Just wanted to inform everyone about a new blog I'm starting about affordable assistive and accessible technology.

Check it out here: http://www.thelatte.blogspot.com

It's called The L.A.T.T.E. - Linux-based Assistive Technology That's Economical.

The wordplay of the acronym is intentional, as I'm a big coffee drinker and am also an advocate of open-source assistive technology such as Linux.

So go check it out and tell me what you think!

As an avid Linux fan, I've been working with it for some time. The other day my EeePC 900 series had a problem with its upgraded SSD; apparently I could no longer format it. So out came the upgraded 64GB SSD, and in with the old 4GB (I'm not kidding) SSD, which made it considerably slower.

I tried out some old reliable distributions such as Ubuntu Netbook remix (too slow and bloated for me), Eeebuntu 3.0 (worked okay, but then problems arose - 4.0's coming out soon though), and then Crunchbang (great distro, but didn't have the time to fiddle with it to get it just the way I wanted it - but I miss the startup sound and the look so much!).

I had just about given up, when I happened to catch a review of Peppermint Linux; I read through the specs, and decided to give it a try, as I had nothing to lose.

Turns out it's a great distro - so far. User friendly, easy install, and simple to use. Requires no previous knowledge of Linux - although having experience is always a plus.

It looks great as well. It's got a light 'footprint' on my hard drive, boots quickly, and isn't a system hog.

I seriously need to start attempting to code with it. But I think it's pretty sweet. I hope they figure out what the bug is with my wifi card. It takes 5+ min to connect to the network after I start up my computer. And since it's not end-user ready at all, there are not a lot of panel options. But for my netbook, it's working nicely so far.

Oh and the fact that my 4g dongle doesn't work with it *yet*. I can't use it when I'm out and about which makes me a sad, Melody!