Elonex Webbook notebook review

Comments

• About the touchpad issue....
  To disable tap-to-click in ubuntu, you have to enable SHMconfig in xorg.conf by doing:
  
  sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
  
  Restart X (ctrl alt backspace) ---
  
  Then do: sudo apt-get install gsynaptics Posted by yochai, USA
• Definitely consider giving Ubuntu a try. I changed to Ubuntu recently and have no plans to go back to Windows. Several friends are also planning to switch. If you like 3D desktop effects and a Mac-like dock, try installing the Compiz and AWN packages. Posted by pacha, spain
• We helped get Ubuntu onto the webbook and have set up a blog for it here: http://webbookblog.com/
  
  The early units have a few minor snags which we show how to get around.
  
  @yochai, thanks for the tip to turn off trackpad tapping. Posted by The Open Sourcerer, UK
• how much does it weigh?
  can you do both XP and Ubunto on a dual boot since it has 80g?
  Posted by jordan, us
• 1.3kg Posted by Gordon CPW, Scotland
• I took delivery of one of these three hours ago as part of a carphone warehouse package with an orange 3G broadband usb stick.
  
  I am not a linux guru, but I have written the odd network kernel driver for series 1 kernels back in the days when you had to set up X windows the hard way. Yet I am stumped by a small problem.
  
  The Evolution Setup window is a fixed size and it WILL NOT shrink to fit the elonex's screen, so I cannot see the #forward' button and the others in later windows that I need to set up my mail settings.
  
  And the screen resolution setup doesn't seem to allow me to use the 'screen bigger than the physical size' workaround that I used in the old days.
  
  Bit of an 'oops' here I think. Any answers to this most welcome though (!) Posted by john v, south wales, uk
• just hold down alt, then you can drag any part of the window and drag it up off the top of the screen to see the bottom of it
  
  i hate ubuntu Posted by ian, uk
• Ive just got one of these from CPW. I was getting a orange contract from them anyway and i wasnt bothered by the handset it came with as im keeping my practically brand new n95. the sales guy got one of these out and said that i can have it free and still get a nice slim nokia for a backup device. SOLD i said!
  so far ive got online via wifi, used my phone as a modem and used it to dump some pictures from my camera onto it when i realised i had maxed out my 4 gig memory there. the pictures are also easy to view on screen. ive got the linux version and im getting used to it and quite enojying the interface. also finding that theres allot of people out there who can help programme things in and help sort out issues too! gets a thumbs up from me :) Posted by Dean, england
• Anyone looked at increasing the memory or trying to obtain a spare battery.
  
  Accorinding to a system scan it says there is a spare memory bank but cannot find it.
  
  My only little quirk about this is that the lan port can be tempremental and why put the function key in the bottom left.
  
  Posted by Robert, UK
• Can any one tell me PLEASE!!
  
  Can this webbook work on dailup connection for email.Friend bought it and she has only dail where she lives.
  
  Email me at henning.ras@gmail.com or mobile phone 07763113535 UK Posted by Henning Ras, United Kingdom
• One way to dial-up, buy a small usb plug-in modem. Posted by Dave, UK
• hi,
  
  i cant get through an internet wireless connection.i got the signal though...but cant open firefox .although i configurured the WEP key.still no connection.can someine help me with this please
  Posted by bella, uk
• Just installed vista x86 ultimate and i just love it ! Sound, lan work out of the box.
  i used the graphic driver supplied on elonex website.
  
  very smooth, excellent performer, and yes u wont be able to play newest games (no t&l support) but who cares!
  
  video perf is a bit choppy but i am upgrading to 1gb crucial pc2 5300 mem, so it will definitely solve that!
  
  Just buy it! or get it 4 free like me...... Posted by Anthony Peltreno, UK
• to "bella, uk"
  
  make sure firefox isn't in "offline mode"
  
  open firefox, click "file" then "work offline". There SHOULDN'T be a tick next to work offline. Posted by Richard, UK
• Does anyone know if you can put i-tunes on the web book??
  
  Thanks :D Posted by Clair, UK
• Hi,
  Got this free from carphone warehouse, with my new phone, never had a lap top so no idea how to use it, are there any idiot instructions anywhere Posted by carole, UK
• try the ubuntu.com website Posted by Julian, UK
• ah iv been through all of the bluetooth settings pressed f2 but still cant connect??? Posted by liz, uk
• can sum 1 please tell me how the hell im ment ta install norton with no disk drive n y can i not install msn wishing i never got this stupid thing Posted by emma, uk
• Webbook supplied by Car Phone Warehouse Store Hemel Hempstead came with Linex operating system. When I returned to the store the next day to get one with Windows XP I was told that their offer came with Linex only. Tried on 3 separate occasions to get this resolved but Store Manager refused and when I complained that this cannot be legal his reply was "Then Sue us" .
  
