[C] Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 04:36:13 -0500

I finished painting my Aero last night, and I just now got
her back together.  

http://www.cybertron.com/~timethy/pics/aero1.jpg  32 kb
http://www.cybertron.com/~timethy/pics/aero2.jpg  39 kb

She's flourescent pink green orange and yellow.  :)

--Timmy

[C] Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 17:50:10 +0200
From: Stefan `Sec` Zehl 
Subject: Ode to aero.

Hi,

I just got this fuzzy feeling about my aero, and thought i'd write it
down.

I like my aero very much. I bought it a couple of years ago, it was
mostly a coincidence. A freind of mine had one, and I immedeatly liked
its small size. 8M ram and a 386 seemd quite good back then. At first it
ran windows, and did that quite well. I never did big things with it,
just write a few text, the occasional small C program (using djgcc, if
anyone cares :) and playing a game every now an then. I had to lend it
to other people (including my mother) quite a bit, which wrote bigger
texts, while sitting outside in the green grass (albeit the display is
not very well readable in the sunlight). Then when I was converted to
'the Unix side' i didn't use it for about a year. Finally though, I
installed FreeBSD on it, and it got used a little more again. Taking
notes during lectures (this was where my 4M ram module got flakey and
triggered spontaneous reboots - i then bought a new 16M one)
And one or another small game. Actually I got X running (in the well
known modes) after some fiddling around, but am not very satisfied with
this. I prefer to use the console now. After some fiddling around I even
got it to spin its harddisk down on inactivity (unix does like to access
the disk every now and then). Then my Akkus (still the same from the
original buy) still last 2-3 hours, which is enough for the odd use
without an power outlet.

Now that I have an Palm III to take small notes, plan my schedule and
play a quick game, my aero didn't get unused, no. It merely got more
Äinteresting' tasks. So it served my leased line, and acted as a router
for more than a week, when no computer was at hand (including the time
to set up) where it proved to be as reliable as any other server.
Actually this happend more than once, since it's just convinient :)
I can act as an DNS server, irc, web and ftp-server on small meetings
where we connect severeal laptops together. Possibly even connect all of
them to the internet via a GSM modem, and NAT (although i didn't yet do
this). Also it is a reliable Backup device for my pilot when I'm away.

All in all, I must say, that the aero was an worthy companion all the
years, and definitly made life easier. I have to admit, that it's
lifetime is definitly coming to an and (compaq even started to recycle
the name %-). Of course I will not trash it now, as it still does good
things, but I don't think I will put much more time in upgrades or
fixing things. Nowerdays, i'd just like to be able to run X without big
problems, maybe even play an mp3 file while traveling around, and all in
all be a bit faster.

Ah, btw. I didn't upgrade my harddisk from it's original 150 (not sure
now) Megs, and didn't yet break my clutch (*knocking on wood*) but the
display cable starts getting loose, as it flickers quite abit every now
and then.

Fare wall all aeronauts, for this is truely a great computer.

CU,
    Sec
-- 
Failure is not an option. It comes bundled with your Microsoft product.


[C] Yeah, it's so bad that I just bought my second one! :-) No, honestly, I
LOVE this thing. It's just that the couple of recent problem threads on this
list represent real problems.

Nobody posts: "Ooooo! I love the battery life" or "Wow - Check that great
keyboard layout" or "Only 4 pounds - How did I ever live with that old,
heavier, laptop" or "Man, was this a great price for such a nice system" or
"Isn't it great to have an integrated trackball instead of one of them
lame-brained dongle-pointer-dealies that are forever falling off or getting
caught on stuff or rubbing on the side of the chair you're sitting in?" See,
nobody complains when everything's coming their way. Relax - it's a GREAT
computer.