The recent release of Ubuntu 9.04 (a.k.a Jaunty) saw the release of the usual desktop and server editions but also a new edition: Netbook Remix. Confusingly we have all being talking about Netbook Remix for some time, meaning the distinctive interface that makes the most of the limited screen space on a netbook, but here we mean Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) in the sense of an installation image that contains the entire operating system, including the Netbook Remix interface so you can easily install it on your netbook. This was a gap that was filled by popular derivative distributions such as Easy Peasy and Eeebuntu. I've been trying it out on my Asus EEE PC 701.
Jaunty has many advantages that might appeal to the netbook user such as the posh new notifications system and the faster speed of operation. Easy Peasy, the distribution I had on the machine before Jaunty was very good, but is still based on Jaunty's predecessor; Ubuntu 8.10 (a.k.a. Intrepid). A new version of Easy Peasy is planned, but it has not yet been released. One attribute of UNR that makes it different to Easy Peasy is its intention to support a wide range of netbooks, whereas Easy Peasy started by supporting the EEE and has spread to other machines. A downside of this is that on some machines you do have to do a bit of extra work to get UNR to work nicely on your machine and a page has been put on the Ubuntu Wiki detailing what might be in store for your machine: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Netbooks.
Hopefully in time fixes will be published to remove these workarounds that we must apply (depending on your machine). I've installed it so far on a couple of 701s, which needed some fixes to be applied and a friend's EEE PC 1000, on which it worked perfectly out of the box.
Installation was the delightfully smooth experience that we have come to expect of Ubuntu. You need to copy the installation image file to a USB memory stick (you can find the instructions here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromImgFiles) and then boot the EEE from the stick by pressing ESC a few times while the EEE PC splash screen is shown when it first boots up. You should then see a menu that will allow you to select the boot device. The steps were fairly straight forward, one thing I did find though was that the default scheme to partition the hard disc reserved about half a gigabyte for a swap (virtual memory) partition. I would recommend manually partitioning the disc to have just one partition and get rid of this. It is quite inexpensive to get hold of a RAM upgrade for the machine to take it up to 2GB so it isn't worth using up such a large amount of space on a 4GB hard disc for this purpose. On the final step of installation, the option to log in automatically is selected by default and is scrolled off the end of the page. If you want a log in screen you can change it there or later using the the Log In Manager.
The major problem on the 701 for a new installation is the screen lagginess. When you move the mouse pointer across the screen it feels like you are dragging it against its will. Fortunately, this is just a bug (no. 349314) and if it hasn't been fixed by the time you read this you can fix it by going to http://people.ubuntu.com/~apw/lp349314-jaunty/ and installing the fix by clicking on the files linux-headers-2.6.28-11-generic_2.6.28-11.43~lp349314apw5_i386.deb to install a revised kernel headers package and linux-image-2.6.28-11-generic_2.6.28-11.43~lp349314apw5_i386.deb to install a fixed kernel. Reboot and you should find that the sluggishness has gone away. (Updated 31 July 2009 - the fix is now in the main kernel - so when you install just apply any outstanding updates).
I would also recommend installing the package ubuntu-restricted-extras, this makes sure you have things like Flash, Java and MP3 playback facilities installed so you can enjoy more of the web. Most of the EEE hardware works out of the box, unlike previous versions of Ubuntu there is no need to compile extra drivers to get things like the WiFi and webcam to work. The internal microphone does work too, though it is not very good quality. For some reason by default the internal microphone has been muted, following the fix at http://urbanoia.net/?p=39 got the microphone to work.
Most of the hotkeys work too, apart from the wireless toggle (Fn + F2), this has also been reported in bug no 232170 and a solution is offered there that suggests loading up the rfkill-input module. I found this didn't work for me, the wireless would switch off and on but after this the EEE could not reconnect to the network. It seems from the discussion on the bug that others have had the same problem. Instead I installed the eee-control package from http://greg.geekmind.org/eee-control/ and that works perfectly.
After applying these fixes I've found Jaunty on the EEE to be very stable and it seems faster than Intrepid, certainly when booting. It is a little disappointing after getting used to the smooth EEE-orientated installation of Easy Peasy to have to apply workarounds and fixes to get it working properly. One good thing about Easy Peasy was that I could just hand the installer to people who had never used it before and they could install the operating system with the minimum of fuss. Having problems like these feels like a step backwards, however I suppose UNR has the aim of supporting a wide range of machines and will take a while to settle down. Hopefully by the release of Ubuntu 9.10 we will see a better experience out of the box.
*** UPDATE 12th May 2009 ***
Looks like another advantage of updating to Ubuntu 9.04 on your netbook will be the ability to enjoy the Ubuntu One online storage service, according to a report by the VAR guy. The new service sounds like a similar idea to Dropbox or EEE Storage.
*** UPDATE 19th May 2009 ***
If you are still finding the interface a bit slow, try opening a terminal and entering gconf-editor then in the left pane navigate to /apps/netbook-launcherand in the right pane you should now see an option force_low_graphics, tick it and then exit the utility. If you log out and log back in again you should find the interface has speeded up (Tip from: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Netbooks). It worked for @mled!
Re: Installing Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix on the EEE
Great post Liam, thank you!
I'm amazed that IMG writing to USB isn't included in the USB Startup Disk Creator. I've always used that to great effect with .iso files.
I'm currently running CrunchEEE on my 701, but now I've seen there are fixes for the sluggishness I'm going for it with Ubuntu NBR. At the launch party in London, someone showed me the brand new NBR and it seemed a bit of a disappointment, especially as I'd been running eeebuntu during the Hardy release and found it brilliant.
The one feature I really like at the moment in CrunchEEE is the ability to under and over-clock the CPU. I've found it has saved the battery life when under clocking.
Ubuntu One looks like it'll be an exciting way forward for Canonical, it just needs to get some features released that take it beyond Dropbox. I wrote about it here: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/dan_monsieurle/blog/2009/05/18/ubuntu_one_…
Re: Installing Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix on the EEE
I have 10.04 and have been using remix for a while ...I would prefer the type of desktop that the standard ubuntu runs though. I do not like icons everywhere as they clutter my screen, the menuing causes minimalization and sizing problems with some programs as well.
What would i do to get back to the standard desktop or is that possible?
larry