Last night, I read about the new netbook OS, open source but funded by Intel, called Moblin. It’s been designed and implemented especially for Intel Atom-based netbooks, such as the Dell Mini 9 (Inspiron 910), and so I decided to give it a try.

So, I followed the excellent instructions on the website, downloaded the disk image, set myself up with a bootable USB drive containing said image, and booted the Mini.

The OS’ UI is very intuitive and, dare I say it, cute for a netbook. It makes excellent use of the limited screen estate hiding the top toolbar when not in use. Icons are simple, well-designed and large. Easy to click, from Fitt’s Law. The applications look good and run well too, hiding the arcana of Linux running underneath.

Unfortunately, the network access leaves a lot to be desired. The wi-fi just doesn’t work with the Mini 9, period, and other netbooks seem to have the same issues. The wired connection is only recognized if the cable is plugged in when you boot, and at that the built-in browser doesn’t find any URLs. That’s a real shame because without internet access all of the “mobile” apps, like the browser, twitter, etc, just don’t work in any meaningful way. Flash is not provided, so you must download it, which I couldn’t of course.

So, regretfully, I powered off the Mini and rebooted back into Windows 7, which, I must report, just works on the Mini. No weirdnesses, everything just worked. Intel have a little way to go methinks, but I’ll try it again in a few weeks.

(Interesting aside: I’m writing this blog post in Windows Live Writer on my Mini. Apart from the cramped keyboard, no issues.)

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Putting this up there in case anyone else runs into this weird error. Also trying to write the text using all the search terms I used.

The BIOS for my Dell MIni 9 was at A04, and Dell have just released a newer version A05. So I downloaded it onto my machine from their support center and started the flashing process. The update uses Pheonix' WinPhlash program to flash the BIOS.

Actually let's back up. You download an executable, sure, but what it does is to unpack itself in some folder or other and then execute the WinPhlash program. This pops up the main window/dialog for the app but auto-executes it. You don't have to click the Flash Bios button at all. All great until, wham, I got an error dialog stating that the BIOS was not flashable. Exclamation mark. Error -144.

The error dialog said to view the help file for troubleshooting (and there was the button for it in the dialog underneath), but on clicking the OK button for the error dialog, the program just went away. Nice.

So I went to find the folder into which the app had been unpacked (by default, C:\Windows\Temp\WINPHLASH) and ran the WinPhlash.exe app manually. And then went back and ran it as Administrator, for of course it wouldn't run otherwise. Clicked on the Help button to view the help file. Said help file of course had absolutely no troubleshooting page, let alone a list of error numbers and descriptions. I know, because I viewed every page in the help. Completely useless. Thanks, Phoenix Technologies.

So I googled for a while, varying my search terms, and eventually came across a hint that the error meant that you shouldn't flash while on battery power. You should only flash the BIOS when plugged into a power socket.

And, by gum, it was right. I plugged my fully-charged Mini 9 into a power socket and the flashing process went off without a hitch. So error -144 means "Plug your laptop in to flash the BIOS". The BIOS is flashable, just not on battery power.

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...rocks.

OK, quick recap. I now have 3 Dell XPS laptops. An M1210 (my ex-laptop), an M1330 (my wife's machine), and an M1530 (my main laptop). For all three I went for the three-year at-home warranty, plus the usual XPS tech support line. I've now had to use the XPS tech support twice, and let me tell you it rocks.

First was the WiFi card in the M1210: it just died one day. No connection to the router. I was on a trip to Microsoft to top it all, so I bought a USB WiFi from the local Fry's to tide me over. I phoned up XPS tech support when I got back and was rewarded, not with a drone reciting a series of questions by rote, but someone who actually listened, agreed with me that the card was dead, and queued up a new card to be delivered after ascertaining that I was willing to switch the cards myself. The next day it arrived and I swapped the cards over and sent the old one back. Clean, simple, and made me feel good about spending the extra cash for the XPS over the standard Dell laptop.

Since that time, I bought the two others, no doubt in my mind about spending the extra.

Just over a week ago, my wife's M1330, after 10 months of stellar duty being her main laptop, decided to freeze and display vertical striped lines. Of course it was the evening before I was due to travel to CA, but I tried various things nevertheless. Always the machine would come up and after a couple of minutes (or 20, it was never regular or predictable) freeze again. I upgraded the BIOS and the display drivers (I was lucky in those cases!), to no avail. In the end, I pulled the hard disk from the M1330 and put it into the M1210, reset the video driver, gave the laptop to her and promised to get it fixed once I was back.

Yesterday, I phoned up XPS tech support, and was again met with someone who just asked the minimal questions about the problem and what I'd done, diagnosed a faulty mobo (motherboard) and queued up a new one to be shipped. This time, an engineer would call round and install it.

Said engineer (hi, Matt!) popped round just now, less than 24 hours later, agreed with me that the mobo was hosed (this time, the screen didn't even come up) took out the old one, put in the new one, reset the Service tag, and went on his merry way. There was a moment when I thought the speakers weren't working, but Matt told me the drivers needed updating. In fact, in my haste at installing a trash OS on a spare hard disk yesterday, I'd forgotten to load the right drivers, and once that was done, the speakers worked as before. I quickly ran the diagnostics to make sure everything was OK.

So, I'd have to say, based on my two experiences, Dell's premium XPS services score very highly. If you are willing to pay a little more for the top of the line XPS laptops, you can rest assured that, not only are you getting a faster machine, but if something goes wrong, they're on the ball.

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