Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix REVIEW – Mixed Impressions

I’ve always been a huge fan of Ubuntu due to their ease of use and virus-free environment. When we came to know that the Canonical has unveiled a special netbook edition specially tailored for the netbooks, I could not stop myself installing the it on my EEE.

Installation

The installation was pretty much seamless.

  • First download the image file from the ubuntu’s servers
  • Download Disk Imager from here
  • Use the Disk Imager to ‘write’ the image file to your flash drive (should be atleast 1GB)

One much required improvement over the previous installations was the fact that the dialog boxes and windows were fully visible. You no longer have to do the ‘ctrl+f7’ key combo to move the windows around just to click on ‘Proceed’.

One thing to note is that although Ubuntu suggests that you install netbook edition on an Atom processor, but the installation also worked fine on an EEE 701 running Celeron processor.

Boot Time

Since the video speaks (and show) more than pictures and words, here is the video of EEE 1000HE booting the Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix. It takes just 24 seconds to fully boot up. Earlier versionns like Ubuntu 8.10 used to take nearly 1 minute to fully boot up.


Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Edition booting on an EEE 1000HE from Taran DS on Vimeo.

Web Experience

Since it is called netbook edition, it should provide great web experience to the user, right? Ubuntu 9.04 comes with the excellent Firefox browser. The browsing speeds have improved by miles when compared to previous versions.

But, flash player has not been included! What were the folks at ubuntu thinking? Flash is widely used everywhere on web. You will see ‘install missing plugins’ bar on the top of the webpage, which uses flash anywhere in the website. Clicking that bar will display the list of  plugins required to play flash. I tried all of them and firefox was unable to install any of them. This called for manual installation, something which would be little difficult for the normal user.

How can it say "installed" when it was not able to find the plugin?
How can it say "installed" when it was not able to find the plugin?

Anyway, these are the steps to install flash player:

  • Go to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
  • Save it to Desktop
  • Click on the ‘deb’ file to start the installation
  • Restart the browser and the flash should now work fine

For Instant Messaging, it comes with rock solid application called Pidgin, which supports a wide variety of IM services.

Applications

The Ubuntu 9.04 Nebtook Remix comes with an array of applications. Here is the screenshot of the netbook remix launcher.

It also comes with Openoffice suit and I did notice that it opened more quickly than the previous versions, which is nice to hear.

So, how much space does it takes?

It takes nearly 2GB. It should easily fit in an EEE 701 and you will still have ~1.8GB space for applications.

What was annoying?

Other than the lack of flash support, there were few other annoying problems too. The speaker volume was set half way. I spent nearly an hour figuring out what could be the reason about such low sound volume. Later on, I saw that you must click on small speaker icon and then adjust the volume from there. See the following screenshot:

After that, I wanted to try out its multimedia capabilities. The movie player application started and alerted me that there are no MP3 codecs. How could folks at ubuntu forget to bundle the MP3 codec? Anyway, the problem was quickly resolved as it itself prompted me to download the codecs.

Pros:

  • It is FREE
  • FREE support
  • Boots faster
  • Apps launch faster
  • Basic apps like web browser, email-client and office suit already bundled
  • Easily download hundreds of apps via package manager

Cons:

  • No codecs in movie player to play even basic stuff like MP3

[Download Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix]

update from folks at Ubuntu:

We cannot ship codecs as they cost money. You can but them in the Canonical store. We cannot ship Flash as it is not open source software. You can choose to install it from the repos or go to Adobe. We did not overlook these items.

India buys 250,000 OLPCs

Couple of months back, we reviewed the Nova Navigator, touted as “India’s $100 PC.” But, it was a nettop and not a laptop or a netbook. As a result of that, Indian Government has decided to purchase 250,000 XO OLPCs. These machines will be distributed in nearly 1500 schools throughout the country.

OLPC launched a pivot program in India in the year 2007, where the OLPC gave away 20 XO in the Khairat-Dhangarwada village in the state of Maharashtra (India).

OLPC is an organization which sells low cost laptops to the governments of developing countries.

The XO laptop by OLPC does not come with any fan inside. However, it is dirt and moisture resistant which makes it ideal for use in dirty environments.

[via arstechnia]

Skytone netbook to cost $250

Remember the Skytone netbook that we mentioned a couple of days back? Some more details are come up about this Android-netbook. The netbook will be named Alpha 680 and will cost $250. It will run on an ARM processor and will weigh just 1.5 pounds which is even less than the EEE 701.

