eCafe hercules
 

Does anyone know anything about Mandriva Linux on a Hercules Ecaf mini-laptop?

EG: How to reinstall the original OS?

you should be able to install. But the main thing is the WM, 0 swap and related customisations

What are the necessary steps to reinstall/restore?
Is it something like hold down ESC key then turn on the ecaf?
It did not come with any CD's so there must be a way to restore the original OS.
The manual that came with it sucks.

dlw

Hi, I am downloading the .iso that backup the original OS (1320 MB).
I phoned hercules' support and they gave me a ftp access so I can download it.
Then i will try to upload it.
And then i will try to make another distribution because i dislike this one :)

Herculles eCafe: the bad joke
 

The first impression I had when I saw the WM back home: it stinks...

Then I fiddled with it too much and I discovered -by accident- that turning on the unit while the Esc key was pressed did reload the original software.

I went on installing my favorite Linux distro: gOS Gadget.

Then the real bad news came:
* The Webcam is not standard Linux and is not working with gspca (nor any other driver)
* The Wifi is not working neither (ifconfig -a => no wireless device)
* My Motorola ZN5 cell phone does not show its mass storage when connected to the USB port (Good bye the photos...)

And I bought the eCafe because there was Linux written on it!

What a deception!

For $30 more I could have bought a same size HP netbook and replaced Windoze with gOS...

So I decided to take a look at the kernel they use to make this special linux edition unit work...

The end of the trip: The Esc trick is not working anymore!
The original OS is nowhere to be found...
The documentation is zilch!

So, dear reader, don't do what I did: Don't buy a Hercules eCafe...
Even if the retailers sell it for half price to get rid of it...

That's what they will probably do soon.

Can't you install a different Distro?
What are the laptops specs? RAM/HD, etc?