Yves Dehnel of Tech Networks of Boston is my new hero.

As readers of my blog know, I bought an Asus Eee PC 900 in July, but have run into obstacles in trying to use it in my habitual way. 

After Twittering about it, blogging about it, going online to various nonprofit technology communities, posting a plaintive request for help to GetSatisfaction, and - yes - even after checking with Asus customer support, I still couldn't install any new drivers or applications on my Asus netbook, and therefore I couldn't use my AT&T mobile broadband with it. 

Several people suggested that the version of Linux that comes installed on the Asus Eee PCs as an operating system (Linux Eee PC 1.1.0.66) is very tightly locked down, and that I should replace it with a version of Ubuntu for netbooks called Easy Peasy.

Well, I tried, but I couldn't figure out how to do it.  I'm one of those folks who thinks that "computer literacy" in any generic form is a myth, and I try to be brave and admit it when an IT-related task is beyond me.

Having admitted that I couldn't get Easy Peasy installed on my Asus, I took the radical step of mentioning my problem in a face to face conversation. The ever-helpful Tuan Pham of Tech Networks opined that he could probably find someone, and that someone turned out to be my buddy Yves Dehnel, also of Tech Networks.

It turns out that installing Easy Peasy is a three-step simple process, albeit a slight different one than what is described on the download page:

Drop off your Asus at Yves's shop.

Take a phone call from Yves a couple of hours later, so that he can inform you that he's done it.  (Don't forget to thank him profusely.)

Return to his shop, and spend a few minutes with him, tweaking the settings so that your Sierra 881 USB connector card  works with the Asus.  (Don't forget to thank him profusely, once again.)

For me, the real work began at that point: settling down to the effort of acclimating myself to the Easy Peasy operating system and an Asus keyboard.

Now that I'm using that Asus Eee PC 900 for extended periods (and not just for fun), I find that it really does take some acclimation.  The Easy Peasy operating system is not much of challenge, but the physical set up of the Asus is. As a touch typist, I have to acquire a new kinesthetic sense of where each key is, and there's something about the touchpad action that's very different.

When I first wrote about my Asus notebook, I said:


This is still true.  I would never recommend an Asus with a Linux operating system for use in a nonprofit where the staff members weren't burning with curiousity to see for themselves what open source platforms are all about.  It's too much trouble for folks who have enough to do with nonprofit programs and operations.  An Asus loaded with XP as an operating system would do the job.

But speaking just for myself, I'm glad to have the opportunity to live and work with an open source operating system, especially if colleagues and buddies such as Yves are willing to get my back.


(Full disclosure of financial relationship:  TechNetworks of Boston is a client of mine, and I bartered my services in exchange for Yves's.  Had I been a paying customer, I would have been charged about $150, which I consider very reasonable.)