Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Put Ubuntu Netbook Remix on the AspireOne. Amazingly good.

The Windows XP installation on this machine was crumbling. Suspend/hibernate didn’t work. There would be no fixing that without re-installing Windows.  Even when it was working properly, the XP user-interface was kind of awkward on the small keyboard and trackpad. This seemed like a good opportunity to try out the latest Ubuntu release – 9.04.

Ubuntu Netbook Remix

The Ubuntu installation took about 15 minutes, using an USB CD-ROM drive.  As far as I could tell everything worked except the network activity light and the SD slot. Fixed by running this, in the terminal, then rebooting

  sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-jaunty

The next step was  to install the Netbook Remix (UNR). Execute this in a terminal window and re-boot:

  sudo apt-get install go-home-applet human-netbook-theme \
    maximus netbook-launcher window-picker-appletsudo apt-get \
    install go-home-applet human-netbook-theme maximus \
    netbook-launcher window-picker-applet

The result is brilliant. The UNR user-interface is much more manageable with a small trackpad and keyboard.

UNR replaces the standard Gnome interface with one more suited to a small screen. Instead of the usual Applications/Places/System menu, there is a full-screen “home” panel that shows the icons for the installed applications. The applications are organised in a series of tabs. Clicking the tab shows the application in that category. The tabs and icons are large and easy to hit.

UNR Main Screen

The right-hand part of the the top bar has the usual status applets and you can add more from the standard selection

Status Bar

The task bar lives on the left of the top bar. The running applications are represented by 16×16 icons. Click the icon to bring the application to the front – much like the standard task bar. The front application gets a larger tab in the top bar.

Taskbar

Overlapping windows are gone.  All the applications run with their window maximised.  All the window decoration is stripped away leaving only the application, maximised against the top bar.  There is no title bar, minimise/maximise/close buttons or window resize controls.

Compared to a normal notebook, the netbook’s small trackpad and screen are quite fiddly. UNR’s simplification of the user-interface makes the netbook so much easier to work with.  The effect is surprisingly good and far better than using Windows XP.

Overall UNR has transformed the Acer from something that was tolerable to a device I actually like using….