Elonex ONE Support page updated

The ONE Support page at http://www.elonex.com/support/products/lnxone.shtm has improved since I last looked there in that the link to the ONE Recovery image now works: http://www.elonexsupport.com/one/onerecovery.zip and the Download Manual button connects to the correct manual: http://www.elonexone.co.uk/downloads/oneusermanual.pdf

Looking at the manual also gives hints that the software has been updated compared to the Aware laptop manual that I've been working from up to now. There's even a clue that there might be a drop-down menu to change WiFi protocol from WEP to WPA or WPA2? So, if anyone has managed to get WPA working on the ONE can you let me know?

There are also a couple of new FAQs:

Q. Why can't I view some webpages?
A. As The ONE can't view some parts of some webpages as it does not have Flash 9 (for example you can't view Youtube videos) but sometimes you can't view some content because Java or Flash are disabled in your settings.
To enable Java and Flash open the internet and click the Settings button (the spanner and screwdriver icon in the top right corner). Under Content Options change the Java and Flash options to Enabled, then press Apply. You need to close your internet browser and then reopen it for the changes to take effect.

That's good news, the ONE appears to have Flash and Java, you just need to enable them? Again I'd be grateful if someone could let me know the versions of Java and Flash on the machine.

Q. Why can't I connect to the internet?
A. To be honest if you are reading this page then you have no problems connecting to the internet (!!) but if you have a friend who has problems then please get them to call our support number (0871 90 296 90).
The ONE has experienced some problems connecting to BT Home Hub and Sky Broadband. There is a software update for this so please phone us for more information.

I don't like the answer to this question - I'm sure most ONE owners will either have their own bigger computer or know someone (teacher or parent) who has - why can't Elonex put the answer on the web instead of promoting their Premium Rate telephone number? So, if you know the answer to this question, please let me know so we can distribute the answer as widely as possible.

Or more ONEt delays?

I did warn everyone when posting my first blog entry that the arrival of the Elonex ONE had a lot of similarities with the launch of the Sinclair Spectrum and BBC microcomputer and other machines from the 1980s. To have three 28 day delays in delivery was not unusual then, and I'm not too surprised that it's starting to look a bit that way again... Apologies if I called "time" too early from the hints I'd been seeing that the ONEt was on the way.

If it's any consolation, I've found a good little website at http://www.littlelinuxlaptop.com - the Elonex ONEt (or something very similar) has been on sale in the Netherlands for some time by Trendtac http://www.trendtac.nl/ and the two sites already contain a lot of useful stuff, like a recovery image, a patch to get automatic updates to work, a patch to get to root xterm and a few games.

The Trendtac site is in Dutch so you may want to translate it using http://translate.google.com - the Dutch to English result is at: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trendtac.nl%2F&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=nl&tl=en

The site does have 320 megabytes of source code to download, released under the Open Source licence, and a cross compiler - so we prospective ONEt owners could take a bit of a lead by getting any programs we need compiled in advance of getting a machine...?

Elonex ONEt's on the way?

There's a forum post at: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1113971 that implies that one customer has received an email saying his ONEt is on the way - there's no votes in our poll yet indicating any ONEt's being received - but we are now into the "last week in August" which is when the delay email said they would be delivered...

The delay has given us chance to think over the features of the various machines - and as always there's swings and roundabouts:
The advantage of the plain ONE is definitely its price, the 486 compatible processor means that it's likely that Elonex (or more likely some third party) will eventually bring the software more up to date, either by producing updated files for the installed "Linos" operating system, or by producing a version of "Puppy Linux" for the machine - and the spare internal USB port means that adding bluetooth or a bigger flash drive should be easy;
The main advantage of the ONE+ is the 256 megabytes of RAM, it might even be possible to port xUbuntu for this machine;
The ONEt may have a better input device with its touchpad, it's certainly lighter in weight, its MIPS processor has advantages and disadvantages - it's harder to port software for it, but equally it will be harder to write viruses and spyware for it - and the installed software while it may be based on older variants than those on the ONE may well include better video support;
And, the ONEt+... is probably for those with a little bit of extra money to spare...

So, we wait to be able to check these guesses out.

xterm on the Elonex ONE

Three of the members of our Google Group have pooled their ideas and come up with a way to get the "xterm" terminal console onto the ONE's menu.

This is probably going to be a very useful thing to do, as I can imagine that lots of other Elonex ONE tips are going to start: "open up xterm and type the following commands..."

Anyway this is what you have to do to get xterm on your menu:

Pop up the virtual keyboard with alt-tab and hover over the xkbd logo.

