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January 28, 2011
Ubuntu: Netbook
My Dell Mini 9 was having problems with the browser, updates and was still using the pre-built OS from Dell.
Time to upgrade.
Which version of Ubuntu should I try?
I only have an 8GB solid-state drive ...
Ubuntu.com ... downloads....
Wait! Ubuntu Netbook ?? Cute, cute and OK. Let's give it a whirl...
So you download the .ISO (it's only 700 MB...)
You use a third-party app to set it up on a flash drive.
You install, and voila!
OK, so it's not QUITE as fast as I'd hoped... for a NetBook edition. It still came with a bunch of stuff I don't want (Evolution email, social networking, etc...) but I scanned a few forums to figure out how to get rid of those.
The hardest thing was getting my wireless to work. The drivers did not install, but did detect "from a third-party", but the 18 times I tried to install them they just gave an error. So I looked up the error, and tried and tried and tried and cleared and refreshed and all kinds of stuff.
About 15 minutes later after my 7th reboot, they magically install, so all is well there...
The left-bar allows you to "pin" apps (or remove them) to it. It's similar to the Mac/Win7 docking.
Utilities were a bit challenging to find at first, but that went OK. I got skype installed and tested my webcam and mic. Boot time is about 18seconds (from button to desktop). Mostly that's solid state, but I love it.
The button in the upper-left hand corner is odd. It takes you to an app-grouping screen that seems useful, but most of the time just confuses me...
I gotta play with it more, but so far I'm pretty happy. Performance seems to be slightly better after removing the extra apps and turning off the "startup programs".
I wish I had more time to really push it, hook it up to my 28" HDMI monitor, etc...
That will come with time. At this point Skype, "office", terminal and wireless all work.
Posted by ellism at January 28, 2011 8:34 AM