Thanks to madaeradog for noting in the comments to my Ubuntu on the Asus Eee PC: Part 1 (or How to run a functional Ubuntu install off a USB drive) post that the new version of Ubuntu comes in a Netbook Remix flavor that runs nicely on various netbooks without tweaking. Included in the list of popular compatible models is my old Asus Eee PC, although there are some known issues:
This netbook basically works, but most of the problems with it center around the fact that it has a very small screen with a default resolution of 800×400 and many apps simply won’t scale down to that size. Known issues:
- 354681 – Totem takes more space than available on Eee 701SD
- 354681 – Rhythmbox takes more space than available on Eee 701SD
- 354687 – Evolution setup assistant takes more space than available on Eee 701SD
- 354685 – Volume hotkeys take a long time to react with Rhythmbox
- 354705 – [Jaunty] Microphone doesn’t work at all on Eee 701SD
- 354710 – Display preferences takes more space than available on a Eee 701SD
There is a workaround for the problem of oversize windows on a small screen. Holding down Alt as you press down on the trackpad (or holding down the left mouse button) allows you to grab somewhere other than the title bar and move the window up off the top of the screen to bring buttons at the bottom of the window into view.
I’ve been pretty happy running XP on my Eee as of late (and my 3G wireless card is XP compatible but not Ubuntu compatible, so there is that), but I’m still thinking about loading Jaunty Jackalope on my diminutive Eee PC now that it is supposedly such an easy task.
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I'm not sure how it will go on the 7in screen of the eeePC, but on the 10in screen of my MSI Wind, it looks really, really good. And performance is excellent – I was impressed by the performance of Windows 7 on it, but 9.04 Netbook Remix beats that out of sight.
Yeah, I'm actually leaning more towards loading it up on my HP Pavilion tx2500z Tablet PC in the place / alongside Vista instead of bothering with doing it on the Eee. Right now the Eee runs nicely on XP, and I would only really be doing this for the sake of trying it out.
CK, I loaded it onto a USB drive yesterday, it worked so well on my Acer Aspire One from the thumb drive I wiped XP and installed it as the primary OS.
Definitely a contender for Netbooks everywhere.
I'm not sure if there are different models of 701SD, but it wouldn't install on my 701SD … the release notes say you need an Intel Atom, but my 701SD has Intel Mobile / Celeron M353 chip … guess I should have checked first before downloading.