net-book recommendation (wanted)

[David C. Curtis]

On Mon, 2010-09-06 at 10:06 +0000, M.R. wrote:
> Hi there;
> 
> I am looking for a net-book (Asus eee pc and similar "class") computer,
> and the two most important features are:
> 
> 1) ability to run Ubuntu 10.04, specifically that wifi and sound both
> work "out of the box".
> 
> 2) easy access to "removable" hard drive; so that hard dives can be
> swapped without taking the whole casing apart (or, God forbid, use of
> a soldering iron :); i.e., some kind of HD access cover/panel, not
> unlike some/most laptops.
> 
> All I need on the computer is wifi, ethernet and USB. SD card is
> usefull but not neccessary. I do not require other devices
> (web-cam, bluetooth etc.). Whether I need to run the net-book
> edition or "regular" Ubunty is a different discussion, not to be
> entered at this time.

I would definitely recommend the HP mini series, I have a 210 that works
just fine with 10.04 desktop. It has two buttons behind the battery
(very long life btw) that when pressed allow you to take off the bottom
panel and have access to HD, RAM, and the two mini-pci slots. In fact as
far as user access to things here I'd say someone at HP was quite on the
ball.

Problems, 1) Find one with Atheros instead of Broadcom as you would need
to jump through a hoop or two to get wireless up and running. I had to,
wasn't so bad. 2) HP ships with all 4 primary partitions taken by
windows, so you need to shuffle things around. 3) Unless you hack the
BIOS you will need to purchase HP branded mini-pci cards. 

But then again lot's of netbook vendors do these things too.