[Tfug] Netbooks and Linux - suggestions?

[Matthew Patenaude]

On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 3:25 PM, John Gruenenfelder <johng at as.arizona.edu>wrote:

> Greetings all,
>
> I'm in the market for a netbook and would like to solicit some opinions on
> which model to purchase and which ones work well with Linux.  Specifically,
> I'll probably be installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix onto it... either that or
> regular Debian like my other machines.
>
> Fortunately, in some ways, the market has not differentiated all that much
> so
> most netbooks seem to be surprisingly similar to one another.  One key
> difference I have learned about, however, is the graphics chipset.  A few
> models use Intel's new GMA 500 chipset which, as I understand it, was not
> developed by Intel, but rather acquired by Intel.  The previous company was
> FOSS-hostile and so X support for this chip is still far from useful.  At
> least, that's my current understanding.  Is this still true?  Should I be
> avoiding GMA 500 netbooks?  I don't mind using a binary blob for the video
> driver, but I've read that the chip isn't even to *that* state of
> usefulness
> yet.
>
> So, other than that, I'm looking for a netbook with Bluetooth built-in,
> around
> 2.5 lbs. (+/- 0.5 lbs.), and with a regular HDD (most seem to come standard
> with 160 GB).  I'm not against solid state drives, but I see the big reason
> to
> have one as increased battery life, but from most of what I've read, there
> is
> very little gain in battery life when using one.  Also, 4+ hours of battery
> life would be nice.  That seems to require a 6-cell battery.
>
> Thus far, I think I've narrowed it down to either an Acer Aspire One
> AOD250:
>
>  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115573
>
> or a Samsung NC10:
>
>  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131015
>
> They're both nearly identical in specifications.  Pricing and case styling
> are
> a little different.  I've examined the Asipre models as well as I could at
> Best Buy, but it is hard to get a good impression of weight when it's
> cabled
> to the counter and often lacking a battery (and the mass that goes with
> it).
>
>
> The one truly unique computer I've run across while learning about netbooks
> is
> the Touch Book by Always Innovating:
>
>  http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/touchbook/
>
> It's a detachable netbook/tablet and gets amazing battery life (they claim
> near 10 hours).  It has batteries in both modules, the keyboard module and
> the
> display/computer module and they work in conjunction when the two pieces
> are
> put together.  The display is also a touch screen and the Touch Book is
> designed from the start to run their own Linux variant, though they say it
> should handle most any distro.
>
> There are three big caveats with this system.  First, there is very little
> storage in the machine.  The drive, such as it is, is an included 8GB SD
> card
> which you can replace with something larger.  You'd definitely want a class
> 6
> or better card for this.
>
> Second, the specs say it has 256MB of RAM plus 256MB of NAND memory.
>  That's
> really not much and I'm not sure it can be upgraded.
>
> Third, the way all these magic things happen, like super long battery life
> and
> always-on support, is because it uses a Texas Instruments OMAP 3530 CPU.
> That's an ARM chip if you were wondering.
>
> Anyway, it's quite an intriguing machine.  I really like the features,
> though
> I fear it may be just a little too slow for what I would normally want to
> do.
> Their website could use some work... the main page says the first shipments
> have gone out, but they're not very clear on how soon "soon" is when it
> comes
> to orders placed today now that there's a backlog.
>
>
> So, back to the original topic... I'd greatly appreciate any netbook wisdom
> that might be floating out their on the list.  Thanks!
>
>
> --
> --John Gruenenfelder    Systems Manager, MKS Imaging Technology, LLC.
> Try Weasel Reader for PalmOS  --  http://weaselreader.org
> "This is the most fun I've had without being drenched in the blood
> of my enemies!"
>        --Sam of Sam & Max
>
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Anything particular against the Asus eeePCs? I just got a 1000HA recently
and installed eeeBuntu and everything works great. 6 hours or better of
battery life. It was advertised at around 9 hours, but I get six without
turning anything off to save power and so forth. I haven't installed the
straight Ubuntu NBR, but the eeeBuntu, which has the NBR on it, along with
their own little tools and their custom-for-eeepc Array kernel. As I have
been very pleased with it, I haven't tried the regular Ubuntu NBR.

Matthew
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