Xubuntu for your Eee PC: another good OS alternative
As nice as I and my 10-year old son find the user experience on the Asus Eee PC, I'm actually enjoying Xubuntu more than the out-of-the-box Xandros build. I suspect many mainstream consumers would as well since it's quick and more Windows-like, read: less of a transition for most people. I haven't benchmarked anything but the overall system feels a little more peppy than it did with Xandros or Windows XP. At the moment, I can't use my Verizon USB727 EV-DO card, but I'll be looking into that. If I can address that issue, I'll likely keep Xubuntu on the Eee for a mobile work; if not, I'll probably go back to XP as I need my always-on connectivity.
Folks considering this change should definitely check out the eeeXubuntu Wiki page as there's a custom build of Xubuntu specifically for the Eee PC, complete with all the drivers. Plus, it's built from the latest version of Ubuntu, which is rock solid; the notable difference is that Xubuntu uses Xfce instead of GNOME for the desktop environment.
>>>I can't use my Verizon USB727 EV-DO card
What's the battery drain like with that?
And I think you need to do a vid to show this different Linux flavor.
Posted by: Mike Cane | March 04, 2008 at 01:56 PM
There's no battery drain... it doesn't yet work with the Eee running Xubuntu. ;)
As far as a video: after five days with the Flu, my eyelids, teeth and hair have finally stopped hurting. Not enough to do any videos for now. Folks interested in Xubuntu will have to download a Live CD of it until I mend.
Posted by: Kevin C. Tofel | March 04, 2008 at 02:12 PM
I'm testing one now and so far it's neat little device.
Do you know which distro's work with the Novatel modems?
I found this for the Xandros but since it requires rebuilding the kernel, I'm passing since it's not my machine.
http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=120277
Posted by: Rodfather | March 04, 2008 at 03:05 PM
My experiences with Ubuntu 7.10, Kubuntu 7.10 and Xubuntu 7.10 Haven't been so rosy. I was tempted to put Linux on a couple of old laptops to breathe new life into them, having found Xandros on the eeePC (my first Linux experience) quite good.
With U 7.10, K 7.10 and X 7.10, on each laptop I've had shut down problems. Sometimes it takes ages to shut down. Some times it even starts to re-boot. A look at the Ubuntu conferences shows that these are quite common problems with laptops. Reverting to earlier versions solved this, but then the wifi didn't work properly.
With Xubuntu 7.10, when I went to Add/Remove programs (which is similar to the one on eeePC - that is, it loads from an online repository), I was told that some of my installed software was out of date. When I tried to update it from the default Xububntu repository I was told that that the updating process would not operate with my computer (a Samsung VM700 in one case, and a Compaq Armada m300 in the other).
No doubt I can hunt around for other repositories, but this is all starting to look like hard work. Xubuntu is supposed to be ideal for old, modestly specified machines, as I understand it.
The irony is that both machines run Windows XP perfectly adequately.
Posted by: AllanCJ | March 04, 2008 at 03:36 PM
>>>There's no battery drain... it doesn't yet work with the Eee running Xubuntu. ;)
Duh. Did you use it with the orig or with XP?
>>>As far as a video: after five days with the Flu, my eyelids, teeth and hair have finally stopped hurting. Not enough to do any videos for now. Folks interested in Xubuntu will have to download a Live CD of it until I mend.
That's it. Use your near-deathness as an excuse. You're such a fiend!
Posted by: Mike Cane | March 04, 2008 at 03:43 PM
Rodfather, I just got the USB727 working with Xubuntu; watch for a post.
AllanCJ, that's a shame. So far, I've found the distro to work very well, but then again, I'm using one that's got some customization for the hardware I'm using. Probably only drivers, but still...
Mike, sorry but I couldn't resist. Yes, I've used 3G modems with the Eee before this. I've never monitored the battery drain impact; my suspicion is that it's slightly more than using the unit with WiFi on.
Posted by: Kevin C. Tofel | March 04, 2008 at 04:22 PM
Yes, a nicer interface but...
No open office, no skype, no DviX! = hours of pain!
Now that I've installed this and removed half of my eee's functionality do ou have any suggestions about how I fix all this problems? Maybe the DivX/Xvid problem?
Posted by: Damien | March 07, 2008 at 07:39 AM
Damien. Open Office and Skype are available for download so they're easy to get back. I recommend installing VLC for DviX support: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Posted by: Kevin C. Tofel | March 07, 2008 at 08:09 AM