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A small notebook for a system administrator

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41–50 of 274 posts

Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#41

Mostly reminds me of https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/The_Homer On a serious note, I mostly disagree about the small size. The author mentioned his preferred size being A5, which is about half a letter. Having to type commands on machine that just fits under your palms is painful. I'd rather have a large keyboard, large screen and a large battery. My current EDC setup is an X250 with a huge bag of adapter dongles, ca…

> which is about half a letter What oddly specific unit of measurement is this?

It's specific (US Letter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_(paper_size) ) - half of which is reasonaby close to A5, but I'm not sure why the "odd" qualifier.

Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#42
Doesn't have coaxial propellers option to double as a camera drone. A show stopper for me!

Seriously, this is computer nerds' version of prepping, starting with a diss at clueless commoners and gradually piling up the levels of ridiculous.

Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#43
Unfortunately something like this would never come to market, but I use a laptop that comes close enough for my needs. My current portable is a HP Elite X2 1011 G1 (yep that's a mouthful), it's a previous generation version of their current 1012 G2 product. It's a Surface-style convertible that is as fast as a typical business desktop machine, with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB M.2 SSD onboard. The keyboard base has 2x USB3, a SmartCard slot, full size DisplayPort output, some sort of HP proprietary dock connector, a TRRS headset jack, and an internal battery. The tablet portion doesn't have any ports other than a TRRS headset jack, but it does have a Wacom stylus as well as a MicroSD slot and onboard LTE celluar data (I'm using a Ting GSM SIM with that).

Using it as a laptop I get 12+ hours of battery life. It draws from the keyboard battery first, so you can run that dry and still have 5 to 6 hours of battery in the tablet, making it an all day machine. It's only slightly bigger than my last convertible, an ASUS Transformer Pad, and much more powerful.

It doesn't have the wide range of ports in this article, but then nothing out there does. If I need VGA/DVI/HDMI I can carry a DisplayPort cable with those ends, and if I need Ethernet I can carry a USB3 to Gigabit adapter. Both would fit in the slim case I kept from the Transformer.

Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#44

> Such notebook is suitable for posting photos on Instagram, but not for work. At least not for mine. Why do people feel the need to be so snide and put down what other people do as 'not work'?

For some reason it's a common attitude of sysadmins in the former USSR.

Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#45
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> which is about half a letter What oddly specific unit of measurement is this?

It's specific (US Letter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_(paper_size) ) - half of which is reasonaby close to A5, but I'm not sure why the "odd" qualifier.

I guess odd because it’s really only used in North America. I’ve never seen a piece of letter sized paper although I’ve heard of it (first after deciphering the weird PC LOAD LETTER error on HP laser printers which is extra confusing if you don’t realise that letter is a paper size).

Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#46
post #23
post #8

I think a mobile/phablet with usb adapter(s) could do the job. I'm currently working on an IDE with built in terminal emulator for mobile phones, where the hard lifting is done by the IDE backend running on a server. I think you either want a "full" laptop experience, or something more mobile, that fits in your pocket. Not something in-between. But it would look cool in a hacker movie!

Do you have your mobile IDE available somewhere? I am looking for a way to code from my cellphone and I can't user Termux without a code keyboard (to get ctrl, tab, etc.) which takes most of the screen space on my phone.

The volume buttons become control and alt in Termux, and if you swipe from the left and open the keyboard menu, you can enable a little overlay that includes keys like tab and escape.

See more info at the Termux wiki: https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Touch_Keyboard

Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#47
If you want something that you can buy now, or soon... here are some options:

- GPD Micro https://liliputing.com/2019/01/first-look-gpd-micro-pc-handh...

- GPD Pocket 2 Mini https://liliputing.com/2018/12/gpd-launches-a-cheaper-pocket...

- Clones / look alike of the GPD Pocket

Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#48

I just want a company to keep making the previous generation MacBook Air. Keep the ports. Keep the MagSafe. Don’t screw with the keyboard. More memory and disk space would be nice, but it’s not a deal-breaker. I don’t mind going for a walk or enjoying a cup of coffee while I wait for GHC to compile. It’s a good machine. Now leave it alone.

Preferably the 11" Macbook Air.

Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#49

Well now. I'd probably buy one for novelty if the price wasn't absurd. Bonus points for trackpoint. More bonus points for the USB in power supply brick. I do wish that was standard rather than usually one "power" USB port in the laptop. Lots of interesting ideas, many of which simply don't seem that useful any more. Having to carry around a bag of gender changers, PS2 USB and all the rest is thankfully becoming rarer…

> Well now. I'd probably buy one for novelty if the price wasn't absurd. Bonus points for trackpoint. More bonus points for the USB in power supply brick. I do wish that was standard rather than usually one "power" USB port in the laptop.

The Surface Book 2 has a USB slot on the charge brick.

Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#50

If you want something that you can buy now, or soon... here are some options: - GPD Micro https://liliputing.com/2019/01/first-look-gpd-micro-pc-handh... - GPD Pocket 2 Mini https://liliputing.com/2018/12/gpd-launches-a-cheaper-pocket... - Clones / look alike of the GPD Pocket

Whatever happened to the 'netbook' form factor? That just seemed to disappear overnight.
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