Five reasons to put Ubuntu Linux on your netbook

Installing Ubuntu 8.10 on the Eee-pc 901

I have to say that I was slightly disappointed by the 8.04.1 version of Ubuntu-eee. I know I blogged about how the Netbook Remix version of Ubuntu would probably be ideal for netbooks, but now that I’ve actually played around with it I feel differently. The 901’s 9″ screen is big enough to use the regular UI, and having even the smallest little popup window be maximized bugged the hell out of me.

That’s why I decided to go ‘back’ to my old setup with regular Ubuntu made ‘eee-friendly’ using the array.org kernel. I put the word ‘back’ between quotes in that last sentence because this also allowed me to go with the newer 8.10 version of Ubuntu (Intrepid Ibex). It may not be as easy as installing Ubuntu eee, but I found it to be well worth the extra effort.

Installing Intrepid Ibex

This really couldn’t be any simpler. Ubuntu’s installer is even easier than the one that comes with Windows. I chose to pay a little extra attention to the disk partition setup (like with 8.04), but other than that there’s nothing to it.

Once you’ve successfully installed the OS and rebooted your Eee-PC you’ll find that the wireless network adapter doesn’t work. Luckily the wired one does, so I grabbed an old UTP cable I had lying around and used that to install the array.org kernel.

Eee-PC Tux 2 Microsoft pounded itself on the chest last week saying over 96% of netbooks now use Windows. This made me somewhat sad, because I was hoping these little computers could be the break Linux had been waiting for.

The first couple of netbooks all had Linux pre-installed. Unfortunately, Asus chose to go with a custom Linux distribution for which it has yet to release its first update. No Firefox 3, no Flash 10 and no easy way to get additional software. Except for the easy to use interface, they came up with the worst example of what Linux can be. But if there’s one thing Linux offers its choice. It is my opinion that Ubuntu is the most user-friendly Linux distro out there, and I highly recommend giving it a go on your netbook.

1. It does everything netbooks are good at

There’s no Adobe Photoshop for Linux, and the same goes for many other professional applications. There are alternatives, but that’s not the point here. Running Photoshop on an Atom processor is no fun. That’s the kind of thing you do on a desktop PC or a high-end laptop. Ubuntu comes with everything installed that you need to surf the web, chat, download (a bittorrent client!) and email. Oh, and OpenOffice too.

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Installing Ubuntu 8.10 on the Eee-pc 901

Installing Intrepid Ibex