netbook - is xubuntu the best option?

Tom Dunne

I'm installing Linux on a netbook for my travels next week and was wondering if there is anything other than Xubuntu I should look at? I need it for web access and office/dropbox. I've tried Xubuntu on a live USB stick and it works fine.

So I am just wondering before I commit it to the hard drive, is there any other flavour I should consider?

I actually tried Meego and loved it, very quirky, such a shame they stopped development. Also gave Jolicloud a run, but am concerned at the need for a net connection every time I use it.

GreenWolfe

Did you give Lubuntu a try? I use it on my own netbook and I'm happy with it.

sunbeam

I use Lubuntu on my netbook as well. It is a little less customizable than Xubuntu, but lighter on system resources.

Supermensch

+1 for Lubuntu. Runs quite happily on 256mb of ram, and has all the features you'd want from a laptop.

niallb

I liked Jolicloud a lot.
If you're taking another look at it, check out the option on the Apps page to install Local Apps. All the usual suspects like openoffice etc are available.
I herd quite a number of old netbooks, so I've tried a lot of options.
I've android on my old EEE 701 which is great, but not ideal for Office stuff.
I've also got an EEE 900 which is running Ubuntu 12.04 very happily.
Acer Aspire One ZG5 running ChromeOS from Hexxeh

Tom Dunne

Thanks all for the recommendation.

niallb wrote: »

I liked Jolicloud a lot.
If you're taking another look at it, check out the option on the Apps page to install Local Apps. All the usual suspects like openoffice etc are available

Hmmm, might give it a second look. It does look slick and appears to have minimal hardware requirements.

puffishoes

I would tend to just go for a minimal install of debian with a light window manger if you need one like xfce.

It's going to be more "mature" and stable than any of the *buntu's. a very small footprint and will run really well on a netbook.

Defiler Of The Coffin

My 2-year old Netbook with Windows 7 has been starting to get slower in recent times, time to give Lubuntu by the looks of things!

Supermensch

Defiler Of The Coffin wrote: »

My 2-year old Netbook with Windows 7 has been starting to get slower in recent times, time to give Lubuntu by the looks of things!

If it was running Windows 7 you could probably install something more fully featured. What are the computer's specs?

Defiler Of The Coffin

Supermensch wrote: »

If it was running Windows 7 you could probably install something more fully featured. What are the computer's specs?

Intel Atom N450
2GB RAM

I could probably optimise Windows a bit but I wouldn't mind giving Linux a go, any thoughts?

musiknonstop

I use openSUSE 12.1 with GNOME 3 desktop on my atom powered netbook with 2GB of ram. It runs fine for basic use.

Supermensch

Ubuntu should run well on that.

http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu

You should run it off of a usb stick, try it out and see what you think. Ubuntu is a very nice distribution, great if you plan on using the computer for normal tasks, like Web browsing, word, etc, though not the best choice if you're installing Linux specifically to learn more about the operating system.

Defiler Of The Coffin

Supermensch wrote: »

Ubuntu should run well on that.

http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu

You should run it off of a usb stick, try it out and see what you think. Ubuntu is a very nice distribution, great if you plan on using the computer for normal tasks, like Web browsing, word, etc, though not the best choice if you're installing Linux specifically to learn more about the operating system.

Thanks! I may have come across as a noob in my previous post but I actually use Red Hat 5 at work for development. Linux itself is no problem for me but I was just wondering what people's experiences with different flavours on low-powered devices is.

I'm typing this now inside Lubuntu which I'm running off a USB-stick, have to say I'm impressed so far with its performance however the graphics aren't as sharp as they could be, I wonder are Intel any good for their display drivers in Linux?

Tom Dunne

I'm into week 2 of using lubuntu on my netbook and I have to be honest, it isn't as nippy as I though it might be.

However, I think it may be because I chose to encrypt the home partition (just in case the netbook is stolen).

And reading Excel spreadsheets on a 9" screen is an absolute pain in the behind.

Khannie

It should still be reasonably nippy. Is it a mechanical hard drive or an SSD?

On a very small screen it's useful to have a keyboard shortcut for fullscreening an app. Perfect for a spreadsheet where you're going to be looking at it for a while. Should be available under the system preferences somewhere.

human 19

Defiler Of The Coffin wrote: »

Intel Atom N450
2GB RAM

I could probably optimise Windows a bit but I wouldn't mind giving Linux a go, any thoughts?

With those specs, I would suggest first trying some KDE disk you might have around. If that works okay, then the linux world is your oyster!

Tom Dunne

Khannie wrote: »

It should still be reasonably nippy. Is it a mechanical hard drive or an SSD?

It's mechanical.

The other factor might be that I have never really used a netbook before, I'm only using it because I am travelling. So maybe my expectations need readjusting. Oh, if only my MacBook Pro wasn't so friggin' heavy.

Setun

Somebody mentioned a minimal Debian install - it's not a bad choice if you really need to make economical use of limited system resources, and if you're not afraid to tinker a little bit. You could download the debian netinstall, and when installing the OS you could either just go with Gnome 2 as a window manager in the install options, or just install the base system, install X and go for something much more minimal such as openbox, xfce or evilwm if you're feeling raunchy The downside to the latter option is that you have to sort out all your own utilities independently (such as network manager, keyrings, power managers etc), but you will have a system that only uses exactly what you need at any given moment. Gnome 2 isn't too bad for 'bloatedness' though so it would probably run fine on a reasonable netbook.

