Friday, February 26, 2010

Finding an OS for an Eee PC

Recently I have come to possess an Eee PC 1000.  This is the same Eee PC I had setup for a friend last year.  At that time I changed the OS from Asus's version of Linux to eeebuntu 3.  Eeebuntu 3 work well until Ubuntu 9.10 was released eeebuntu 3 updated and became a strange cross between eeebuntu 3 and Ubuntu 9.10.  This of course caused confusion on the part of my friend.  Long story short I know have the Eee PC and have settled on a OS for now.
While looking for an OS I tried out several different Linux Distros.  These included EB 4.0 beta, Easy Peasy, Moblin, and Ubuntu 9.10.
EB 4.0 beta is now based directly on Debian Unstable (Eeevolution) and as the beta tag shows still in beta. I loaded up into the live disk and looked it over then tried to install it.  The installation failed it was a known bug with work around but I decided to move onto the next Distro.  Easy Peasy is currently at version 1.5.  I downloaded it and setup a USB stick so I could look it over.  After booting to the USB stick I quickly looked Easy Peasy over.  Basically it looks like Ubuntu's Netbook Remix rebranded as Easy Peasy.  I had tried Easy Peasy when it was called Ubuntu Eee, at that time it had provided Eee PC support that Ubuntu did not have.  At this time I am not sure what advantage Easy Peasy has over UNR.  I personal am not a fan of UNR so Easy Peasy was out.  I then moved on to Moblin.  Again I booted from my USB stick.  I was not able to figure out how to install Moblin on the Eee PC it self.  I how ever did like the idea behind Moblin.  Now Moblin has joined forces with maemo to become Meego.  I will keep them in mind for the future.  Meego might be a great OS for Grandmothers, Mothers, and other people who fear their computers while also meeting the need for a Linux OS the general public can use without needing to learn the terminal.  Finally I decided to install Ubuntu 9.10 and set it up just the way I liked it.  Ubuntu 9.10 works great for what I need and want.
There are many more choices out there for Linux OS's basically it comes down to what do I like and what do I want.  If you have an Eee PC with Asus's version of Linux and feel it is lacking try some of the other great options out there.

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