Wireless Eee PC Surfing using a Nokia N95 (8Gb)

I was lucky enough to snag a Nokia N95 (8Gb) as a review unit for a local magazine that I write for and after doing my article (actually, two articles) for that unit, I experimented and tried connecting it to my Eee PC to see if it plays well together.

To my pleasant surprise, I was able to configure my Eee to do dial-up networking using the Nokia N95 as a wireless modem! Here's how its done if you want to use Smart:

• connect the phone to the Eee using the bundled data cable (the cable for the N95 is a standard USB-to-miniUSB cable). Once connected, the phone will ask what kind of connection it will start, I chose "PC Suite".
• on the Eee side, initiate the Network Connections applet (Control Center --> Network Connections) and click on the "Create..."
  button. This should start the "Connection Wizard"
  
• On the Connection Wizard, select "Dial-up" as the connection type then click next. The Eee will seem to freeze for a while as it tries to detect the N95.
  
• On the next screen select "Nokia - Nokia N95 8GB /dev/ttyACM0 then click "Next"
• It will ask for a phone number, enter the phone number of your ISP. In Manila, Philippines, the dialing prefix should be "02" and dialing suffix blank then click "Next"
  
• enter the user ID and password you use for your ISP and click "Next"
• enter a descriptive name for this connection and click Next. The Eee will again freeze for a bit as it saves your configuration

That's it! To use this new connection method, go back to the Network Connection applet and select your new configuration, click on the Connection button and select "Connect..."

I need to do more researh if this method can be used to access the local telco's 3G/HSDPA network,

Know They Eee-nemy: The Cybertron CM9000

It looks like an Eee PC, its sized like an Eee PC so is it an Eee PC?  Nah!  Its the Cybertron CM9000 which is *probably* a rebadged Asus Eee PC.  The bright side... it is $50 cheaper than the Eee (but it only has 2GB SSD).

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The Ideal Bluetooth Adaptor for the Eee!

Tiny Tooth: Tiny Bluetooth Adapter from Brando Gives you Connectability

Gizmodo showcases an eeensy-weeensy Bluetooth adaptor that is well worth a USB slot in the Eee!  I sure wish there is an easy way to use Bluetooth from within the default Xandros installation though...

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Know Thy Eee-nemy: Flipstart Firesale!

They probably saw how fast the Asus Eee PC was selling at its pricepoint so Flipstart -- an ultramobile computer that was released waaaay before the Eee PC has slashed its price from US$1,000+++ to US$699 (approximately Php 28,700-ish).

Here's a quick rundown of Flipstart's specs:

• 1.1GHz Intel Pentium M Ultra-low Voltage Processor
• 30Gb Shock-mounted Hard Drive
• 512 MB Ram
• 5.6" Viewable Display
• 1024 x 600 Wide Screen Resolution
• Bluetooth, Wifi & 3G-ready
• OS: Windows XP or Windows Vista
  

I wonder how easy/hard it is to install Linux in this little beast?

No DVD Drive? No Problem!

Here's another reason why I'm not missing Windows XP on my Eee PC: I just discovered that the Eee's bundled media player (SMPlayer) can play DVD movies even without a physical DVD drive. This can be done by copying the contents of a DVD to a removable media (either a large capacity flashdrive or an external hard drive.

Once the files are on the removable media, fire up SMPlayer then from the main menu, choose Open --> DVD from folder... then point it to where you copied the files from your DVD and viola! DVD playback on the Eee without the drive!

Happy Penguin Awareness Day!

It's Penguin Awareness Day! Have you hugged your penguin today?

Prot-Eee-ction: Cases for the Eee

Brando released a leather case for the Eee and it might look pretty good on my Galaxy Black Eee PC but I have yet to see one locally.

A few minutes ago, I received a message from a friend who asked me if I would be interested in a crystal case for the Eee. This got me thinking... would a crystal case be practical/viable for the Eee? Given a choice, what would YOU choose: a leather case (such as the one shown above) or a crystal case?

Feel free to add your thoughts on the comment section.

Know Thy Eee-nemy: The Cloudbook is Coming!

It looks like the first *real* competition for the Eee is coming real soon! Slated to be on sale at Walmart.com starting January 25, 2008, the Cloudbook may pose a serious threat to the Eee's early dominance in the ultramobile/ultra-inexpensive niche in the market.

Flyback: Time Machine for the Eee?

