Jonathan's blog

For some time now I’ve been running Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix on my EeePC 901. I’ve been very impressed with it.

Today I was prompted to upgrade to the new version, 9.10. On my connection at work (via Janet) the upgrade didn’t take long at all…

Upgrade Screenshot

After 9 minutes of frenzied downloading, the upgrade itself took around an hour and a half. Afterwards, I rebooted. I like what they’ve done with the UI!

Ubuntu Screenshot

The roll-over animations make it look and feel nice and polished to use. They’ve also paid close attention to certain aspects of the interface, such as the package manager. It’s a breeze to configure the system.

One notable new addition is Ubuntu One, a free cloud storage service. I have no need for it, as I have my own server, but it’s a handy feature for most people.

Most of the stuff is the same old. Most things work the same as they used to, so it takes no time at all to find your way around the new version.

Well done Ubuntu!

I came across this article today, which asks the question “When does a netbook stop being a netbook?”.

I have thought about this question in the past, and so I read the article with interest. I was one of the early adopters of the Asus EeePC 701, which was truly a “netbook”, in the original meaning of the word. Its 7″ screen was so small and its processing power was so feeble that it was most definitely a class apart from “normal” computers. It wasn’t really capable of running a “normal” OS, such as Windows XP or Vista, and running a customised Linux distribution immediately set it apart from other computers.

More recently, netbooks have been getting more powerful, thanks to technology such as Intel’s Atom CPU. Screen size has also been creeping up, to the point where it is an acceptable experience to run Windows without any modifications. For example, the EeePC Seashell.

Does this mean these new-generation netbooks are no longer netbooks but simply small laptops?

Traditionally, laptops were slightly more expensive than desktops, and ultra-small laptops (such as the Toshiba Portégé range) were significantly more expensive. The EeePC broke from this tradition by being small and cheap, which is what made it revolutionary.

You couldn’t do everything on a netbook, but you could do the most common tasks everywhere – such as access to websites and email.

Wikipedia defines netbook as:

A netbook is a small portable laptop computer designed for wireless communication and access to the Internet.

This is pretty much what the original EeePCs were all about. I bought mine to carry around Bristol for my job, and to have easy access to an ssh terminal on the move. It was perfect – it was light and had a decent battery life. I didn’t care that it had a rubber-band CPU, because you don’t need any power to ssh to other hosts.

So what of the latest netbooks with their 10″ screens, dual-core CPUs and full-blown Windows installations? I think this brings them more in line with other laptops. Of course this is neither good nor bad; it depends entirely on the needs of the user. But the most important factors for me are size, weight and battery life. My EeePC 901 is a killer combination – it’s perfect for what I do.

The only reason I upgraded from the 701 is because I wanted the extra storage space for Fedora. I now run Ubuntu Netbook Remix, which will happily fit into 4GB, though.

The other features described in the article, such as fingerprint readers, also increase the cost and weight and reduce the battery life of the newer netbooks. I would personally go without for all the reasons I’ve already mentioned. Like the author of the article, I’d like to see a distinction between netbooks and ultra-compact laptops.

Netbook = cut-down computer built for portability and long battery life. Good for basic tasks; low price.

Ultra-compact laptop = Fully specced laptop, shrunk down into a tiny case. Loads of power for all the things you might want to do, and a price tag to match.

This evening, my other half’s Eee 701 broke.

Whenever she turned it on, the green power LED and blue wireless LED came on, stayed on, and nothing else happened. The screen backlight didn’t come on, no power was supplied to the USB ports and the fan did not start to spin.

I tried the usual fixes – taking the battery out, poking a paperclip in the reset button in the back. This didn’t work.

Next I reset the BIOS. To do this, you need to:

• Remove the battery and disconnect from the mains
• Remove the memory cover from the back with a small screwdriver
• Locate the BIOS contacts. Turn it so the memory chip is at the bottom, and look at the top half (the bit that isn’t covered by the memory chip). The contacts are in the bottom-left corner of this, and they are small copper triangles. I’ve circled them in red in this picture.


The BIOS contacts

• You need to short-circuit the two small triangular copper contacts with a screwdriver for a second or two.
• Replace the memory cover and battery, and turn the Eee on again.
• For me, this worked and it booted normally. Your mileage may vary!

For those of you who read my earlier post, Ubuntu Netbook Remix on an EeePC 701, you’ll know that I installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) on my other half’s EeePC 701. The clue is very much in the name.

Initially I was sceptical of using it myself. I’m a Red Hat / CentOS / Fedora fan. All my home machines are Fedora; my work PC is Fedora and all the servers I look after are CentOS. My own EeePC 901 was, until yesterday, running Fedora too. I had no real gripes about Fedora on my 901, except the boot time, which was acceptable but slightly slow.

But after seeing how well thought-out UNR is, I was tempted to give it a shot. Despite being a Red Hat fan, I eventually decided that I didn’t actually use my 901 for anything Red Hat specific – basically I use it as a web browser, email client, MSN/AIM client and ssh terminal. So I’m not tied to any particular OS at all.

Installation from a Live USB was a breeze. My 901 has a so-called 20GB SSD, which is actually a 4GB SSD and a 16GB SSD. I’ve also added a 16GB SDHC card. In the end I set up my partitioning like:

• 4GB SSD: /var
• 16GB SSD: /boot, /

• 16GB SDHC: /home

In short, this gives me 16GB for the OS, and 16GB for my stuff. This is a pretty healthy amount for a netbook, and more than I’m likely to use in a hurry.

So what are my first thoughts on this Debian-based OS that I’m supposed to hate?

Well, it’s pretty good. The first thing I notice is how polished everything is. The login screen, the custom menu, the theme… UNR looks like a saleable OS. The UNR custom menu looks smart and is easy to use on a netbook screen – 9″ in my case, and 7″ in Hana’s.

I was able to configure my installation the way I like it without using a terminal. Of course, the terminal is there if I want it but I think this distro marks a new era – a Linux distribution that can be installed, configured and used without the user having to use the terminal. I’ve already said that my non-geek girlfriend Hana is using UNR and finds it great. I’d also be happy to recommend it to other non-technical users.

Well done Ubuntu!

This morning I tried Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) for the first time. My first impression was that it’s very polished and usable by non-geeks.

I’m not an Ubuntu user myself; I use Fedora on all my machines – including my EeePC 901. But my other half, Hana, has an EeePC 701. She’s not a geek, and she just wants something that will work for her. She’s seen XP on a 701 and agreed the 7″ screen isn’t really up to scratch.

Recently we tried gOS on the 701. It’s Ubuntu based and very friendly. It’s well laid out and easy to use. Hana used it for a couple of months and got on well with it. The main problem was that wireless never quite worked properly, and using an Ethernet cable kind of spoils the point of a tiny laptop,

So this morning I swapped gOS for UNR. The installation was painless, and first boot went without hitch. The main snag I ran into on the 701 was that the animated menus made the whole system slow down. This turned out to be a bug which was easily remedied by installing two packages.

It’s early days yet – the system has only been functional for about an hour and Hana hasn’t used it yet. I’ll post again with more comments on UNR when we’ve had a chance to play with it.