[conspire] Elise's laptop

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Elise Scher (elise.scher01 at gmail.com):

> Hi Rick,
>      I am about to look at Little Blue. HP Stream. Model 11-r010nr, S/N
> 5CD5387LQL, P/N N5X86UA#ABA. I will take pictures of bottom and send to you.

Hi, Elise!  Thanks for the mail (and photos).  Seems like a really nice
little notebook.  And light!

Some notes in passing about the wee beastie:

Intel Celeron N3050 'Bay Trail' (dual core) 1.6 GHz, which is 64-bit (yay!)
Probably comes with either 2 GB or 4 GB DDR3L SDRAM -- but best to  
   assume it's 2GB, which is a pity and (with the CPU) makes this a bit
   challenging to get decent performance on modern desktop Linux
Comes with an SSD, not a hard drive (might be on account of limited
   space inside, but that's fine).  SSDs are awesome.  Capacity probably 32GB.
11.6" LED screen able to do 1366x768 pixels
Intel 'HD' integrated graphics
Wireless chip: 802.11bgn (but this is an option, hence might be 
  present, or might not), probably Broadcom BCM43142, driver name 'wl'.
Some touchpad or other
1 x USB 2.0 port
1 x USB 3.0 port
2.6 pounds
no optical disc included
fanless design (hence silent, which is excellent)
Memory slot is said to be 'not user accessible', which only
   means it's a bit more trouble to get to than usual.
Slot for several types of flash media (SD cards, etc.)
Some audio chip, not well documented
HDMI video port
headphone + microphone combo jack
apparently has _no_ ethernet LAN port
probably includes a webcam
there's Bluetooth, but getting it going requires some work

This wee beastie was marketed as a 'cloud computing' appliance, not
really as a standalone computer.  They loaded it with Window 10 Home 
and included a one-year subscription to MS Office 365 Personal, where
the MS-Office applications mostly run off of Microsoft's cloud computing
cluster, and by default your data files would live there, too (if I
recall correctly).  

Basically, it's a lightweight 'cloud' appliance bitty-box, like a Google
Chromebook but bundled with Microsoft 'cloud' subscription stuff.

However, have no fear:  This machine has (probably? maybe?) enough grunt
for a reasonably modest Linux desktop distribution like Linux Mint,
though it's certainly not a _fast_ machine by 2017 standards.  You'll
need to be a little careful not to burden it with too heavy-weight
desktop software.  Make no mistake, though:  The CPU is a bit anemic
by 2017 standards.

Here's a slightly sobering article about installing desktop Linux on a
similar HP Stream 11 model:
http://thepurdman.com/install-galliumos-linux-on-hp-stream-11/

I need to explain that article's main points:

1.  He found it necessary for performance's sake to skip the
heavy-weight Linux distros like Ubuntu _and_ even the main Linux Mint
variants.  He went with a lighter-weight variant of Xubuntu, the 
XFCE4 Desktop flavour of Ubuntu called 'GalliumOS'.  XFCE4 is less
stressful on hardware than any of the GNOME variants in Mint and Ubuntu.

2.  After experimenting, he also gave up on the internal wifi chip and
bought a $9 USB-wifi adapter off Amazon that works better.  
https://www.amazon.com/Edimax-EW-7811Un-150Mbps-Raspberry-Supports/dp/B003MTTJOY
He says the notebook's internal chip just isn't very good, with range
and dropout problems.  It is a very good idea to have in your possession
any such software at the time of Linux conversion, so you might wish to
order such a thing now.


Even better than XFCE4 for a relatively low-end notebook would be a
distro furnishing the nice but modest LXDE desktop environment, such as
_Lubuntu._  I will probably make a point of having the latest Lubuntu
for x86_64 around, too.

Hope to see you on Saturday, Sept. 9th.  CABAL meetings during the
summer and fall are leisurely, outdoor affairs.  I enjoy cooking for 
company, often on the outdoor grill.  There is always plenty of food 
to share, nobody is obliged to bring any, but, if you want to be sure 
of having what's to your taste, the best way is to bring something or
you never know for sure what'll be here.

(Some of the regulars are really good cooks, but, for example, I felt
awful once when a new attendee arrived who was evidently a religious
Hindu on on one occasion when I happened to be grilling hamburgers.)