Adaping a Generic Power Supply for a HP Laptop

The power supply I bought in Kandy for for my HP DM1 laptop stopped working. At the local computer store I tried a couple of replacement HP power-supplies. These made an odd beeping noise and delivered no power. So instead I cut the DC plug off the failed HP unit and soldered a socket on the cable. I then plugged the generic power supply from my old Kogan Agora Laptop into the socket. Even though the two power supplies have slightly different specifications (HP: 18.5 Volt and 3.5 Amp. Kogan: 19 Volt 3.42 Amp) the setup works fine.

3D Printed StarTrek Style Flip Phone Case

Kogan have announced their low cost "Agora 5 Inch Screen Smartphone". I have suggested they provide the phone dimensions in a CAD file, so we can 3D print our own cases. What I would like is a hard hinged cover to turn it into a StarTrek style flip phone, like the Motorola A760.

The Motorola A760, had a cover over its touch screen which hinged up to provide the ear-piece. There were no electronics built into the cover, it simply had a hollow channel to carry the sound from the body of the phone to the top of the cover. This same design should be able to be applied to any slab style phone. It would allow the ear-piece to be molded to more comfortably fit the ear, reducing background noise. It also positions the phone's antenna further from the user's head, improving signal strength and reducing radiation hazard.

The Kopgan Agora Dual Core Smartphone specifications indicate that it has some interesting features. It has an unusually large 5 inch screen, but only 480 x 800 pixel resolution, much lower than other large screen phones. But this may not be a problem as I have trouble seeing the text, let along the pixels, on the average phone.

Also there are two Mini SIM sockets allowing the phone to be used on two mobile phone networks at the same time (one 2G connection and one 3G). Previously I tried a dual SIM phone, the idea being that I could use a 2G SIM for voice calls and the 3G SIM for data (separate data plans being cheaper than those bundled with voice plans). This did not work well in practice as I found that each time I made a voice call, the data service was cut off. It was not clear if this was a problem with this phone or a limitation of all such dial SIM devices. The phone I purchased  (a Huawei Deuce U8520 Dual SIM Android Smart Phone) also has a battery which lasted only an hour and the phone would lock up and randomly reboot. I returned the phone to Allphones at Belconnen (Canberra) in 2011 for repair, but have heard nothing since (no repair and no refund). As a result I am wary about the dual SIM devices, however I found Kogan's after sales support to be excellent with the two Kogan Agora Laptops I have purchased previously.

Installing Linux on a HP Pavilion DM1-4108AU

The screen broke on my trusty Kogan Agora and it was not feasible to repair. So I looked around for a similar unit: a low cost laptop with a screen between 11 and 12 inches, which is suitable for running Linux. I chose the HP Pavilion DM1-4108AU from JB HI-FI for $368. This has only 2GB of RAM and a 320 GB hard disk, the disk is upgradable but the RAM is not (there is a HP Pavilion dm1-4210us with 4GM RAM and a 500 GB disk). It has Windows 7 and so was selling a bit cheaper than the newer Windows 8 models. Linux can be installed, with WiFi needing an extra driver and the laptop is good apart from the shiny screen.

The HP Pavilion DM1-4108AU looks a lot more expensive than it costs, with a black and silver case (the silver highlights look like aluminum, but are painted plastic). My Kogan Agora looks down-market in comparison with a lot of plastic and screws, but has survived a fall onto a stone floor and is much easier to upgrade the hardware due to all the screws.

The case over the LCD screen on the HP is a little too flexible for my liking but the biggest problem is the shiny LCD screen and surround, making it more subject to reflections than the Kogan (but most small laptops now seem to have this problem). The HP's keypad is very good and it has a good range of ports (three USB, HDMI and VGA video), which is one reason I did not buy a Chromebook.

After reviewing J.A. Watson's excellent article about installing Linux on a similar HP model ("HP Pavilion dm1-4310e: Swapping Windows 8 for Linux"), I decided to try Mint Linux. This worked well, apart from the problem with WiFi, which Watson had noted. I also tried OpenSuSe Linux, which was equally impressive. To remove Linux and install another version I found the video "How to Safely Uninstall Linux with Windows Dual Boot" by Britecto be useful.

Ubuntu, came with a proprietary driver for the Broadcom WFi hardware BCM43103. I had been avoiding Ubuntu as I don't like the Unity interface (but you can install Gnome in ubuntu). Unfortunately even with the driver I still could not get WiFi to work.

Then I tried Puppy Linux. This was because of a comment on the Puppy Linux Discussion Forum saying that WiFi was slow on the HP DM1-4108 au, but at least it worked ("Wireless hp dm1-4108au Slow"). Normally I would not try such an unusual Linux version, but I was getting desperate. Puppy Linux is designed for running on old hardware and has been criticised for lack of security and applications. It runs fast but the installation process is not as polished as Mint, Ubuntu and OpenSuse.

