What happened to the netbook remix?

[mechanic]

I am just running through various possibilities for a light fast system on my Dell Mini-10v (1GB RAM, 1GHx Atom processor); after some time using Fuduntu I'm looking for a change. My partner here suggested trying U 10.04 Netbook Remix as it's a Long Term Support distro rather different from Gnome3 or Unity.
What surprised me was how difficult it was to find the ISO file for this distro. Not on the main Ubuntu site, the search doesn't throw up anything useful and the lists under 'alternative downloads' don't show the Netbook Remix although the Ubuntu Gnome file is there. Similarly on most mirror sites and third party software sites. Eventually I did find a copy but it was hard work!

Why is this version so hard to find? I think the remix interface (or UNE I think it's also called) is really good looking and easy to use on a small screen device (1024x600). Anything based on GNOME3 is hopeless on such a small screen. I can see that Ubuntu might not have wanted to progress this variant as well as the Unity line, but surely it's worth keeping as a possible alternative? And why make a LTS hard to find?

Any thoughts?

[rai4shu2]

I don't think Netbook Remix was part of the LTS. Just the normal "Desktop" group of packages.

That said, Unity is really just Ubuntu + UNR (or that was its stated intention).

[ajgreeny]

10.04 did originally have a netbook version with a desktop rather like unity, with icons on the left hand side of the screen, etc etc, but now that unity has arrived the netbook version is not available any more even for 10.04.4 which is the current point version of 10.04.

If you really want a fast desktop environment on that netbook have a look at Lubuntu 12.04 which runs well and is much faster than gnome or unity. You can also choose to run the netbook desktop of LXDE which is the DE of Lubuntu. I have been using Lubuntu on my old laptop and my netbook for a long time now and would suggest there is nothing better if you want to stay in the *ubuntu family.

However, if you want to really try things that are a little different, also have a look at Bodhi, which uses the ubuntu repos but also adds its own, and uses the E17 desktop. It might take a bit of getting used to but is worth investigating.

[forrestcupp]

Yeah, after Unity came out, it mysteriously disappeared because they want Unity to be their Netbook version, too. But like you said, if you search deep into the mirrors, you can still find copies of it out there.

[fuduntu]

I am just running through various possibilities for a light fast system on my Dell Mini-10v (1GB RAM, 1GHx Atom processor); after some time using Fuduntu I'm looking for a change. My partner here suggested trying U 10.04 Netbook Remix as it's a Long Term Support distro rather different from Gnome3 or Unity.

What's causing you to want to look for something else?

[mechanic]

10.04 did originally have a netbook version with a desktop rather like unity, with icons on the left hand side of the screen, etc etc, but now that unity has arrived the netbook version is not available any more even for 10.04.4 which is the current point version of 10.04.

Yes I know this, but I wonder why all (most) copies of this on various systems seem to have been removed! Are they ashamed of it? They shouldn't be!

If you really want a fast desktop environment on that netbook have a look at Lubuntu 12.04 which runs well and is much faster than gnome or unity. You can also choose to run the netbook desktop of LXDE which is the DE of Lubuntu. I have been using Lubuntu on my old laptop and my netbook for a long time now and would suggest there is nothing better if you want to stay in the *ubuntu family.

Yes I thought of installing Lubuntu - I could run the LXLauncher which has a nice interface!

However, if you want to really try things that are a little different, also have a look at Bodhi, which uses the ubuntu repos but also adds its own, and uses the E17 desktop. It might take a bit of getting used to but is worth investigating.

I've looked at Bodhi but it didn't seem polished. The setup was a bit flakey too.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[mechanic]

What's causing you to want to look for something else?

I was playing with the latest Consumer Preview of Win8 last week; it looks so smart and polished, it makes distros based on traditional Applications/Places/Desktop menus look old fashioned. Fuduntu seems stuck, it's only just got to grips with Grub2, and shows no sign of moving to Gnome3 (not that that would help with my netbook, Gnome3 demands more screen space). Even Win8 doesn't seem cramped, but there are performance issues that make it hard to use on my netbook.

OK I admit it, I'm a closet distro-hopper!

[neu5eeCh]

Shuttleworth wants Unity to "unite" all operating environments -- laptops, desktops, TVs, phones, microwaves, dishwashers, dryers, hair dryers, Stereos, Cereal Boxes, etc. -- hence "unity". As far as Shuttleworth is concerned, he probably sees no need for Netbook Remix now that we have Unity.

Mechanic.

Resistance is futile.

[neu5eeCh]

I was playing with the latest Consumer Preview of Win8 last week; it looks so smart and polished, it makes distros based on traditional Applications/Places/Desktop menus look old fashioned. Fuduntu seems stuck, it's only just got to grips with Grub2, and shows no sign of moving to Gnome3 (not that that would help with my netbook, Gnome3 demands more screen space). Even Win8 doesn't seem cramped, but there are performance issues that make it hard to use on my netbook.

OK I admit it, I'm a closet distro-hopper!

That's interesting. So, do you find it better or easier to use than any given linux distro? Do you prefer it above and beyond Windows 7?

[fuduntu]

I was playing with the latest Consumer Preview of Win8 last week; it looks so smart and polished, it makes distros based on traditional Applications/Places/Desktop menus look old fashioned.

I like 7, but install Office on Windows 8 and then come back and tell me more about polish.

It'll probably get there, but it's going to take a while. Once you install non-8 optimized apps it looks like Windows 3.1 with a big border around the icon so it fits on the page.

Fuduntu seems stuck, it's only just got to grips with Grub2, and shows no sign of moving to Gnome3 (not that that would help with my netbook, Gnome3 demands more screen space).

Ahh, fair enough about GRUB 2 but we have lots of things other distros don't yet - like kernel 3.4.4 and Chromium 20 (going to stable today) so it is a balancing act. We don't have enough active contributors to be much bigger, but we manage to keep up with what's deemed important very well.

Concerning GNOME 3, I looked at Fedora 17 just today - GNOME 3 is still a big joke so we won't have that anytime soon. Sticking with the traditional desktop has carried us far so far, no reason to change it quite yet. I can understand that some people seem do like it though.

Even Win8 doesn't seem cramped, but there are performance issues that make it hard to use on my netbook.

OK I admit it, I'm a closet distro-hopper!

Fair enough, I was just looking to see if there was anything specific we were doing wrong, but I'm not getting that vibe. Good luck wherever you land!