One of the "killer" features of the newest OS X (Leopard) is a feature called "Time Machine". In a nutshell, Time Machine is an automated backup facility of OS X that does the dirty job of creating backup in the background and on the fly. Theoretically, a Mac user who accidentally deletes a file can "go back in time" to recover his lost data. Time machine does its work quietly and efficiently while freeing the Mac user from worrying about doing his backups.

Enter Flyback. The princible behind Flyback is the same, set and forget backup scheme that works unobtrusively in the background. Flyback requires some Python files as dependencies but theoretically, once it is set up, your Linux system will have a consistent backup running in the background.

I have yet to try installing Flyback on my Eee and once I do, I'll surely document it both as a personal reference and as a service to my fellow Eee users.

Heads Up: Money Manager Buddi Updated... Again!

My favorite money manager on my Eee PC has released yet another update. The most current version now is Buddi-1.1.1.1.

I downloaded and installed this newest version and the program seems more responsive than its predecessor... but still not as responsive as the pre-3.x.x.x versions. It is, however still compatible with the plugins I installed for version 3.1.1.0 so no problems on that front.

Here's how I did the upgrade:

• When I fired up Buddi, it prompted me that there is an update available, so I clicked on the button that says download update.
• Using File Manager, I navigated to where the file "Buddi-1.1.1.1.deb was saved and pressed Ctrl-Alt-T to open the
  console where the file was saved.
  
• I issued the command "sudo dpkg -i Buddi-1.1.1.1.deb
• I tested if the upgrade was successful by typing in "buddi" from the console.
• When Buddi ran, I clicked on Help --> About Buddi and made sure that the version reported is already 3.1.1.1.1.

That's it!

If you are not using Buddi yet but want to try it on your Eee, you can download it for free here.

Hots-Eee-ncing Treo 650 with the Eee!

Last Saturday, I decided to re-animate my Treo 650. My Treo was in a coma for almost a year because its speakers has inexplicably lost its "voice". I decided *not* to have it serviced through the official Palm service at Singapore because refurbishing it was simply too expensive. Anyway, thanks to a post at PhilMUG regarding a "dead" Tungsten X which was eventually revived, I was able to track down the stall that did the repairs and the technician at the stall was able to replace my Treo 650's speakers for only Php 800 (around US$20).

Armed with my revived Treo 650, I remembered seeing "Palm Pilot Tool" in my Eee's Advanced Mode menu. So here is what I did to HotSync my Treo 650 with my Eee.

• Start the Palm Pilot Tool (Applications --> Utilities --> Palm Pilot Tool)
• Select "Wizard" and let the wizard detect your PDA's user name and port
• Once the wizard has done running (it took me a couple of tries to successfully complete this step so be patient), it should display your user name on your PDA.
• Once its all done, run HotSync again by pressing the hotsync button on your PDA.
• Your PDA's data will now be viewable on the Eee through the Palm Pilot Tool.

That's basically it! I tweaked the Palm Pilot Tool to "dump" my Treo's data on my Eee's built-in Addressbook and Organizer.

Oh and one more thing... this my problem of importing/synchronizing the addressbook and calendar between my Mac and my Eee PC! (take note Adel)

L-Eee-nks!

I have no Eee tips today but I do have some worthwhile links to share.

First up is a yet another Eee PC blog, peeepceee (Personal Eee PC Experiment & Enlightenment Excercise) but what sets this apart from the others (including NoypEee) is that it is well written -- as it should because its author is *the* editor of the magazine I sometimes write for.

Another notable link is an entry at The Downloadsquad called Flipping the Linux Switch: 5 Tips Every New Linux User Should Know. I'll post more links as I see them in later posts.

Know Thy Eee-nemy: Redfly

Gizmodo

Gizmodo dubs it as the "Foleo for Windows Mobile" and it *almost* shares a similar form-factor as the Eee.  Details are still sketchy but although it is indeed similar to the Eee PC, it may be targeted towards a different niche (Windows Mobile device users).

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EeePics of the Moment: Official Eee PC Accessories

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Know Thy Eee-nemy: The E-Lead Noahpad

Pocketables.com reports that there's another ultramobile Linux-based notebook called the E-Lead Noahpad. What makes this little beast stand out from the crowd is its overall design that allows different ways of using it.

Under the hood, the Noahpad has a 1Ghz Via Eden C7 CPU, 512 Mb RAM, 30GB hard disk, 7" Touchscreen and a "patented" Noahpad touch-based keyboard. It is said to come bunded with Ubuntu Linux 7.1 but like the Eee, it can also run Windows. Other features are still vague but with whatever information available now, this indeed looks pretty interesting and *if* made widely available, may pose a serious threat to the Eee PC's early dominance in the market.