Erstellt am: 14. 4. 2010 - 13:40 Uhr
Today's Webtip: Netbook Distro's
I used to spend a lot of my time goofing around with different Operating Systems. It was an interesting learning experience, but after a couple of years, I found that I just couldn't be bothered any more. Getting something done finally became more attractive than getting something to work.
But...
I am in charge of a few Netbooks. Cute little computers that are nice and portable and have keyboards that make kids hands happy.
Unfortunately, the Linux distribution they were delivered with sucked. The vendor slapped a cutesy UI on top of a limited collection of apps with some sadly neglected repositories and happily went on it's way. Getting current versions of software meant going outside of the build-in software management system, and that meant saying hello to configuration hell.
So playing with netbooks meant playing with systems again.
Fortunately, Knoppix and it's revolutionary live CD's had laid down a sound foundation for the development and distribution of easily installed and portable Linux distro's. Ultra compact distributions developed for out of date or limited hardware had been around for several years, and a lot of people were really eager to get the most out of their little laptops.
In other words, you really do have a lot of alternatives.
So many, that it can be a bit difficult to keep on top of things. Wikipedia has a nice overview of many netbook distributions.
It's pretty dry though, and is not much more than a features grid and links. Anyone looking for reviews or personal experiences will have to go somewhere else.
Like Tux Radar.
They have a nice, compact and somewhat out of date group review of alternative distro's for the EeePC 701. Most of them will also work just fine on other netbooks, but the Eee makes a pretty handy lowest common denominator, and people using other machines would be well advised to search out their books community sites for more detailed suggestions.