The "Precise" version of Puppy is designed to be compatible with Ubuntu packages, to address the application issue. The Puppy ISO file downloaded very slowly (70kbps) and was not available from a local mirror site as it is so new (17 December 2012). This reminded me of the old days of dial-up modems, where software downloads could take much of a day. Unfortunately the Precise version did not work and so I tried "Slacko Puppy 5.4 final".

One curious problem I had was that I could not get the usual utility to write the Puppy ISO file to a USB drive. So I ended up using "Linux Live" on Windows 7. The WiFi worked, but was so slow as to be unusable. This showed me the WiFi could work, if I could get a suitable driver, so I went back to Mint Linux, as looked at how to load the correct driver for the Broadcom. The posting " Possible fix for wireless: BCM4313 (14e4:4727) on hp dm1 laptop with Ubuntu 11.10" suggested the wl driver not "brcmsmac":

Then save the file. Reboot, and then go into Ubuntu Software Centre again - search "bcm" and reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source and then broadcom-sta-source and broadcom-sta-common. ...

I then had Mint Linux working with the WiFi. While all this involved downloading many Linux distribution files, it had to be kept in perspective. I did spend a lot of time waiting for various Linuxes to boot. But I spent even more time waiting for Windows 7 to download updates and install them.

The Mint Linux ISO installation file is about 1 GB compares to about 300 MB for most others. But Mint comes with many extra packages which you have to download separately with other Linux distributions. It is still not without problems. It is odd that I still have to search the web to find out how to make the text large enough to read on a small screen for Linux and various packages. Given that there will be more people with poor eyesight as the population gets older, this is something open source developers need to address. Here I am not talking about special magnifier applications, just one place I can set the font size larger and have each application adjust accordingly.

I doubled the Resolution Dots Per Inch  in Appearance > Fonts > Details (making the text twice as large). But this did not make the text large enough to read in received email in Thunderbird, or on web pages in Firefox.

One catch with the HP DM1 computers is that they come with one of two different processors: Intel or AMD. The DM1-4108AU has the AMD processor and according to the "HP Pavilion dm1 Entertainment PC: Maintenance and Service Guide" (page 2) and has two RAM slots, whereas the Intel has only one. See "How to upgrade a dm1-4108au memory to 4Gig?" along with the showing how to get the back off the computer to install more RAM.

Agora Smart TV HDMI Dongle

Kogan have announced an "Agora Smart TV HDMI Dongle", will be available from 31 July 2012 for $99. This is a tiny desktop computer designed to plug into the HDMI video port on a digital TV (or computer monitor) to turn it into a Google Android computer. This would be useful to have at home to complement an Android smart phone. While intended for entertainment, with a keyboard and mouse (or touch-pad) this would be sufficient for undertaking some online courses for school, vocational or university studies.

The device has WiFi, a full size USB socket and a microSD slot. It is powered via a miniUSB socket. One feature lacking from the Dongle is Bluetooth for a remote keyboard, although a TV type hand-held remote control is provided.

To use the Dongle as a desktop computer, a keyboard would be needed. Kogan off their own "Android Deluxe Wireless Keyboard & Trackpad", but this is too small for serious typing.

The Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400 with Multi-Touch Touchpad would be more useful. I recently purchased on of these. Despite the "Touch Keyboard" name it has a conventional keyboard, plus a large large touch pad (where the numeric keypad would normally be). This is small enough to sit on the lap but large enough to type comfortably on. Alternatively a low cost USB hub could be plugged in and desktop keyboard and mouse used (I recently purchased a hub, keyboard and mouse for less than $15).

Agora is the brand name Kogan give their low cost computer range. I have the Kogan Ultra Portable Agora 12" Laptop, which has proven very reliable and useful.

Technical Specifications

Connectivity

Wi-Fi

802.11 b/g/n

Display

Resolution

1920 x 1080

General

Dimensions

9.045 x 3.396 x 1.55cm

OS

Android 4.0 ICS

Hardware

CPU

Cortex A9 1GHz

Internal Storage

4GB

RAM

512MB

Inputs

Card Reader

microSD up to 32GB

USB 2.0

USB drives up to 32GB

miniUSB

Power only

Outputs

HDMI®

1

Hardware

GPU

Mali 400

Solid State Disk for Laptop

I dropped my Kogan Agora 12 Inch laptop onto a stone floor. Remarkably there was no damage to the case or screen (the screen was open at the time and the computer running). But the hard disk was not functioning afterwards, so I replaced the 2.5 Inch SATA disk drive with a Solid State Disk (SSD). This turned out to be a useful upgrade: relatively easy and inexpensive.

