“The real issue is not talent as an independent element, but talent in relationship to will, desire, and persistence. Talent without these things vanishes and even modest talent with those characteristics grows.” - Milton Glaser
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The second day of the new year and I have yet to take a single photo. I haven’t been totally lazy as I’ve worked on last years photos, set up and tuned Fedora Linux on a new Netbook computer and enjoyed my wife having a few days off.
Oh, I also spent yesterday afternoon taking down the outside Christmas decorations and putting them away in their appointed storage locations. That’s an annual job I despise but I’m so happy when it’s done! 
I’d like to point out a fine post by Paul Butzi of Musings on Photography titled “Don’t discount yourself.” My apologies to Paul if I don’t do his thoughts justice but to paraphrase, it concerns the concept of working on art and projects for their own sake and letting the pride and contentment of the process be the reward. A post and thought well worth some time to ponder.
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This past holiday season Netbook computers were a leading seller for Amazon, and thanks to my dear wife I was a lucky recipients of one of those sales.
I received a Sapphire Blue Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch (1.6 GHz Atom Proc, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB HD, XP Home, 6 Cell Battery) Netbook.
One of the most appealing aspects of Netbooks are their size. The Aspire One, at 6.7 x 9.8 x 1.1 inches and only 2.2 pounds, is a joy to carry and the six-cell battery provides over 5 hours of unattached operation, even when employing Wifi.
For a “budget device” Acer didn’t skimp on features. There’s a 1.3 megapixel camera, built in SDHC/multi-format media readers, 802.11b/g Wifi, 10/100 Ethernet, CrystalBrite WSVGA backlit LCD display, three USB 2.0 ports, 3.5 audio out, and available internal mini PCI slot for perhaps WWAN or G3.
After going through all the initial setup steps for Windows XP and associated software (anti-virus, etc.) I was pleased and more then a little surprised at the over-all performance of the device.
From my own preferences there was just one issue I had to correct…it was running Windows. 
This particular Netbook has been on the market a while and a number of people have shared their experiences with changing the operating system. My first thought was to install the latest version of Ubuntu Linux but research seemed to indicate that Fedora 10 was perhaps a little more compatible with the Aspire One hardware and would require less command line tinkering.
I’m sure the situation of Linux release compatibility is constantly changing so my choice may not match your own decision.
Not being sure how successful this Linux transformation would be, I decided to leave Windows XP on the Aspire One and have it dual-boot Linux and Windows. What follows are the basic steps for accomplishing this from the 10,000 foot level. You can find more detail and knowledgeable information here, here and here.
- Downloaded the Fedora Live CD ISO and copied it to a USB stick. You can use UNetbootin or similar utility to create a bootable Linux USB stick.
- Boot the Aspire One (using the F12 key) from the newly created Linux live USB boot device.
- Download and use the Gnome Partition Editor to reduce the size of the Windows boot partition, leaving the newly unused drive space for your new Linux install. I divided my 160 Gb drive space about in half.
- Install Fedora to the hard disk using the unused drive space you just created.
- Update and optimize Fedora 10 for better performance and to take care of tweaks to insuring the sound, arrow key volume control, Wifi LED light and suspend mode with lid closed works correctly.
There is also much information in the Ubuntu forum on the Aspire One which can be applied to Fedora for any other release.
Many of the guides I found referred to using the Fedora XFCE desktop, as it’s supposedly faster, but I installed the ever popular Gnome Desktop and am very pleased with its function and performance on the Aspire One. Everything seems to work although the suspend and hibernate functions are a little iffy.
Fedora 10 on the Aspire One is a pleasure to use and the over-all function and performance is, in my opinion, better then Windows XP. I haven’t boot into the Windows install for some time and will probably end up reformatting the Windows hard drive partition to use as additional storage.
So, how do I see myself using this device?
Well, for a very portable Internet, social communications, part-time travel blogging platform it’s highly capable. It can also replace Epson’s photographic P-Series (P3000, P5000, P7000) storage/display functions at a fraction of the cost. The Aspire One’s large hard drive, built-in card reader, USB ports, and excellent display make it a good performer for temporarily viewing, storing and transporting photos from the field if needed.
I’m very happy with both the Acer Aspire One and Fedora 10. It’s a great combination and I look forward to many more hours exploring the capabilities of this device.
Update:
01/03/09 - Application Window Overflow Issue: Due to the small and somewhat odd screen resolutions (1024×600) some applications will open with their windows extending off the bottom of the screen. This is problem if the control buttons are located in this area and often prevents normal resizing of the window because you can’t get to the bottom right corner of the window. Workaround: Holding the “Alt” key while clicking and dragging the window will allow you to access the bottom of the window to utilize the control buttons or resize the window.
I love tinkering with technology. It’s a natural curiosity that’s been part of my makeup since I was a small child. On our family vacations I would be the child running around the motel room studying the light switches, air conditioner, TV, and any other available gadget wanting to know how each of them worked. That curiosity hasn’t lessened with age but the gadgets have gotten more personally expensive to explore.
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I’m not doing New Year Resolutions any longer. Oh, I have things I’d like to accomplish this coming year, but my priorities and goals will no doubt change as 2009 progresses. I believe 2009 will be a very interesting period (perhaps in the Chinese curse way.)
This makes three years of posting to Meandering Passage and I’m not ready to quit yet, so I’d like to thank all of you who visited here in 2008 and hope that you’ll return in 2009.
2008 Meandering Passage Stats
Nbr of Posts: 325 (counting this one)
Nbr of Comments: 1076
I’m still seeking the true character of this journal, which says more about me then this blog. I’m not sure what that “character” is, but I’ll know it when I see it.
May you all have a “HAPPY NEW YEAR!”
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Low Water at the Bull Hole:
I travelled to the near-by dam/river area (Bull Hole) this morning only to find that the water level had dropped significantly.
I was there about a week ago and water was overflowing along the entire dam. This morning, water was only coming from a couple of bypass gates at the bottom of the dam. What a difference a week makes!
As a comparison you can view other photos from this same area, with higher water, here, here and here.
Google Maps to Find Photo Locations:
I read a post today from “The Daily Photography of Andreas Manessinger” where Andreas talked about relying on Google Maps for scouting photo locations.
Google Maps is also one of my main tools for finding new locations that hopefully will offer photo opportunities. My trip yesterday to “Boones Cave State Park” resulted from Google Maps research.
Once I find a likely location on Google Maps, I’ll do a Google Internet search for the local target area to see if there are any others who have photographed and posted photos of the area. This sometimes gives me an idea what I’ll find there and what camera lens/filter combinations might be of best use. The more I know of the area the better prepared I am to take advantage of my initial visit.
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