  Complaint to Carphone Warehouse of misleading advertising and refusal to provide a webbook with the advertised Windows XP operating system has been submitted to them.
  
  Buyers beware. Upfront sandalone price for Webbook is £249 and taking out separate £15/m Orange Everywhere Broadband Contract with only 18 month tie in costs £270, i.e £270+£249 =£519. Carphone Warehouse contact is for tie in of 24 months tie is £25/m = £600. "There is no such thing as a free lunch" clearly applies here with the Carphone Warehouse deals. What you actually get is an "interest free" webbook, a 24 months contract tie in with an overall saving of £9, compared with purchasing the standalone webbook and keeping the Orange contract for 24 as opposed to 18 months.
  
  As Carphone Warehouse deal comprises an element for the Orange Services at £15/m, it raises the question of precisely what Services are being provided by Carphone Warhouse that justify an additional £10/m plus an extension of 6 months to the Orange contact tie in period. Or is this simply a means being used by Carphone Warhouse to disguise a credit arrangement for supplied goods - the webbook. Posted by Malcolm, UK
• Hi guys,
  
  Despite still awaiting for a good gpu driver, i managed to install Mac OSX Leopard on the Webbook. Everything works well.
  
  Just a fab netbook with now a quad boot:
  
  1. Vista
  2. XP Sp3
  3. Leopard
  4. Linux (but i don't like it, sorry!) Posted by Anthony, United Kingdom
• how do i get msn on this thing ? !!!!!! Posted by luke, england
• I would like to know if any one can tell me how u download something? Tried to download itunes and it says its successful and then nothing happens! I tried to open the icon and nothing happens. Also the same happens on msn! I've got the Linux version x
  Please help as I love this webbook and the only reason i wanted it was for these two things Posted by Nikki, England
• You won't get MSN to the Linux version as Microsoft don't provide a version, and in any case the philosophy behind Linux is free software (as in freedom not price) and Microsoft restrict the use by its EULA.
  
  There are a couple of packages which you could use to get into the MSN network - aMSN and Pidgin - I prefer aMSN, but choice is yours.
  
  iTunes can be made to run on the Linux version but as it uses so much from the OSX operating system, you might find the only way to do it practically is to dump Linux for OSX - IF it works. Instead of trying this, use amaroK, which as as I am concerned beats iTunes hands down.
  
  To download anything in the Linux edition (which uses the Gnome desktop) make sure you have repositories listed in /etc/apt/sources.list. Then in a terminal (yes command-line but don't be afraid!):
  
  sudo apt-get update
  
  
  sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
  
  
  As far as I remember, you should have synaptic installed. This is a graphical front end to the apt-get tool, which has been called "the jewel in the crown" of Debian-like systems (of which Ubuntu is one). Synaptic will show you all the packages installed on your system, and you can search it to find a particular package. But before you do so, search for a package on Google Linux (http://www.google.com/linux) and then when you have a suitable one, install it through synaptic. If you want to know more about the power of Ubuntu, try to use the command line. And keep up to speed by going to the Ubuntu forums (I believe there's a forum for netbooks) - thats where the Ubuntu community help each other and you will often get the actual developers and coders helping you.
  
  To thos who cry "I hate Linux", I would cry "I hate Microsoft and Apple and every software developer that insists on me using a EULA". I have nothing but free software on my computer(s) - free software as defined by the Free Software Foundation (http://www.fsf.org) - and it is as stable and robust as you'll find. There is a wealth of software available for it. I personally prefer PC-BSD (BSD is the original Unix on which all others are based and Ubuntu is a Unix variant) which has been running non-stop on my home PC for 7 years. And I do not particularly like the Gnome desktop (which Ubuntu runs) but other desktops are available - KDE (Kubuntu), Xfce (Xubuntu as part of the Ubuntu family but probably not suitable for a netbook. One Ubuntu variant you might like to try is gOS 3.0 Gadgets (http://www.thinkgos.org) - it is perfect for netbooks.
  
