I upgraded to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and I am loving it. One of the things that never really bothered me when I was using the 10 inch screen on the netbook was the “feature” to auto-maximize every window. Now that i am using it on a large display - it was driving me bonkers.
If you find yourself needing to turn off the auto-maximize feature, here is how:
1. Press Alt + F2 to bring up the Run Application dialog box
2. Type “gconf-editor” without the quotes and press run
I’ve been bashing netbooks lately, but after several rounds of feedback from pro netbook friends, I’ve decided to give mine another shot.
THE BACKSTORY
My desktop PC crashed a couple of months ago and I have been slow in coming up with a solution for accessing the data on my two hard drives. In the meantime, the MacBook Pro has become my primary computer and I use Parallel’s to run Windows & Windows Applications when needed. It all works smoothly and I don’t have any plans to change anything up. However, I’d like to use my 30 inch display and be able to get the data on the 2 hard drives that reside in my PC. Note: I don’t use the display with my MacBook Pro because the colors are so different between the two displays that it bothers me.
THE IDEA
I have this ASUS Eee PC sitting on my desk collecting dust, so I use that as my desktop. Right now I am running Ubuntu Linux and it works fine for a netbook. I am using a VGA cable to connect it to the display, wireless keyboard and mouse through one of the USB ports and the pièce de résistance -- a USB SATA dual hard drive dock from Thermaltake (STU0014U).
THE OUTCOME
Honkin’ Display
Wireless Keyboard & Mouse
Access to all the data on one* of the two PC hard drives. The Thermaltake BlacX Duet was truly plug and play with Linux. It mounted the drive with no problem, the *only issue I have now is that one of the hard drives is an old IDE, so I’ll invest in an external enclosure and move the data over to the other SATA hard drive sometime in the future.
THE FUTURE
My plan is to use the netbook as a storage gateway and for light internet browsing, I’ll still use the MacBook Pro for the heavy lifting.
I may not have found a conventional use for the netbook, but I think I’ve found something to do with it. That makes me happy as it’s no longer a paperweight and it’ll make my friends happy because I am getting some use out of a product that they believe in.
Eureka, the deed is done. I finally managed to get Ubuntu for netbooks [Ubuntu Netbook Remix] installed on my ASUS EeePC 1000H. I think my main problem was that I didn't follow the instructions, if you do - you should be fine. That means, use a USB thumbdrive or flash drive if you're going to grab the image from the link below. Also, it was a day for issues, my webcam drivers were messed up and I got a DVD stuck in my macbook. That's all behind me, now I am cruising with Ubuntu on my netbook. Here's a little video of my experience: Download the image from here: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download-netbook Install notes: 1) Use a USB thumbdrive/jumpdrive or flash drive 2) Read the instructions after the download 3) Use the instructions at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromImgFiles to create your bootable USB drive or flash drive 4) Enter your bios settings (F2 on my EeePC) and make sure your boot order is set correctly, then boot with your USB drive or flash drive inserted 5) Choose your partition options wisely, decide if you want to dual boot - or if like me, you want to dump windows completely. Since I had data on other partitions, I chose only to remove the windows partition (3rd option, custom). I created a partition that was as large as the original windows, minus twice the size of my ram (x2 = 4 gigs). The I put Ubuntu on the empty big partition & and swap space on the extra 4 gig partition. After the install, things I've noticed: 1) Super zippy (that's very fast in Texas terminology) 2) Webcam is sub-par, so beware if you're a demon on Skype 3) Initial Audio volume is really low, make sure you click on the speaker icon at the top left, go into Volume Control... and set PCM and Line Out to max, then close and adjust from there. 4) Make sure you download the upgrades (see below)Upgrades: 1) Go to the Administration section on the left menu 2) Select Synaptic Package Manager 3) Click "Mark all upgrades" 4) Click "Apply" 5) Follow the promptsThat's all for now. I'll give an update after a week or so of using it. Tomorrow's challenge - Snow Leopard.
Eureka, the deed is done. I finally managed to get Ubuntu for netbooks [