UNR UMR EEEbuntu

[goseph]

Guys!
Ubuntu Netbook Remix, Ubuntu Moblin Remix, EEEbuntu.

Are these different projects? If so which is the "best" (interpret this how you will).

[namluc]

Karmic UNR is better than jaunty UNR

Moblin seems to be more mid beta, check out moblin.org

they are both available for download,

eeebuntu is just a really bad choice of name

[1roxtar]

I wasn't too crazy about UNR 9.04. To me it didn't look as stunning as the Karmic UNR. I really like Karmic UNR on my Acer Aspire One netbook. It's organized and simple. It looks very professional in my opinion. I played around with the Ubuntu Moblin Remix BETA and felt like it still needed a lot of work. The network icon was invisible on the taskbar. I found it by accident when I was frustratingly clicking around looking for it. (By the way, it's to the upper right-hand corner) The built in web browser didn't work and seemed to be missing a lot of stuff. The GUI is pretty, but was a little confusing to navigate. After testing both UNR and UMR, I loved the UNR so much better. It's staying on my netbook.

(I can't wait to play around and test the upcoming KUBUNTU NETBOOK EDITION)

:guitar:

[Luffield]

Are all three disrtos atom-optimized? Are the differences between them mainly in the interface, or are there deeper differences?

[1roxtar]

Are all three disrtos atom-optimized? Are the differences between them mainly in the interface, or are there deeper differences?

I am sure the answer is yes. All are a variation of the Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Even the Ubuntu Moblin Remix is optimized to work on a variety of netbooks including Atom cpu's.

[Luffield]

Thanks 1roxtar. I have a Dell mini 10v ordered and I'm trying to find out which kind of Ubuntu I should install. It's surprisingly difficult to find information about the differences between all these remixes.

[beastrace91]

I am sure the answer is yes.

You would be wrong in that assumtion. The only difference between UNR and 32bit Ubuntu is the download type (.img vs .iso) and the fact that it has the "netbook" launcher.

Other than that it is the same. Not sure if the same holds true about UMR (I know when I booted it, it at least had a different kernel).

~Jeff

[Luffield]

Looks like Jeff is right:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UNR

It doesn't say anything about a different kernel or other Atom optimizations.

I guess that, for now at least, the Atom optimizations are exclusive to UMR and go hand-in-hand with the Moblin interface which I don't like. So I'll go with UNR.

[GeraldoJon]

As a new netbook/Ubuntu user who's trying to catch up quickly, I think this is an interesting discussion and good to get some facts down. I'm going to break down what I've assessed from the discussion and I'm asking the smarter, less freshman community to correct my mistakes.

UNR: Been around for while, mature builds, UNR 9.10 will be good, most functional
UMR (9.04): Under development. There is a Developer Edition that is mildly complete. This is a tweaking of the Moblin OS along with Dell and Canonical.
UMR (9.10): Available is a Daily Live CD. I'm unclear at what stage this is at.

It seems to me, as I'm choosing which OS to install, I face the following:

-Speed: Moblin is touted as "optimized" for Atom. If so, how much faster is it and what difference does this optimization go? If this is true, this is a plus for UMR.
-Readiness: UNR is definitely ready. How ready is Moblin, UMR 9.04, and UMR 9.10. What's the timeline for a almost ready UMR? Also, what the reasoning in choosing UMR over Moblin itself?
-Interface? Usability?

Chime in because as some users have pointed out, I think this is important to make clear the distinctions, pros and cons, and other comparisons so that developers know what to focus on. Either these two will distinguish themselves or merge as some have noted. (Also, if it's more than a two-way battle, please, explain).

Thanks

[goseph]

BUMP

It seems to me, as I'm choosing which OS to install, I face the following:

-Speed: Moblin is touted as "optimized" for Atom. If so, how much faster is it and what difference does this optimization go? If this is true, this is a plus for UMR.
-Readiness: UNR is definitely ready. How ready is Moblin, UMR 9.04, and UMR 9.10. What's the timeline for a almost ready UMR? Also, what the reasoning in choosing UMR over Moblin itself?
-Interface? Usability?


How much faster is UMR over Ubuntu?
How much faster is UMR over UNR?
Why any remix over plain old Moblin?

[Jackyboy86]

If you're new to linux, don't bother with UMR, it's needing regular work. (i'm on a Mini 10).
I'm an ubuntu *****, and not tried 'plain old moblin'. Dell is shipping the 10v with UMR, so I figured there would be better compatibility, and not having to learn much more to work with it seemed too good to be true.

UNR and Ubuntu 32 bit are exactly the same OS with a different shell.
There is no speed difference.

I personally hate the UNR shell, and will be upgrading to Desktop Karmic if I can't get my issues with UMR sorted. It's already taken me 2 days of solid work to get it to accept my mobile broadband and my poulsbo chipset, now the UMR gui is refusing to load - i'm stuck with Gnome!

So, if you want stablity, go for Karmic Desktop or UNR. Which one is up to you, it's all a matter of taste!

[Luffield]

Thanks for your input.
Can you feel any speed difference between UMR and normal Ubuntu? Or is your UMR install too buggy to notice such things?

