You can see in the picture on the left the memory in place between the fan and the hard drive. Since then I haven’t had much of an opportunity to have a play and see if it makes any significant difference. I am expecting to get a better response from applications such as Google Chrome, that I spend most of my day in, as multiple tabs seem to eat up the memory and may prevent some being swapped out so improving load times.

I will post details of anything significant that I find but if you have upgraded your netbook what were your experiences?

Phew! It still starts up!

That’s what we like to see 1.99GB of RAM

There are a number of ways to achieve this: buy an external usb-CD/DVD drive to plug in, share the disk out from another machine and access across a network or create an image of the disk and transfer this to the netbook.

The former is probably the simplest solution but requires an additional outlay which, quite frankly, is probably not justifiable for the small number of times that you are going to have to do it. It is the only solution if you only have one machine.

I am going to concentrate on the final solution as it is free and relatively straight forward. This method creates what is called and iso image file of the original disk. This is an exact copy of your original CD/DVD which can then be transported and loaded on other machines and, crucially, requires no cd drive other than to read the disk to create the image. An iso image is becoming an accepted way of transporting software – Microsoft are now providing software downloads to partners in this format.

In order to get your software onto your netbook this you will require:

• the original CD that you want to copy
• a machine with a CD/DVD drive
• a memory stick (2gb should be plenty)
• a copy of InfraRecorder (http://infrarecorder.org/)
• a copy of MagicDisc (http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-magicdisc-overview.htm)

There are two stages to the process which are described in more detail below.

Creating the image

For this you will need to install a small piece of software onto your computer with the CD/DVD drive to allow you to create an iso image. I used InfraRecorder as it is free and easy to use.

Run InfraRecorder and you will be presented with the main menu. Click on the “Read Disc” icon:

On the next screen ensure that the correct source is selected. If you only have one CD/DVD drive then this will be the only option. Click the ellipsis (…) button and choose where you want to save the output file and give it a name:

Click OK and the image will be created from your CD/DVD. It will only take a few minutes.

You should now have an iso on your machine.

Reading the image

Now you need to copy the iso image you created onto your netbook and the best way to do this is via a memory stick. Depending on the image that you are copying it will vary in size from a few megabytes to a couple of gigabytes.

Once you have the image file on your netbook you will need to install a piece of software to read the image. I used MagicDisc which, again, is free and easy to use.

Once installed MagicDisc appears as an icon in the system tray. Locate the icon as shown below and right mouse click on it which will display a pop-up menu.

From the menu select “Virtual CD/DVD-ROM” followed by “D: No Media” followed by “Mount…”.

Note that “D:” may be different on your machine depending on the drive letter chosen by MagicDisc

On the next screen locate your iso image and open it.

What happens next will depend on the image that you have loaded. If it has autorun enabled then the program associated with that will start. Otherwise, you can go to Windows Explorer or My Computer and you will see the image appear as another drive as normal.

Was this useful? Do you know of a better way of getting your programs onto your netbook? Leave a comment.

There have already been two iterations of Netbooks. Version 1 was the original Asus Eee PC 701 device that introduced the Netbook to the world. This had a 7" screen and ran a specially customised Linux OS. I had one of these and loved it but found Linux to be hard work.

The second version is where we are now with a standard offering of a 10" screen, Intel Atom processor, 3 USB ports, 1gb of ram and, typically, Windows XP. This second wave of Netbooks has been with us for a while now with many companies producing very similar products – the internals are the same but only the exterior shows any real difference. I have an Advent 4211, a rebadged MSI Wind, and I use it constantly.

So I am thinking that we must be about due another iteration – Netbook v3, but what would I want from such a device? Well the following list would be a good starting point:

WWAN

For me the whole wireless broadband revolution has been great. I have been able to get access to the net pretty much wherever I go (with the possible exception of my mother-in-laws in North Yorkshire) but having the dongle is just one more thing to carry around and potentially lose. So the ability to stick the SIM card into the machine and forget about it would be great. Obviously I would require a Netbook that was not locked to any network to allow me to get the best deal – currently I am on an excellent deal with 3.

Longer battery life

When I first got my Advent I got an underwhelming performance out of the battery so I bought a six cell upgrade and now get close to three hours but still not long enough to not have to take a portable charger with me. Ideally I would like the battery to last all my working day and some of the newer models on the market are claiming some incredible times. For a mobile warrior this is a must

More memory

I use my Netbook for a lot more than simply browsing the web and knocking out a few documents. I also do some web development on it with both Apache and MySQL installed. While this works fine it is obvious that the memory is taking a bit of a hit and could do with a boost. I think that this would need to be an after market mod as I think that Microsoft only allow XP on Netbooks with 1gb of ram or less but that is ok as I am handy with a screwdriver.

