musings on the Eee

Being home for Christmas with nothing much to do but read and relax, I've spent quite a bit of time on the Eee, writing down my thoughts but also simply getting used to the computer. In the process, I can't help but discover the limitations of the preinstalled, customized Linux. I had mentioned earlier that VLC, the universal video player, isn't installed. I learned that it can also not be added by the user too easily. The preloaded Linux is an esoteric flavor, and there is no VLC package specifically for the Eee.

I didn't worry. I dumped a handful of movies on a USB stick anyway. There's gotta be a video player, was my thought. There is. Mplayer is installed, a GUI as well, but that program doesn't by default know what to do with H264 encoded mp4 files, and I don't know how to teach it. The result is that sound is playing but there is no video. And while I like the sound track on O Brother, Where Art Thou, I'd really like to see George Clooney and his gang ramble along with it. Instead I'm left to contemplate why a computer without a DVD player, a machine that seems made for downloaded or ripped movies, comes with a DVD playing software but nothing useful for movie files.

Then there is the hard drive, which comes in two bits. A small flash unit carries the operating system whereas an ample solid-state disk holds user data. The flash unit is formatted with a non-erasable file system, which makes system restoration easy. All original applications and files will always remain there and can be restored at the click of a button. Updates from the Eee server are also easy, but the installation of third-party programs is clearly not encouraged. The space would fill up quickly. Removing originally installed programs doesn't free up space because only the icons on the desktop are removed while all files remain on the disk. Some advocate such a strategy because it's safe. But with such little memory, it seems to me unnecessarily constraining.

Another limitation is that the preloaded Linux has been proprietarized to such an extent as to make it almost unrecognizable as an open system. This is to get all the hardware to work and to configure the computer for maximal ease of use. Fair enough, I guess, if you want to sell Linux computers to an easily frightened public that's used to the warm glow of Windows or Apple. The Eee looks and feels much like an XP box, while its usability philosophy was taken from old Macs. Most applications are easily accessible via large friendly icons on the screen and work flawlessly with their standard parameters. All the user has to do is click. Steve Job's grandmother would be delighted, but I'm not a grandmother. I like to tweak my system and make it most useful for me. While most system tools exist, their use is clearly not encouraged. Customizing the Eee is difficult. Sooner or later, an ambitious user will start banging his head against the wall.

I am at this point, but I'm also asking myself if I'm not asking too much. I see the Eee as a regular Linux computer whereas it is really only a netbook of limited use. Its power lies in its mobility and portability more than anything else. Maybe I should just live with it and appreciate it for working as it does, for bluetooth that talks to my mom's phone, for wireless that talks to my router at home, for its featherweight that's perfect in my backpack.

On the other hand, I'd like to watch movies on it when traveling, and I know that I won't be satisfied until things work exactly as I want them to; it is going to nag me. I have to investigate which Linux best supports the Eee's own very particular hardware. With some luck I can install something like Ubuntu or Fedora, be more at home with it, and everything would still work. A project for after the holidays.