Which Distro For My New Netbook?

[Richb2004v2]

My old ASUS eeePC more or less died recently so I bought a cheap replacement. It has Xp on it but I would like to make it a dual boot. However there are so many good ditros that I can't decide which to install. In the past I have enjoyed using Mint and Ubuntu desktop (the normal Ubuntu). I also tried Ubuntu NR which seemed good too. I am busy downloading the latest version of each and will try them all from Live CD. I just wondered if there is any advantage to any one in terms of battery life etc. I also discovered EasyPeasy which looks like Ubuntu NR. I will look into that too.

If I were to install a particular system would it be easy to install over it later?

Thanks

[dharmabm]

if you have a sense of adventure, my favorite mini linux is antiX, based on mepis (which is based on debian). a base install image is less than 300mb and a full installer slightly less than 400mb. the installation takes about 10 minutes. i cannot confirm that it automatically detects your windoze, but it uses standard grub so the odds are good. if you select 'additional options' when you boot the livecd there is a netbook option, although given the small footprint i don't know if that is necessary. the default window manager is fluxbox, but gnome-mini, kde-mini (both 3 and 4), lxde and xfce window managers are easily installable, along with several others (use the metainstaller). the package installer is a bit limited, but of course you can install anything available for debian or mepis with apt-get. be warned it is developed by some serious leftists, so if you would be offended by having default bookmarks to noam chomsky and lenin's tomb, you might look elsewhere ;>} of course you could always just delete or ignore them. oh, and you get to the menus by right-clicking the desktop, there is no menubar in flux unless you make your own.

you might also give archbang a try, based on my current favorite independant distribution archlinux. i have not tested it yet, but 1 advantage is they have a 64 bit version.

or there is salix, a minimal distro based on slackware, also with 64 bit.

i would strongly suggest taking this opportunity to explore a bit, there is so much more to linux than ubuntu!

and to answer your question, it should be no problem to overwrite anything you go with, just always make backups to be safe.

have fun with it!

k

[Tywais]

My favorite for desktops or netbooks is openSUSE. The 11.3 release now supports netbooks. Some benchmarks of SUSE on netbooks here > Benchmarks. openSUSE.org - main site

[Richb2004v2]

Dharmabm, thanks for the reply and the information. To be honest I prefer to stick with what might be termed the more popular and mainstream distros. I am a light user and do occasionally have to seek help even with Ubuntu. Therefore it probably would not be a good idea for me to start experimenting with lesser distros. I know that using Ubuntu is probably the least adventurous option and possibly frowned upon by some but it is the path of least resistance for me I think. Thanks anyway. I really just wondered about the minor differences between each Ubunu variation.

Tywais, I have taken a brief look at Suse when I first looked into Linux a few years ago. It does seem to garner much praise from those that use it. I am thinking I might make a couple of USB operating sticks and use each one for a while.

I wonder if I actually installed an OS and then opted to switch to another and installed over it would there be any detrimental effects? Would repeating this process result in bits and pieces of remnants remaining cause problems?

[dharmabm]

I wonder if I actually installed an OS and then opted to switch to another and installed over it would there be any detrimental effects? Would repeating this process result in bits and pieces of remnants remaining cause problems?

absolutely not. if you overwrite a partition, EVERYTHING is gone, which is one reason you need to be careful when you do so. but again i would encourage you to try something different. i did some experimenting after my advice last night, and i would not recommend archbang, as it does not automatically add your windoze to the boot menu (despite the fact that it uses grub2). however, i would strongly recommend you installing antiX, if only for a whim, the install takes 10 minutes or less, and at least you can get a taste of what options are out there. if nothing else, at least give the livecd a try. you have an opportunity to experiment with a new machine, why not take advantage before you settle back into the same old thing?

k

[Richb2004v2]

I always try a LiveCD before installing to ensure everything works. Yesterday I tried Ubuntu 10.10, Mint 9, Ubuntu netbook remix, and even Ubuntu 9.04. With each of them the wireless function did not work. I've made a quick google search and not found any help. I had this problem when I initially tried switching to Linux some years ago and never figured it then. I guess I could connect via a wire to my modem but I've never done that before. I am busy downloading SUSE. Maybe that will work. I will also try AntiX as you recommended.

Thanks.

[urandom]

what's your wireless chipset?

(just in case you don't know

$ lspci | grep Network

should tell you)

[schondie]

Hi Rich

I prefer trying out all different Linux distros by using a USB application from pendrivelinux.com This way I can check out the pros and cons from a myriad of distros without having to burn them to CD/DVD etc.

I would imagine your netbook is already set up to boot from a USB so give it a try and you may find the one you like before installing.

Best of luck.

[Richb2004v2]

I looked at downloading antiX and was told it was going to take 2 days! When I have more time I will check it out.

I made what I thought was a Suse 11.3 LiveCD, but when I tried it the normal options to run without installing were not present.

I then tried an Easy Peasy LiveCD and had the same problem with the wi-fi. I was presented with an option to install a driver for the wi-fi but when I accepted I received a 'failed to fetch' message after a short time. This same thing happened with each Ubuntu distro. I was about to give up but tried the Ubuntu 10.10 disk one more time in order to try the code given by Urandom. This time the driver installed ok for some reason. I decided to install asap while all was well. I now have what seems like a fully functioning Ubuntu 10.10 system dual booting with XP. I am now busy adding the apps that I had on my old machine.

A minor clitch I've found is that when I connect to my wi-fi signal Firefox does not work, but Chrome does. When I connect to a neighbors signal both work. It's not a big deal though as I will simply switch to using Chrome.

Thanks for the advice anyway.

