THE OFFICIAL: Dell Inspiron 9 (Mini I) Thread...

Ok all! I got that *Cherry Red Dell Bluetooth Mouse* for my Garnet!

Here is the pic'...It's a fantastic BT Mouse I got a great deal for it thru my EPP Rep




Cin

 

Cin, would you buy me one??? )))

 

Got my Cherry Red bluetooth mouse yesterday too! It's wonderful having bluetooth. All my laptops from now on will be purchased with it.

 

Yes it is nice!! I have a black one and it works great. Got it when I bought my mini.

 

Very excited! Just got my new black mini from the Outlet (new, not refurbished) in one day at a fantastic price! And of course, my main project goal was to remove the Ubuntu and install another well known, "fruity", "non-microsoft" OS.

It went great. Runs like a champ! I'll be the envy of all my friends!

 

Is there a dell outlet for canada user?

 

Dell UK have a 48 hour sale on the Mini 9s at the moment. Unfortunately it ends in less than 4 hours so hurry hurry hurry! Hopefully there will be more sales as the Mini 10 takes over.

£179 for a linux 8gig model.

(I think that http://dfsdirect.ca/ is the nearest Dell outlet equivalent in Canada).

 

These are getting so cheap I'm thinking of getting one for my 1 year old to learn on!!!

If I see the price down to around $185 again, I might pull the trigger and get one!!!!

 

I got a few from the Outlet (new, not refurbished) for $179, free shipping, two days ago. Granted, they were Ubuntu/4GB/512 units, but you certainly cannot beat that price and have them ship the same day!!!

I'm really liking the one I got (fully loaded, see my spec). Great deal and with that "other" OS, it is awesome!

 

WOW, $179 shipped!!!! Thats one crazy MADD Deal!!!! I've been looking at that Dell Outlet but haven't seen any that low. Lowest I've seen is $239 so far.

In the mean time, I'm waiting for a Dell Mini 12 to arrive that I ordered last month, which estimated Dell shipping time is March 25th!! ouch!!

From what I've been reading is that these netbooks have been selling like hot cakes from 200k in 2007 sold to 10 Million sold in 2008. I bet this year they'll sell like 15-20 Million. Seems like Dell can't keep up with their sales as it takes a month just to get a new one shipped!!!!

 

It was just lucky, but two mornings in a row, the Outlet was loaded with Previously Ordered New units at $179. Lots of them. But now, you're right...$239 for mediocre configurations. Plus, there were configs with the 64GB SSD's for just over $300...now, same price gets you an 8GB or 16GB config. Too bad, because now there is a 15% off coupon, too...that would have been sweet on the $179 units!

 

I was really disappointed to find out that my snowball connects to
my phone through blue tooth but not the iphone.. gosh.. that's dumb..

 

That's Apple for you Only two profiles, headset and hands-free work on it.

I believe that there is a hack to allow more functions to work, but it's very new and I'm not sure it it would work on a US spec iPhone.

 

Yes and my mom is 83... if the hack screws up, she would have too much trouble. Oh well, hopefully she will have to get her wireless at the place she is staying.

 

Wow! Dell has sent my new Mini and it will arrive Tuesday rather than March 24! Hopefully my new desktop will be sent earlier than March 30 too.

I didn't even get the email notification. I just checked and it's already in Tennesee. Way to go Dell!

 

I just decided to buy a mini from the outlet for 165 after coupon. Didn't get the color I really wanted but I can live with red. Specs are 4 gb ssd :-( (planning to upgrade later), 1 gb ram and that is basically it. I thought it was a good deal just being able to work on documents when i am away from my desk.

 

Dang, I've been looking for a red one like that!!!!! Lucky!!!!

 

That's awesome! Your gonna enjoy that red with the red BT mouse!

Grat's The RED is a great color! And, great price to boot..an easy upgrade for you also!

