Sometime around 2017 (IIRC) I got nostalgic for a little "netbook" type computer and decided, for some reason, that an HP Stream 14 would scratch that itch.

These are really low spec machines, even for 2016-2017. It came with Windows 10 and the first Windows Update basically filled the disk and effectively bricked the device. LOL!

I installed Linux on it after that (ofc) but didn't really use it much. So slow....

I was digging around in my service manuals library this evening and stumbled over it in a drawer of files... for some unknown reason it was in the drawer.

I started it up thinking it was still running Arch from back before Covid and might be entertaining to try to get it to update to the present.

Hmm, Alpine 3.21 boots console but sway is installed. Weird, no recollection of doing anything with this machine 12-18 months ago. "I'm not saying it's aliens..."

Ok, Alpine updates to 3.23 without issues. I'm not much of a tiling window manager person so I installed Plasma. Bad idea! With 4GB of ram and an afterthought of a CPU and storage it doesn't run very well at all.

Installed LXQt with labwc and it runs great! Tweaking and themeing to come. (Hi @Tionisla 👋 )

Not sure what I'm going to do with this machine but currently it is pretty usable for simple stuff. Screen and keyboard sucks, pretty close to e-waste. Lesson: ~$200 (retail) laptop is about as good as you would expect a $200 laptop to be. Ha.

#Linux #AlpineLinux #LXQt #netbook #labwc #windows #Windows10

Newest Apple laptop is just the iPC Netbook send toot.

#Apple #Netbook

That MacBook Neo could get me back to #Apple after , what,15 years. Now that the Apple price for #RAM is actually fair given that they have not really changed their prices after the apocalypse:-) Now with a $599 netbook?

I was the biggest netbook fan, and a Mac Stan, sick fanboy throughout the 1990s. So I can get for sure into a new Apple #netbook:-)

I mean I am still going to run my #linux #AI cluster in my racks. You know, my new mac will have SSH so it is great:-)

https://www.apple.com/macbook-neo/

I finished stripping the rubberized coating off the #Asus #EeePC and I'm super happy with the results!

One feature of this #Netbook which I knew nothing about is that it has two power buttons. One button boots up to the #Windows OS as expected.

The other button fast boots in about 8 seconds to a bare bones #Linux distro called Express Gate. Apparently it's built into the motherboard chipset which is why it can load so fast.

This is awesome!

#RetroTech #RetroComputing

All right, who's the person that thought rubberized coatings on everything in the mid to late 2000s was the cool thing to do?

This is an #Asus #EeePC 1005PEB and the lid was covered in the thickest rubber coating that I have encountered so far.

Of course, it had gummed up over the last 15+ years and I have been slowly removing it with isopropyl alcohol for the past hour. I went around the edges and have half of the cover cleaned.

#PC #RetroComputing #NetBook

I have been looking for a Sylvania #SmartBook for some time & finally got one!

These are such interesting devices. One part 90's H/PC, one part 2000's #PocketPC & thrown into a #NetBook form factor.

It's a strange hybrid device of form and function.

I can't wait to tinker around with this. Since it runs on ARM and #WindowsCE I have heard there are ways to load pocket PC programs on it, though they may be unoptimized.

#PDA #RetroTech #Handheld #HandheldPC