[TriLUG] Linux Netbook Reccomendations

[Chess Griffin]

On Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 2:06 AM, Alexander Ray <alexjray.ncsu at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey All,
>
> I'm looking at getting a little netbook to augment my current computing, and
> possibly be a test-bed machine for some OS-dev experimentation.  Does anyone
> have thoughts on netbooks that theyve had/used or heard about?
>
> Size isn't really a factor, but price is.  I'm looking at the computer from
> sort of a more technical aspect; I don't really care about webcams etc.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>

I absolutely love my Acer Aspire One.  It's one of the least expensive
netbooks (about $300) and very, very hackable.

There is a large, active community with lots of howtos and articles on
hacking and modding and installing other distros:

http://www.aspireoneuser.com/

The Ubuntu Netbook Remix works well on this laptop (I am told -- have
not tried it myself).  The default OS is Linpus LIte, which is
basically a stock Fedora 8 with some UI modificiations.  The default
desktop is Xfce.  The Aspire One recently won this roundup:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9114478

The total boot up time is approximately 15 seconds, from pressing the
on button to having the desktop fully loaded.  Firefox takes 6 seconds
to load and OpenOffice.org takes 7 seconds, which I find to be very
fast given the minimal specs of the machine.  Mine has 512MB ram, 8GB
solid state drive, Intel Atom 1.6Ghtz, and runs Compiz out of the box
perfectly.

I highly recommend it.

-- 
Chess Griffin
GPG Public Key:  0x0C7558C3
http://www.chessgriffin.com