[Jackyboy86]

I'm only testing UMR on Karmic. I've not got Karmic Desktop yet - i'm waiting for final release...
It's putting Jaunty to shame, i've never had a system boot so fast, but that's to be expected with GRUB2 and ext4.
I can't say about UMR/UNR/Desktop in practical terms - but the underlying architecture would suggest that UMR should be more compatible with netbooks - although the lack of GMA500 support in Karmic is outright ridiculous.
Whether that impacts noticably on speed is up for debate, I would suggest not.


Thanks for your input.
Can you feel any speed difference between UMR and normal Ubuntu? Or is your UMR install too buggy to notice such things?

[GPLarge]

Just some comments from a total Ubuntu newbie. I have an EeePC 1005HA and tried a few different distros on it (Karmic Desktop, Karmic UNR, Kubuntu) Personal preference is the desktop version as I like a clean work surface, even on the small screen. Boot times are close enough for me to not notice a difference (all are quicker than XP was :) and more stable too) I have not tried Moblin yet as it dosen't look like something that fits the way I use my netbook. I am still learning Linux so take my comments for what they are worth but I love it so far.

[Luffield]

Thank you both for your insights!

[Master One]

Just heard about UMR the first time just now. I have Ubuntu 9.10-RC + UNR on my Asus Eee PC 901GO since yesterday, and I think it is there to stay.

I just watched a youtube video about Moblin 2.0, but it looks quite confusing, more like a GUI for a mobile phone.

With more altnative GUIs for netbooks it can get quite confusing. The problem is, UNR / KNR are still Ubuntu without any specific Atom optimizations, whereas UMR is supposed to be Atom optimized (or is it just based on the lpia architecture). This is also the reason, why you can add UNR and KNR to a normal Ubuntu installation (just by "aptitude install ubuntu-netbook-remix"), but not UMR.

From what I've read so far, UMR isn't even ready for general use, so I'll definitely stick with UNR.

BTW Is there an alternate installer CD for UMR? Maybe I'll try the Karmic based UMR, but I'm used to install with full SSD encryption (which is why I use Ubuntu installed from the alternate CD with UNR added afterwards).

[hkarl629]

Just loaded UNR 9.04 on my Asus EeePC 901. I went smoothly. This did away with Xandros, which was one more operating system than I wanted.

I want to put the "Screen Shot" icon in the panel across the top of the display. I did this on my regular laptop by just dragging it to that location and dropping it there. Not so with the UNR.

Researched problem in Kier Thomas' "Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference".
Says to do what I described above. . . Further down the page he talks about adding applets to either the top or bottom panel by "right clicking" in either panel and then clicking on the "+" sign and choosing the applet from the drop down list. Doesn't do it.

Any help on solving this would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[cimh]

I would agree with the comments here.

Moblin2 runs on the later eees with the atom chips - it works . . but IMHO its only any good for netsurfing, facebook etc. It has a marked lack of applications that you can use. It boots fast (18-21s) but that's about it -- you'll either love or hate the new look - (I think its less efficient on a small screen than a properly tweaked ubuntu)

Ubuntu moblin remix. ran well for me in live mode but it wouldnt install (and seriously screwed up the disk formatting on my 901) It really isnt a working distro and not worth installing unless you just love mucking about but I'm sure you will ditch it very quickly. As with moblin2 i dont think this is designed for early eees with the celeron chip.

The ubuntu netbook remixes are liked by many and should run fine on early and late eees, its just a matter of taste as to whether you prefer the remix or standard linux, they both boot at about the same speed & offer the same software.

I think the karmic versions (9.10) are an improvement over jaunty (9.04) but there are no stunning differences. A cleaner boot screen, lots of under the bonnet changes, a new software catalogue and it boots a bit faster for most people.

EEEbuntu is another option - v.3 is based on 9.04. Many people say its the slickest distro on the eee and fully optimised for the small screen. it gives you control over the chip speed the fan so you can have a much quieter eee session with better battery life. You can do all this in ubuntu too but it all works ootb with eeebuntu. The developers have just decided to leave the ubuntu base so v4 which will be out in a couple of months will be based on debian.

I use ubuntu 9.10 + LXDE which is much leaner than gnome, kde or xfce. The only advantage of this option is that it boots quicker (26s) and launches programs faster, but it looks more basic and it requires some tweaking so its probably only an option for people who dont mind some setup time and just want a practical fast operating system - another great choice for a fast distro is crunchbang - based on 9.04 but using openbox - you have to try it so know what its like - its unusual but very slick.

Apologies for rabbiting on

cimh
901 ubuntu 9.10 LXDE

[tony1212]

Just thought I'd add my 4 penny worth to the thread, I've installed the standard desktop Karmic onto my Aspire One (A110 with 512 Ram), running very sweet and I've even got the second SD card slot working which was not being recognised in Watt OS beta3 (Ubuntu derivative) Boot up is reasonable at 70 seconds, (power down in 18 seconds) and everything just worked out of the box, I love the new recognition of my 3G USB mobile internet dongle no set up required all done automatically, and no problems connecting to home WiFi system at all, even got the WiFi working with My Universities WiFi system once I'd worked out the security protocols for logging on. I even seem to have had better battery performance since the install. Once all the propriety drivers were installed for MP3, flash etc via the Medibuntu repository and I moved the main panel to the bottom and removed the other one for a bit of extra desk space all is well in the Karmic world.

All I need now is a 1Gig memory upgrade and I might see if I can activate some of the fancy desktop graphics.