Elonex Onet+ - My first impressions (and the importance of being in the right place at the right time!)

I first saw my Elonex Onet+ in the window of the local second-hand electrical shop. At the time, I didn’t really know what it was, but for £50 it had to be worth a closer look. I went in and asked about it and played with it for a few minutes, by which time I was hooked and I had to have it.

I brought it home and had a closer look at it, and my first impressions were that I’d bought a real bargain. It seems quite well-built but it’s very light. The keyboard is surprisingly firm and comfortable to type on, although obviously it’s smaller than a standard keyboard and some of the keys are in an unusual place. The screen is very bright and clear, and even though its only 7” it’s comfortable to read. It also folds back flat, so you can lift the whole computer up to eye level.

There were several accessories included in the box which aren’t mentioned in the fancy using this as its second hand...), a mini optical mouse, a USB card reader which reads SD, mini SD, MMC, T-Flash, MS, MS Pro, MS Pro Duo and MS Micro, a wristband-type 1Gb flash drive and a carry case.

I was a little disappointed with the included software. The Linux-based operating system is locked-down, and since the Elonex Onet+ doesn’t use standard x86 architecture it will be difficult (but not impossible) to get another Linux distro running on it. The web browser, Bon Echo, is based on an old version of Firefox. From the small amount of research I’ve done, it looks like it’s possible to install some Firefox add-ons, but many aren’t compatible. The word processor is a renamed version of Abi Word, and the spreadsheet program is Gnumeric. It’s a shame OpenOffice wasn’t included, but it’s understandable as it’s large and can be resource hungry.

My first attempt to connect to a wireless network failed. The wireless manager (which is basic but usable) tried to connect, then gave the error ‘IP address invalid’.

Overall, I’m quite impressed. For £50, this machine has a lot of potential, especially once I find out how to install third party software (and maybe a different Linux distro), and get the Wifi connection working. Whether it would have been worth paying full price is debatable, though.