New laptop: Thinkpad T60p

After several days of considerations I decided to replace my laptop T43p, which served me last 6,5 years, with a "new" one - T60p, with UXGA display (15 inch, 1600 x 1200) and ATI graphic adapter. I bought it on eBay for 169€. I plan to install Windows 7 and Ubuntu 12.10 on it.

Mein neues Handy: Nokia N95

Hallo @all,

nachdem mein Versuch, bei eBay Nokia E72 zu kaufen, grandios gescheitert war, habe ich zum Geburtstag was anderes besorgt: Nokia N95. Das Gerät ist ja schon ziemlich alt (vom 2007 oder so), ist aber für mich ganz gut.

In den nächsten Tagen werde ich ein kleinen Bericht über Konfiguration von VOIP/Internettelefonie auf dem Gerät verfassen. Es ist nicht so einfach...

Gruß,
Andrey.

Ubuntu on HP nx9030: short feedback

Hello @all,

a friend of mine donated me his old laptop, because he knew I was interested in playing with Linux and laptops. The present is an HP nx9030 with following properties: Pentium Mobile 1,6 GHZ (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, no HDD (he kept it because of data), 32 MB of video-memory (shared), WLAN module + some standard ports. Detailed info can be found here. I took a Live-CD with Ubuntu 9.04 and started the laptop. And it simply worked. Nice... I even could use WLAN without any problems. It ran a bit slow, but I could live with it taking into account that Linux hat to do everything (including SWAP) in RAM.

So, my conclusion: if you need an ordinary "working horse" for office tasks (writing/reading mails, typing documents, Internet surfing), than you may take nx9030 without any hesitation. It's designed for Windows XP and works fine under Linux Ubuntu - even without HDD.

I personally have Thinkpad T43p, my wife - T23. But I decided to keep that HP laptop for emergency case. If something goes wrong with ours, we will be able to go online and work even in the current (limited) configuration.

Best wishes from Hamburg,
Andrey

IBM Port Replicator II: a kind of review

Hello everyone,

recently I purchased - rather occasional, this story comes bit later - Port Replicator II by IBM (modell 74P6733) for my laptop T43p. While waiting for the device to arrive, I searched Google for the reviews and opinions - but found nearly nothing. This surprised me a bit, and I decided to
feel the gap and post a kind of review for the device. I don't want to be extremely precise and objective, I just tell you how it looks and feels like.

You may find the photos of the device (sorry for the quality, was made by the cell phone) in my album "My desktop / T43p & Co." on my Picasa page: http://picasaweb.google.com/andrey.grigorev

How it looks like...
So, as you may see, the Port Replicator II (74P6733) is quite small, black (what else should one expect from IBM???) and light. It's smaller than the laptop itself, so it's completely hidden when laptop is on the replicator.

All ports are on the back side, on the top of replicator there are 2 buttons - power on/off and undock/eject laptop.

The replicator raises laptop a bit (approx. 2 cm). It will make the typing more comfortable, if you use the internal keyboard of the laptop.

How it feels like...
Earlier, when I had to take my laptop away from the desk, I had to disconnect all the cables (and when I returned back, I had to plug them back). It was boring. Really. Network cable, boxes, eventually keyboard, power cable, external drive... All that stuff I had to pull out and then plug in again. Now, with the replicator, I have to press one button to release the laptop from all cables. And - what is more important - I need only one movement to attach all of them back. (Even PS/2 ports are recognized and "hot-plugged" - yesterday I tried it.)

As you may see on the photo, the replicator is equipped with the following ports: PS/2 (mouse + keyboard), COM, LPT, VGA, DVI, RJ11 (modem), RJ45 (Ethernet), USB 2.0 and port for the floppy drive (proprietary interface of IBM). Siince I have no external monitor, I could not test the VGA- and/or DVI-ports. But the rest just work - under both Windows and Linux.

Exotic ports - like Firewire - are not available, but - to be honest - when have you used any Firewire device for the last time?