  HTH! Posted by Graham Todd, UK
• I have an ASUS eee running Linux and I cannot get a mobile internet dongle to work on it. I have tried Orange, T Mobile, 3, Virgin, Vodafone and O2 and none of their dongles have any effect on the computer. Most of the staff have never heard of Linux and even Carphone Warehouse who are selling a Linux Elonex cannot supply a dongle which works - any ideas anyone please. Posted by Graham F, UK
• My daughter got one of these notebooks from carphone warehouse and when i try to enable to wireless settings I cant find where to activate iet. As I have wirteles broadband she could use it instead of dongle
  Posted by vonnie , England
• I have the same problem as Bella. I've configured the wifi and pressed Fn+F1 as instructed on webbook website to activate it. The light is flashing intermittently, and the wifi can 'see' the network, but I can't get online. I've checked that Firefox is not in 'work offline' mode.
  
  What should I try next?
  Be grateful for the secret for those who have got through successfully.
  
  Otherwise, this seems to be a really neat machine so far, booting quickly as a Linux distro should. I am hoping for equally good response doing more complex things later on.
  Posted by ros, UK
• when i try to enable to wireless settings I cant find where to activate it. As I have wirteles broadband she could use it instead of dongle
  
  Posted by ROBBO, ENGLAND
• MSN - you don't need. Go to Applications -> Internet -> Pidgin and setup your account
  
  WiFi - if the light is blinking, you need to click the two-computer-icon on the top-right, select your connection and enter the key. If you're not using WPA (v1) you should "Connect to other wireless network..."
  
  Bluetooth - help - anybody???
  
  Otherwise - erm - I don't know! Posted by Matt Dinnery, United Kingdom
• I have just had my webbook replaced as the first one kept shutting down, or at least the screen did. The guy in the store said it was the power saving setting, But as it would not restart until it was switched off and on, (losing all work) I didn't agree. It went away for a week and they have replaced with new. Installing and updating ant-virus last night, the new one did exaclty the same. It was running on mains not battery and halfway through downloading updates the screen went blank. Power light still on, hard drive light still on and usb still operating, but could not get screen back on, had to switch power off and lost all downloaded material as it hadn't installed. Is there some additional power settings for these things I need to change, and has anyone else had this problem??? Posted by Darren Davies, UK
• how do u set up the webcam :-?? Posted by hannah, uk
• does any one know how to bypass the username and pass word on this, as my wife has forgoten hers and now all it does is power up and stay as a blank screen Posted by phil, uk
• I downloaded everything on to mine, itunes and frostwire and msn and everything works ok :)
  
  When setting up your internet connection make sure ur wi-fi is on, press Fn and F2 together to put it on/off.
  
  anyone help with setting up a webcam or norton anti- virus?? Posted by Alicia, UK
• I have an ASUS eee running Linux and I cannot get a mobile internet dongle to work on it. I have tried Orange, T Mobile, 3, Virgin, Vodafone and O2 and none of their dongles have any effect on the computer. Most of the staff have never heard of Linux and even Carphone Warehouse who are selling a Linux Elonex cannot supply a dongle which works - any ideas anyone please.
  Posted by Graham F, UK
  
  
  
  Graham, I think the Xandros 901 only works with either the Huawei E220 or E169 dongles. If you call their support people that's what theyill tell you. The E220 has been discontinued but is available off ebay, the 169 can still be had though. Posted by jase, England
• hi can you help me please i have notebook elonex which dongle will i wont to get on internet i have 3 dongle but wont work thanks Posted by mark naylor, uk
• how do i set up outlook express with my vodafone dongle please? Posted by karen, uk
• can some one tell me step by step how to get youtube on my littel laptop thing pleez ?
  
