I never imagined a little, underpowered computer would be so useful. It was bought with some “spare” cash about 2 years ago, as a travelling companion for the work I was doing at the time.
It’s an ASUS EEE 1005P. That probably means nothing to you - it certainly means nothing to me. All I know is that (after much tinkering), I’ve managed to make itdual boots into either Windows 7, or Ubuntu Linux. A few moments after switching it on, it asks which operating system to boot. It’s kind of like asking “how geeky are you feeling today?”
Although I know Ubuntu has taken a lot of criticism for the latest incarnation of their flavour of Linux, I have been mightily impressed with it on this tiny little computer. Everything has just “worked” straight out of the box - more than can be said of Windows, which required multiple driver installs, reboots, and installation of a virus killer, and firewall before I dared let it near the internet.
A few years back I worked in London on a long term secondment, and ended up carting a netbook to and from the office on the long train journeys to provide amusement when not reading books (oh, how I miss that time on the train - “me” time - time to read!). Booting into Linux always drew quizzical looks from adjacent passengers on the train, and illicited conversation on more than one occasion.
Occasionally I would sit across from somebody using a Mac (I took a Macbook with me for some time too), and smile at their hipster superiority act. If only they knew they were running a flavour of Unix, just like me.