Some people said, 1 USB 2.0 port was not enough. Actually, together with laptop you have 3 of them. Isn't it enough? Besides I have a USB 1.1 hub with 2 ports (in the form of PCMCIA card).
So, in total I have 5 ports - and I'm quite satisfied with it.

Conclusion
With this port replicator, you get a set of standard ports, which allow you to convert your laptop into desktop machine. If you are not satisfied with 3 USB 2.0 ports, you should think about
purchasing the Mini-Dock II (model 2878) - it has 4 ports.

The price you pay for it is a room on you desk. Port replicator occupies certain room.

So, that's all. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them - I will try to answer.

Olivetti SIMPLE_WAY Bluetooth: setup and impressions

Hello @all,

sometime ago I bought at eBay used printer Olivetti SIMPLE_WAY. It has built-in Bluetooth, and this was the only reason for buying (I hate cables and try to exploit the Bluetooth on my laptop as much as possible). I paid something like 32 EUR (incl. delivery). The black inks were empty (so, I had to buy it extra - 28 EUR @eBay for the new cartridge (IN 502) inclusing delivery).

After 1 week of waiting it arrived. I cannot say it was a love from the first sight. The colour of the deice - white - doesn't actually match the colour of other deices I have (black laptop and black boxes). Besides, I underestimated the size of the printer. It was optically too big for my desk. After trying a couple of combinations I finally left it on the desk container near the table - close enough to connect with the cable, but not directly on the desk.

(1) Setting it up...
As I said, the printer is equipped with a Bluetooth module. It sounds cool, but it's a marketing trick. The problem is that via Bluetooth this device acts like a printer only. So, no way to scan, copy or print photos. Just an ordinary printer... OK, it's too late to object.

Another issue, which bothers me, is a Linux compatibility. The device is NOT Linux-compatible. Neither printer nor scanner can be recognized and used. So, keep in mind - this is 100% Windows-oriented device. At
least, now...

The printer setup can be divided into two steps. Step 1 is USB-based setup. It's quite straightforward and is well described in the user's guide of the printer. Mainly, you install two pieces of software - the driver and
maanagement application, which allows you to perform all the functions (print photos, scan, and copy). Besides, you get a couple of utilities for printer's maintenance.

Step 2 is making Bluetooth connection between PC/laptop and printer. And this is much more fun, than USB! I suppose, that the steps described in the guide, were oriented on the Microsoft's Bluetooth stack, coming with SP2 of the XP. Since I have a Widcomm stack, those steps didn't work for me. After several evenings of tests I finally managed to get it running. So, here are the steps - for those who may be interested:

1. Download and install the newest Widcomm stack (in my case I got it from the the support site of Lenovo);
2. Start "Install new printer..."-wizard from Control Panel, section "Printers and faxes";
3. Click "Next" on the welcome screen;
   
4. Select local printer, uncheck "Plug and Play" recognition click "Next";
   
5. And now be careful: select "Create new port" option on the next screen (and not "Use following port", as user's guide recommends);
6. First option "Bluetooth printer" becomes selected. Click "Next";

Actually, at this moment wizard opens a new, smaller window, in which available Bluetooth printers are shown. Select Olivetti, enter PIN (if you any is set in the Bluetooth properties of the printer). Your computer builds pairing with the printer, new COM port is being created, and printer gets connected.

The rest of the installtion is straighforward. Since you have already installed the drivers, they get selected automatically - keep the selection. Skip printing of the test page.

(2) Running it...
So, when you get your connections configured, you may use the device. As I mentioned above, when operating via Bluetooth, only printer is available. When connected via the USB cable, you can do everything:

• print photos - good quality, some basic functions for the image improvements (white balance, contrast, etc.);
• scan to different destinations (file, application, fax, mail) - OK. The only thing you must keep in mind, is that the software supports 2 types of the files only - BMP and JPG. And the type of image is defined by fileextension! So, if you decide to save it as PNG, you will get BMP-file with "PNG"-extension. Do not be surprised by the huge size;
• copy - OK;

(3) Impressions
As I said in the very beginning, when I saw the printer for the first time, I could not say I liked it. Now I can. I had a couple of occasions to use this device quite intensively, and it seems to be rather solid and reliable.