Sleeker design

This one is pretty subjective as everyone has an opinion on design but the newer models seem to be thinner, lighter and more business like. At the low end they still seem to suffer from cheap looking plastic and flex in the chassis but the more you send, inevitably, the less that this is an issue. This does raise an interesting point in that some Netbooks are now more expensive than larger laptops. It seems that mobility now commands a premium.

Windows XP and not vista

I like Windows XP and I don’t like Windows Vista – nothing unusual in that but I also think that Windows XP is better suited to the netbook environment than Vista. Windows 7 is on its way but I have concerns about its ability to run all the Windows XP software I have accumulated so it seems sensible to stick with XP for now.

Full Width Keyboard

My current model has just such a keyboard and it makes a huge difference compared to other models I have used. I couldn’t go back now and so the keyboard is something I am going to be taking a close look at. The other thing is positioning of keys. I have always felt that the position of the Func and Ctrl keys on the Advent were wrong and should be swapped. So again I will be investigating this.

None of the above is earth shattering but these changes would make my Netbook life so much better. There are probably other things that would help: faster processor, better graphics and sound but these really aren’t going to make that much difference to the sort of work I do.

So when will all of this available? Well most of the items on the list are there now. It is only the WWAN that is not universally available and until there is plenty of choice will I take the plunge and I suspect that will be at least another six months.

Know of a Netbook that meets my requirements? Leave me a comment and let me know.

It looks fantastic, as you can see from the screen grabs, but it is still clearly beta software and there were a number of occasions when I managed to crash the browser visiting Javascript intensive sites such as Google mail. Also the trackpad on my MSI Wind didn’t work Attaching a USB mouse sorted this though.

So why should you be bothered? Well from cold boot to usable state took just under 40 seconds – you can’t say that about Windows XP. And it is very focused on doing one job and doing it well. Providing access to the things that you are likely to want when out and about quickly and simply – this is likely to be pretty much anything browser based.

If there is a downside it is that if you are likely to want to do anything out of the ordinary then you immediately come across the usual problem with Linux based operating systems (Moblin is based around a Fedora distro) and that is you need a degree is command line tools to do anything.

I think that the likely scenario, for me at least, is that I would have this as a dual boot along with Windows. When I want to quickly access the web then I would boot into Moblin but when I want to do something more intensive then I would go to Windows. However, right now Moblin is not stable enough to commit to install onto the hard drive but it does look promising.

Have you tried Moblin?

eBooks are all the rage at the moment, particularly in the states where Amazon’s Kindle seems to be doing a roaring trade. I have to say that I am not a particularly big reader and so to have the ability to carry and number of books around and dip in and out what the mood takes me appeals to me. Also I carry my netbook with me everywhere and while I might have a magazine with me (almost certainly Wired) it’s unlikely that I will have a book.

First thing I needed was some reading material. There is a wealth of free books available on the net. If you like classics then you can’t beat Project Gutenberg. If you want more technical information then try Online Computer Books.

In order to read the books I needed a reader. I have long been a fan of the Mobipocket reader having used it on both a Pocket PC and a BlackBerry. The desktop reader is easy to user, has a nice clear font and comes as as portable application (i.e. you don’t have to install it to use it).

The other essential item is an Acrobat reader of some sort as a large number of technical books in particular in delivered in this format.

So how is it in use? Well it is obviously very different from reading a book. Aside from the fact that it feels nothing like the real thing there is also the fact that in operation it is very different too but once you get your head around that fact it is ok.

One way to make the experience more book like is to rotate the screen through 90 degrees with a utility such as eeeRotate, the screenshot above was taken with this running, but holding a laptop this way just feels un-natural and is cumbersome so I’ll stick with it as is.

One way that an eBook reader scores highly over the printed equivalent is in its searching abilities, i.e. it’s got some. This is a killer feature for technical books, particularly as you are less likely to be reading it cover-to-cover and be looking for something in particular.

So in conclusion I will stick with the real thing for novels and magazines but make the switch for technical publications but even then if you are on the web a quick Google search is more than likely going to turn up what I need. Oh and I haven’t any room for yet another gadget in my kit bag!