DISQUS

I'm a long-time Apple user, but if and when I buy a netbook, dude, I'm gettin' a Dell (IM9) -- largely because of size, weight, price, and easy hardware upgradability, but also largely because, as far as I've been able to tell, its stock Linux distro is pretty unmutated. That is, I expect to be able to obtain new applications from "the usual" repositories that any user-installed Ubuntu system could draw from. By contrast, for example, I understand that the first Eee PCs were "easy to learn, easy to work, easy to root" because they were locked to Asus' repository, so that there was no (reasonably easy) way to upgrade the SMB client from the old, exploit-vulnerable version that shipped with the computers.

Is this true? Can I obtain new and updated apps for the Dell IM9 Ubuntu installation just as I could if I had installed Ubuntu via a download of the standard distribution? Or (pardon my ignorance) is the "MONO" that you referred to some kind of lockdown that I need to figure out how to undo?

I guess Apple users are unaccustomed to "fragmentation" of distros; there are only a finite number of hardware and software combinations out there (if you don't count "hackintoshes"), so you know what you're getting, and what works with what. I'm not afraid of hacking to make things work -- I figured out how to install a radiation-transport code I use on a cluster running FreeBSD, which the code doesn't support -- but I'd rather avoid it if I can, since I'm not that savvy and I usually have to proceed by trial and error more than by logic!

I hope the $299 entry point holds; I am a cheap SOB, and I don't really need one of these things, but it would be a useful one-hand carry-around for when I don't want to lug and set up my 5-pound MacBook while still having an easier time entering text than on my iPhone. My "needs" (if you want to use that word) are so minimal, though, that what I'm really hoping for from this is that it will drive down prices of the original Eee PC 701. I mean, compare the Dell E Classic's (alleged) specs and price with those of the Eee PC 2G Surf for the same price! Of course, Asus has so far been pretty hard-line on pricing -- compare the 9xx prices with those of the MSI or Acer competitors. Yes, you get more or at least different storage and other specs, but still, $549-$599 vs. $379-$399 for the cheapest configurations? As I said, I'm a cheap SOB, with minimal needs in this space; I'm actually the kind of user the Palm Foleo was to be aimed at, except that I wouldn't remotely be interested in paying $499-$599 (and anyway after Palm _lost_ my Tungsten T for two weeks when I sent it in for repair, I will never buy another Palm product -- customer service is not a "cost center," but a "profit center" in that it can make or break future sales!).