Pros:

• Bluetooth;
• photo printer with quite good quality;
• useful software;
• PictBridge interface - not tested yet;

Cons:

• expensive and proprietary cartridges;
• limited functionality via Bluetooth;
• not Linux compatible;
  

(4) Conclusion
Just an ordinary multifunctional device, an average in its class. Bluetooth feature makes it very interesting for those, who hates cables, but limited functionality (when connected via Bluetooth) and incompatibility with Linux must be kept in mind.

Cheers,

Andrey.

Labtec Media Desktop 800 - review

Actually, I wanted to buy a new cordless desktop (keyboard + mouse) for quite a long time - I really hate cords on my desk and try to do as much as possible without wires.

Since my laptop (my nice, stylish T43p :-) ) has Bluetooth, I was initially looking for the BT-enabled desktop. Most popular of them is Logitech diNovo. Checking the prices, I was really shocked - from 180 EUR (in MediaMarkt store) to 80-90 EUR at eBay. I was not ready to pay so much money just for BT and Logitech logo, therefore I started to look for simple wireless solutions (radio-based). That evening I was surfing eBay and noticed one lot, which was about to end. It was Labtec Media Desktop 800 (official description in German is here) - originally packed, with 23 months of the warranty. I asked very quickly Google about this good, read a couple of reviews and decided to buy it. At the end I won the auction for 4,5 EUR + 6 EUR of shipping costs.

Finally, yesterday the desktop has arrived. I played a bit with him and decided to post short review.

1. Package
This desktop comes in a stylish black box. It contains
- wireless keyboard
- mouse
- USB receiver (approx. 5,5-6 cm long)
- 4 batteries of type AA
- USB cable (I will come to it later)
- short installation/start up guide.

The keyboard is very light and made in "place-saving" style (according to the advertisement on the producer's page). What it means, I noticed later - and describe later either. The colour iz black and matches rather good my black Thinkpad T43p and black loudspeakers Logitech Z-10.

2. Installation/startup
Actually, you don't need any installation at all. Just plug in the receiver into any free USB port, switch on your PC - and that's all. I tested it both under Linux Debian and Windows XP Professional - it simply works. 9 additional keys (E-Mail, Internet, Search, etc.) do not work at Linux (although I didn't spend any time to find out why) and only part of them work under WinXP Pro - namely Internet (it starts default browser), E-mail
(it starts default mail client), Search (starts Windows Search Assistant). All others didn't show any sign of life.

3. Impressions
The general impression is "good". The keyboard is quiet (no loud clicks), mouse is quite precise, the appearance is quite stylish and nice. This desktop is not intended for gamers, but I think it is a good deal for home desktops/laptops and offices. Especially taking into account the price - 4,5 EUR. :-)

But this keyboard has one disadvantage, that can be deciding for many users. I talk about location of the technical keys ("Insert", "Delete", arrows, etc.). If you look at the image of the keyboard, you will see that those keys are placed in one additional column between "ordinary" keyboard and numeric pad.

This is the price designers paid for the compact design I mentioned earlier. And it means, that you will have to get used to the new - and quite nonstandard - placement of those important keys.

And there is one trick with receiver. As I mentioned in the very beginning, this desktop comes with USB extension cable. When I saw it first time, I thought "What for?". When I plugged the receiver into the USB slot, I saw the answer - the receiver is large enough to block the neighboring port when inserted into the
port. So, if you want to use those neighbouring ports, you must use the cable - just to make free space for other devices.

4. Conclusions
As I said, the desktop itself is rather good and comfortable. If you are ready to spend a couple of weeks learning where technical keys are, then you may think of purchasing this kit. Otherwise continue saving and sometimes you will buy Logitech diNovo. :-)

I hope, this review will be useful for someone.

Cheers,
Andrey.

P.S. By the way, I could play Doom 3 with this desktop. I'm not a profi-gamer, but sometimes I relax with this bloody shooter.