netbook compatibility

[Chris Kottaridis]

On 4/3/2012 9:55 PM, Gilboa Davara wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 6:27 AM, Chris Kottaridis<chriskot at quietwind.net>  wrote:
>> I've never used a netbook before but am looking at the
>> Eee PC 1215N-PU27
>>
>> I want as much portability as possible, but I also want it to have full
>> Linux capabilities, so tablets are out for now. Specifcally, I want to run
>> Linux as the base OS and use vmware to run Windows as a virtual machine when
>> needed. When I checked out netbooks a couple of years ago I didn't see
>> anything I thought could handle that. This looks like it might be able to do
>> that.
>>
>> It has:
>> Atom D525 dual-core 1.8 GHz (with hyperthreading can have 4 threads)
>> 2 GB RAM, expandable to 4 GB (I'd do this upgrade)
>> Bluetooth
>> Wireless N
>> HDMI port
>> 3 USB ports
>> 12.1" screen HD resolution
>> 500 GB Hard Disk
>>
>> It gets shipped with 64 bit Windows 7, but I'd prefer to run Fedora 16 and
>> then run Windows as a Virtual Machine when needed.
>>
>> Anyone have any experience running Fedora 16 on this machine ?
>>
>> Also, I suppose I can connect an external DVD player via USB to do an
>> install that way. I prefer to install from DVD's rather then the network and
>> I assume a netbook can boot from a USB device.
>>
>> Thanks
>> Chris Kottaridis
> Hi,
>
> I've got an F16 running on a number of Asus 1201N more-or-less issues
> free (with or w/o the nVidia binary driver).
> The only major issue is broken suspend on some machine since the
> release of v3.2 (The irony that 3.2 finally got hibernate working so
> we're OK for now... :))
> I'll report it once I'll free some time to confirm this issue isn't
> nVidia driver related.
>
> As for virtualization, as far as I remember, much like the Atom 330 on
> our machines, the D525 doesn't support VT-x, meaning:
> A. qemu-KVM is out of the question (You plan to use vmware; we use
> VirtualBox from time to time).
> B. Guest performance can be iffy (at least under VirtualBox).
Bummer.

>
> Again, I never tested vmware on this netbook (which version do you
> plan to use?), but in general, if you plan to use Windows VM as an
> actual desktop OS on this netbook, I'd consider buying a Windows XP
> license and stripping it to the core instead of using Windows 7.
> Alternatively, I'd search for a stronger notebook that has VT-x/AMD-v
> capable CPU. (In my experience, finding an AMD-v capable
> notebook/netbook is usually easier)

I'd be using vmware 7.1. I keep getting emails to upgrade to 8.0, but 
was planning to wait for 8.1 unless there is some specific reason to 
switch. Kind of hate those .0 releases if I don't specifically need it.

I'll see what I can find out about D525 VM support for VMware and 
consider lookign at alternatives depending on what I find.

I am only really going to need Windows for some trading apps I have that 
are only available on Windows. I have a desktop I dedicate for that, but 
if I travel it'd be nice to be able to keep up on things and have all 
the tools I am used to. There are some other Windows tools that only run 
on Windows also but I use them very infrequently.

Thanks
Chris Kottaridis
>
> - Gilboa