Suggestions for a Netbook that will run UNR 9.10

[K4w411+M0m0k0]

I was not sure where to put this, but this looked like a good generic location. Anyways, I've been running Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 on an 'ultra-portable' HP Pavilion tx2500 tabletPC. I just wanted to see what it was like as I am planning on purchasing an actual netbook. The 'problem' is that I love UNR 9.10 and now I want to make sure that the netbook I buy will be able to run UNR 9.10 without too many problems.

Here's what I need the netbook to do:
Take pictures with webcam (webcam must be built-in) using cheese
Surf the web with Firefox 3.5 on wi-fi
Check e-mail
Work on web site HTML, Javascript, and PHP files (note: most of the programming will be done on a different computer I just need to be able to make small changes remotely on this one using SFTP)
An HDMI slot would be nice, but I don't really plan on hooking this thing up to an HDTV and watching movies on it, just showing off web-pages on my client's flat screen.

Not a whole lot, right? So does anyone have any recommendations for good netbooks that will run UNR 9.10 with little fuss and do everything I need them do to? I absolutely will not work with Asus, but I am open to anyone. Currently I'm looking at system76 and Dell? Does anyone have good/bad experiences with either? Which would you recommend?

Thank you in advance.

[Seishuku]

I'm currently running 9.10 Desktop version on my Acer Aspire One.

[K4w411+M0m0k0]

How well does it run? Did you have any problems with missing drivers or other hardware issues? Do you like the Aspire One?

[Seishuku]

How well does it run? Did you have any problems with missing drivers or other hardware issues? Do you like the Aspire One?

I won't lie to you--the Aspire One has a couple of problems, but I have the originally released Aspire One from a year ago. Sometimes the BIOS gets corrupted, but that's easily fixed. A while back the backlight died and I had to fix it, as well as my HDD dying a few weeks ago. Then again, I carry my laptop every day to class, and I'm not exactly gentle with it. I love my laptop, though.

The only noticeably bad part about it is that since it runs on an Intel chipset and it doesn't have a dedicated graphics card per se, Ubuntu can't run any 3D-heavy games or programs on it. But I have a separate Windows partition to play my Korean MMOs that don't run on Wine anyway (because of the Game Guards).

As for everything else, I haven't had any problems, especially in 9.10, where they smoothed out a lot of problems with video streaming. I personally dislike the netbook remix interface, so I use the regular desktop version.

I'm an ordinary user--I listen to music, watch videos, IM and send email. I keep all my gaming on my Window$ partition. So far, so good--I have had no problems whatsoever since installing 9.10.

edit: Oh, and the default 3-cell battery only gives a 2-hour charge.

[Sealbhach]

What size screen do you want?

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[K4w411+M0m0k0]

10.1" is fine for me. I wouldn't consider a 9" screen. Resolution doesn't really matter and I'm not planning on playing games or anything on this (I'll have another computer for that). Basically as long as UNR 9.10 looks good and runs good, I don't care. One thing though, is it better to get a netbook with a SSD or HDD?

[Seishuku]

I've never tried SSD. I have a 160 HDD and I find it a little much. SSD are usually cheaper, and 10GB should be all you need for a regular Ubuntu installation.

[K4w411+M0m0k0]

My current Ubuntu partition is only 12GB and that seems to be more than enough. I'd put video and music on an external drive, so I'm thinking a 10-16GB SSD would be plenty. I'm not sure if they're that great though.

[Small_Nuke]

I'm posting on a Acer Aspire One D150 10" right now. I used UNR on it up until i got Windows 7 for it a couple of days ago. UNR ran real good on my AAO. Jaunty was pretty good and Karmic fixed the only hardware problem i had which was my internal microphone.

As far as using a SSD or HDD, i would recommend the HDD just because it's what your going to get with any 10" netbook anyways, and the only thing your going to do if you swap out for a SSD is lose a lot of gigs. As long as your not planning to run around with your netbook on then you shouldn't have to worry about trashing the HDD. You probably wouldn't notice any speed difference just because the CPU is so slow in these things anyways.

I do recommend upgrading the RAM to 2gigs just because it's a big upgrade and the price on these sticks are real low (mine was 25$ from Fry's). It makes a big difference if you plan on running multiple programs.

[K4w411+M0m0k0]

1GB is the standard on all except the system76 Starling. I wouldn't mind upgrading, but I want to make sure it is worth it. Based on my current usage of my tx2500 when it is in UNR, I'll probably be having at max 5 applications open at a time and none of them will be resource heavy, Firefox or Rythmbox being the biggest resource users probably. Do you still think it is worth it for me to upgrade to 2GB of RAM?

[scout4536]

I'm running Ubuntu 9.10 UNR on a Dell Mini 10, only problem it had was the graphics, which can easily be fixed. I think it runs great on the Dell Mini 10 for what I want it to do. I use webcam, surf the net, IM and office docs. Also my music collection is run by songbird 1.2.0, it looks and feels almost like iTunes, even has an iPod plugin which works. It also includes an HDMI slot, although I have not tested it because I don't see a need for it. So all in all I am very happy with the performance of 9.10 UNR on my Dell Mini 10. Can't wait til 10.04 Lynx UNR.