If you really look at the outlet....*seek and you shall find*

Cin

 

Yeah, I am just waiting until the prices come down until I upgrade the ssd drive. I hope 4 gb is enough for xp and word/excel/powerpoint. If not I guess I can install them on a sd card.

 

I've been shopping the Outlet every morning, looking for good deals (they seem to have the best supply real early...).

Picked up a couple more Previously Ordered New Mini 9's (basic config like yours) in RED for $152.15 (after 15% off coupon) just this morning, and a couple of black with BT for $160 yesterday. (yes, I resell them to my clients).

Actually, I spent a bit of time on one other Mini 9 I just received that had the Ubuntu on it and it's not half bad. The mail program actually works with Exchange, and the web browser and Open Office app is nice. Great little utilities and a nice interface. I am a complete Linux newbie, so I have no idea how to get "under the hood", but on a 4GB SSD, it works great.

I've been getting 2GB memory sticks from Newegg for $18 each (G.SKILL in a 2x2GB pack). Now, I'm on a mission to find some cheap 16GB SSD's....

Have fun!

 

Hi all...

I have been trying to find out if anyone else has a wireless problem with their Mini 9 after waking it back up from Standby. I'm sorry if this has been answered elsewhere but I couldn't find it. This probably isn't unique to the Mini 9 but it's the first time it's happened to me.

Spec:
Windows XP Home (SP3)
Wireless card
Bluetooth card
3G card
2GB RAM
8GB SSD

The wireless connection will work fine (dynamically) from our DrayTek router (using WPA security), but if it goes into Standby mode it will not reconnect properly when I wake it up. It tries to connect again but normally can't get a valid IP address, so it connects with limited or no connectivity.

To get it working, I have to disconnect and reconnect to the wireless network manually (sometimes having to delete the wireless profile for the network), or by rebooting the netbook.

I had bigger problems before this where it wouldn't get a valid IP at startup, so I downloaded and installed the latest wireless drivers from Dell's support site. This installed a Broadcom wireless management program that I set to control the wireless connections, which solved that problem. For this new issue, I have changed control of the wireless back to Windows but it didn't fix it.

Does anyone have any ideas?
Many thanks for any help.

 

I haven't had any issues, but my network is unsecured (but uses a whitelist).
I'm headed to my brother's house this weekend, he uses encryption of some sort so i'll test it out there.

 

I have in the past had occasional different problems with reconnecting; in my case the security check failed but even re-inputting the password wouldn't get the machine to reconnect. After a reboot it all worked fine.

It hasn't happened recently and happened only occasionally before so I never got to the bottom of it.

 

Can anyone tell me where I can get another SSD other than Dell?

Thank You

 

mydigitialdiscount sells runcore SSD that work with the Dell Mini 9.
http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/Ca...ni+PCI-e+SSDs:Dell+Inspiron+Mini+9+PCI-e+SSDs

Crucial also sells SSD that work with the Dell Mini 9.
http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=FA6523C5A5CA7304

Take a look at the Dell Mini 9 Forums at mydellmini.com as there are several users who have installed the above drives and are discussing the pros and cons of each.

I have not upgraded my SSD so I cannot comment on the performance of either SSDs

 

Thank you!!!!

 

Just to summarize the opinions and findings of others who have gotten these, the RunCore's are preferred, but delivery is sketchy. Wait times over a month, but things are looking to improve in the next couple of weeks.

The Crucial modules are slow as molasses. The SuperTalent modules (available on ebay) are the same specs as the Crucial, but have not been publically benchmarked yet. (I have 2 SuperTalents coming today...I will post my findings compared to a Dell 64GB SSD).

Lastly, you can order from Dell direct. I spoke with them yesterday and confirmed availability of the 32GB and 64GB STEC modules. Pricing is good at $141 and $210, respectively. (the 32GB pricing seems a bit high, but the 64GB is competitive).

I wish these parts were more readily available, as I would rather just buy them as I need them, than have to plan on buying a few at a time to meet my current and future needs, knowing that availability was so sketchy.

 

just ordered one from outlet last night. shipped already.

