On Sunday 13 September 2009 12:21:26 pm Philip Webb wrote:
> I'm planning to buy a netbook sometime in the next few weeks.
> The most likely choice is an Asus 1005HA :
> 
>  
>  http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=025389&
> cid=NBK.862.656
> 
> It has a  1600 MHz  processor,  1 GB  memory & a  160 GB  hard drive.
> Asus is a very reliable manufacturer in my experience
> & this version is the cheapest & looks as if it would meet my needs.
> Hopefully, the price will drop a bit more in the near future.
> 
> My intended use is simply to be able to read, edit & make notes on texts,
> esp books I have downloaded (eg Jane Austen, Gibbon),
> while lying back in my chair or on my bed, not sitting up at my desk;
> It may also be useful to take to my office at the UoT
> to work on my transit archives there occasionally
> & might help at public meetings, making notes or checking documents.
> My desktop manager wb Fluxbox, my typical app Gvim,
> other regulars Terminal (Xfce), Xpdf, Feh: no KDE or Gnome;
> I might install the binary OO for a spreadsheet;
> I don't see myself using it for wireless Internet, video or sound.
> Most of the time, I sb able to run it plugged in, not from the battery.
> 
> It comes with M$ XP installed in the factory (with Firefox),
> which I may keep in case there's a hardware failure under warranty
> (I can demonstrate it's not Linux which is causing the problem),
> but of course I shall use Linux for all my activities above.
> I thought re other distros to avoid a lot of slow compiling,
> but the advantage is a mirage: Slackware & Arch users have to compile
>  kernels & I would have to learn how to do things their way to get
>  anywhere; Mandriva has a version for EEE, but it's likely to default to
>  KDE 4 (ugh!).
> 
> I see myself using System Rescue to get started, reducing the XP partition,
> installing the Gentoo system + Kernel 2.6.31 + X , then a sparse set of
>  apps; I might try compiling on my desktop machine, then copying the binary
>  across. There are howto's on the Gentoo Wiki & elsewhere, eg
> 
>   http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:installgentoo
>   http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Asus_Eee_PC_901
>   http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Asus_Eee_PC_1000HA
> 
> Does anyone have warnings, suggestions or advice ?
> 

I don't see a single problem with that.  Compiles may indeed be a bit slow but 
it will get done.  And if you must compile on another machine look into 
chroots. Another option is Sabayon. I know this is a Gentoo mailing list but 
Sabayon is a derivative of Gentoo but with Entropy (it's package manager) it 
doesn't have to compile and it even offers a GUI (though I don't use it much) 
but it does keep portage and emerge can still be used.  A CoreCD may be just 
what you need (or a Gentoo chroot on a desktop and then transfer it to your 
laptop).

I personally run a Gentoo system after having Sabayon 4.2 and I obviously 
stuck with Gentoo so...