Kogan offered me a 30GB SSD, as provided in one model of the laptop, but decided on a larger 60 GB unit (Patriot Memory PYRO 60 GB SSD), costing 50% more for twice as much storage.

Replacing the disk drive required me to un-clip the battery from the back of the laptop and remove one screw holding a small panel over the disk drive. The disk then slid out and I slid the new SSD in. The new disk was completely blank so I booted the computer from a USB flash drive with a copy of Ubuntu Linux on it and then partitioned the disk with that and installed Linux. This took about 20 minutes.

After installing Linux, about 40 GB of the disk is available for data. As I just use the computer for taking notes, the smaller 30 GB disk would have been adequate (with Linux taking up about 20 GB), but the extra space may be handy.

The computer seems to boot a bit quicker but otherwise is no different in operation. I am yet to see if the battery lasts longer with the lower power storage device.

Linux Laptop Good for Presentations

The Sydney Linux User Group meets on the last Friday of each month at Google's Sydney headquarters. Last night there was no keynote speakers, instead six lightning talks. These are five minute talks, requiring the speaker to get to the point quickly, not spending time on who they are or fiddling with slides. I decided to give an update on my Kogan Agora Laptop. As I had my laptop plugged in at the podium, all the other speakers used it for their presentations.

This highlighted one of the features of this Linux laptop: it is very good for presentations. Since purchasing the unit several months ago I have been at events where the presenter was unable to get their laptop to work with the video projector. I simply plug in my Kogan Agora and a perfect picture comes up on the screen and on the laptop. When I commented on this at the SLUG meeting, one of the experts said this was due to the very good Linux support for the Intel graphics chip in the Kogan.

At a previous SLUG meeting I had criticized the Koag for its short battery life, at under three hours. However, installing the Power Manager Inhibit Applet appears to have had the side-effect of turning on the power saving features, extending the battery life to almost four hours.

Other speakers at the meeting (availabel in a video of the six lightening talks) were:

1. How to create an ebook - Marghanita
2. Update on my Kogan laptop - Tom
3. Building an satellite tracking system - Bruce
4. PyCon AU conference program - Tim
5. Prey, finding stolen laptop and Modeling your house - Patrick
6. SpiderOak and other Drop box alternatives - Sridhar

If a Linux, open source or general IT enthusiast, or if you are visiting Sydney and want to see the inside of the Google building, then a SLUG meeting is worth attending. If you can't make it to Sydney, the meetings are streamed live. The next meeting is 26 August 2011, so why not volunteer to speak?

Kogan Agora Laptop at Sydney Linux User Group

The Sydney Linux User Group (SLUG) invited me to give a lightening talk at their meeting last Friday, 24 June 2011. SLUG meetings are always interesting and have the bonus of being held at Google's Sydney's office. Here is a summary of what I said (or wanted to say):

Kogan Ultra Portable Agora 12" Laptop

Three models:

1. Solid State Disk model: 30GB SATA Solid State Hard Drive, Google's Chromium OS, 1GB Ram, $349 + delivery
   
2. Standard model: 250GB Disk, Ubuntu 11.04 OS, 1GB Ra, $349 + delivery
3. PRO Model: 500GB Disk, Ubuntu 11.04 OS, 2GB Ram, $389 + delivery

Common features in all models:

1. Intel Pentium Processor (SU2700) - 2M Cache, 1.30 GHz, 800 MHz FSB
2. 11.6" WXGA Widescreen LED back-light LCD Display, 1366 x 768 (16:9), VGA and HDMI video out sockets,
   
3. 2 speakers, 1 Microphone, audio in and out sockets, and 1.3 Mpixel Webcam.
4. 802.11 B/G/N WiFi, Bluetooth (Not Compatible with Chromium OS, but Bluetooth works fine with Linux) .
5. SD/MMC/MS Pro Card Reader, 3 USB and 1 Ethernet socket
6. 4 Cell, 4600mAh Battery
7. Dimensions: W:29.0cm x D:19.5cm x H:2.56cm, Weight: 1.32kg

I purchased the "pro" model.

Features

• Value for money generic hardware: The hardware looks good in comparison with laptops costing hundreds of dollars more. The laptop has panels covering the hard disk and RAM on the back of the unit allowing easy upgrade.
  
• Bigger than a netbook, but smaller than a laptop: The unit is about the size of an A4 page and as thick of two pads of paper, so it will fit in a school bag. Even so, the 11.6 inch screen is significantly larger than a 10 inch netbook, as is the keyboard. This is a keyboard and screen which could be comfortably used all day.
  