209 + tax 16 gb ssd + 1 gb ram, ubuntu and base for everything else

 

Yes the Outlet seem's to ship rather *swiftly*

Grat's on your order! What color did you get??

Are you looking to order a sleeve at all?

Cin

 

Hi all. I just ordered a mini 9 yesterday. It has Ubuntu and a 8Gig SSD drive. Couldn't resist the $229 price. Only problem is I havn't a clue how to use Ubuntu but I'm willing to give it a try.

I checked Dells web site for drivers and downloads and noticed there is nothing there for Ubuntu, just Windows XP. Someone told me that Ubuntu has all the drivers I need when I install Ubuntu. Is this correct?

I have a corded mouse on order for this netbook. Will I have a problem due to Ubuntu? I read somewhere that the buttons won't work.

I'm looking at a Windows program called Shareaza. Does anyone know if this can be installed in Ubuntu?

Last resort. Considering this is only a 8Gig SSD, can I install Windows XP? How much room will be left over on the SSD?

 

On our Mini we are using XP SP3 and it takes up about 3.5GB. So yes you should be able to install XP but depending on what other programs you want to install you might be pressed for SSD space.

You can install XP nlite, which I have not done, but from what I've read it will reduce the size of XP to 1GB (give or take) since it obviously depends on which components you decide to install or not install.

Edit: I forgot there was another Mini user with an 8GB SSD using XP and on the thread there was a discussion of him using a SDHC card to add additional space for him to store his data. Most of the SDHC discussion is on page 2: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=353748&highlight=SDHC Just a suggestion in case you need some more space.

 

I am running xp on a 8 gig. ssd with 2gigs of ram, I also have a 8gig sdhc i got from best buy for $24. I have all my video's and pics and programs like google earth, and ballistic's programs loaded on the sdhc card with a shortcut to the progam on my desk top. so far i havent even put a dent in the memory of the card.

 

You can make your SDHC card seen as a hard drive.

Hitachi Microdrive driver to make the disk as "fixed local drive".
http://xpefiles.com/cs/files/folders/hardware/entry616.aspx

Make sure you go to device manager and click on SD card drive and choose update driver. Tell it not to look for drivers. Then point it to the cfadisk cab file. That's it.

 

there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to be using that driver and i wish people would stop telling people to use it. its worthless. it serves absolutely no purpose.

1) flash drives are to slow to worry about them being a fixed disk
2) if you just go into device manager and change the properties of the flash drive to "optimize for performance" then you are going to get all the speed you need.
3) Windows doesnt care if the drive is a fixed disk or removeable. you can still install applications to it. Windows doesnt care and neither do the applications.
4) this is just another driver to potentially confuse your system with when it comes to flash drives.
5) theres no reason to EVER use a MICRODRIVE driver for a completely DIFFERENT style of drive. a Microdrive is NOT a SD/MicroSD/CF/or any other kind of drive, a microdrive is a microdrive, dont use its drivers on another drive. thats just stupid.

its pointless, dont even bother using it.

 

That's your opinion. Do you have anything to back that up?

Being rude btw is what's really pointless.

 

It's not rude (in my opinion )
You shouldn't mess with the drivers, thats the general rule (i believe almost everyone agree on that).
I still don't understand why should anyone use that driver or why make a SDHC card seen as a hard drive, whats the point in that?

 

Yup didn't view it as being rude. Just a person putting red flag out.
Maybe help some.

 

That's it exactly. It reminds me of the same attitude in regards to overclocking. Some people just freak out. There are tons of mods and other things people are doing with their Mini 9's.

 

If i said "You shouldn't mess with the drivers if you won't get anything from that, thats the general rule" i would seem like an expert?

Overclocking is a choice, it's not the same suggesting something that will may or may not cause issues in the future without explaining why and overclocking.

 

no....based on these comments and your past comments I would not consider you an expert.

