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A small notebook for a system administrator

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Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#21

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…

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Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#22

I remember when laptops had all sorts of legacy ports all over them. Good times! While getting this thing built seems somewhat unrealistic, perhaps someone could build a USB-C dock that basically replicates the back of a late-90s ATX PC - if only for the geek value alone.

Sounds like something one of the better-known retro hardware geeks could do a kickstarter for. I'd buy one :)

Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#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.

Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#24
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, PS2USB and all the rest is thankfully becoming rarer. I'm not the target though, as I don't need a lot more than ability to ssh somewhere these days.

If I wanted that small I'd probably go with a Gemini, the Psion 5 spritual successor, with proven great but tiny keyboard. Even that has proved too niche to part me from actual money: https://jmcomms.com/2017/11/29/gemini-pda-20-years-on-meet-t...

Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#26
I recently found my old netbook while going through some stuff. The netbook trend was short lived, but I really like this machine (Acer Aspire One ZG5). Ethernet and card ports, plenty of USBs. And it has VGA, which for some reason I still have more use for than HDMI. They keyboard and mouse were better than my current laptop, a Lenovo Yoga 2 that I can't seem to get the hang of. And it has an Atom processor and really good battery life.

Sadly I slipped on ice in a parking lot and broke the screen. I ordered a new one on ebay a few days ago, so hopefully I can revive it.

Re: A small notebook for a system administrator

#28

I recently found my old netbook while going through some stuff. The netbook trend was short lived, but I really like this machine (Acer Aspire One ZG5). Ethernet and card ports, plenty of USBs. And it has VGA, which for some reason I still have more use for than HDMI. They keyboard and mouse were better than my current laptop, a Lenovo Yoga 2 that I can't seem to get the hang of. And it has an Atom processor and real…

I still have a Dell Mini 9. Everything still works apart from the battery which doesn't last long. I recently built a very minimal Gentoo on there and it's very quick. I use it as a coffee table computer in my living room.
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