Date: Sat, 4 Jul 1998 15:22:17 -0400 (EDT) From: Ken Seggerman <suleyman@echonyc.com> To: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> Cc: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: laptops Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.96.980704144703.14636A-100000@echonyc.com> In-Reply-To: <19980704005904.20548@welearn.com.au>
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Dear Sue: Thank you for your thoughtful reply to my laptop modem quandry. > > I don't even have to know what that is to be green with envy :-) > Boy would I like to see the faces on those windoze-jabbing train > travellers leaning across "What can you do with a computer without a > mouse?!" hehehe First of all the New York City subway system is not at all conduisive to mobile computing, if you're lucky enough to get a seat. Laptops now come with a little knob between the G, H and B keys which acts as pointer-mover, and two thumb bars for left and right clicking. So the lack of a mouse is not at all noticeable. > > How's it going, any joy yet? I seem to have it narrowed down a bit, but its still not working, and don't really know if it will or not. Still waiting for expert advise (presumably from Japan). > > Laptops are strange unfamiliar things to me. Full of peculiar devices and > commands, strange keys, funny little things on the case that I can't > recognise, and mysterious sleeping habits. They cheat me out of the > precious little bit of computer knowledge that I've laboriously > collected. People who use them speak strange words as if to remind me how > little I know, and they use them to do amazing things that I can't do, > like puzzling over config files under a big shady tree instead of in a > hot room. How can something that small do what my tower case bulges and > groans about? How can a credit card do the job of this brick on my desk? > Somehow I've gotta get my own laptop one day and tear away the mystery. > It's almost like approaching unix all over again. I needed to get a fairly "top of the line" laptop to get the additional RAM and hard drive space I need for the compilers I use in my programming class. There seems to be a brisk trade here in inexpensive re-builds and I know of a source of locally manufactured off-brand minimal laptops which cost about one quarter what the fancy new ones go for. Of course with FreeBSD there are compatability issues (like with my modem) so caveat emptor. > If you want to use emacs I don't think you need to install X, just the > part that emacs wants. Check the mail archives for details, it was > discussed within the last few weeks (http://www.freebsd.org/search.html) Without a working modem, I can only do pkg_add. If this modem problem persists, I can always try to hook the laptop up to an external modem and use the ports collection. But, I like to leave that tangle of cables behind the PC alone. I'm using uemacs for the time being. I just read your request for a survey minimal required apps for the non-X FreeBSD user--a great idea! I definitely fall into that category whilst using the laptop. I would say: pine, pico, mtools (a must for the Windows dual-booters), emacs, and a print application (I'm still a newbie and don't know them yet). There is probably plenty I can learn from your list. I wish the Korn shell were not proprietary. I have not gotten around to checking out pdksh. Cheers Ken To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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