[TriLUG] Linux netbook recommendations?

[Rodney Radford]

Well, I am off to Blackhat/Defcon this year and I want to take a small, Linux based, netbook there for taking notes (and leave my regular laptop home). I am leaning toward something like the Asus EEE system, but that is just for a price/feature comparison - I am not sold on it as I am open to other suggestions if there is something better. I know this topic has come up before in the past, but with new models constantly appearing, it is worth asking again to see what is available now.

My requirements are fairly simple. I have no thoughts to replace my normal desktop system, or even laptop, with it. I just want something small and compact, with a decent battery life (would love to be able to get through a full day's use taking notes at the conference). I am leaning toward a flash-based file system, and I would hope to have a Linux distro already available that works with all the builtin peripherals. This will primarily be used for taking notes (not on a network), and perhaps a little bit of web-surfing.

Builtin support for either/both Bluetooth and Wifi would definitely be nice as long as there is a way I can *completely* disable both.

I am also considering purchasing a usb based cellular modem so I can connect safe(r) than using the conference/motel wifi. For those that have one, is there a minimum time contract to add one of those to an existing plan, or can I just buy it myself (without a contract), add it to my wireless plan, and then remove it when no longer needed?  I am currently with Alltel, so does anyone have any advice on which Alltel cellular modems work best with Linux?

Any thoughts, comments, advice - about the netbook, usb modems, or the conference in general?

Thanx,
Rodney