[Small_Nuke]

You may not get your money's worth if your only going to use 5 programs that are not resource heavy. I guess it depends on how your machine runs with 1gig and if the price of upgrading is worth it to you.

[K4w411+M0m0k0]

I'm running Ubuntu 9.10 UNR on a Dell Mini 10, only problem it had was the graphics, which can easily be fixed. I think it runs great on the Dell Mini 10 for what I want it to do. I use webcam, surf the net, IM and office docs. Also my music collection is run by songbird 1.2.0, it looks and feels almost like iTunes, even has an iPod plugin which works. It also includes an HDMI slot, although I have not tested it because I don't see a need for it. So all in all I am very happy with the performance of 9.10 UNR on my Dell Mini 10. Can't wait til 10.04 Lynx UNR.

I've been looking at the Dell Mini 10. I have a few questions, I like the keyboard layout, but it looks pretty flimsy. How does it feel? The touchpad seems nice, what are your thoughts on it? Also what kind of graphics problems were you experiencing?

[Sealbhach]

I think the best keyboard on a netbook would be the Samsung NC10, not sure how good they are for Linux compatibility though.

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[K4w411+M0m0k0]

Yeah, that keyboard does look nice and I kinda like the white one I saw on Newegg. Has anyone tried installing Ubuntu or UNR 9.10 on them?

[scout4536]

The Dell Mini 10 is not as flimsy as it looks, it's pretty sturdy. The touchpad works nice, it has the two finger scroll webpage feature, which is nice. When first loading 9.10 the resolution was only 800x600 and it ran sloooowwww. So this is the update I did:

After installing Ubuntu 9.10 UNR, reboot in safe mode with networking, run this on the command line:

wget http://gma500re.altervista.org/scripts/poulsbo.sh && sh ./poulsbo.sh
and once it reboots the resolution is great and runs alot faster.

Some more little details I put in as well that seems to work good are:

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

change the very last line to options hda-snd-intel model=dell

and then change compiz by sudo nano /usr/bin/compiz
in the line that has WHITELIST add the driver psb before nvidia.

these two tweaks has helped with freezes and sound issues.

Occasionally though I still lose sound, but a reboot seems to fix this, this happens maybe once a week. The system never freezes.

For more info on the video driver check this link, but the above instructions is how I did it: http://swiss.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1253406

I did it the easy way though. I hope this helps but by no means am I telling you to get a Mini 10, I am sure there are alot more netbooks out there that may run 9.10 without the little fixes here and there.


The only things I don't have working yet is the keyboard screen brightness keys and the built in tv tuner card. I still have a little more work to do.

[abrianb]

I am posting on a Lenovo S10e. Ubuntu desktop 9.10. I tried the netbook remix and did'nt like it. You lose tabbed browsing, channel switching. things like that. I had no problems with drivers. I set the top and bottom panels to autohide, added the stratini theme to firefox. All to increase screen space. The Lenovo actually runs better on Ubuntu than it did on Windows. The touchpad is more responsive. Web pages render faster. Printing is faster. I like the keyboard better than the one on Acer and Asus netbooks. It is lightweight. Convenient.It works well.
Also if you use Gimp it has problems on the remix version. Gimp is crowded but functional on the Desktop version.
Good Luck, and Enjoy

[scout4536]

In 9.10 UNR I have not lost tabbed browsing in Firefox. Firefox works fine in UNR.

[K4w411+M0m0k0]

Thank you all! You have been a great help thus far. I probably will not get the Lenovo, it sounds pretty good, but I'm worried about its appearance and the position of the shift keys. Also it seems a bit overpriced.

I'll have to take a look at those graphics issues with the Dell Mini 10. I really like how it looks, but it has to run well, without me having to apply too many fixes. Was this on a Windows version that you installed Ubuntu on with a LiveUSB, or is this on the one that ships with Ubuntu?

BTW, I am already running UNR; I have no problem with GIMP (I'm not planning on using it with the netbook though); I have tabs in all the usual applications that support them, Firefox, gedit, Nautilus, etc; and I'm not sure what you mean by 'channel switching'. I'm pretty stuck on UNR 9.10, so it will be hard to convince me to switch to desktop edition =^.~=

[jheaton5]

I'm running 9.10 on a Dell mini9. Works great. No netbook remix.

[scout4536]

Yes, I bought the Windows version (didn't know at the time they sold the Ubuntu version), completely wiped Windows (can't stand Windows) and did a clean install of Ubuntu 9.10 UNR using a usb stick, I used the program unetbootin to flash the .iso file to the stick and all went well.

Oh and if you do get the Dell Mini 10, just activate the proprietary driver for the Broadcom STA only, I did that and I have a good wifi internet signal.