It uses the same chip that is being used in the iPhone too, the ARM 11. The skytone netbook is set to debut in month August or September this year.

Don’t you think that $250 is too much for the Android netbook? By spending a few more dollars, one can buy an Atom-powered netbook. But, the biggest asset that the Android-netbooks will have over the Atom powered netbooks will be better battery life.

Only time will tell, if the consumers will adopt netbooks running Android OS.

[via venturebeat]

Asus Eee PC 1002H now in available Australia

The new Asus Eee PC 1002H netbook is now in stores in Australia. The 10-inch widescreen model is similar to the 1002HA. However, it features a chiclet keyboard and an Intel Atom N280 processor. Thus, supporting a battery life of about 4 to 6 hours. It is coming with a price tag of 769 – 879 AUD.

Taran reviewed the EEE 1000HE a couple of weeks back and he was not so much pleased with the chiclet keyboard. I’m yet to try one of these though.

HP Mini 1000 now with more storage options

HP have updated the storage options available for the HP Mini 1000 Series. It is now possible to get the netbook with SSD memory with either 16GB capacity or 32GB capacity, whereas the hard drive capacity has been upgraded to 80GB, which is quite minimal for most netbooks. Its other customizable options include 512MB or 1GB of RAM, 8.9 or 10.1 inch display and a choice between 3-cell and 6-cell battery.

[via EeePC]

Samsung launches 3G netbook N310 in Korea

Samsung launches its stylish, premium, international design award-winner netbook- the N310 in Korea. It features a curved-design finish without LCD display frame. Its specifications are:

  • 10.1 inch LCD screen
  • Intel Atom processor
  • 1GB RAM
  • 160GB HDD
  • Wifi, HSDPA and WiBRO
  • 1.3 MP webcam
  • 3 USB ports
  • 3-in-1 memory card reader
  • Battery life of 5 hours

The Samsung N310 weighs about 1.23kg and is available in Turkey blue and Red orange colors in Korea at a suggested price between 900,000 (KRW) and 1,000,000 (KRW) or $620 to $690.

[via Aving USA]

Meet the Most Expensive Netbook: (adorned) Acer Aspire One?

If you thought that the SONY VAIO P netbook was expensive (and over-hyped), then see this! A guy called fukuyuki is selling an Acer Aspire One for $3000. It has been painted by a famous Japanese artist, UFO-Hayashi who has painted on several iPods, phones and PCs.

UFO-Hayashi is one of the most famous Japanese gadget artist, He paints on iPods, phones, PC and any other digital gadgets by using Japanese traditional Zen painting called “kyo-yu-zen” which has more than 1300 years history. His products are often used as props in Japanese domestic dramas .

This unique Aspire One is available on Ebay HERE

credit: Chester via news submission form

ARM netbook coming to AT&T

AT&T is soon going to offer ARM based netbooks running Linux OS. Glen Lurie, President of emerging devices for AT&T says,

“There are a lot of people who will dive in and build netbooks, including folks like cellular or wireless OEMs who never built a computer before. There will be a lot of innovation around what a netbook looks like and what the use cases are, and we will see this evolve very quickly,”

He thinks that the ARM based netbooks would do just fine as people are doing their work via Cloud-based applications and thus do not need a lot of horsepower in their netbooks. He also showed keen interest in the MIDs, which he refers to as “smartphones on steroids.”

AT&T is already selling four subsidized netbooks: Acer Aspire One, Dell Mini 9, Dell Mini 12 and LG X110.

PS: Lurie also manages AT&T’s relationship with Apple to sell the iPhone in the U.S.

[via eetimes and netbookchoice]

Kohjinsha introduces MT netbook with built-in Express card and TV-tuner

Kohjinsha has introduced a new netbook series called MT Series. This netbook comes with the Atom N270 processor clocked at 1.6GHz, 2GB RAM and 160GB HDD, which is pretty much similar to other netbooks we have seen so far, but what sets it apart from the plethora of netbook out there is its express card slot and TV-tuner.

The MT series is now available in Japan at a price of 49,800 yen, which is about $513. I’m pretty sure by the time it reaches in other parts of world, it won’t be equipped with the TV-tuner card. The netbook comes with 3-cell battery. The 6-cell battery is also there if you need more juice. There are 2 USB 2.0 ports and a multi-card reader.