, but it was worth it. I am looking forward to programming it. I will update the blog sometime in the future as well, and I have been attempting to install NetBSD 3. However, I think I may switch to Gnoppix, though. I will tell you more in other posts.

Linux on a Compaq Contura Aero!

Left: HP 200LX

There have been many greats in the palmtop/subnotebook/ultralight world. The Toshiba Libretto, with its videocassette footprint, was one. The HP 200LX was another, with its extensive DOS compatibility and twenty-plus hour lifespan on two double AA batteries. The IBM Thinkpad X series, with their tiny size yet superior power, and, of course, OpenBSD compatibility, as the machines most compatible with this
operating system, was another. The svelte NEC Ultralite, the first of the "notebooks", also was one, as it was on the first of these tiny laptops. However, like the NEC, one of the first "notebooks," perhaps on of the first inexpensive, color, Windows ones, was the Compaq Contura Aero. Though a 25-33 MHz 486 :P, the Aero is very thin and light for a notebook. It has a teeny VGA screen that is usually color but may be grayscale. And, even better, it will run Linux! Slackware, Debian, and (early?) versions of RedHat, apparently. Also early versions of NetBSD (1.5.2, etc.) may work. I don't know exactly what the compatibility is, but I think NetBSD would likely run it. Here are some sites with more information:

http://www.alvestrand.no/linux/aero-faq.html#TOC

FAQ on Aero Linux (Slackware)

http://hamsterrepublic.com/james/linux/contura-aero.php

More stuff on installing Linux (Debian) on the Aero. Also some basic facts on the Contura Aero.
Here is a picture from the site comparing a Thinkpad 600, JetBook, and a Contura Aero:


















http://www.xmission.com/~bgeer/laptop_aero.html
An experience of installing RedHat on an Aero.

The Return

I'll begin intensely (hopefully) blogging again tommorrow. I have gotten through four exams at school and have one to go, in Geometry. Things are going well, and I still working with my NetBSD machine. I think I may upgrade it 3.0.1. I am also continuing to use gcc. I also may get a Toshiba Libretto or HP 200LX for Christmas, so I will tell you about that if I get it. As for Harry, he is doing well, and, in fact, has installed iPodlinux on his 5G iPod. He is happily playing DOOM on it today. I still use SDF, although I have started to use it more recently. In fact, I am logged in as guofu right now. Overall, everything is well. I look forward to more posting. Maybe Harry will talk a little bit about his iPod, too.

xatapu

Notice

I am so sorry for not updating the blog in so long. But I will be able to soon. Unfortunately over the next week and a half, I will have to prepare for and take final semester exams at school. This will hamper my blogging and Harry's. I will have a couple of articles today, but probably not many until winter break. Just remember this when you see little updating on the blog. Hopefully I will find sometime later to keep posting.

Sincerely,
xatapu

Update

Sorry I never updated the blog last week. I was gone in Chicago, where it costs 10 dollars per IP address you visit with a hotel's ethernet connection ;) . So I couldn't update the blog there. I will cover what I wanted to last week and also will find some photos, finally, to put into a post. Expect fewer posts in the next three weeks because of final semester exams.

Regards,
xatapu