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View Full Version : [ubuntu] What good is a Linux e Machine?



mikemykel
February 25th, 2009, 02:15 AM
Hi; I bought a eMachine notebook a couple of weeks ago through Woot and it looks like a fairly decent machine for the price ($300.) It claimed to be ready for Linux with a distro called Linpus installed. I bought it because I have been curious about Linux for quite a while and simply want something I can use to learn on.

However, I cannot get it to boot off the eMachine disc that came with it at all. I get a long scroll of white on black stuff I do not understand with a place for a command prompt at the end. I tried all the different boot options I could find but to no avail. I then tried to use a Ubuntu 8.4 both as live and an install. Either way it boots and finally the screen shows a very distorted image of five Hardy Hurons with a lot of horizontal lines and nothing intelligible.

a. Is the machine itself defective?
b. Would it help if I stripped the old installation out and if so how do I do that?
c. I bought a book Ubuntu for Non Geeks 3rd ed. by Rickford Grant and am willing to do my homework -- however?
d. Would anyone like to buy a Notebook eMachine and a fat manual real cheep.

By the way, eMachine Customer Service is very nice but no one there knows anything about Linux. Nothing!

Thanks, Mike Mykel

yther
February 25th, 2009, 02:19 AM
When you tried Ubuntu on your netbook, was it the special "netbook remix" edition? Check it out here (http://www.canonical.com/projects/ubuntu/unr).

It's supposed to be a slimmed-down version appropriate to that hardware (read the specs further down the page to see if it sounds like a good match), with all the apps you'd typically need on a netbook. I haven't used it but it seems like what you'd be looking for. :)

Edit: Oh, wait, probably not what you're looking for. It says use of the packages requires "some coding experience." Sorry.

I swear I heard about some Linux version that's supposed to be good for installing on those things... someone here will know, I'm sure!