Best Netbook OS

[demOZZracy]

Hi, I got a netbook today, problem is that the Win7 Starter Edition it was shipped with is super slow.
Does anyone have a suggestion for a faster yet user friendly OS?
So far the best I could find is eeebuntu...

edit: oh and the specs for the netbook (if needed)
1.6 Atom, 1gb ddr2 ram, 250gb hdd.

Btw Game has these LG netbook on special until Sunday (R2499, usually R4999 they say)

 

[Jola]

I'm running windows 7 Home Premium on my netbook and it runs fine.

Which netbook is it ? Which CPU ? How much memory have you got, may be worthwhile upgrading to 2GB.

 

[demOZZracy]

I made an edit on my 1st post with my specs. I also found Ubuntu Netbook Remix,going to give it a try, I dont have any more cash left for upgrading, Im a poor student haha

 

[Dean]

UNR ftw

 

[demOZZracy]

I see theres a newer version of UNR comthe 29th, Ill stick with w7 until then for now

 

[Dean]

you don't think it's worth downloading twice in a week?
pfft youre missing out

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

What apps are your running? W7 SE should work perfect with those specs?

But if you want to try something different look at Ubuntu UNR - I've installed it on a couple of netbooks and everybody has been super happy.

Personally I'm running Arch Linux on my netbook.

But you need to consider what you want to use it for. If your happy to just surf the internets, send your mom and email and do a "Hello World" then Ubuntu will be perfect. But do first check the compatability on the forums before nuking your Windows.

 

[demOZZracy]

No windows 7 SE is just slow overall (opening windows etc). I want to use the netbook for word/powerpoint/pdf, anything else is a bonus (though I am looking for something for the eye). 've got a lot of study material in those formats, that's what the netbook is for. So Ubuntu should be fine
Ive had Ubuntu Jaunty on my pc for a month or 2, not too much of a hassle compared to windows for me

edit: So at this moment Arch Linux and Ubuntu UNR looks like my best choices.
Oh and which Arch Linux should I download? i686 or x86_x64?

 

[riscbroker]

Hi, I got a netbook today, problem is that the Win7 Starter Edition it was shipped with is super slow.
Does anyone have a suggestion for a faster yet user friendly OS?
So far the best I could find is eeebuntu...

edit: oh and the specs for the netbook (if needed)
1.6 Atom, 1gb ddr2 ram, 250gb hdd.

Btw Game has these LG netbook on special until Sunday (R2499, usually R4999 they say)

A colleague bought the same spec netbook except it's Samsung with a smaller HDD, from Game, also with Win 7 Starter. It's remarkably slow, we went through it looking for issues and found nothing fishy. Let us know how UNR affects the speed

 

[demOZZracy]

Just a quick question, I didnt get a Windows dvd with my purchase, what if I want to go back to Windows? If I install Linux I wont have that option anymore.

 

[Dean]

Is there a recovery partition on the hard drive?
If so, then when you install Linux, don't remove/format/touch that partition.
You'll then be able to do a system recovery from that partition at any time, which will reconfigure your hard drive to factory settings (ie. Windows, bundled apps, etc.)

 

[demOZZracy]

Yes there is one, thanks didnt think about that!

Although the recovery partition shows 10gb free (out of 10gb), will have to look into that 1st

 

[ponder]

Oh and which Arch Linux should I download? i686 or x86_x64?

i686.

The N270 netbook cpu has no 64bit instruction set support.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners'_Guide
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Official_Arch_Linux_Install_Guide
http://archbang.org/
http://willensky.blogspot.com/

Arch+Openbox+tint2 = SPEED!

It's not ubuntu though, you have to roll your own.

 

[demOZZracy]

Thanks for the links, now I would like to give it a test run first, but when I choose 'live cd' it doesnt boot into the GUI?

 

[Synaesthesia]

Mac OS X is my fav for Netbooks.

Windows 7 runs great too.

As for linux, I would recommend Mint Linux. It's like Ubuntu but with MP3 and codec support out of the box.

 

[ponder]

Thanks for the links, now I would like to give it a test run first, but when I choose 'live cd' it doesnt boot into the GUI?

There is no GUI.

Like I said it's not Ubuntu, you have to roll your own. You have to install everything besides the base install, it comes with the bare minimum just to get you going. This is why I provided you with the Beginners guide hoping that you would read it. If you follow it step for step you will be fine and learn a lot.

If you want a gui from the word go you need to look at some of the Arch based distribution out there. Archbang I already mentioned as it uses openbox and is pretty light weight. Chakra for example uses KDE4 but is also more resource hungry.
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_Based_Distributions

Edit: Just read that one of the Chakra/Arch devs, Jan Mette, died 2 days ago, R.I.P.

 

[demOZZracy]

RIP....

O, sorry Im not familiar with openbox, will look into it, as far as my knowledge around linux goes, I only know Ubuntu. Ill need to read up on the rest I guess

 

[Dean]

Thanks for the links, now I would like to give it a test run first, but when I choose 'live cd' it doesnt boot into the GUI?

What does it do instead?

 

[ponder]

What does it do instead?

It boots to the command prompt or cli or what some people refer to as "dos".

 

[Dean]

It boots to the command prompt or cli or what some people refer to as "dos".

Have you tested that Live CD in another machine to check it's not a messed up version on the disc?