Hold down the left button and select 'manual' and miraculously xterm will appear, running as "root".

type: cd /home/user
type: vi .icewm/menu

..then you're in the menu file. Find a suitable location for your menu entry, and type a line that says:

prog "xterm" xterm /bin/sh -c "xterm"

Make sure it lines up like the other lines, then save and close the file. (If '-c' doesn't work, try '-x' instead.)

Now hit the "One" button and see your new menu option.

Jealousy sets in

It's becoming fairly obvious to those of us who fell for the "free-upgrade" to the ONEt that deliveries of the Elonex ONE are already well under way - the votes on the right show that clearly - and one of our regulars "peterg" has even had time to receive a ONE, have the original machine suffer a hardware failure and get a replacement machine, as detailed in his blog:
http://www.mildewhall.com/BigBlogTCSearch.php?searchfor=Elonex%20One - he has also set up an Elonex ONE page at: http://www.mildewhall.com/ElonexONE/ - these both look as if they are going to be useful pages to visit in future.

Meanwhile, 3 Elonex ONEs have already been sold on http://www.ebay.co.uk (generally for just under the Elonex price) and there are two more currently on offer...

Can't wait to get my hands on a ONEt and join in...

Where are we now?

The aim of this blog is to discuss using the Elonex ONE family of computers. So, while it's interesting to follow the problems of scheduling delivery of several hundred thousand computers in a way that keeps the maximum number of customers happy (?), I thought it was time to bring together what we know so far about the machines.

I have therefore created two tables: http://groups.google.com/group/elonexone/web/hardware-comparison
and http://groups.google.com/group/elonexone/web/software-comparison
to list what we know and what we suspect.

On the hardware front we know quite a bit - it seems that predecessors of the Elonex ONE and ONEt have existed for some time under different names - that they are produced by two different manufacturers, but they have very similar specifications.

On the software front we know a lot less - software is relatively easy to change and while there is some information on the predecessor machines, we cannot guarantee that the same software will be preloaded on the ONE and ONEt as was loaded on the predecessors.

Let's emphasise a consequence of that - we cannot guarantee that the same software will be on the ONEt as there is on the ONE! The ONE appears to use a processor that is compatible with an earlier Intel machine, making it that little bit easier to find compatible software than the ONEt that appears to use a "reduced instruction set" processor. This may make the available software on the ONEt more restricted and make it harder to get the very latest version.

Human memory is a funny thing - I was looking at the Elonex Accessories page: http://www.elonex.dslshop.co.uk/index.asp?page=accessories to check that the printer they show is really an HP Deskjet (sensible because HP do make Linux drivers available for their printers) - and I think the "speakers" have totally changed their design since the last time I looked - can anyone else confirm this? If so, it's another example of the complications that can follow when you try to order a very large number of anything...

Email received from Elonex - ONEt delayed until end of August

As you gather, I was one of those people who opted to upgrade to the
"ONEt" model, and today I've received a delay email from Elonex as
follows:

Demand for the ONEt free upgrade and accessories has exceeded our
estimations, with the majority of customers ordering a range of
accessories, including the indispensible wristVAULTs. As a result we
are experiencing a delay on deliveries. The official launch of the
ONEt is 1st September however Pre-orders, of which you are one, will
receive their order in the last week of August, ahead of this product
launch.

We sincerely apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience
caused. We would therefore like to offer you the following options:
• Continue with your order as it currently is (no action is
required by you)
• We are able to temporarily refund your order and re process the
payment when your order is dispatched (please call 0870 240 1060)
• If you would like to cancel your order (please call 0870 240 1060
or email us here)

Please accept our sincerest apologies, your order is of the utmost
importance to us and we are putting every effort into speeding up all
deliveries.

Best Regards

Elonex

"Does What" have recevied a "One"!

The first review of the Elonex One as received by a user is on the web
at:

http://www.doeswhat.com/2008/08/01/elonex-one-un-boxed-first-look-review/

The review includes a 4 minute flash video showing everything from
opening the box to getting the word processor on the screen and typing
their first document.

Elonex One on the way for some?

At least one user reports receiving an email that their Elonex One has
been sent out:

http://www.doeswhat.com/2008/07/31/elonex-one-finally-dispatched/

Other links that you might find useful are:

About the OneT: http://www.elonexone.co.uk/onet.html

Listing available accessories: http://www.elonex.dslshop.co.uk/index.asp?page=accessories

A discussion that seems to prove that the Elonex OneT+ only has 128M
of RAM: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/07/09/elonex_unveils_second_scc/comments/

(Which is disappointing to those of us who have paid £20 extra for
what turns out to be just 1Gb of extra flash memory - no Bluetooth and
no extra RAM.)

There are also various other Elonex One unofficial sites appearing,
including: http://elonexone.org.uk/

Please let us know if you come across any other useful sites.