My PC experimentations continue

I've just ordered myself a new notebook computer which I hope will arrive during next week. I've written before about my experiencess with Microsoft's current main operating system being marketed to consumers, Vista, (here, here [final 'PS/' paragraph], here, here, here, here, here and here).

It's only partly to do with my Vista problems, however - even if it's the main reason. In addition to that I've grown fond of notebooks which, because they have small screens, are very portable and pretty light; my current main notebook (the one using Vista) has a 12" screen and if it were not for the horrible operating system would be a terrific little machine. Another 'however' is that during one of my periods of extreme frustration with Vista I [probably not entirely inadvertently, if the truth be known] spilled a full sherry glass of Pedro Ximenez sherry (very sweet sherry indeed) over the keyboard and since then the keys have been very sticky, making it necessary to use an external keyboard, which is a bore. My sub-conscious has obviously been telling me to dump this innocent machine and 'get shot' of Vista!

Anyway, I've ordered one of these sub-notebook things which are becoming increasingly popular, without a built-in DVD/CD read-write drive and with a solid-state memory rather than a hard drive - the model I am going for is the Asus eee PC 1000, which has a 40 GB solid-state drive and runs on GNU Linux as its standard operating system; amongst the various other bits and pieces I've ordered at the same time is a mini external DVD/CD reader-writer to allow me to load other software into it as well as a 16 GB SD memory card to make use of the slot the machine is equipped with the extend the main SSD memory, plus a few other smaller add-ons. Apparently users of this model also get access to 20 GB of secure online storage (i.e. 'the cloud') to store files such as documents or photographs. Once I'm familiar with the machine, I'll probably get another 2 GB memory card to increase the RAM from the supplied 1 GB of RAM. The machine has a 10" screen and, because it has no built-in DVD/CD drive it is compact and pretty light, ideal for taking back and forth on the 'plane to Spain and of course solid-state flash drives are a lot less prone to damage than hard-drives. No doubt the next development will be increased SSD flash-drive memory (from the current 40 GB maximum) and I can well see myself getting another machine once this happens - they are relatively inexpensive and can now probably be regarded as just another easily-affordable consumer durable, unlike my first two machines which cost me around GBP2,500 each in 1982 and 1984 money, that would be a lot more now! I'm currently on my 8th PC and the Asus will be my 9th, if my recollection is accurate - I expect I'll be well over the 10th before too many more years pass!

YouTube never ceases to amaze me; there are a lot of video-clips there (as I discovered last night) demonstrating the Asus eee PC 1000 and other PCs - here's just one of the more interesting ones I found:



- unlike the fellow in the video-clip I shall NOT be putting Vista on it(!) although I might add XP in due course; there are lots of other video-clip reviews of people doing that and I found it was always a pretty stable system, even if it's a bit old-hat now.

Once I've received the new machine I'll undoubtedly be boring-on about it some more!

More on the Vista PC saga - software incompatibility is the problem ...

... and, according to the diagnostics I've had carried out here over the past couple of days (when I was therefore PC-less), it is not just any old software which is at fault! The engineer tells me that my hardware is perfectly OK, though, so that's good of course. Anyway the software which is causing the problem is none other than the AOL software, the latest version of which is called 'AOL VR'. The 'VR' stands for Vista Ready - it is appears that it is nothing of the kind!

I have been using 'AOL VR' ever since I purchased this lovely Vista-equipped machine and, as regular readers will know, have experienced problems with it (the PC, that is) regularly almost since I got it in May last year. I had, I think perfectly understandably, thought that the magic 'VR' for this version of the AOL software meant that it was actually compatible with Vista; foolish, trusting person that I am!

I can still access my email which, because I have used AOL as my ISP for many years (8 or 9 I think) is on an AOL account, via web-mail but it is much less convenient than it was whilst using the AOL spoftware, because that integrates internet access and email in one platform - it always worked pretty well in XP.

However, because I must now access the web (and my AOL email) using another web browser (IE or Firefox) there seems little practical advantage in retaining AOL as my broadband ISP in the UK; it is by no means the least expensive service I am aware of for comparable broadband speeds, but I had left it with AOL simply because it was the easiest option as it was convenient to retain my AOL email address. Now I think when I return home to Scotland in May I shall have to switch my broadband to another supplier, which I understand is sometimes a time-consuming and not particularly easy operation. In fact I already have another web email address (@yahoo.co.uk) but have never used it apart from testing it occasionally. I think when I do switch my broadband supplier I will not use whatever email address I am given by the new people and instead start to use my yahoo account, as that is likely to be less-dependent on whatever ISP I happen to go with.

I am pleased I seem to have, finally, got to the root of the problem with this Vista-PC; the software engineer (an ex-Microsoft software developer who helped develop XP before he left the company to come and live in Spain, and who speaks quite highly of Vista, too, whilst accepting it does have compatibility issues with some software) told me they always avoided using AOL because it was so flaky and never recommended people to use it either. If anyone in the UK (north Scotland in particular) has any recommendations for suitable alternative ISP broadband providers in that region of the UK, I'll be glad to have them to help me make my choice (a few of my friends there who have gone with some of the cheaper providers have had no end of problems with them so I would prefer to pay a decent price for a decent quality of service).

PS/ The alternative, of course, is to stick with my instincts and be 'shot of' Microsoft once and for all and get myself an Appple MAC-equipped machine when I get home, stick with AOL, and rid myself of the prima donna Vista once and for all! I have really grown weary of having to accommodate myself to the whims of Microsoft with its continuing software 'improvements' which always seem to result in increasing complications in making things work and if you don't comply with their increasingly stringent 3rd-party software requirements you are right royally .... well things just don't work. Now I must get back to my dinner and the salad to follow the excellent steak I have just eaten and of ocurse the excellent Douro wine I am sampling this evening.