So far my biggest gripe is the fan noise. It’s the only moving part in the box that I’m unable to turn it off since the laptop runs cool most of the time. I have other minor ones like the sticky feel of the keyboard and the lack of choice in chassis color.

All in all, it’s a solid performer. I’ve owned many laptops before¹, and I can say, with all honesty, I’m impressed with the Z835.

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This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

Portégé Z835 – My Latest Lightweight Productivity Machine

1. Since 1993

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Here’s a sample video on how clumsy the user interface look:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=juleRDMsUls

This was done on a $1500 Tablet PC.

My 4-year old daughter used an iPhone, for the first time last week, at an Apple Store.  She immediately knew how to use  it with hardly any trouble.  Apple’s excellence in usability design is apparent.  I should take her  to test out the touch screen PC laptops, and see how much she likes (or dislikes) it.

Maybe the designers for touch screen PCs should take the cue from a toddler.  If it’s not user friendly enough for them, it’s not worth using.  And I’m definitely not getting one… yet.

This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

Touch Screen Laptop

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2. Upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10

After the installation, I noticed on October 30, they were releasing Ubuntu 8.10.  I should’ve read the Ubuntu home page first, instead of going directly to the download section.   I wished they mentioned a new version was coming on that download page.  Anyway, I made it an opportunity to go through an upgrade process.   Interestingly enough, the upgrade is not that smooth for me:

1. I used the network upgrade via my current 8.04 install.  Going through my 1.2Mbs/385kbps DSL line, it was really slow!  There were over 1180 packages to download.  The estimated completion was 6 days.  I had a good chuckle.
2. Downloading the ISO via HTTP is extremely slow.   I suppose with everyone trying to download it during release day, saturated the bandwidth on the mirror sites.  I went through Bittorrent and got it in less than 20 minutes.
3. I downloaded the Full Install CD, instead of the Alternate CD. When I was using Fedora Core Linux, the upgrade and full install processes can be done via one disc.  I assumed it was the same way with Ubuntu.  Bad assumption.

After spending at least 6 hours tinkering and waiting for the install to finish, I finally got the laptop up and running.  Reading the upgrade page is a good start, but it couldn’t help me avoid these issues.  I’m sure others have better luck with it.  Otherwise, I hope this post helps someone.

This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

Upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10

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