> Docking station: very exotic use case.

It's only exotic to Linux users.

With modern notebooks I have never seen the benefit. What does the docking station add?

I have an Acer Aspire One with Jaunty on it. When I want an external monitor, I plug in a monitor; when I want an external keyboard, I plug in a keyboard; and so on. The only benefit I can see to a docking station would be that you only have to plug in one thing instead of, like, three things.

Incidentally, the only problem I have had setting up and running Ubuntu on the netbook was that the default wifi driver is a bit flaky. I switched to madwifi-hal and did a bit of set-up as per:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne#line-207

Now it works fine.

Really?

The way my desk area is set up is I guess a vastly different use case from yours. My laptop is primarily mobile -- I take it to work, work from coffee shops, the couch, etc., but when I want to do something that I need need more of a desktop setting for (I can't do image editing on the couch, or without a mouse, or without a large screen usually) I just plug the laptop into the docking station.

The docking station is connected to an external hard drive for backups, speakers for sound, external monitor, keyboard, mouse, power cable, Line 6 Pod XT guitar pedal and mixing board.

It allows me the flexibility of having a convenient desktop setup while still maintaining the portability I bought a laptop for. I'm surprised more people don't use it, as it seems like the edge case here instead of the norm.

Most of those problems went away with the arrival of USB hubs. Granted, I still plug more cables than you do (monitor, sometimes audio). But I think for audio a USB solution could be found, too, then I would be down to three cables (monitor, usb hub, power). Sure, docking station is a bit faster, but it is also much uglier (most of the time). I guess it depends on how often you move around with your notebook.

I always work with an external monitor at home, but I use my notebook's keyboard. Atm I also only bother to plug in audio when I need it - I admit audio is a sore point, but when I have time, I'll try to find some wireless solution.

I suppose that's true, but then I'd still have to plug in a USB cable even. I guess I just really like the idea of not having to plug in ANYTHING.

If I'm away from the docking station, I mumble curse words when I have to plug in so much as an ethernet cable.