Answers to: Netbook alternative to Ubuntu?

Answer by Vanco

Vanco — Sat, 08 May 2010 22:07:00 -0400

A major issue with all current netbook-installable Linux OS's is the fact that a lot of netbooks utilize the Intel GDM500 chipset, which is very poorly supported with drivers. The only exception is JollyColud, but it barely works there, too.

The problem is compounded by the fact that the driver works with xserver versions 1.7 and less, and this is already obsolete. So, new versions of these OS's will not be able to support this chipset.

Answer by 1jnike

1jnike — Sat, 08 May 2010 04:29:29 -0400

I would like to suggest PClinuxOS, you never know until you try!!

Answer by Dion

Dion — Wed, 05 May 2010 07:45:45 -0400

I am very happy here with sidux (Debian sid with some tweaks; www.sidux.com ). I installed the xfce version, but to keep the performance high (very high even) I installed Enlightenment E17 in it which is very low on system resources and makes my Acer Aspire One very fast and smooth-looking. Especially since I use the Ecomorph options now available for E17 (similar to Compiz, with desktop cube, wobbly windows etc.). So lots of eyecandy and showing off without loosing the performance of a light and fast WM. E17 has a netbook mode that switches off some of the more resource-hungry modules but in my experience this is not even really needed. A sober desktop background can help though.

E17 now contains a network manager called exalt, which makes connecting to wifi very simple. A great tool. It stores favorites for different locations so after a first login anywhere I never have to do anything coming back to the same place.

Instructions on how to install E17 in Debian sid are here: http://www.sidux.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=16300

Answer by Yaro Kasear

Yaro Kasear — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:06:13 -0400

Well, I don't use netbooks myself. I do understand there are a few important things to keep in mind.

I prefer not to use the cloud. So, if I were to install Linux on a netbook, I'd look for the following:

LiveUSB availability.
Small size.
Simplicity and flexibility.

Arch is a Linux distribution that falls into this category nicely. You can put the installer image onto a thumb drive and boot from it on the netbook, install Arch onto your netbook.

This works because Arch installs only its core to the system, and also offers a straight up build system as well as a full binary package system. From there you can build a completely custom setup onto the netbook. You can even build software patches explicitly for use on netbooks, including the Linux kernel itself.

As for X and any window managers or desktop environments you'd use, even though KDE 4.4 brings a lot of things to the table that makes life easier for netbook users, it has one glaring flaw: Its size. Netbooks aren't really renowned for having lots of storage space or memory, which KDE is usually somewhat hungry for.

No, for netbooks I'd use something like Fluxbox, or Xfce. Though Fluxbox doesn't offer an "icon box" to save space in its panel, it is lightweight and even old machines can run it comfortably. Xfce is also a lightweight a netbook could handle, and it does have the aforementioned icon box.

I don't suggest the cloud for a few reasons. It's not really the place to point this out, but I am against the cloud, I feel its a foolish and unnecessary regression in computing. We already had distributed remote computing. Personal computing was largely meant to pull us away from the concept of us not computing or doing our work on our own computers. Not to mention many companies intend to capitalize on it, despite the fact that we were able to do these things in a much more secure and efficient way for free on our own hardware. I see no need for the cloud.

If space is your concern, then I can point out that you can effectively turn your netbook into a thin client by gearing up SSH for port forwarding and serving GUI apps over a network or the Internet. That way your netbook is still not bogged down with loads of data on its storage, but you, the user have full control over your computing, as you're running the machine serving up the software. The reason the cloud comes up so much in netbooks is Windows. Windows is huge. And so is its software. Pretty much the only way to "comfortably" use a Windows netbook is to use the cloud.

Honestly, though, seeing as how Linux apps are generally small affairs, you won't even need an SSH tunnel.

Answer by blingham

blingham — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:17:17 -0400

My vote goes for Jolicloud. When I purchased my Acer AspireOne 250, it wasn't out of the box for 2 minutes before I was installing some form of Linux on it. I was looking for the right mix of performance, features, and stability - and found that in Jolicloud.

Others that I've played with that work fairly well:

Ubuntu Netbook Remix
Ubuntu 9.10
Xubuntu

Jolicloud has got a great interface, you can still drop to command line and install software that isn't in their application section, and it performs really well. I found, for me, that UNR was sluggish at times on battery, whereas I don't feel that same issue with Jolicloud.

Hope this helps!

Jay

Answer by ggarron

ggarron — Tue, 04 May 2010 11:32:15 -0400

Even though Arch Linux is optimized for i686, I think it could be a good option. I do not own a netbook my own, but I would like to run Arch on one if I had one.

Answer by charl

charl — Tue, 04 May 2010 04:44:42 -0400

The term 'best option' for a netbook will depend on the type of user you are.

