Anyone Know Of A Good Netbook Forum For The Truly Tech Savvy

[Dubya']

All of the netbook forums I've found so far are pretty much garbage. That surprises me since netbooks are the coming thing. Anyone know of a good one, the more technical the better?

While you're here, anyone know which (if any) of the current netbooks allow booting from an SD card? Also, is the SSD hardware internal to some netbooks capable of faster read/write access than a fast external SD card? If so, any links to a technical discussion of this?

The hybrid SSD/HDD of the soon to be released MSI Hybrid netbook gave me the idea for what might be a neat feature that could be implemented simply with a BIOS setting on any netbook with an SD slot. A BIOS mode could be selected that attempts to boot from the SD card first and then spins up the internal HDD only if data needs to be accessed from it thereby saving power in the same way as the MSI Hybrid netbook. This would allow a very quick boot to an absolutely minimal Linux installation for web access and email if the netbook didn't already include a quick boot option (as all of them _should_ but, amazingly, don't).

 

[Dubya']

"Instant-on PCs Could Take off With Netbooks"

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/arti...h_netbooks.html

I certainly hope so, but Intel, Microsoft and notebook manufacturers are already very worried about how the lower profits from netbooks are going to kill 2009 for them so they might not want to provide yet another reason for people to buy a netbook _instead_ of a new notebook.

Here's a netbook that has Splashtop, the instant-on firmware that is used on newer Asus desktop motherboards (they call it Express Gate) but not to my knowledge on any of the Asus netbooks either currently available or announced:

http://www.splashtop.com/blog/index.php/20...with-splashtop/

Unfortunately, I've read that the Lenovo S10 has _major_ battery life issues (like sub-TWO hours - give me a _break_).

 

[Phawx]

The asus n10 has express gate. It's the netbook I use. Though they can't call it a netbook.

n10user.com

 

[Ravnos]

There's no reason you can't install your OS onto the SD card and then boot from it. It should be listed in the boot option of any PC that comes with one, not just netbooks. I've heard of people doing it on the EEE 70x because they typically come with such small SSDs, but it should be possible with other machines as well. I personally use the SSD in my 701 for the OS and apps only, and my /home is on my SD card.

I guess this sort of thing might be a problem with Windows, though, which is probably what you're asking about. I wouldn't know. I never use that OS outside of work.

 

[Dubya']

I guess this sort of thing might be a problem with Windows, though, which is probably what you're asking about. I wouldn't know. I never use that OS outside of work.
From my original post: "This would allow a very quick boot to an absolutely minimal Linux installation for web access and email if the netbook didn't already include a quick boot option"