• Comes with Open Source Applications: The unit comes with office productivity and other applications pre-installed and read to go.
• Good after sales service on hardware: The power supply of my previous Kogan netbook was replaced promptly, with no questions asked, when it failed.
  

Problems

• Unity User Interface: "Unity" attempts to provide an Apple iPad like interface on Linux, but fails to have the iPad's elegance and ease of use. In addition the interface has bugs making it hard to use and drains battery life. Selecting Ubuntu classic interface (no effects) from the login screen solves this problem, by reverting to a traditional GUI, which works fine on the Agora's relatively large screen.
  
• Limited Battery Life: Kogan claims approximately 3.5 hours battery life. The real world life is two hours with the Unity interface and 2.75 hours with the classic interface.
• Evolution email package: The "Evolution" email package attempts to provide calendar and email features in one integrated package, but is slow and unreliable. Replacing this with Mozilla Thunderbird email solved the problems.
• Limited Software Support: Kogan seem to have simply installed the generic Linux installation on the hardware without customization or tuning. The user is essentially reliant on a small number of fellow Agora users for DIY support. Kogan should sponsor a user group for its products, to make a virtue of a necessity.
  

Recommendation

For a low cost ultra-portable laptop consider purchasing the Kogan Agora Laptop Solid State Disk model and adding 1 GB RAM yourself. The solid state disk should extend the unit's battery life. Replace Google's Chromium OS with Linux yourself, if you need a full function operating system. Use the classic GUI (without effects) and Thunderbird email package in place of Unity and Evolution.

Kogan should consider offering the Solid State Disk model with 2GB RAM and a version of Linux with the "classic" interface switched on by default and Thunderbird as the default email package. Kogan should sponsor a user group for its products, to to encourage user support.

Kogan Agora Laptop Better with Classic Interface and Flash Disk

ABC TV's Q&A (apparently pronounced "QanDa") on 20 June 2011 featured on-line electronics retailer Ruslan Kogan. He did okay. But regardless what I think of his TV performance I do like his computers. On 10 June I took delivery of a Kogan Agora PRO 12" Ultra Portable Laptop Computer. The minimalist on-line store and the minimalist packaging impressed me almost as much as the modest design of the hardware. Kogan's business and the products have been pared down to give the customer what they want and no more. In this case a very plain cardboard box with a very generic looking black laptop, with a very generic version of Linux on it.

The lightweight laptop form provides a 11.6 inch screen and a good size keyboard, sufficient for a days work, but small enough to fit in a bag with a pad of A4 paper. The LED back-light screen is very readable. This would make a good laptop for a student, if a few battery and interface problems could be fixed.

My favorable impressions of the hardware changed when I discovered the battery only lasted about 2 hours, much less than the claimed 3.5 hours. However, more of a problem was the new "Unity" interface of the Ubuntu Linux software installed.

Unity attempts to provide an interface which makes maximum use of the limited space on a netbook screen. However, the Kogan has a relatively large 11.6 inch screen and so does not need a compact interface. Also the way the interface saves space is to strip off the borders around windows, the titles and menu bars from them. This has not been implemented consistently across the applications which make up Linux.

Even applications which are provided by default with Ubuntu had problems. The "Evolution" email package's setup menus did not work correctly: clicking on one icon actives the icon below it and attempting to click on a button instead causes the window to scroll.

I was ready to send the laptop back for a refund when one of my colleagues suggested switching back to the Ubuntu classic (no effects) user interface. This can be done from the login screen, without changing software. It transformed my experience of the laptop. The borders and menus reappeared around windows and the menu items I clicked on activated. The responsiveness of the machine improved noticeably. Also the battery life increased by 45 minutes, due to the interface not making intensive use of graphics, for effects such as translucent menus.

While the menus in "Evolution" now worked, it still did some strange things and I decided to switch to the simpler Mozilla Thunderbird email package.

The laptop still has limitations, the major one being the limited battery life (now 2 hours and 45 minutes and less than the claimed 3 hours and 30 minutes). I tried a number of other Linux power saving tips, but most of these seem to have already been incorporated into the newest versions of Linux.

One option left to consider is a flash Laptop Solid State Drive. The flash drive will save a little power when running, but more importantly would allow the laptop to be switched off more often, as it can be switched on more quickly.

Ironically, a cheaper model of the Agora is offered with a 30 GB solid state drive. But this has only 1 GB of RAM and comes with the Google Chromium OS. I did not want to have to install a different operating system and more RAM myself, but in retrospect, that would have been easier than the changes I have to make to get Ubuntu to work properly.

Devolved email improves Kogan Agora Laptop

After lowering power use on my Kogan Agora Laptop, by reverting to an older graphical user interface, I have now increased the performance of email by switching from the default "Evolution" email package to the less featured Mozilla Thunderbird.

