Overview

Recently, there has been a flood of "netbook" (not "notebook") computers that have non-standard screen resolutions in order to create much smaller, much cheaper, screens. Combined with much slower processors, minimal and slower RAM, terribly small keyboards, and primitive screen adapters, these netbooks are priced well under $1,000, even as low as $350, creating a new market point for computers. Netbooks do not have optical (CD/DVD) drives, instead using solid-state storage devices such as solid-state flash drives and/or SD cards. These computers will not run the most modern operating systems; they typically require Windows XP or Linux. Windows Vista will not run on a netbook; however, Microsoft is testing, and has demonstrated, an edition of Windows 7 (Vista 2), scheduled for 2010, for this class of devices. (AviSys will not run under Linux.)

To quote Wikipedia: "[netbooks] . . . are primarily designed for web browsing and e-mailing."

From Industry Standard: "The chip giant [Intel] has positioned its Atom processor at the heart of netbooks, to create a deliberately downsized, underpowered laptop that can be sold for under $500."

Quoting BusinessWeek: "Netbooks typically have less processing power than full-featured notebooks and limited ability to run resource-intensive operating systems. Originally designed for emerging nations, they're now hits in the U.S. as well."

Consumer Reports: " . . . best geared for e-mail, light wordprocessing, and Web surfing."

Quoting eWeek in BusinessWeek: " . . . the whole concept is misleading . . . netbooks may very well disappear by next year."

Think about what these devices are called: netbooks. That's because they are intended primarily for internet applications---email and web browsing. All that said, though, they are VERY inexpensive, VERY small, and have a reasonable battry life of ~2.5 to 5 hours. A netbook may be just the ticket for you as a second, travel computer, and if it has 1024x600 resolution or better, will run our new version of AviSys just fine.

The AviSys Issue

Typically, netbook screens have a non-standard resolution of 1024 x 600, and there are some that have even more irregular screen sizes, even including the radical 900 x 500 resolution.

Netbooks generally work OK for web browsers and applications that accommodate vertical scroll bars, such as some traditional databases and email applications (where there is no need to see the entire screen at once). However, these devices present significant challenges for applications that are specifically designed to not use vertical scrolling. Many, many applications, including AviSys 6 (before J), do not function satisfactorily on netbooks. Imagine having to scroll down, and back up, to see all 44 species on one page in the AviSys master list.

The normal standard for 1024 horizontal is 1024 x 768 which has been the minimum screen resolution standard for PCs for over 10 years, and which happens to be the current published minimum size for AviSys 6. For 28 years, PC screen resolutions have been steadily rising --- suddenly, in netbooks, they are now falling, in lockstep with the DOW and S&P.)

A Solution for AviSys

We have released Version 6.00K of AviSys 6 which senses a netbook environment and scales the AviSys main screen, and others, to accommodate native 1024x600 screens at the normal (default) 96DPI setting. (Currently, the complex eBird upload dialogs will not function properly at the non-standrard 120DPI, requiring a reset to 96DPI to run them.)

If you have a netbook, and are an AviSys user, please update to AviSys Version 6.00K, available free of charge from the home page of this site.

(If you have not installed AviSys 6 on the netbook, simply copy the AVI6 folder from the other computer to the C: drive of the netbook and download the above file. Or copy the SETUP.EXE file from the AviSys 6 CD to a flash drive, then run it to install AviSys and then update it. Under no circumstances attempt to run AviSys, or any database program, from a flash drive -- Windows has devised 50 ways to lose data in that environment.)

Note that in order to accommodate these devices, AviSys windows are limited to a vertical resolution of 600 minus room for the task bar. The end result is 576 pixels. Therefore, the width of AviSys windows will be proportionally reduced to 768 pixels, actually smaller (in pixels) than AviSys Versions 4 and 5 on a normal computer. This is simply a matter of physics and is unavoidable --- when you want a smaller computer, with a smaller screen, you get a smaller screen image.