  thanl you for looking :P xxxxxxx Posted by louise , England
• how can i play games on my webbook had trouble downloading java Posted by sandra lewis, wales
• All I can say about this computer is that its rubbish sorry to say that but it is! Twice in three months my laptop has broken, first time it kept over heating it self second time everything decided to freeze when i went on it every time!
  They say it comes with a year warrenty!
  So first off I rang carphoneware house to complain and they say its not there problem its elonex, so then I ring elonex and they say now its carphonewarehouses problem! serious not one of them will admit its there problem, so in the end I told carphonewarehouse I would sue them if the problem wasnt sorted, so in the end they admitted it was there problem and they would fix it which took them 28days! Then it happens the second time and I complained I was not happy with this product and they practical told me to fuck off they would only fix they would never refund or replace with a differnt computer which is out of order if twice the computer has died! So now im going to pc world to buy a better computer with a better company! For any1 that is thinking of buying one dont it really isent worth the hassle! x Posted by kim turner, england
• Im considering getting this elonex netbook, the windows xp version comes free with a 12 month contract of just 29 Pounds from Orange online,which seems resonable. Pants minutes on offer for this deal, and pants phone too, but I dont use my mobile muchso thats ok!!
  Just want someone to confirm for me, I have Microsoft Word and Excel and Powerpoint on a disc I bought some time back, am I right in saying that if I get my hands on an external drive, I can upload them to the Elonex, and it will adequately run word and excel for me?? Using those, and surfing the web, are my main requirements. Is the Elonex for me?? Thanks for any help anyone can give. johncrotty46@hotmail.com Posted by john, wales
• Can anyone advise how to play video clips (avi, MP4, wmv etc) on the webbook. I have just bought one off a friend second hand. It has the linus not windows so struggling a bit to pen up and view attachments to emails etc
  
  Thanks for any help offered.
  
  Andy Posted by Andy, UK
• i need to no how to turn on my wireless as it will not work fn and f1 bring up a load of options al i want to do is get it turned on so i can get wireless.can anyone help? Posted by vic, england
• i have a webbook and a t-mobile usb modem can and how do i play online with a playstation3 plz help iv tryed sorting all the network settings and bort an ethernet cable but nothing works Posted by kyle 1907, wales
• I bought one of these (XP version) to use at uni via their wifi intranet - the first one, the battery didn't charge so Carphone Warehouse changed it within the 28 days from purchase. The second one works fine except that it will not hook up to the uni network - I changed the wifi drivers for the latest ones and it worked for about three hours and then collapsed again. The tech guys at uni said that the network card may be corrupted. Neither the computer or the network can find each other - WTF is wrong with it? anyone got any ideas? (nothing too complicated, I am not much use at the tech stuff)
  
  anyone using dial-up - I bought a Pluscom 56k v.92 external modem which works really well on a dial up connection. (it cost less than £10) Posted by Robert, wales
• I really want to get tap-click turned off! Is there any way to do this via windows registery or something? I gave Ubunu a try for all of a week, tried following a tutorial on turning tap-click off and nearly nuked my ubuntu install. Fortunately i'd written down the destructions and got things back from a back-up file.
  
  However flash when installed appeared broken and I couldn't put up with such a common internet feature being a broken mess and such a pain to install. So now i'm here in XP land which at least I'm semi-familiar with.
  
  Not that it's my OS of choice since largely I use an old G4 mac with OSX 10.4, but that won't install on this cheap POS which i got as a refurb from maplin btw.
  
  So far it's been ok for what it is, an incredibley cheap bargin basement laptop which so far i find plays youtube clips (and i didn't notice any stuttering) and irc and msn and plays mp3s on itunes in the background while i'm browsing. Posted by Mikey J, Wales
• how do yu work bluetooth tried cntrl and f2 dnt work? Posted by lucy, england
• @lucy
  
  The manual for the webbook on the elonex website might have something in it. http://www.elonex.com/support/products/webbookxp.shtm
  
  Whatever you're trying to connect it to, has to see the Webbook, or vise versa. You normally have to put in a 4 digit pin (usually 1111) to get the 2 items to communicate. If 1111 doesn't work see the manual for the item you're connecting to for the correct pin.
  
  I just tried Fn+F2 then searched for new devices in the bluetooth section of my Samsung D900s menu. It found no new devices. I assume for mine at least, it's not working. Posted by Mikey J, Wales
• I have had my Webbook for almost a year but I still haven't really become comfortable with Linux so I bought another hard drive so that I could install XP without losing Linux. I installed the new drive and using an external USB CD
  /DVD drive booted up with the XP CD. Everything was fine until the system re-booted part way through the build at which point I get the message 'Error loading operating system' is displayed. Any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong or how to get around this would be much appreciated! Posted by Steve Neathey, England
• @ Steve Neathey, England
  
  Are you 100% sure you didn't disturb the external drive during the install? Even the tiniest knock? Also make sure the extrenal drive is set up as the primary boot device in the bios, F2 at boot iirc.
  
  I also did it that way and had no trouble at all installing XP Pro. I'd suggest trying to install again, if you haven't already tried that. Posted by Mikey J, Wales
• how do i charge it plzz help :) Posted by john , england