Netbook OS

[jonathan miramontes]

Hey guys, 

I just got my wife a new netbook (a dell 1012) It came with windows 7 starter, which of course sucked. She wants windows xp, since that is what she is familiar with, but since I won't be picking up an external CD-rom drive till later today, I took the time to install ubuntu 11.10. It works fine, but I want some input on some possible faster, or less resource hungry distro. If I can get her a version that is wife-friendly (easy to use) and does what she needs (internet, office work, and photo viewing) she may make the switch to linux. Thanks for the input.

[Zach]

I like Ubuntu but I dislike Unity a lot. I'd recommend Xubuntu with the XFCE desktop environment or Lubuntu with the LXDE window manager. Both are lightweight and LXDE has a UI and feel more akin to Windows. I run Xubuntu on my Atom net-top and on my Core 2 Duo laptop and the net-top runs just as smooth as the laptop when it comes to regular desktop apps.

On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 12:49 PM, jonathan miramontes <jonm...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey guys, 

I just got my wife a new netbook (a dell 1012) It came with windows 7 starter, which of course sucked. She wants windows xp, since that is what she is familiar with, but since I won't be picking up an external CD-rom drive till later today, I took the time to install ubuntu 11.10. It works fine, but I want some input on some possible faster, or less resource hungry distro. If I can get her a version that is wife-friendly (easy to use) and does what she needs (internet, office work, and photo viewing) she may make the switch to linux. Thanks for the input.

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[Dave Rush]

Zach:  I've used XFCE, and it's definitely fast. LXDE is also supposed to be fast, true.

Jonathan:  I don't know that looking into another distro is what you really want. (Allow me to recommend an article on understanding the real problem and not solving the wrong ones: http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/the-wrong-problem/ )
The reason I say this is because you can tune Ubuntu according to your needs, while retaining the benefits of keeping the mainstream distro. Believe me, She isn't going to enjoy Slackware, Gentoo, or SuSE any more than Ubuntu.

So, what is it that's wrong/slow?  Also, get us the specs on the machine so we have some context for this.

-Rush

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[jonathan miramontes]

It's an atom 1.67, 1 GB ram, but we will be macing the system out at 2GB soon. 512 cache. I know I can tweak any existing system, but with my lack of programming or terminal knowledge, I was looking for one to install. The machine works fine with 11.10, but I really wanted my wife to be impressed with a faster speed in opening windows and programs. Eventually we may put in a small SSD, so that may be a moot point. I just wanted some input.

[Allen Lowe]

Elementary os Jupiter, problem solved

[Dave Rush]

What vid card? 945?

If it's just windows opening and crap like that you want to speed up, disable the fancy 3D UI effects.

Allen, can he switch to 2D Unity on stock 11.10?  I don't remember.

Even if you have to go install a PPA and switch default desktop environment to 2D, that ought to help with the UI's snappiness on an Atom.

On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 4:16 PM, Allen Lowe <lalle...@gmail.com> wrote:

Elementary os Jupiter, problem solved

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[Zach]

Dave: By default Ubuntu gives the option of accelerated Unity or 2D Unity. He can also install Ubuntu Tweak which he can find here:

http://ubuntu-tweak.com/

[Dave Rush]

That's what I thought, but wasn't sure.

Good point on UT, that might help.

[Allen Lowe]

Why is no one acknowledging elementary os Jupiter?

[Chris Andrist]

I really like Ubuntu Netbook Remix. I used it on my Netbook and really liked it.

Have you considered installing android on your Netbook?

Allen,

Is elementary os jupiter optimized for a 7-10" screen?

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Chris Andrist

[Allen Lowe]

It is, it is the OS that I develop

[Zach]

To my understanding, Jupiter was just an Ubuntu based distro that came skinned with the Elementary theme by default.

[Allen Lowe]

well, your understanding couldn't possibly be further from the truth.
I am in the Elementary council, and I wrote Dexter and Contractor

[Zach]

Lol. As I wrote my response I opened the Jupiter site. Now I realize I should grab the ISO and give it a try. I'll admit it looks nice. Is it using Gnome 2.x or Xfce?

[Allen Lowe]

gnome 2 for the most part

[Dave Rush]

I thought I had responded to your suggestion, apparently I hadn't.

I am unfamiliar with the details of elementary, but as a rule, I hesitate to put someone new to Linux onto a non-mainstream/beta/non-feature-complete platform unless I've used it enough to know its quirks. If Jon has used it enough to feel comfortable with the WAF it provides, then cool.

I've just been burned by doing that before. Even a bad md5sum iso can room the whole experience for the right person.

Coughmydadcough

[Dave Rush]

I don't mean that elementary is beta, I mean it's new to me.

[Michael Holley]

Jonathan,

You want the easiest distro (wife-friendly) I would probably recommend Mint (Ubuntu based). *Sorry Allen, I haven't played enough with Jupiter to know how push button it is.* If you want the lightest distro, XFCE or the like. Here is the problem: To get a distro light out of the gates means a lot has to be sacrificed in the name of speed, ease of use is usually one of them. To make things easy means more applications are needed, hence not light.

So the question is, where is the ease of use vs speed balance? I'm probably not the best candidate to create an ease vs speed time line with distros lined up on it. So I'll say this, my first reaction is stay near mainstream distros, Ubuntu/Kubuntu for support reasons, then move to community distros Lubuntu/Jupiter/Mint. Setup a VM with a couple of different choices, and see which one she likes for getting around, then see if it's responsive on the actual Netbook.

One last thought, if XP will be responsive on that machine, Linux, regardless of distro, will probably be more responsive.

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[Dave Rush]

Agreed on the XP point.

[Allen Lowe]

Jupiter is extremely fast and fully featured and totally push button, he ought to give it a try

[Allen Lowe]

We did tons of great work to speed up Jupiter

[Dave Rush]

Sweet, sounds like a winner.

[Kyle Winkler]

Don't try the latest Lubuntu.  I tried it, and it made Fedora seem stable.  Ugh.  If you want a fast, stable desktop, try Mint 11 LXDE edition.  I have it running on my dad's computer, and it works great.

[jonm...@gmail.com]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the input. I have downloaded all of those distros to try out. Allen, I tried out yours, works well, looks good. My wife actually got used to ubuntu pretty quickly. She originally liked the look of lubuntu, but everything worked with ubuntu better right off the bat. 

I ended up dual booting with xp, for the sake of compatibility with her work. But a proud moment came when I logged on to xp to run some updates, and later I see my wife using the laptop and she had restarted purposely into ubuntu because she liked it better. We have a new fan.

[Dave Rush]

Did you figure out the performance issues?

[jonm...@gmail.com]

There were no real performance issues, I just wanted to make sure it hit that balance Michael talked about; between ease of use/features and small footprint. Ends up this was fast enough.

[Dave Rush]

Try 2D mode if the interface gets laggy.