A little while ago I gave in to the temptation to buy a Eee PC based on some favorable comments by people I trust. I even bought it from a Department store, here in Melbourne. Without a word of a lie, the only thing that the Sales Assistant knew about the machine is that they had sold out of “white ones”.

This little device, by my reckoning, is the coolest big boys’ toy known to mankind. On a slightly more serious note, it is absolute proof that all that is needed for Linux to move into the mainstream is the backing of a manufacturer prepared to say NO to Microsoft. In other words, there is absolutely no technical reason why linux powered, full size notebooks and desktops are not readily available on the consumer market.

The EPC has done everything that I have asked of it, out-of-the-box. And when more than passing knowledge is required, all that is required is a few minutes Googling.

So far, without reading a manual, and without spending much time on it, I have…

• with a few mouse clicks set up WiFi connections to my office and home networks;
• upgraded Skype to the latest beta which allows painless video calls;
• connected to the Net using the modem in my Nokia E61; and
• attached a bluetooth mouse using an external USB Bluetooth adaptor.

Now that I have the Bluetooth dongle, I am expecting to be able to connect to the Net using the 3g network without any problems.

Anyway, i’ll tell you more about my Eee PC adventures over the coming weeks.