Evolution has calendar functions which I did not want and so just added to the complexity of the interface. It also tended to spend a lot of time downloading copies of email over my slow wireless link. Thunderbird just does email, but does it much quicker. So far I have not worked out how to switch off the Evolution icon from the top of the screen. When I am confident Thunderbird is working properly, I will un-install Evolution, which hopefully will remove all trace of it.

Lowering Power use on the Kogan Agora Laptop

I changed the graphical user interface on my Kogan Agora Laptop and increased the battery time by 45 minutes. This is still a relatively short 2 hours and 45 minutes (much less than the claimed 3.5 hours). So I tried some some power reduction advice. The suggested CPU Frequency Scaling applet did not work, reporting that the CPU frequency was fixed. However, I was able to install the "powertop" application. Here are the suggestions it made:

1. Disable the unused bluetooth interface with the following command: hciconfig hci0 down ; rmmod hci_usb
2. enable HD audio powersave mode by executing the following command:
   echo 1 > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save
   or by passing power_save=1 as module parameter
3. Suggestion: Enable USB autosuspend for non-input devices by pressing the U key
4. Suggestion: Enable wireless power saving mode by executing the following command:
   iwconfig wlan0 power timeout 500ms
5. Suggestion: Enable SATA ALPM link power management via:
   echo min_power > /sys/class/scsi_host/host0/link_power_management_policy
   or press the S key.
6. Enable the CONFIG_INOTIFY kernel configuration option.
   

I tried all of these, except turning off Bluetooth, as I occasionally want to use a Bluetooth device and CONFIG_INOTIFY as apparently this is not needed for new versions of Linux. But even so, I found the Bluetooth light which was on the whole time previously is now off, unless I am actively using a Bluetooth device. The "enable HD audio powersave mode" appears this may only work under very limited conditions.

Powertop also reported:

1. The program 'firefox-bin' is writing to file 'ECRYPTFS_FNEK_ENCRYPTED.FXZX1as' on /dev/sda1.
   This prevents the disk from going to powersave mode.
2. The program 'rs:main Q:Reg' is writing to file 'syslog' on /dev/sda1.
   This prevents the disk from going to powersave mode.
3. The program 'upowerd' is writing to file 'history-rate-Kogan_Agora-38-SN0' on /d
   ev/sda1.
   This prevents the disk from going to powersave mode.
   

Top causes for wakeups:
33.2% (137.7) PS/2 keyboard/mouse/touchpad interrupt
31.9% (132.1) npviewer.bin
17.1% ( 70.9) [extra timer interrupt]
5.1% ( 21.1) firefox-bin

It was frustrating that these suggestions flashed on the screen for a few seconds and then disappeared.

However, there may be a fault in my Kogan's battery or charger, as after several hours the system reports it will still be another 50 minutes before the battery is fully charged.

Fixing Problems with Kogan Agora Laptop

Yesterday, the problems with my Kogan Agora Laptop had reached the point where I was considering sending it back. The battery lasts 2 hours, much less than the claimed 3.5 hours. The new "Unity" Ubuntu interface was proving very hard to use.

But just after I wrote that post, Srinivas Chemboli dropped in to ask how the Kogan was going. He pointed out that I could select the Unbuntu classic (no effects) interface at the logon screen. This restores the borders around windows and the pull down menus I had been missing. He also pointed out that the "no effects" version does not use transparency and other graphics effects (which I find annoying anyway) and so reduces the processing and therefore power consumption.

Switching to the classic interface eliminated my problems with the interface and also seemed to make the computer a little more responsive. This morning I tried using the laptop after a full charge, with WiFi, web browser and email. The system ran for 2 hours and 43 minutes, 45 minutes longer than before. This cannot all be attributed to the changed user interface as while I was at it, I removed start up tasks:

1. Bluetooth Manager: I rarely use Bluetooth. But I did noticed the Bluetooth light is still on and so this has not switched of the hardware.
   
2. Evolution alarm notify: I do not use such alarm functions and will probably switch from "Evolution" back to a pure email package.
   
3. Remote desktop: Not using GNOME remote desktop, and its sounds like a security risk anway.
4. Ubuntu One: Not using Unbuntu One cloud storage.
   
5. Visual assistance: Not using assistance technology
   
6. Zeitgeist Datahub: Something used by the Unity interface.
   
7. Personal File Sharing: Shares files over Bluetooth. Sounds like a security risk.

I am not happy with the user interface and the battery life, while still not up to the claimed rating is better. I will investigate other software changes I can make, before considering upgrading with a Laptop Solid State Drive, or sending the unit back. There is some power reduction advice to work from.

