[Novalug] Old Sony U101 for sale

[Brander Snaxe]

I've decided to part with one of my favorite gadgets ever. My beloved Sony U101 from Japan is up for sale.

It truly is a niche product and will only really appeal to those who love gadgets. It is a little old now, but it still runs okay.

If you don't know about the U101, here is an old, old site about running Linux on it:
http://mattdm.org/u101/

I personally never ran Linux on it except with PXE boot. It makes for a good, portable thin terminal.

I have made several upgrades from the base unit.
1. 1GB RAM
2. 32GB SSD
3. Mugen extended battery. It's thick, but I could get 10 hours with this unit. Have not tested in over a year.
4. I purchased a brand new Sony battery direct from Sony parts, who imported it from Japan to replace the stock, thin battery. The stock battery used to get around 1.5 hrs. Have not tested in over a year. The brand new part gets 3 hours with brightness turned down. I have the receipt for the new battery.
5. I used a SocketCom CF Bluetooth adapter for Bluetooth
6. I have a mini wireless-N USB adapter (the U101 is 802.11b)

I have the original box and packaging it came with. I also have the following accessories:
1. Firewire DVD-ROM (this is the only way to boot besides PXE, HDD)
2. VGA dongle

It came from conics.net years ago. I just restored their original Acronis Image with WinXP Home SP2.

The weakest areas by far are related to multimedia. This thing will NOT do Netflix Watch it Now (I tried thinking it could sit on my desk as a Sony Dash-like device, it does NOT. Well, it DOES but it's choppy). Youtube works, but is choppy. If you want this for multimedia, then forget it. Obviously games won't work well, either. Of course, I'm sure DosBox in Linux could be fun.

This may serve someone well who needs a very small device that is certainly capable of running most basic Linux systems. Microsoft Office XP screamed on it with the SSD (not installed anymore, just a point of reference).

Disclaimer: The keyboard is VERY SMALL. I can type fine on small devices like this, but others may have trouble. Also, the keyboard has a Japanese Layout. This wasn't a problem for me as I change it to US in Windows and I know where keys are.

I'm really going to miss the U101, but I need some cash to get a backup Nokia N900. I want my U101 to find a good home and I figured I would try this list first before trying eBay.

I'm asking $350 since that is what I need to get a new N900 from Amazon.

Ping me off-list if you may be interested.

--Brandon