Netbooks - Ubuntu Netbook Remix - install guide and review

entwisi · 02-07-2009, 10:22

Lad at work bought an Aspire One for his missus running the heavily locked Linpus version and she couldn't get on with it so he asked me if I'd sort it out by putting UNR on it.

Link http://www.canonical.com/projects/ubuntu/unr
Firstly in some ways this is a fortunate position for a Linux distribution to be in. In the same way that Mac is only designed to work on a limited hardware subset the UNR equally has a very restricted target hardware set.

Process - download the img file from Ubuntu.com

Burn to a USB stick ( 2 gig min, 4 gig preferred )- you can do this is Linux or Windows quite easily using tools linked from the site. Personally I used my preferred solution of a one line command

dd if=<imagefile> of=/dev/sdb

I know thats a bit geeky but as I do command line stuff all day long its easier for me than faffing with a GUI tool. Feel free to use the GUIs if thats your bag.

this takes about 4 minutes to write to the USB stick

now for the real work

Put the USB stick in and startup the Netbook. Choose "install" from the menu.

Go make a brew/top up your glass

10 mins later it will ask you for a couple of details, your username, password and location.

it will then prompt to remove the USB stick and restart.

Job done.

Now for the review of the system itself.

Boot time is < 40 seconds, more than the original Linpus but still quite rapid.

Netbooks by definition have a smallish screen ( 1024 x 600 which is not much less than a lot of laptops but hey!) so UNR has a bespoke interface designed to make things as simple as possible for users. In my opinion this interface is an absolute gem. It is clear, concise, functional and looks brilliant. It takes away that 'blank desktop' feel that most new installs of any OS have and immediately lets people get on with using the machine.

Having a play to make sure everything was as it should be was a breeze, everything worked as expected on the Aspire One as it should. The only thing that I needed to install was Flash which on browsing to Youtube it prompted me to choose one of three options. the default option worked seamlessly. ( why is this not in by default? because the terms of the license means it can't be)

Software installed by default in the 15 min install included Firefox, OpenOffice, Evolution( Outlook Clone) a umber of games(card, mahjong, etc), Photo management tools, Instant Messaging ( multi system, MSN, AOL/Yahoo/Jabber etc), Media player and more. A full catalog of software is only a few clicks away with everything available to the 'full' versions of linux available here to.

so, a really 'nice' tool well polished and a really good new view of how people can 'use' a computer without any PC knowledge.

Footnote:
I liked the interface that much I decided that I'd see if I could get it running on my full on Laptop. a quick google gave me the packages needed and a few mins later it was all running lovely! ( Icons are a bit large at the moment as they work as a percentage of the screen and my lappy has a screen res of 1920 x 1200, probably just a config file away)

SamF · 03-07-2009, 23:00

I found UNR really slow when I used it - lucky for me I didn't have to put up with it for long because my AAO proceeded to self destruct.

IMO Moblin is the future.

Join the moblin development community | moblin.org

Mancie · 04-07-2009, 04:47

I tell you what Entwisi..you can stick any Ubuntu up it... I tried it and it won't even open a CD... trying to connect to the internet is like world war three... it's crap!

SamF · 04-07-2009, 06:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mancie

I tell you what Entwisi..you can stick any Ubuntu up it... I tried it and it won't even open a CD... trying to connect to the internet is like world war three... it's crap!

Unsuccessful troll is unsuccessful.

Neil · 04-07-2009, 08:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamF

I found UNR really slow when I used it - lucky for me I didn't have to put up with it for long because my AAO proceeded to self destruct.

Is that comparing it to what was on it before or was it just slow in general?
Don't forget the Aspire One is not exactly running on rocker fuel so will feel slow that other machines you may use.

Neil · 04-07-2009, 08:45

Reading the compatibility list for it Ian there are still a lot of issues with a lot of Netbooks. People wanting to try it after XP my be disappointed when they find certain things don't work any more.

Main issues appear to be with sound, mic recording, wireless connections and function keys not working correctly.

SamF · 04-07-2009, 22:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

Is that comparing it to what was on it before or was it just slow in general?
Don't forget the Aspire One is not exactly running on rocker fuel so will feel slow that other machines you may use.

Comparing it to linpus. I found linpus, when tweaked, was better than UNR, although this was 6 months ago, which is a long time in linux.