[Wiltshire] Suitable netbooks

[David Corking]

 David Fletcher asked:
> if anybody here has opened up any of the currently available netbooks to
> get at the memory/hard drive, and if so how compatible with the current
> Linux distributions is it?

I understand it is easy to get at the memory in all the netbooks.

We have a Toshiba NB520 here. The max memory is 2 GB, which costs
about £12 I think, though we still have the default 1 GB.

I took out the hard drive to upgrade to a Solid State Drive. As I
understand, all the Toshiba NB500 series have the hard drive on the
bottom, so it is easy to swap. Just two screws, if I recall correctly.
Some other netbooks have the hard drive under the keyboard, so not so
easy.

This video was helpful to me, though I am disappointed that the
presenter doesn't remove the battery, or use an earthing wrist strap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxXeR39AVPE

We have Fedora 16 on the SSD. It boots to gdm in 30 seconds.
Compatibility is great so far, though I haven't needed to get the
802.11x  (ath91x driver I think) or tested Bluetooth working. 3D
graphics, sound, ethernet, USB, SD card and even power key to shutdown
and battery capacity meter worked fine straight out of the box. Intel
GMA graphics are fine in supertuxkart, but don't expect 3D to ever be
speedy.

Some people think the Toshiba netbook is ugly. It certainly has a
chunky battery at the back, but it looks fine to us.

Have fun! David