My new Eee PC powered by Ubuntu
I have been in between of buying or ditching the idea of getting a net book. I was fond of the Eee PC the minute they came out, but didn’t really feel like it.
The nature of my work is that I sometimes need to have a computer with me while visiting customers to do things in their production lines. Having a $ 2,000 Macbook Pro running around with you in factories is not always the best idea, as a single scratch on such a beauty will break your hear :P and let’s face it – Shit does happen.
So my search for a cheeper alternative started. I check out evey single netbook I could find, and decided on the Eee PC.
Unfortunatelly, I needed something that has windows on, as some of the software I use in in the factories are only windows based. I got my Eee PC with Windows XP pre installed. That’s fine for the dirty work, but this could never be my real working environment as working on Windows gives me the creeps.
Alternative, OS X or Linux. With all the issues I read trying to hack an OS X insallation on Netbooks, I decided to ditch that idea, and install something that will not keep wasting my time to get the shit in it running.
Learning that Ubuntu has already a “Netbook Remix”, I decided to give it a try.
So, where do we get it from? Simple, with some searching, I landed to http://wiki.ubuntu.com/UNR, where there is the whole instrucions on where do download, and what steps to do. There are some glitches though that you have to take care of:
1. Go with the simple mode. Don’t break your balls trying to act smart and doing the hard way.
2. Get yourself a nice USB stick. Don’t be a cheap ass bastard, and use a cheap one. You will face issues. I tried using one of the cheap usb sticks I got as promotional gifts, and it kept crashing on boot. Using my good old 4 GB Lexar did the trick.
3. If you are using WPA/WPA2 authentication on your Wifi, then you are semi screwed. There is a work around for it though.
So far, I got everythin to run, including the Webcam and my 3G USB stick, out of the box without any issues. The only issue I am facing so far is with Skype. I am not able to make any calls, as there seems to be some audio trouble going on.
I am planning to write a step by step guide soon… God knows when.
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Mabrook
But you didnt mention the price and from where in Egypt
CompuMe Maadi @ EGP 2,099.00
AWESOME!
Can’t wait for your second part. I want to learn about battery life and usability in general. A small form-factor is a bit unattractive to me.
Sure thing. Will post soon.
Cheers.
I haven’t tried the 3G USB dongle on Linux before but from what I heard from hardcore Linux users is that they never managed to get them to work. So that’s great news, which dongle are you using? Is it the etisalat one?
Shel,
I was just wrting a post on how to connect via Vodafone’s 3G USB modem. It was almost as connecting a mouse. I did not need to get any drivers, nor to do any fancy setup. It was a plain simple wizard, and you are online in less than 30 seconds.
N.B. I am using the K3565 modem with Vodafone. I dropped etisalat’s cause their service level started to go down the drain.
this APPLE sticker on ur Eee is mine ;)
sa7 ?????!!!
anyway mabrouk :)