Quoting: Purple Library GuyI've noticed a lot of people these days in effect create improvised netbooks by taking a tablet and combining it with a little keyboard-and-stand setup. And I'm like, wouldn't it be better just to have the thing you want as a whole thing?

Exactly!

Though, that said, I have done that with my Steam Deck and it worked quite well there;



Of course, the difference is that it's a full Linux PC, which by default works better for me than trying to do computer stuff on a tablet - PCs are tools for creation, whereas tablets are tools for consumption and are hampered accordingly for certain tasks.

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Quoting: Linux_RocksIt could also connect to the internet just like the MSI Claw, and both can play Sonic as well. lol

Though hopefully the MSI Claw 8 AI+ can do that better than the Game.com and its vile screen could!

For anyone who doesn't know the Game.com, it used this ultra-blurry screen that had such a slow refresh-rate that each image was created in four passes in order to create different shades of grey. It was not at all suitable for fast-paced games, and was far worse than even the one on the original greenscale Game Boy.

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Quoting: CaldathrasGiven my level of exposure to Linux at the time, it certainly worked on me.

That's what they were banking on - that's not on you.

Thankfully, times have begun to change!

Quoting: CaldathrasIronically, I eventually installed Linux Mint on my netbook after the WinXP support ended.

I love Mint - Mint Xfce specifically, for me. I was a die-hard fan of Xubuntu, until something weird happened on one of my machines around a year ago that hosed the install, and since I'd wanted to try Mint anyway I put Mint Xfce on there, and within a day I'd put it on the rest of my hardware too (in profile, if anyone's interested ). It smooths out what I would describe as the "papercuts" I found in the *buntu flavours, and now I wouldn't use anything else!

Quoting: CaldathrasI will certainly defer to your direct experience. At that time, I was out of touch with the computer industry for my mental health so I wasn't paying much attention to what was going on.

That's understandable - and to be absolutely fair it was a very different time, too. Linux was where I wanted it to be, but I know that it definitely wasn't the case for everyone!

Quoting: CaldathrasThe netbook was just a neat tool with a lot of potential to me.

That potential was what grabbed me; I'd been waiting for Linux laptop support to get to where I wanted it to be (I dropped Windows in 2004 and moved to Mac OS X until 2007 while I waited for that), and the original Asus Eee PC proved that it was. Moreover, it was an ideal portable writing tool for me, and there really hasn't been anything else like it since. (Though I love my GPD MicroPC with Mint Xfce, which is a palmtop that serves part of that purpose for me now, it doesn't quite work as a full-on replacement because it uses a stiff thumb-keyboard that's really intended for industrial use.)

Quoting: CaldathrasI didn't discover how far Linux had come until 2014 when my laptop's HDD died and the Win7 backup wouldn't reinstall on the new HDD.

I'm glad that you were able to keep your laptop in service! It really bothers me how many perfectly-usable machines just go into landfill because of Windows' failings, and the way that people have been taught that there "really isn't an alternative".

Quoting: CaldathrasLooking back, I can certainly see how netbooks would have been a big deal to the Linux community and I understand your distaste for what was done.

I wasn't in the Linux community yet at the time, but it certainly ruined the netbook community irreparably - it was really sad to see, especially because some folks who spoke up were gaslighted and made to look bad and like they were in the wrong for calling out what was happening. I don't want that to be forgotten, and I'd hate to see the same fate befall GOL!

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Was I the only one who saw this thing and thought that it looks a bit like a descendant of the ill-fated Tiger Electronics Game.com?



I actually bought into the Game.com at the UK launch, but it was SO BAD that I had to take it back for a refund.

Quoting: Linux_RocksClaw games on an MSI Claw while dressed as Dr. Claw.

I'll get you next time, Gadget! NEXT TIME!

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Quoting: Purple Library GuyI don't think you need to worry about that too much. To make that happen, the Windows netbooks had to dominate the category, at least briefly. They could do that because MS had a lot of control over the OEMs that were making them, so they could lean on them to mostly drop the Linux ones--maybe not completely, but slow down production, marketing and placement enough for the Windows ones to become the default. But Microsoft does not have any control over Valve, and no competitor that has yet appeared seems likely to dominate the Deck in sales or even publicity, certainly not enough to define the category in the public's eyes.

I certainly hope you're right. I really don't want to see history repeat itself with ANOTHER portables category that I love!

Quoting: CaldathrasThis amount of difference between the Windows and Linux models could very much have influenced the choices of more consumers than just myself. Perhaps these configuration differences were also a factor?

It was part of how they tried to paint Linux as "lesser", for sure.

Quoting: CaldathrasI always felt that Google's Android and the advent of the tablet form factor played a huge part in the demise of netbooks. I preferred the netbook form factor myself.

I was in the netbook community, and witnessed the results of the strong-arming (and the very obvious shills who helped to push that agenda right before the manufacturers super-conveniently-and-totally-coincidentally went along with it) first-hand, and then saw it all fall apart from there. I would say that they did more damage than tablets did - Linux netbooks were a really big deal when they debuted, as they opened people's eyes to how useful a lightweight-but-capable tiny computer really was when it wasn't saddled with Windows, which already had a reputation for bloat and problems long before then.

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Goodness me, it's like a combination of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Frog Detective, and Paper Mario, and it looks, sounds, and feels utterly charming. Will dig into the reviews later - this might be right up my alley.

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Quoting: denyasisI LOVE THIS😂🤣😂🤣

But yeah, I have trouble thinking of a time when I would use it where I can't just walk over and use my PC or Link instead, lol. It still feels weird trying to take it places when I could just read on my phone and have less to carry, 🤷‍♂️. Guess I'm still in the learning phase!!

Put Stardew Valley on it, and the issue will solve itself!

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Quoting: Purple Library GuyStill would be better with Linux on it instead of Windows 11. Heck, it would be better with some other Windows version instead of Windows 11, but with all Windows versions you'd still have that "this doesn't work well on this kind of device" problem.

And that quite quickly leads the masses to the mistaken belief of "These portable PCs actually aren't any good.", leading to manufacturers no longer making them because the demand gets destroyed. As I've said far too many times (including in this very thread ), it's exactly like what happened with how the netbook product-category was killed off*.

*I mention it so often because I still lament it - I've still got use-cases that the hypothetical modern netbook would be ideal for, and "Buy a Chromebook and jump through hoops to get Linux installed on it!" doesn't cut it for me.

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Quoting: on_en_a_grosSeeing the price increase between the Rog ally Z1 / Z1 extrem / x, I can't help myself to think that the philosophy of extremely high priced hardware to run poorly optimised game is pushing is way through portable gaming devices.

And don't forget a poorly-optimised OS, as well!

Seriously, though, this continues to echo the way that netbooks were killed off. Beware!

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Quoting: fleskNot so strange that only 0.6% of Linux and macOS users wishlisted the game when it's listed as Windows only on Steam though?

Self-fulfilling prophecy, or convenient get-out?

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