The great Acer Aspire One/Netbook challenge.

[Digital_Utopia]

Ah, the memories. I remember when loading a game meant sending the load commands and then going to find a snack or something else to do for 30 minutes while you waited for the game to load.

And, games on cassette tape FTW.

Nice, but in your case it isn't FPS, its FPDay!

Just remember LOAD "*" ,8,1 is considered an exploit and violation of TOS!

pfft the LOAD "*" ,8,1 hack is so yesterday...real hackerz use 20 GOTO 10 :P

Those were the days...back when the C64 could totally destroy PC games on the graphics & audio side. And then, when the PC finally caught up due to VGA graphics and an 8-bit Sound Card, the real fun began. Like having to use a boot disk and becoming an expert in config.sys/autoexec.bat in order to free up as much conventional memory as humanly possible to play some games.

[skataneric]

pfft the LOAD "*" ,8,1 hack is so yesterday...real hackerz use 20 GOTO 10 :P

Those were the days...back when the C64 could totally destroy PC games on the graphics & audio side. And then, when the PC finally caught up due to VGA graphics and an 8-bit Sound Card, the real fun began. Like having to use a boot disk and becoming an expert in config.sys/autoexec.bat in order to free up as much conventional memory as humanly possible to play some games.

Oh god .... your giving me horrible memories of HIMEM and QEMM and having to tweak the hell outta them to play wing commander and tie fighter and such haha.

[Digital_Utopia]

Oh god .... your giving me horrible memories of HIMEM and QEMM and having to tweak the hell outta them to play wing commander and tie fighter and such haha.

Yeah! But if you think that Tie Fighter was bad, you should've tried Falcon 3.0 w/ the Mig 29 xpac. If memory serves it was something insane like 615 KB conventional memory. There were times I felt like that German kid in the You Tube video lol

[kyrelenblackstone]

If you can do it on the Acer One, then you should be able to do the same thing on any current gen netbook; MSI Wind, Acer One, Lenovo S10, Asus Eee, etc.

I have it 'happily' working on my MSI Wind clone (Advent 4211). I'll see if I can photograph it, but it only took a little tweaking to get the display correct. It runs relatively smoothly! Great for when I have my other account online to port me around.

[auximenes]

Like having to use a boot disk and becoming an expert in config.sys/autoexec.bat in order to free up as much conventional memory as humanly possible to play some games.

Oh man, what a PITA that process could be. Remember deciding if you really needed to have a mouse or could you use only the keyboard, in order to free up a few more bits of memory by not loading the mouse driver?

[Digital_Utopia]

Oh man, what a PITA that process could be. Remember deciding if you really needed to have a mouse or could you use only the keyboard, in order to free up a few more bits of memory by not loading the mouse driver?

This just makes me feel old...not necessarily because of the DOS games themselves, but the very fact that I have a license to say "You think setting up x game to run is tough? Back in my day it was a lot tougher" lol

[Sapience]

Yeah! But if you think that Tie Fighter was bad, you should've tried Falcon 3.0 w/ the Mig 29 xpac. If memory serves it was something insane like 615 KB conventional memory. There were times I felt like that German kid in the You Tube video lol

Falcon 3.0 is one of my all time favs. True you had to really know how to hack your memory to get it to run well post M29 Xpac, but then what do you expect from a game that almost mandated you own a flight computer to plot your bombing runs and loiter times?

Nothing was more frustrating than getting caught in a furball and trying to do fuel burns in your head while trying not to get blown out of the sky.

[Digital_Utopia]

Falcon 3.0 is one of my all time favs. True you had to really know how to hack your memory to get it to run well post M29 Xpac, but then what do you expect from a game that almost mandated you own a flight computer to plot your bombing runs and loiter times?

Nothing was more frustrating than getting caught in a furball and trying to do fuel burns in your head while trying not to get blown out of the sky.

Agreed all the extra effort was well worth it. I also tried Falcon 4.0, but other than the graphics I wasn't too impressed with it - too many bugs, and the idea of a mouse cursor in the cockpit just seemed a bit wrong.

[Sapience]

just a minor update to the OP (not really since I'm on an S10 and not an AA1).

I was bored this past weekend and managed to install Windows 7 and Lotro on my S10. Both ran very well and I did pick up about 3 FPS for my efforts.

[jugger181]

I am on windows 7 ultimate as well but do not know about the fps boost as i have been running it from day 1

[jugger181]

Sapience, also what is your windows score on the s10 in win7

[Comstrike]

I ran my Acer Saturday night on batteries, using wireless (G,) and found it a fully satisfying time. That said, I kept to Bree, did mainly recruiting, RP, and admin stuff with my Kinship (the Sons of Numenor, now recruiting!) but it was worth playing, no question.

Today I ran a trial version of Diskeeper 09, and it has helped speed things a bit too. Indeed, I highly recommend that program regardless.

This week, I'm going to Panera to see how things go. Might see if I can click a pic in front of the fireplace. Hmmm, I sense a theme building....

[Sapience]

Sapience, also what is your windows score on the s10 in win7

2.0. The HDD is the lowest score. The next highest was 2.5 on the processor. Believe it or not the 3D/Gaming Video Score was over 3.0. Rather impressive I thought. Highest item overall was the memory at 4.5.