I have been jumping around between distros on my netbook like a madman, trying to find the perfecft fit for me and my needs. Ubuntu Netbok Remix was great, and I did enjoy it, but even with 2GB of Ram it felt sluggish at times, plus the interface felt a bit too safe. Almost idiot-proof. Now this is great for someone who doesn't know much about Linux and wants to try out the alternative. But I love tweaking and playing with everything.

The distro I have found now is #!Crunchbang it's based on Ubuntu, but the next release is based on Debian, it is fast, customizable and the user support is very good. A small and very active community, which will grow a lot.

So if you are looking for a distro that is very functionable ad that will satisfy your inner geekiness. Go with #!Crunchbang.

Answer by kcsquared

kcsquared — Tue, 04 May 2010 04:07:24 -0400

This is easy... slackware 13.0 here. on an asus eeepc.

Answer by christa99

christa99 — Tue, 04 May 2010 03:52:00 -0400

I have just installed the brand new Lucid Lynx Ubuntu 10.04 for netbooks version on a Samsung NC10. The vendors told me that the OEM XP was the only operating system that would work in it and that changing it to Linux would mean the end of the world, or at least my netbook. As it happened, the install worked perfectly, the wireless broadband was up and running in less than a minute and the oS is gorgeous. All that Linux stability and power with a pretty face. Can't argue with that.

Answer by Timmi

Timmi — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 12:29:27 -0400

TEST BENCH for Netbook OSes. Highly Recommended: LEEENUX 3.0

HERE ARE SOME OF THE LINUX OSes THAT WERE EVALUATED FOR NETBOOKS:

Puppy and BrowserLinux Puppy is only mentioned here because of it's popularity and notoriety of being small and fast. But don't let that fool you: it is not designed for netbooks, but rather for old hardware. Features like WiFi, power management, screen brightness are all afterthoughts, retrofitted into it. It doesn't manage WiFi well, requiring "profiles" you create and manage for different hotspots, and enhanced hardware management features may or may not work with your computer or may be absent. Also, having several apps to manageone thing (such as wifi) becomes confusing - in which case do you pick one, and in which case is one a precursor to another? Browser Linux is a scaled/slimmed down version of Puppy, with less apps and features, but still more ideal for old machines than for netbooks.

Puppeee This is a new, promising, distro in the making, by a Puppy enthusiast, "Jemima". Adapting Puppy for the eeePC and all other popular netbooks and laptops, improving the menu items groupings, and slimming things down to things that work. It is still perfectible, but coming along at a nice clip. Where other netbook OSes have a whole team for development and theirOS drags along the same bugs for weeks, Puppeee's developer, Jemima, responds to bugs and requests fast. In all, a very nice project. If you like to tinker, and be involved with this community, ahd have the ultimate lean and mean OS on your netbook, give it a try.

AntiX 8.x Antix (from antics/LinuX, and not anti-"X") is a slim fast OS that runs well on netbooks, but we wonder if it may not be more of a design for old hardware than for newer netbooks. You may be disappointed at it's lack of support with the default WiFi app for WPA encryption. No encryption is the default for most hotspots, but not in your home, where WPA is safer than WEP. It looks, plain, runs very well, but you should try it on your old PC with wired ethernet-to-dslmodem.

Knoppix Knoppix is nowhere near the compactness you would expect from a linux for netbooks. BUT it is extremely fast for a standard distro with full apps, and one of the only stable LXDE based OSes out there. Although Knoppix doesn't look exciting, it performs faster than many "netbook" linuxes, and configures everything automatically for you, just like Linux Mint ubuntu does. If you don't use it on your netbook, consider it, and Mint-ubuntu, as your desktop OS of choice. Use it if: your netbook has more hardware resources (1+gh processor, the typical 160gb HDD), and you prefer a conventional interface to the ones designed for small screens. It runs rather well on most types of hardware, whether old and slow or new and fast with modern features - but it's not a space saver for mini disks (SSD or solid state drives).

EasyPeasy (Ubuntu Netbook remix) Renaming of ubuntu netbook remix, now called easypeasy, this latest version has an extremely annoying stall-and-jump pointer bug in it. If it weren't for that, this is a reasonable speed, wonderfully designed OS. Try it on your netbook to see if it has the same problem on yours. If not, you'll love it. (eeePC owners, look at Leeenux 3.0)

Jolicloud Just like ubuntu netbook remix / easypeasy, but with added shortcuts/quick launchers for (disguised, minimalistic Firefox) cloud apps links. This doesn't have that annoying jumping/stalling mouse pointer bug of easypeasy. In theory, running apps from the "cloud" should save you space, and some would reason, less bulk, more speed. NOT! A surprising quantity of cloud apps are available for activation in jolicloud, but not all are on reliable servers- you don't know if your data is safe, confidential, nor if the server will be functioning tomorrow, or if it will deliver your application at a satisfactory speed during waking hours. I liked this OS, but installing a few cloud apps brought my system to it's knees! And I reluctantly turned elsewhere ("reluctantly", because the idea is so good and appealing that you just want to believe in it). The only cloud apps I use now are Google Docs, Live mail and Gmail. And those can be used on any computer.

