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Hi-tech History

The ancestry

The inspiration of this new type of computer seems to have been the ‘One Laptop Per Child’ project to produce machines so cheap they could be supplied to children in poor countries for US $ 100 each.  This was seen by the largest technology companies in the world as a threat to their lucrative markets in America and Europe.  I was not the only person who longed for a simple device that carried out basic tasks.

Rivalry

Asus was the company which offered the first low cost compact notebook computer (its 700 model).  Even compared with the Asus 900 range with 8.9 inch screens, reviewers prefer the 10 inch diagonal size of competitors, the Acer Aspire One, MSI Wind, Advent 4211 and Elonex WebBook, and definitely prefer the larger keyboards of those machines.  ‘Which?’ consumer magazine reports that on the Fujitsu Amilo 6972 notebook typing is a ‘pleasure’ despite the machine weighing less than a kilogramme – it will however cost £ 399.  Typing on the Eee PC 901 needs accurate finger jabbing, rather than the absent-minded occasional glance from the screen that is sometimes sufficient for me when using a full-size keyboard.  The cheapest option is the ‘Eurobook’ at £ 140 from Aria Technology with a 7 inch screen.  Dell’s Mini 9 has a case 9 inches wide, a battery life of 5 hours, and costs £ 270.

Operating system

The initial Eee PC used a version of the ‘Linux’ operating system, adapted to start quickly and make best use of the machine.  Microsoft Windows, the operating system on an overhelming majority of computers, becomes slower once the user has entered preference settings and started building up a store of files, a record of websites visited, and so on.  Microsoft wants users to update Windows frequently, and to have anti-virus and other security software running constantly, and being updated frequently.  The Linux operating system is not supposed to need such precautions. But even later versions of the Eee PC with Microsoft Windows get going after about a minute.  

Other uses than note-taking

Apart from note-taking in libraries, another local history need I had was for books – lots of books.  Some of them are out of copyright and are being converted into text files that can be downloaded (copied) from websites.  The Gutenberg Project has been working on this for years.  Print can be automatically turned into computer text files.  The Google search engine company started scanning books in American academic libraries, though it may now have retreated from its initial intention to put all the world’s out-of-copyright knowledge and literature onto its Google Books website.  These texts, and more recent works which can be purchased in computer format, can be read on hand-held ‘Personal Digital Assistants’ but the screen is only 2 or 2 ½ inches across diagonally, too small for reading more than an email or a short note comfortably.  There are special devices for reading electronic books (‘ebooks’).  Sony sells one the size of a paperback except thinner for £ 200.  It weighs 250 grammes, much lighter than the Eee PC 901 at about 1.2 kilogrammes.  Viewing ‘ebooks’ is one of the suggested uses for Aria’s ‘Eurobook’.