If somebody wants to turn their SD card into a hard drive, and they've already gotten to the point of figuring out what drivers to install/mess with, then chances are they know what they are doing and want to do it for a reason. I wouldn't be explaining something like this to an average computer user, because they would probably have no need for it and would complicate things. But for somebody who knows what they are doing, then there's no problem trying to configure their SD card in that manner.

When I say 'know what they are doing' I mean they can reverse any changes they've made with relative ease to fix any potential problems that arise due to the change.

You may feel scared to modify drivers, and do something like that, but there are plenty of others who feel perfectly comfortable 'tweaking' their Mini9.

Yes, its good that somebody posted that this is a little more advanced procedure, so novice's beware, but blatantly saying there is no use for this and nobody should play around with drivers is wrong.

 

Then would you please explain me whats the point in that except from the change of the icon on "My computer" to hard drive?
(in simple words with facts, so an it manager can understand)

 

I'm not for or against this in any way. I have not use for it. I'm just responding to your statement of 'not changing drivers'

is that understandable?

 

My point from the begging is "what this driver change would offer?" we are writing about everything except that, so it's fair to assume that this move (installing isn't originally designed for this) doesn't offer anything so i am asking why?

A simple example to better understand:
I did installed the drivers to my mini to activate the gps with the wan card
(i wanted to activate the gps) am i clear now?

 

It seems I have a months wait for my mini-9. I've been all over the internet reading up on it, getting accessories, studying up on ubuntu. And I have one question for now.

For those people that have the mini-9 with Ubuntu..how do you connect with your wireless connection? I keep reading about people having problems connecting with Wi-Fi. When I get mine, I plan on going to the library and trying out their free Wi-Fi. My sons Karate school also has Wi-Fi, but i need a password from the instructor.

 

I never had any issues connecting to wireless networks with my Ubuntu Mini 9.

 

For giggles i made a LiveUSBstick of ubuntu 8.10 and stuffed it into the mini9. It took about three days to boot as it's a cheap $25 8gb piece, but it did eventually boot.
It had all the drivers built in for the important bits and ran great, connected to wireless, cruised right along.

Unfortunately i was able to confirm that ubuntu 8.X runs slower then XP. It can't play youtube videos smoothly (on dellbuntu or ubuntu810), while on xp it plays them just fine.
I noticed the same thing on my old p4 2.4 computer, windows everything goes nicely in real time, ubuntu there is a delay in scrolling and such.

On the plus side, ubuntu was giving me accurate (far as i can tell) estimates of 25% longer battery life then XP, on the exact same computer.


So as far as pure netbook usage goes (email, web sans video, basic document use) ubuntu is definitely better, can't beat 25% more battery.
But for home use or videos XP takes the cake.

 

Here's just one example from here
"This is usually one of the first tasks I do when I build a new computer with Windows installed. Moving the My Documents folder to another hard drive or partition keeps the System partition from running out of disk space and isolates the folder if I need to reinstall Windows without losing any personal data stored in the folder". Like after a crash/hard drive failure.

The other reason is so I don't have to think about how much hard drive space is being used on my C:\ drive by automatically dumping stuff over to D:\. This is more of a concern because of our small hard drives. Someone with an 8GB drive could benefit from this even more.

There are multiple other reasons which can be found here
Even though the above link cites using separate partitions, it is similar to having a fixed SDHC D:\ drive.

But as tmaxxtim said, it's not for novices and it's just an option.

 

Mo, I think you've done a fine job with all the tweaks and improvements on what you wanted to make with your I9! So, its cool!

Cin

 

Thanks Cin. It's fun to play on. So far all I have managed to break is a vLite clean install of Windows 7057. Changed a few things, installed it again and running fine. I stripped it down too much the first time. But it was an experiment to see how small of an install I could make.

 

That's pretty cool, Mo! I prob's should be doing some more tweaking with mine..but right now it's working out just fine.

It's with me daily now, wherever I go!

I removed Avira Version 8, and installed Avira AV Version *9*, and its working out just great!

Cin