Leeenux 2.0 Discontinued and replaced with a completely remastered 3.0. This was a slimmed down EasyPeasy, had the same bugs, and has nothing to do with the new 3.0

Leeenux 3.0 With an interface much like EasyPeasy/ubuntu-netbook-remix/Jolicloud. Currently, this wins hands down, as the best netbook OS at this time, as compared to all that were tested here. On a eeePC with only 512MB RAM, a 8GB SSD, and a leisurely 800mh celeron processor, this OS is fast, full featured, and stable. You can't really ask for more. Perhaps a future Leeenux will be faster, but for the moment, working out of the box, managing all your features out of the box, including WiFi, hotkeys (screen brightness, etc), it does the job, and does it astoundingly well. Version 4.0 is already being worked on and promises to reduce it's dependency on Ubuntu, moving closer to Debian sources. (for noobs like me: Mint and Leeenux are perfected/enhanced versions of Ubuntu with is a perfected/expanded version of Debian which may very well be the most highly regarded Linux system).

Lubuntu Keep an eye out for this one. It is a slimmed down Ubuntu with an LXDE front end, and some "light" OSes are expected to be based on it - aiming ot slim it down and customize it for different hadware platforms. But for the moment, it suffers the same problems as most other ubuntus with lxde: not reliable. Hopefully, LXDE and Ubuntu development will allow a future version (ubuntu 10.xx) to work better. Also when this comes out, check out the Mint Lubuntu which will soon be released thereafter.

Answer by Freshmeadow

Freshmeadow — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 01:38:40 -0400

Greetings from Guelph! It really depends on what type of experience you are looking for on your netbook. If you like a desktop feel OpenSuse 11.2 KDE or Gnome runs beautifully on the Asus EEE, for example. So does full Ubuntu. If you want a "netbook remix" interface, I recommend Jolicloud, which now includes a desktop-switcher to enable you to have both a full desktop and a netbook remix interface. Also, hardware support is excellent in Jolicloud. Cheers!

Answer by mustu

mustu — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:53:52 -0400

Google OS (gOS) has been praised for being the most beautiful and easiest to use Linux operating system for Netbook on the market.

http://www.thinkgos.com/

System Requirements

Bare Minimum 300 MHz x86 processor 64 MB RAM At least 4 GB of disk space (for full installation and swap space) VGA graphics card capable of 640x480 resolution CD-ROM drive or network card

Recommended 700 MHz x86 processor 384 MB RAM 8 GB of disk space Graphics card capable of 1024x768 resolution Sound card.

Answer by BaldGuyKen

BaldGuyKen — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:53:57 -0400

PuppyLinux 4.x runs well on my ASUS 901. It loads entirely into RAM, so it's fast and prolongs the life of SSD's, as it generally only writes on shutdown. HTH.

Answer by Emmanuel

Emmanuel — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:51:15 -0400

There is also the Kubuntu Nebook remix if you're into KDE.

Answer by Derulz

Derulz — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 03:33:43 -0400

According to my Experience The best OS currenly out theire is Ubuntu Netbok Remix with Following justifications

As Netbook is a gaining market , you don't get all the options/Softwares for every platform (But if its in Linux, it will be there for Ubuntu :D)
UNR is not only a selection of software's and Customized GUI's. It has been specifically optimized to Atom processors by collaboration with the Intel developers (Which Others don't have)
GUI is always great as always
The softwares get updated everyday
Its one of the most looked after Netbook OS from a Large community/Backend
Still not very popular hardware can be worked out as ubuntu is a most helped out distro from the community

NOTE: If you are on for a Totally different challenge, go for Moblin , Its more Great than UNR as its only been developed for atom processors , and the Backend is mighty Fedora.(My Fav) :)

Answer by jramirez

jramirez — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 02:30:24 -0400

jolicloud seems to me like the best OS for a netbook is based on ubuntu so you get all the software that you could get with ubuntu.

Answer by mario

mario — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 02:00:34 -0400

... maybe even one with builtin BTRFS and COMPRESSION support? (You know, for netbooks with small flash disks, and because it would be speedier.)

Answer by Web31337

Web31337 — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 01:32:33 -0400