Category: hp

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HP 2133

You know not sure why I am writing this, as HP no longer make their HP 2133 having replaced it with the 10″ HP 2140…

As netbooks go, I quite like the HP 2133, in the main as the keyboard is much bigger than your average netbook and therefore a lot more usable.

The model I got has 1GB of RAM, a 100GB HDD and an 8.9″ screen.

HP 2133

The included camera does not work under the Suse Linux operating system (which surprised me) and in many ways the Suse Linux is (for me) the one weak point of the machine.

Now don’t get me wrong (yes I know I come across as a bit of a Mac fanboy) but it’s not that I don’t like Linux. I do like Ubuntu and think the Xandros distro on the Asus EeePC is extremely well done. I have installed Mint on another system. I do use and like Linux. However there are some issues I am having which are making me thing to either install another Linux distro or possibly Windows 7.

So what are my main issues?

Well it’s all to do with the wireless networking. I can’t seem to get the HP 2133 to join my wireless network automatically, I always need to enter not my wireless network key, but the administrator’s password to unlock the HP 2133’s default keyring

so that it can then connect to the wireless network. The other aspect is that if I set the HP 2133 to Sleep or Hibernate, the only way I can rejoin the wireless network once I have awoken the HP 2133 is by restarting which kind of defeats the reason for using he Sleep or Hibernate function!

Now I have done a little searching (not a lot, but a little) but haven’t come up with any answers.

So what with the camera, the sleep wireless issue and the Flash Player problems I am seriously giving thought to putting on a different OS

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BBC iPlayer on Linux

Recently I have been playing about with a couple of those little netbooks which are so popular now.

Though I have had an Xandros based Asus EeePC for a while now, I realised that I had never really tried to use it to watch Flash based video. I had used it to watch DivX and MP4 video files which it did fine with, however when using the Asus to try and watch BBC iPlayer, well the results were less than satisfactory.

I also tried BBC iPlayer on a SUSE based HP 2133 netbook and got similar results.

After a bit of Google searching the verdict appears to be that the Flash Player for Linux is not that capable when it comes to playing video, rather than the chips on these low powered netbooks aren’t capable of playing Flash video.

I am now going to try the BBC iPlayer Desktop once I have re-charged the HP 2133 (well the battery doesn’t last very long).

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HP TC1100 Tablet PC Wireless Problems

Since I sorted out my new wireless networks, my HP TC1100 Tablet PC has been having issues connecting to the 802.11g wireless network.

TC1100

The 802.11g wireless network is using WPA/WPA2 encryption.

I have confirmed that the Intel 2200 BG card in the Tablet supports WPA and I have updated Windows XP to support WPA as well.

However the TC1100 fails to connect to the network. Initially I thought it was a channel 13 issue, but since changing to channel 6, I still can’t connect.

I have been through my settings and my own troubleshooting guide but still no joy.

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A618 Photo Printer

I recently replaced my older HP PhotoSmart 6″x 4″ printer with a new model.

The HP A618 PhotoSmart Printer is slightly bigger than my previous model, but it can print up to 7″x 5″ as well as the standard 6″x 4″.

It comes with integrated Bluetooth which is useful for printing from a mobile phone and from a computer, avoids the need to find that USB cable.

It doesn’t come with a battery, which is an optional extra, but I will be getting a battery, as I found that really useful on my older printer.

The quality is excellent and I am certainly impressed with the quality of the prints.

When it comes to printing photographs, I know I could use my Canon MP600r, but personally I have found it much easier to use a dedicated photo printer such as the A618. Not only is it quicker and easier especially in terms of setup, and choosing the right paper, the fact you can just plug in your camera or the camera’s memory card avoids many of the problems that I have had when printing photographs from my regular printer.