As a side note, I was also able to run the distant imposters while under Windows 7. Something that resulted in some serious nasties under Windows XP.

[jugger181]

Mine pulled in a 2.3 overall
proc 2.3
Mem 4.5 1.5gb installed
Graphics(aero) 2.3
Gaming graphics 3.0
Hard disk 2.9

[Darej]

how much do these lil netbooks with wifi go for that you all are running lotro on?


my outside the house job is driving an airport shuttle and there are times i sit for hours down at the airport bored to tears.

seems like one of these lil babys would be perfect for those tedious times

[Majesto]

how much do these lil netbooks with wifi go for that you all are running lotro on?


my outside the house job is driving an airport shuttle and there are times i sit for hours down at the airport bored to tears.

seems like one of these lil babys would be perfect for those tedious times

Look up "netbook" at http://www.newegg.com

You should see the Eee PC, Aspire One, S10, etc.

[Comstrike]

My Acer Aspire One, with 1 GB ram, 160 GB HDD, and a 6 cell battery cost me $379. That is good for three to four hours online for my use. They sell a 9 cell battery, which looks a bit odd, but lasts 30% longer than even my system. But they cost a bit more.

Staples has the Aspires, as does Wal-Mart that I've seen personally.

[Darej]

hmm...what about a car adapter?

ie....can they be run off a vehicles accessory socket?

[Sapience]

hmm...what about a car adapter?

ie....can they be run off a vehicles accessory socket?

They can be but they don't come with one. You could pick up a $60 converter at Wal-mart.

I have an S-10. It's a tiny bit larger than the Acer Aspire One but you jump from an 8.9" Screen to a 10.2". Mostly the specs are the same with a couple of exception.

1.6GHz N270 Intel Atom Processor
1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz
Windows XP Home Edition (SP3)
10.2" WSVGA AntiGlare TFT with integrated camera 1024x600
160GB 5400rpm hard drive
Intel GMA 950 Integrated Graphics
Broadcom 11b/g Wi-Fi wireless and Bluetooth
4-in-1 Media card reader and ExpressCard slot
3-Cell Li-ion battery
Size: 9.8" x 7.2" x 1.2" (including feet)
Weight: 2.64 lbs (with 3-cell battery)

You can upgrade the RAM to 2GB, which is the largest of any of the netbooks as far as I know. It's also the easiest to upgrade in terms of RAM and HDD. Remove two screws and you get this: http://www.notebookreview.com/picture.asp?f=37193

Lenovo sells larger batteries, but they're not cheap. As listed you'll get about 2.5 hours general use. LOTRO will eat that up more quickly though.

Right now this runs about $350 at Lenovo's site. I got mine at the Circuit City near me on close out for $305.

Look at the HP1000 as well. It has far and away the best keyboard of any of the netbooks. I went with the Lenovo because it had the highest performance ratings of the current crop of netbooks.

[Darej]

just had a thought.....have any of you in the experiment tried using LotRO Flashboost?

i think it would improve things for you all alot..especially on the netbooks using 5400rom HDDs.

all you need is a readyboost capable (fast reading) usb flash drive.

the link in my sig will take you to the lorebook entry where a FAQ and link to download will be found.

[Comstrike]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10...4.html#addcomm

A Cnet article talking about nVida looking to fight for space inside netbooks.

I'm telling you, these netbooks could be utterly huge to gaming in general. Basically full featured systems, super portable, popular, etc.

[Ascus]

Couple questions:

The GMA950 chip vs standard Intel integrated graphics, Much a difference?

Anyone try a 9300M based netbook yet?

How important to upgrade to 2GB, some it seems are not upgradable bast 1GB.

[Digital_Utopia]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10...4.html#addcomm

A Cnet article talking about nVida looking to fight for space inside netbooks.

I'm telling you, these netbooks could be utterly huge to gaming in general. Basically full featured systems, super portable, popular, etc.

To be honest, I think the best thing that could happen to portable computers is to adopt a "modular" system - where instead of cramming more stuff into the system, they provide a variety of slots to the exterior of the system. Perhaps a compact PCI-E port combined with an "external" video card.

Even with notebooks, I understand the idea of trying to cram the best amount of stuff within the system itself, but laptops and especially netbooks really suffer from an upgrade ceiling.

[Ascus]

To be honest, I think the best thing that could happen to portable computers is to adopt a "modular" system - where instead of cramming more stuff into the system, they provide a variety of slots to the exterior of the system. Perhaps a compact PCI-E port combined with an "external" video card.

Even with notebooks, I understand the idea of trying to cram the best amount of stuff within the system itself, but laptops and especially netbooks really suffer from an upgrade ceiling.

That kind of goes against the idea of a netbook of being all you need in a small package. A standard docking station would be great.

[Comstrike]

For me Netbooks remain about price. What I get for $350 is simply amazing. Plus I've fully equipped myself with carrying cases, and various accessories, for less than a "cheap" full sized laptop. Ironically, my old Fujitsu B2130 is about the same size, weight, and as cool looking, but cost $2000 new in 2000.

Being able to just login, spend some time RP'ing, recruiting for Sons of Numenor (which is welcoming new members) is more than enough for now.