Reply to: Acer Aspire 101

[NoddY]

Since I purchased my Aspire One 2 weeks ago, I've been very pleased. Nice community building up too:

http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/

Linux version full of hacks etc. and I believe Ubuntu can be installed; although I'm happy with my modified version of Linpus Lite. One negative: battery life quite poor (<2 hrs with WiFi).

[Bluebird]

The ASUS eee PC is £179 in both PCW & TrU - 4gb HD & 7 inch screen.
The Acer Aspire is the same price for the same spec, but with a 8.9 ince screen.

I can also get a 8gb for £198, or a 120gb for £229.

The Aspire is slightly wider, but depth, height & weight are similar.

The Aspire also seems to have a faster processer 1.6gz as opposed to 800mhz....

Think I'll be going for the Acer..

[Bluebird]

I'll try that it's not far away..

Anyone use Crossover Office ?

[cojak]

Also nip into Toys R Us - that's wher I got my EEE PC (Although I hear Aldi's are selling them cheaper at the 'mo...)

Waiting for my accountant to query me about the receipt!

[Bluebird]

BB - yep that looks quite cool.

I guess that one is better than the smaller cheaper ones because of the 120gb hard drive.

Would I need a 120gb HD for xp?

Of course for an extra £40 I could have xp installed on the macjine anyway, but then it's only an 8gig HD ??

Decisions, decisions....

Going to PC world this lunchtime!!

[breezeblocker]

Try PC World's Price inc VAT £229.99 Acer One A150AB Blue Internet browsing on the move Product code: 488071. It's Linux but if you have XP you can load that on it. If worried about space on one of the smaller ones try nlite, it's free, it strips out a lot of stuff from windows and makes it faster.

My son has nlite'd windows XP and put it on an asus eee and it runs smoooth

You need an external drive to load stuff on. Or can use memory stick

[expat]

So there is no problem in opening an Excel Doc using Star Office [ is this the equivilent of Office for Linux ] then updating saving and then re-opening as Excel on a Windows PC?

no, provided that you "save as" Excel and not Star Office's native format.

In practice you may encounter formatting problems, since Star Office has to deduce how to interpret MS's proprietary format in order to convert it. Good thing MS wouldn't dream of changing it periodically to faze Start Office, eh?

[expat]

what I was saying was that if I save a file an MS Office File onto a USB Drive from my Windows desktop, then read and edit using my Linux Laptop, and then subsequently load back onto my Windows desktop - what are the compatibility issues?

It's bad enough at the moment using Office 2003 & Office 2007 and remebering to save in the correct formet - what other problems might I encounter [ loss of functionality / macros etc ] when moving between Office & Linux

I have found none but I only do simple stuff, and I don't (as it happens) use Open Office on docs created by other users at work and then pass them back.

I do know that OO programs will read docs saved by MS Office in default format (e.g. .doc for Word), but MS Office will not read docs saved in OO format (e.g. .odt for Writer), so you have to remember to "save as" Open Office docs in the MS format; but you can make this the default behaviour for Open Office.

[Bluebird]

My EEE PC* has Star Office 8 as standard and I'm veryy happy with it.

You can read and save files in the M$ .doc format or the standard open office format.

It works fine in either format (although a little functionality might be lost, I've never noticed...)

*Writing from my EEE at Bristol Parkway trainstation as we speak...

So there is no problem in opening an Excel Doc using Star Office [ is this the equivilent of Office for Linux ] then updating saving and then re-opening as Excel on a Windows PC?

[Bluebird]

*Writing from my EEE at Bristol Parkway trainstation as we speak...

ooh, you must be nearby - I'm working for a large FS Company

[cojak]

My EEE PC* has Star Office 8 as standard and I'm veryy happy with it.

You can read and save files in the M$ .doc format or the standard open office format.

It works fine in either format (although a little functionality might be lost, I've never noticed...)

*Writing from my EEE at Bristol Parkway trainstation as we speak...

[realityhack]

at a data level, take care to save files in compatible formats (that is, like MS Word format or whatever, nothing to do with partitions). Normally that means MS format since linux open office etc will read MS Office files but not vice versa.

Thanks expat. Bluebird - you will be able to view/edit/save to MS format. As for the specific differences in formatting/macros I wouldn't be able to list them, sorry.

Foogle "Openoffice +Microsoft +compatibility +issues" or similar.

[Bluebird]

what I was saying was that if I save a file an MS Office File onto a USB Drive from my Windows desktop, then read and edit using my Linux Laptop, and then subsequently load back onto my Windows desktop - what are the compatibility issues?

It's bad enough at the moment using Office 2003 & Office 2007 and remebering to save in the correct formet - what other problems might I encounter [ loss of functionality / macros etc ] when moving between Office & Linux

[expat]

For files generally (Depending on the Linux distribution) I think you need to have a NTFS partition, or install ntfs-3g

Well, no. You can transfer a file between machines without regard to the file system on each machine (OP said transfer and edit, transfer back). Like, on your office Win system, copy or save to USB drive. On linux system copy or read from USB drive. Reverse to go other way..... The USB drive does not care what file system format is used on each machine's internal drive.

Otherwise, roughly speaking, Windows uses FAT or NTFS, linux uses unix, but you don't need to know that. The only question about NTFS comes up if you want your linux system to read directly a file from a NTFS drive. This is typically when you are booting your Windows PC with a linux live CD, and want the resulting linux OS to read the Win data. Nothing to do with using an EEE or an Aspire linux notebook.

Note: at a data level, take care to save files in compatible formats (that is, like MS Word format or whatever, nothing to do with partitions). Normally that means MS format since linux open office etc will read MS Office files but not vice versa.

[realityhack]

Thanks, it was mainly about the movement of files between the 2.
I'd be using Office at work and would want to transfer and edit files on my mini-lap-top, then transfer them back to Office.

Hows the Eee going ?

For files generally (Depending on the Linux distribution) I think you need to have a NTFS partition, or install ntfs-3g

sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g ntfs-config

The Eee is alright - would probably have bought the 901 instead of the 701 in hindsight, bigger screen, more storage etc. I'm fine with opening/editing office documents from Windows using Openoffice (pre-installed) and saving as a Microsoft native file. There are some differences in formatting and Spreadsheet vs Excel in terms of capability.

For the most part though, I use the Eee to surf and experiment with Linux. Soon, I will be wiping the slate clean and installing the Debian Eee distro. It's fun (for me). Downsides? Well, the 701 has a short battery life (think the 901 is twice the capacity), and the keyboard is almost too small (but usable). Don't like the fiddly little clicker for the trackpad. Otherwise it's all I need for the above uses.