Khannie

The atom is just not great. I've been using one the last few days to try and do a bit of work and I have been disappointed.

You could consider using the first partition on the drive for the OS and making it as small as possible. This is called "short stroking" (ooh matron!) and reduces the seek times. I've done this myself and it does make a noticeable difference, especially on 2.5" drives where access times aren't great in the first place.

humbert

Tom Dunne wrote: »

However, I think it may be because I chose to encrypt the home partition (just in case the netbook is stolen).

My understanding is that the processing overhead due to encryption makes a negligible difference because disk access time is still vastly greater.

rollie

OP, what did you decide in the end? I'm also about to take posession of a new net book and was also thinking of using a linux os so I'm watching this thread closely.

If you had any feedback from your experiences it would be great.

Cheers

LiamOSullivan

rollie wrote: »

OP, what did you decide in the end? I'm also about to take posession of a new net book and was also thinking of using a linux os so I'm watching this thread closely.

If you had any feedback from your experiences it would be great.

Cheers

For the sake of it, I'll chip in here.

Two months ago or so, I got a Packard Bell dot-s (Atom n570, 1G RAM) and I've been through quite a number of linux distros on it.

Full Ubuntu works quite well, but it's definitely sluggish. I work with terminals almost entirely, so I didn't notice it too much, but if I opened Nautilus(file manager) it'd take about four seconds before it opened. I won't even talk about how long it takes to open firefox. If what you'll be doing is facebooking and you want a nice looking desktop, Ubuntu might be worth it. If you want to get stuff done, I'd go for something lighter.

Xubuntu works quite a bit smoother than Ubuntu, but XFCE feels... It feels a bit like the dashboard of a cheap car. I used Xubuntu for quite a while, and I really wanted to like it, but I'm not going back to it if I can help it.

Lubuntu suffers from the same problem as Xubuntu in feeling a bit patched together, but when you're used to it, I find you can do a lot more with LXDE to make it feel solid, and it allows quite a lot as far as customisation goes, if you like to get your hands dirty. It's also quite a lot more nippy, I find.
I'm currently using Lubuntu on my laptop which has decent specs, just because I like having one computer running an ubuntu based distro(Simple to maintain), and I dislike the Unity interface.

Bodhi Linux was very nice on my netbook. It booted fairly quickly, and E17 is very nifty, but a bit alien at first. It is based on Ubuntu 10.04 though, so it's two years outdated; I think they're bringing out a new release soon though, so if you like your computer to look reeeeally cool, consider this. I'd highly recommend it, since it is fairly light, pretty robust, and has a great community behind it.

I've had some other distros, but those would be the best of them for somebody relatively new to Linux, and on a netbook, Bodhi Linux or Lubuntu would be my recommendation. You could also look into Linux Mint; I've never actually used it, but a lot of people seem to like it.

Currently, I'm using Gentoo Linux with i3 as my window manager on my netbook, but unless you really want to get your hands filthy in Linux, stay clear of Gentoo.

rollie

Thank you very much sir, you are a gent

Stuxnet

mint 13 xfce was released yesterday, they have a brilliant implementation of the xfce desktop, worth a look, xubuntu is dog ugly

Defiler Of The Coffin

Defiler Of The Coffin wrote: »

I'm typing this now inside Lubuntu which I'm running off a USB-stick, have to say I'm impressed so far with its performance however the graphics aren't as sharp as they could be, I wonder are Intel any good for their display drivers in Linux?

Having installed Lubuntu on my netbook and used it for a week I've since uninstalled it and gone back to Windows 7. Why? First and foremost some webpages (most notably Facebook) refused to load withhin any browser. Some websites were patchy as well, some pages would load while others wouldn't. Also some of the programs I need for work (Juniper VPN client) weren't availabile for Linux or were just too hacky to get working. Also the taskbar felt very outdated and cluttered compared to Windows 7's (which is the best taskbar I've ever used). The graphics weren't as sharp either.

That being said the netbook I am using (MSI u130) isn't great and has given problems on Windows before but for me changing over was just too much hassle and not worth the time involved to get everything working the way I want.

Snowbat

Defiler Of The Coffin wrote: »

I actually use Red Hat 5 at work

I strongly suspect you use Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. Some of us were around for Red Hat Linux 5.0. I started on 4.1 {Vanderbilt). FVWM95 FTW.

4.1 (Vanderbilt), February 3, 1997 (Linux 2.0.27)
4.2 (Biltmore), May 19, 1997 (Linux 2.0.30-2)
5.0 (Hurricane), December 1, 1997 (Linux 2.0.32-2)
5.1 (Manhattan), May 22, 1998 (Linux 2.0.34-0.6)
5.2 (Apollo), November 2, 1998 (Linux 2.0.36-0.7)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Linux#Version_history

Khannie

Snowbat wrote: »

FVWM95 FTW.

Probably the ugliest WM in the history of the universe. *barf*

AnCatDubh

Wasn't there a Ubuntu netbook remix or did that go to the wind. Nearly sure I have that installed on one.