Bloated and slightly broken Ubuntu Netbook Edition - Any alternatives out there?

RadioRetro

I changed from WinXP to the above a couple of years ago on my 1Gb RAM netbook and even though the desktop extends to the right and bottom of the screen size, got on fine with it as all I use it for is browsing the net and the broswer screen is easily resized to fit the visible area.

However, it's seriously p**sing me off these days ever since an update slowed it down enormously and every time I boot a box pops up saying it didn't update correctly. I retried the update but no joy, still cranky and slow.

My question is are there any free OS alternatives available that people have experience with? I tried replacing it with Mint but the screen only showed lines on the pre-install demo so didn't bother.

Any workable suggestions gratefully received.

yoyo

Moved to Unix.

shizz

Perhaps a derivitave of ubunutu that uses a lightweight desktop? Try lubuntu or xubuntu perhaps?

bnt

One thing I find very helpful is to install a package called "debfoster", then run the command "debfoster -n". It's good at identifying "bloat", by showing which packages are holding loads of other dependent packages.

For example, you might have one or two packages that are dependent on all the KDE support libraries, even though you don't have KDE installed. Selecting the option to "prune" them selects the whole lot for uninstallation. Then "exit" applies the changes.

The point is that you can fix the problem without re-installing the whole OS. You can even ditch the whole "Unity" shell and install e.g. Xubuntu without re-installing from scratch. That's the power of Linux and the APT repository system - completely revamp the system without changing the kernel.

Torqay

RadioRetro wrote: »

My question is are there any free OS alternatives available that people have experience with? I tried replacing it with Mint but the screen only showed lines on the pre-install demo so didn't bother.

Post Gnome 3.6 Ubuntu is not cut out for low performance computers (pretty much the same goes for Mint)

Using Zenwalk 7 on my Eee PC, a real beauty and blistering fast on the old Atom CPU. Novice-friendly and plays pretty much any multimedia format out of the box.

unkel

Windows 8 runs very well on my first generation netbook (1GB RAM / 8GB SSD hard disk)

ARGINITE

unkel wrote: »

Windows 8 runs very well on my first generation netbook (1GB RAM / 8GB SSD hard disk)

Is it free?

Stuxnet

lubuntu is the shizz, runs on 256mb ram, but hell i even use it on a 4gb laptop, its great

Torqay

Does Lubuntu now come with the same Amazon ad crap as regular Ubuntu?

I think Canonical have completely lost it.

shizz

Torqay wrote: »

Does Lubuntu now come with the same Amazon ad crap as regular Ubuntu?

I think Canonical have completely lost it.

No I doubt it does.

Well if it generates a bit of revenue. I'm all for it. It can be turned off you know.

LiamOSullivan

You could try installing something like Arch or Gentoo, since they're as lightweight as you can realistically get.
Other than that, Xubuntu 12.04 or any Lubuntu would be my recomendation. It may also be worth looking at Sabayon; I've never used it, but I've heard a lot of good things.

Scruffles

RadioRetro wrote: »

I changed from WinXP to the above a couple of years ago on my 1Gb RAM netbook and even though the desktop extends to the right and bottom of the screen size, got on fine with it as all I use it for is browsing the net and the broswer screen is easily resized to fit the visible area.

However, it's seriously p**sing me off these days ever since an update slowed it down enormously and every time I boot a box pops up saying it didn't update correctly. I retried the update but no joy, still cranky and slow.

My question is are there any free OS alternatives available that people have experience with? I tried replacing it with Mint but the screen only showed lines on the pre-install demo so didn't bother.

Any workable suggestions gratefully received.

mint is a bloated lagwhore as its designed to be 'ready to run' aimed at newbies,it needs a modern decent spec to run it well.

as far as am aware they stopped making the ubuntu netbook version a long time ago and just made the regular ubuntu adapt to netbooks,so its probably that have been upgraded to a less compatible setup maybe.

not updating correctly coud be due to repository information not being updated and it is trying to download certain files from dead links but only manages to download some of the data?

if are after a distro that just works,and is very newbie friendly there are a few out there now but woud personaly recommend trying pearOS-
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=pear
it was built upon ubuntu but has been designed to look like macs OSX though it is a lot easier to navigate and also looks better anyway.:D
its got ubuntus 'app store' on there which is very newbie friendly and it works with no messing for codecs.
have got this installed as a distro on a bootable USB stick.

have just looked up the latest requirements and it still works on systems with less than a GB of memory so woud be fine in that area.

g7sxb

I got fed up with Ubuntu and the Unity interface drives me nuts. I've switched to Mint, fast, lean and no nonsense. What is it with technology companies always trying to improve on perfection. With Linux it's not even like your trying to attract new purchasers. Canonical take heed, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

shizz

g7sxb wrote: »

I got fed up with Ubuntu and the Unity interface drives me nuts. I've switched to Mint, fast, lean and no nonsense. What is it with technology companies always trying to improve on perfection. With Linux it's not even like your trying to attract new purchasers. Canonical take heed, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Well canonical are trying to attract new users. Ubuntu has a goal to meet all these new users through phones and tablets aswell as pc's. The idea of unity was to unify all three interfaces.

Most people say they hate unity but for me it has drastically increased my work rate, once the learning curve was gone.