Problems with Kogan Agora 12" Laptop Computer

My initial impressions of the Kogan Agora PRO 12" Ultra Portable Laptop Computer" were favorable. But after spending a weekend with it, I am considering if I should send the unit back and get my money refunded. The major problem with the hardware is that the battery only lasts about 2 hours, much less than the claimed 3.5 hours. This is when undemanding applications, such as the web browsers and with energy saving features, such as shutting down the hard disk and dimming the back-light when the unit is idle. However, more of a problem is the new "Unity" Ubuntu interface.

Unity attempts to provide an interface which make maximum use of the limited space on a netbook screen. However, the Kogan has a relatively large 11.6 inch screen and so does not really need a compact interface. Also the way the interface saves space is to strip off the borders around windows, the titles and menu bars from them. This has not been implemented consistently across the separate applications which make up Linux. The result is I spent a lot of time looking at disembodied parts of a document floating in the middle of something else on the screen.

Some applications have not been properly implemented to use this interface, for example the "Evolution" email package's setup menus do not work correctly: clicking on one icon actives the icon below it and attempting to click on a button instead causes the window to scroll.

It would be understandable if these problems occurred with Linux applications I downloaded myself, but these problems are occurring with the basic set of applications provided with the computer by default. This is a surprise as the software of my previous Kogan 10" netbook worked well.

Kogan Agora 12" Laptop Computer: First Impressions

My "Kogan Agora PRO 12" Ultra Portable Laptop Computer" was due at the end of May, but arrived 10 June (Kogan warned me there was a delay). The unit arrived in a very simple but stury packaging: a brown cardboard box, about the size of a briefcase. This contained the laptop, the battery, a power supply, power cord and a note to say the manual was online.

The laptop looks very similar to the previous Kogan 10" Netbook, which I have. While the new unit has a screen 1.6 inches bigger than the old, the case is the same depth and only about 20mm wider. It fits in the neoprene sleeve I purchased for the previous unit and in a carry bag designed for A4 notebooks.

The unit has a flat black body, with a shiny overlay on the top and "Kogan" in silver. I would have preferred not to have the brand name prominently displayed, to reduce the risk of theft. There is no latch on the lid, but the hinge is firm and appears sturdy. There are panels on the bottom of the unit for easy access to the hard disk, WiFi and memory modules.

There is a flat keyboard with large keys in a good layout. There is a small track-pad under the keyboard, which is usable, but could be bigger. The mouse buttons are incorporated one chrome plated bar under the touch pad. I would prefer two separate buttons in black, but the bar is usable.

There is a chrome bar above the keyboard, with a row of small lights, plus buttons for WiFi, power (and third button with no apparent purpose).

The screen has a broad matt black surround, with a microphone and camera above the display. The screen has a matt anti-reflective coating and is very readable, with a bright LED backlight. There is a large chrome "kogan" brand below the display, which detracts from the overall look of quality of the unit.

Turning the unit on displays the usual BIOS start-up and a very much simplified Linux setup. I was promoted for a user-id and password and asked if I wanted to encrypt the home directory (which I did), then keyboard type, location and a few other items.

The new "Unity" Ubuntu interface will take some getting used to. The vertical column of buttons on the side of the screen are too small and blurry (I have found no way to increase their size or make them higher contrast). The absence of OpenOffice.org was a shock. I will try the provided LibreOffice derivative of OOO, but this seems to be a matter of politics, rather than good software design. Apart from that this it is just generic laptop hardware, running Linux, which is what I want.

Overall, so far I am very happy with the unit. While only a little bigger than a 10 inch netbook when closed, it seems to grown in size when open, with a very comfortable keyboard and screen. This should be a very good unit for students, who need a laptop they can carry around in a bag, but with a screen and keyboard big enough to use.

One issue may be battery life: at under three hours, this is a bit short. Unlike the 10" Kogan, there is no extended battery option. One alternative would be to purchase the slightly cheaper Kogan Google Chromium OS Laptop, which has a 30GB solid state flash drive, and so would use less power. But it has only 1 GB RAM and the Google Chromium OS, however a user installed hardware and software upgrade should not be too difficult.

Kogan Laptop With Google Chromium OS

Kogan are offering a 11.6 Inch screen Agora laptop with 30GB of solid state memory, apart from the low price ($350) the feature of note is that it comes with Google's Chromium Operating System. iTech Report claim this is the laptop running the open-source edition of Google’s Chrome OS. I have ordered the higher specification Kogan Agora Pro version of the same laptop which has more RAM, a hard disk and Linux.

