From: fox@graphics.cs.nyu.edu (David Fox) Subject: Re: SUMMARY: My first week with a TI4000 DX2/50 Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1993 16:47:25 GMT
In article <1993Feb19.125357.941@anl433.uucp> Iain.Lea@anl433.uucp writes:
Well I went and bought a notebook to run Unix while I was in the US.
Funny, I must have bought one within days of you.
Initial impressions on the unit itself are that the flip up
screen housing is way to flimsy. After playing around a bit
I have found that if opened with ones hand in the center of
the lid everything feels a lot firmer.
I agree here, it is a bit of a problem in a bus where it jiggles
around. You have to rest it against something soft. This was
not a problem on my Toshiba 2000SX.
The keyboard is well laid out to run Unix (ie. no shifting
to get '/') and has a reasonable feel to it.
I modified the Linux kernal to make the caps key a control key,
the control key a meta key, and the alt key a caps lock key. Of
course with X this is accomplished with arcane Xmodmap stuff.
The screen is big and is well lit with good contrast. The
external monitor port works well in text mode without any
signs of flicker etc. Have'nt tried X on it yet.
The ballpoint device is ok for what it is supposed to
replace.
The unit is quiet and the on/off switch is well positioned.
I found the hard disk to be somewhat noisier than my old
Toshiba, but when the auto suspend kicks in it is blissfully
silent. Thankfully, the dos set_up program affects the
unit's behavior under linux. I could never get the internal
modem power on on the Toshiba T4400C I tried out.
The 3.5" floppy is positioned at the front of the unit.
The charger does a good job of recharging the battery in a
little over 1 hour. Neat feature being the charge lights
changes from amber to green once the battery hits 90% full.
Particularly important is that it seems to charge while the
machine is running. With the Toshiba I always had to decide
whether to stop using the machine an hour before I got on
the bus or not use it on the bus.
The indicator lights are well laid out above the keyboard.
But not visible when the cover is closed...
So down to the meaty stuff. I installed Linux 0.99pl2 & SLS
without any problems at all. It runs well and quite quickly.
How quickly I hear you ask. Well it takes about 4min 50 sec
to compile the tin newsreader source code. A 486DX/33 with
500MB disk running ISC Unix takes 13min and a Sun SS10/30
takes 3min (make what you will of the figures but I'm happy).
The disk is very quick (or at least feels that way).
I really want to get my hands on the internal V32bis modem
but I don't see a chance in the near future (sigh!).
Overall i am very happy with the TI and running Linux or
for that matter any Unix on this notebook will cause no
problems in the performance department.
So far I haven't been able to get the mouse port to work
under Linux. I've spoken to technical support at TI, but
he sounded like he knew something he couldn't tell me, and
suggested I call Microsoft(!) or Linux(!!) to get the info.
Oh well, at least he *knew* something, even if he wouldn't
tell me. And maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed
like he would have liked to tell me.
So, my mouse is in my serial port. So is my modem, so X
and kermit are mutually exclusive. I've been told that
an internal 14,400 modem is coming out, and why wouldn't
it? I'm also told that a 16Meg expansion memory card is
coming out for less than the $2000 that TI wants.
But don't get me wrong, I'm very pleased. I figure I'll
stick with this until a machine with an active matrix
color display and PCMCIA slots and 500 Meg+ that weighs
less than 4 pounds (not including the external floppy)
comes out at some comparable price.
-david