The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

I am sitting in a Borders, writing this on my tiny little netbook. It’s been awhile, netbook! I forgot how terrible your keyboard is. It’s pretty bad. But oh well, you’re my little computer. Mokona-chan, I have named you. (All my computers are named after xXxholic characters. Shut up.)

Awhile back, I decided my tiny little computer hadn’t gotten enough love. I hadn’t used it in awhile! I had also heard about the Flow Chromium builds that are out there. I love the crap out of Chrome as a browser. I’ve basically stopped using Firefox completely, even though the name is much more appealing. As such, bringing the smaller, more streamlined experience to a whole OS sounded like a great idea. It would do the few little things I needed to do quickly and well. It would rock, and I’d get more use out of my little lappy. I did an OS install.

I hated it.

I didn’t realize how much I depended on the little things in an OS in order to function. Without a task bar and set programs, I found it very hard to operate. Sure, I could use online word processors or something, but it wouldn’t be organized in a way I could deal with. I mean, I couldn’t even figure out how to shut the computer down. It was just so completely different, I couldn’t understand it.

In addition, I expected Chromium to be extremely compact and speedy, but I didn’t find that. My little lappy here was chugging on it, which was unappealing. If it’s going to chug anyway, I might as well have a more complete experience!

So I went and installed the latest EasyPeasy build.

I had an older build on here before my Chromium excursion. It was functional, but kind of janky at times. Certainly better than the bullshit linux this thing shipped with, but not great. I was pleased to find that this new build fixes most of that. It seems a lot quicker, and has streamlined the menus in such a way that I still have access to everything, but can get to my most-used programs in a much clearer way. I appreciate that quite a bit.

It also adds this new thing called Empathy. I don’t know if this is a general Ubuntu thing, which EasyPeasy is a fork of, or what, but it’s pretty great. Basically, it builds basic chat and social networking functionality right into the OS, and it works. My Twitter and AIM are right there, built in, in one spot. Since I’m not running three different programs, it doesn’t eat up as much processing power either, which is always a benefit on a little thing like this. It’s pretty nice stuff! A great feature.

Anyway, that’s sort of what’s going on on the netbook front with me. If you have an older netbook, or just don’t want Windows, EasyPeasy is a great alternative, while Chromium still has a ways to go. I’m very happy with the latest EasyPeasy.

And hey, I’ve mostly gotten reacquainted with the shitty keyboard on this thing. I can almost type full speed again. Crazy. Too bad I’m done typing on it for now! Oh well.