Specifications
Model Number:	KALTP12CHRAA
Processor:	Intel Celeron M ULV Processor (SU2300) - 1M Cache, 1.30 GHz, 800 MHz FSB
Memory:	1GB DDR2 Ram (support up to 4GB)
Operating System:	Google's Chromium OS
Hard Drive:	30GB SATA Solid State Hard Drive
Video Card:	Intel® GS40 integrated (Shared memory - 256MB)
Sound:	HD Audio, Built-In 2 speakers and 1 Microphone
Monitor:	11.6" WXGA Widescreen HD LED Display
Resolution:	1366 x 768 (16:9)
Webcam:	1.3M
Wireless Card:	802.11 B/G/N
Bluetooth:	Built in
Card Reader:	3-in-1 (SD/MMC/MS Pro)
Security:	Kensington® Lock
Keyboard:	78 keys with 19.05mm key pitch and 2.0±0.5mm key stroke
Inputs
USB:	3
LAN:	1
Microphone:	1
Outputs
Headphone:	1
VGA:	1
HDMI®:	1
Battery
Capacity:	4 Cell, 4600mAh
Type:	Polymer
Battery Life:	Approx 3.5 hours
AC:	AC 110~240V, DC 19V @ 65W AC Adapter
Weight & Dimensions
Dimensions of Laptop (approx):	W:29.0cm x D:19.5cm x H:2.56cm
Weight of Laptop - Net (approx):	1.32kg
Weight of Laptop - Gross (approx):	1.52kg
What's In The Box:
	Kogan Agora Laptop
	Power Cable
	Link to User Manual

Ordered a Kogan Agora 12" Ultra Portable Laptop Computer

I have ordered a "Kogan Agora PRO 12" Ultra Portable Laptop Computer" (which actually has a 11.6 Inch screen), due at the end of May. My current Kogan 10" Netbook has mostly worked well since mid 2009. The after sales service has been very good, with Kogan replacing the power supply, no questions asked. But the screen and keyboard are just a bit too small for day to day use.

For me the 11 to 12 inch laptops seem the idea size: large enough to have a reasonable size keyboard and screen, but still small enough to carry, with a unit about the size of an A4 pad of paper. I bought the netbook because my previous laptop failed and I needed something in a hurry. The netbook was going to be a stopgap, but turned out to work better than expected.

It looks like the new laptop will fit in the neoprene slip case and carry bag I bought for the netbook. The slip case would be easy enough to replace, but the leather carry bag I got from a bag maker's shop in a basement near the Acropolis in Athens (I wanted one which looked like a saddle bag for a donkey). That would be a long way to go back, just to buy another bag. ;-)

This looks a good size computer for education. My hope is that it will arrive by 27 May, in time for me to show it off at the "Using interactive whiteboards, iPads and other technologies for teaching" workshop at ANU. What is getting lost in the enthusiasm for tablet computers and the like is that university students will probable require an old fashioned desktop or laptop computer as well. It would be very difficult to write a multi thousand word assignment on a tablet computer with a ten inch screen and virtual keyboard. It would be just about possible on a laptop with an 11.6 inch screen and a real keyboard.

Agora 7" Tablet PC

Kogan have announced a "Agora 7" Tablet PC" for $189. The main feature is that it has a Capacitive Touchscreen.

Specifications
Model Number:	KATBL07ANDAA
CPU Model:	Samsung Cortex A8
CPU Speed:	1.0 Ghz
Memory:	512MB DDR2
Storage:	4GB NAND
External Storage:	microSD card expansion up to 32GB
Operating System:	Android 2.2
Bluetooth:	Built-in
Touchscreen:	7" Capacitive Touchscreen
Screen Resolution:	1024 x 600
Wi-Fi Support:	Wireless built-in (b/g Support)
G-Sensor:	Internal G-Sensor
Camera:	1.3M - Front Facing
Battery:	3600mAh
Inputs
microSD:	1
USB:	1
Outputs
Headphone Out:	1
HDMI®:	1
Dimensions:	W:19.2cm x D:12.1cm x H:1.24cm
Weight:	390g
What's In The Box:
	Kogan Agora 7" Tablet
	Power Cable
	USB Cable
	Headphones
	Link to User Manual

Agora 12" Ultra Portable Laptop Computer

Kogan have announced an "Agora PRO 12" Ultra Portable Laptop Computer" (which actually has a 11.6) for $389. This looks like a larger screen version of the 10 inch Linux netbook they sold previously (and was mostly good).

I have been using the smaller Kogan Netbook for a year and it has worked well. The power supply failed, but Kogan sent me a new one, no questions asked. The limitation with the Netbook was the small screen and keyboard, which the new model addresses, without making it too big to carry around.

