Ubuntu Netbook Remix
Since I got my Asus Eee 901 last week, I’ve been fiddling around with Ubuntu 8.04.1 on it, as the preinstalled Xandros OS on it was a bit too restrictive for my liking. Installing Ubuntu was easy enough, as there are tools out there to make bootable USB flash drives that you can use to run the installer from.
When Ubuntu finished installing there was still a lot of work to do, with both the ethernet card and wireless card not working, as well as some other less important components like the integrated webcam and keyboard hotkeys. There are some pretty comprehensive instructions on how to get everything working here.
That got me a working Ubuntu desktop, which is nice but it doesn’t do anything special to cater for machines with limited screen real estate like today’s sub-notebooks/netbooks. That’s where the Ubuntu Netbook Remix comes in. Netbook Remix is a project at Canonical to build proper support for these machines in co-operation with OEMs, so that you will eventually see Ubuntu available as a preinstalled option in the future.
There are some fairly quick-and-dirty instructions on what you need to do to get netbook remix installed here. This is still in beta with no release date announced, but I would expect something to ship around October, when Ubuntu 8.10 comes out.
Despite being beta software, I’m finding it very smooth and polished. The only problems I have encountered are when I run it with Compiz visual effects enabled.
Here are some screenshots. Click them for full size in the Eee 901’s native resolution of 1024×600.
The wallpaper image you can see in the background is one of my own photos.
Update: Uh-oh, found a bug already! It doesn’t seem to return from standby very well. When I just had basic Ubuntu installed with the various steps taken to get the Eee hardware all working standby/resume worked fine.
James on August 11th, 2008
First image has a bad URL link.
Interesting stuff. I had Ubuntu for a while on one of my computers but I found my patience wearing thin as there is a bit of a learning curve, particularly coming from a strict Windows background.
Steve on August 12th, 2008
Fixed - thanks for the tip!
I’ve had Ubuntu running full time for about a year and a half on an older full-size laptop now and found it very good. The laptop in question doesn’t do much besides sit quietly in a corner downloading stuff and sharing it with samba though. That machine (an Aldi laptop from about 3 and a half years ago) works perfectly out of the box on Ubuntu - no messing around with broken hardware or anything.
I’m mostly a windows guy myself - I run Vista x64 on my desktop and have no plans to change that, but while these little Eee PCs are capable of just about running Vista, its not pretty. They lack storage and RAM.
Pete Goodall on August 12th, 2008
Great explanation of Ubuntu Netbook Remix! The eeePC seems to be particularly tricky wrt getting the hardware working, but other netbooks seem to work fine out of the box. There are bugs filed on the suspend/resume issue, but yours may be different. File a bug if you get a chance.
Steve on August 12th, 2008
Hi Pete - I did actually file a bug but I marked it as a duplicate shortly after, as my experience seems to be exactly the same as another bug already logged.
John Loughman on August 22nd, 2008
Where did you buy it from? I may treat myself
Steve on August 23rd, 2008
Clove.co.uk but most places have stock now. When I got it, Linux 901’s were near impossible to find.