It took me a while, but I got my XS4ALL UMTS subscription through their “mobile connect card”, working under Linux.
I started out, of course, with the procedure described here. That worked to the point that I was succesfully authenticated and connected to the network, but then PPPD immediately complained that the modem hung up.
After I left my previous job I was in the market for a new laptop, so after a bit of searching I purchased a Sony VAIO SZ2XP. I’m very happy with it, although every now and then I get some doubts over whether I should have bought the TX model instead. Either way, it’s a beautiful machine, very lightweight (1.65kg) but it feels sturdier than most laptops I’m familiar with (not including those 17″, 4kg desktop replacement beasts). Very good specs, and it’s pretty much the only laptop I could find with both a PCMCIA and a PC-Express slot, which was an important criterion for me.
Well, just in case you had a burning desire to know what OS was running on the terminals for the experimental chip-card system for public transport in Amsterdam and Rotterdam:
Synergy lets multiple machines share a single mouse and keyboard, and makes switching between them as easy as moving the mouse from one screen to another on a multi-monitor setup. Just move the mouse off the edge of the screen, and it enters the screen of another machine, taking the keyboard with it. It even manages the clipboard, so you can copy a piece of text on one screen and paste it into a window on another machine. It’s open-source and supports Windows, Linux and the Mac.
The config program could be more intuitive, but once it’s set up it works really nifty. It’s great for working on my laptop and desktop at work, or for switching between my Mac and my Ubuntu machine at home. Which is why I hereby give Synergy the official “recommended by Martin” award.