Specifications
Model Number:	KALTP12PROAA
Processor:	Intel Celeron M ULV Processor (SU2300) - 1M Cache, 1.20 GHz, 800 MHz FSB
Memory:	2GB DDR2 Ram (support up to 4GB)
Operating System:	Ubuntu 11.04
Hard Drive:	500GB SATA Hard Disk Drive
Video Card:	Intel® GS40 integrated (Shared memory - 256MB)
Sound:	HD Audio, Built-In 2 speakers and 1 Microphone
Monitor:	11.6" WXGA Widescreen HD LED Display
Resolution:	1366 x 768 (16:9)
Webcam:	1.3M
Wireless Card:	802.11 B/G/N
Bluetooth:	Built in
Card Reader:	3-in-1 (SD/MMC/MS Pro)
Security:	Kensington® Lock
Keyboard:	78 keys with 19.05mm key pitch and 2.0±0.5mm key stroke
Inputs
USB:	3
LAN:	1
Microphone:	1
Outputs
Headphone:	1
VGA:	1
HDMI®:	1
Battery
Capacity:	4 Cell, 4600mAh
Type:	Polymer
Battery Life:	Approx 3.5 hours
AC:	AC 110~240V, DC 19V @ 65W AC Adapter
Weight & Dimensions
Dimensions of Laptop (approx):	W:29.0cm x D:19.5cm x H:2.56cm
Weight of Laptop - Net (approx):	1.32kg
Weight of Laptop - Gross (approx):	1.52kg
What's In The Box:
	Kogan Agora Laptop
	Power Cable
	Link to User Manual

Smartq V7 Tablet Computer

According to Grant Muir, the prototype $200 7 inch screen tablet computer which was demonstrated by Australian electronics importer Kogan is actually a production model of the Smartq V7 from Smart Devices. Kogan Technologies later explained that their unit will have more advanced features, including a better touchscreen and more memory. This is consistent with Kogan's approach to their Kogan Agora Linux netbook, where they took a generic unit and added more memory and battery capacity than the base model.

Kogan Android Tablet kPad

Australian electronics importer Kogan have demonstrated a prototype $200 tablet computer with a 7 inch screen running Android and Ubuntu. The company is asking for input on what should be in the final design and, despite the hype around the Apple iPad, if anyone wants such a device. This "crowd sourcing" the design seems to work, I have been using the Kogan Agora Linux netbook for several months and have been impressed by how it has a low price but the features I want.

But will a product with features selected by enthusiasts like me appeal to a wider market? Is there any such market? Ruslan, the founder of the Kogan company seems sceptical and is essentially wanting the customers to convince him. The choice of a 7 inch screen looks a good one, the Apple iPad's 9 inch screen making the device too large and heavy (I have tried a mock-up iPad built by one of my ANU colleagues). This is the size of the original Asus EEE PC, which started the netbook craze. An obvious option, mentioned in the Kogan web site, is a removable keyboard, turning this into essentially a netbook with a removable keyboard. There are laptops with screen which swivel and fold to turn them into tablets.

One very good feature of the Kogan Agora is that it is easily upgraded via a large panel held on by one screw at the back. This lets you get to the expansion slots, disk drive and memory. That would be a good feature for the tablet. Another useful feature would be a USB socket in a recess in the back of the computer, large enough to hold a USB 3G modem. This would be much lower cost and more versitile than building a 3G modem into the computer.

One standards feature I would like to see on the tablet would be a VGA socket. This would allow the tablet to be docked and used with an external keyboard and screen as a desktop computer. The screen and battery could be omitted from one model of the tablet to make a $99 desktop web terminal. Many people just want a desktop computer to surf the web with and not fiddle around with loading complex software.

The obvious name for a Kogan table is the "kPad". But perhaps it could use of one of the names for an ancient wax tablet, such as deltos. Images of these being used in antiquity look remarkably like modern computer tablets. This seems apt as Kogan's Agora seems to be named after an ancient "place of assembly", where such tablets would be used.

In 1996 I wrote a future history talk "Australia: The Networked Nation" featuring a hypothetical PADD (named after the devices in Star Trek). My device was to be 176 × 250 x 10 mm. The Apple iPad comes close at 190 x 243 x 13 mm and the Kogan would be closer.

Fast netbook with Linux

With Kogan discontinuing its AGORA an alternative low cost performance Linux netbook is the DreamBook Lite M81. DreamBook has the Intel Atom N450 1.66G processor and they offer Ubuntu Linux OS Pre-loaded as a free option. Unfortunately you still pay for a Microsoft Windows licence, even if you don't want it, but at least you can Linux installed. The DreamBook is otherwise a fairly ordinary 10.1 inch screen netbook.

Another interesting "option" for the DreamBook is the DreamVision Portable Pocket Projector (PD-S690). This is a LED video projector. It is only 121 X 99 X 47 mm, but is not cheap and the light output from the Aiptek Pocket Cinema V10 LED projector I tried was disappointing. The new unit uses the OSRAM OSTAR LED Module.