iPad, schmiPad

While unimpressed by the iPad, I have been curious about the new netbooks. Moreso since I've been casting about lately for a new excuse on why I'm not writing.

Obviously, I haven't been writing enough because I need a new computer. There is a reality here that my office has no doors, so it's essentially off a hallway. I am adjacent to the kitchen and can hear the television in the living room.
Lots of external distractions.

But that's not the worst of it -
Instant Messenging, Facebook, Team Fortress, Plants vs Zombies, Dragon Age: Origins, Trine. . . these are bigger problems.

So there are two vectors of distraction: external and internetal.
Any solution needs to be two-pronged.
An office in the house with a door, and moving my computer up to it.

HEY WHAT IF I GOT A NEW COMPUTER I thought to myself in all capital letters. While helping my wife look for a new computer I saw the little eee PCs for under $400. $200 less than an iPad, with a camera.

Initially I thought I'd use Windows 7, but once I started puttering around on it - why bother? It's the Starter Edition, for fuck's sake. Crippled out of the box, and sluggish feeling on a low-powered machine like this one.

Instead, I blew it away for Ubuntu's Net Remix. I haven't had much of a chance to play with it yet, but it's a sleek little machine that has an important thing: no wireless. No fucking around on the internet right now. The machine is for writing strictly.

You're thinking I'm an idiot or a sucker for buying a netbook with no wireless. That's understandable; it kind of sounds like I'm justifying a swindling.

It had wireless before I installed Ubuntu. It could have wireless again. I'd have to open some terminal windows up, type some arcane stuff that I read in some forums, and maybe sacrifice a penguin. But it could have wireless.

I'm a computer geek. Puzzles fascinate me. Wireless not working on this netbook is a puzzle to solve. But solving it:


The cenobites are never far behind.