[siamect]

A minor clitch I've found is that when I connect to my wi-fi signal Firefox does not work, but Chrome does. When I connect to a neighbors signal both work. It's not a big deal though as I will simply switch to using Chrome.

Hmm is it "Files - Work offline" that is enabled in Firefox?

Edited November 8, 2010 by siamect

[urandom]

A minor clitch I've found is that when I connect to my wi-fi signal Firefox does not work, but Chrome does. When I connect to a neighbors signal both work. It's not a big deal though as I will simply switch to using Chrome.

Hmm is it "Files - Work offline" that is enabled in Firefox?

but then it should fail with the neighbors network as well. this issue deserves a weirdness award of the month....

[Spoonman]

Iam dual booting win7 and Jolicloud on my samsung netbook, Jolicloud appears to work quiet well, has taken me a bit of time to get used to it though.

http://www.jolicloud.com/

[dharmabm]

A minor clitch I've found is that when I connect to my wi-fi signal Firefox does not work, but Chrome does. When I connect to a neighbors signal both work. It's not a big deal though as I will simply switch to using Chrome.

Hmm is it "Files - Work offline" that is enabled in Firefox?

but then it should fail with the neighbors network as well. this issue deserves a weirdness award of the month....

probably ipv6. type about:config into your firefox addressbar, ignore the warning, put ipv in the filter box at the top, and double-click network.dns.disableIPv6 to change the value to true. close firefox and restart, i am betting that will do it.

k

[dharmabm]

I looked at downloading antiX and was told it was going to take 2 days! When I have more time I will check it out.

odd, must've picked a bad mirror. try this one in japan http://ftp.riken.go.jp/pub/Linux/mepis/released/antix/antiX-M8.5-686.iso or i can setup a local download for you if necessary. i suspect you may have wireless problems with it though. you have not told us yet what your chipset is, but i suspect you would have to load it manually in antix.

k

[dharmabm]

geez, i can't believe i forgot to recommend this one:

http://www.pclinuxos.com/?page_id=186

k

[urandom]

A minor clitch I've found is that when I connect to my wi-fi signal Firefox does not work, but Chrome does. When I connect to a neighbors signal both work. It's not a big deal though as I will simply switch to using Chrome.

Hmm is it "Files - Work offline" that is enabled in Firefox?

but then it should fail with the neighbors network as well. this issue deserves a weirdness award of the month....

probably ipv6. type about:config into your firefox addressbar, ignore the warning, put ipv in the filter box at the top, and double-click network.dns.disableIPv6 to change the value to true. close firefox and restart, i am betting that will do it.

k

correct me if i'm wrong but i guess IPv6 should time out and firefox should fallback to IPv4 (that's why resolving is so slow unless you modify the config as you advised). also (but i truly have no idea about this one), are there any ISPs in Thailand already using IPv6?

[dharmabm]

probably ipv6. type about:config into your firefox addressbar, ignore the warning, put ipv in the filter box at the top, and double-click network.dns.disableIPv6 to change the value to true. close firefox and restart, i am betting that will do it.

k

correct me if i'm wrong but i guess IPv6 should time out and firefox should fallback to IPv4 (that's why resolving is so slow unless you modify the config as you advised). also (but i truly have no idea about this one), are there any ISPs in Thailand already using IPv6?

i can't answer that except to say that i have solved many unusual problems by disabling it. IIRC, it actually has to do with your router and not your ISP, which would explain why it works for his neighbors connection. an example, i can never connect to any URLs which do not have a preceding www, always fixed by disabling ipv6. it has become a habit for me to always disable it by default at the system level, but it can also be done in the browser settings. i can't tell you how frustrating it was the first time i figured that one out! ;>}

k

[urandom]

probably ipv6. type about:config into your firefox addressbar, ignore the warning, put ipv in the filter box at the top, and double-click network.dns.disableIPv6 to change the value to true. close firefox and restart, i am betting that will do it.

k

correct me if i'm wrong but i guess IPv6 should time out and firefox should fallback to IPv4 (that's why resolving is so slow unless you modify the config as you advised). also (but i truly have no idea about this one), are there any ISPs in Thailand already using IPv6?

IIRC, it actually has to do with your router and not your ISP

not familiar with IPv6 but that makes sense indeed.

anyway,

root@blackout:~# zcat /proc/config.gz | grep IPV6

# CONFIG_IPV6 is not set

[Richb2004v2]

what's your wireless chipset?

(just in case you don't know

$ lspci | grep Network

should tell you)

05:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)

Firefox definitely works on the neighbors signal but not my own. I can only think it's because my signal is weak or a poor connection. It seems strange that Chrome works fine though.

[Richb2004v2]

I looked at downloading antiX and was told it was going to take 2 days! When I have more time I will check it out.

odd, must've picked a bad mirror. try this one in japan http://ftp.riken.go.jp/pub/Linux/mepis/released/antix/antiX-M8.5-686.iso or i can setup a local download for you if necessary. i suspect you may have wireless problems with it though. you have not told us yet what your chipset is, but i suspect you would have to load it manually in antix.

k

I'm still told 3+ days to download from that mirror. Anyway I leave for work tonight so won't get a chance to download anything for a while. Thanks anyway.

[urandom]

what's your wireless chipset?

(just in case you don't know

$ lspci | grep Network

should tell you)

05:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)

Firefox definitely works on the neighbors signal but not my own. I can only think it's because my signal is weak or a poor connection. It seems strange that Chrome works fine though.

you, Sir, are a lucky man! the troubles you're having with this chipset will soon be history as Broadcom released opensource driver for it. it has already been merged in linus' tree (although in staging, the code still needs some work) http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=tree;f=drivers/staging/brcm80211;h=f49827a622f8e6d42ceabce11c7742e36a0d129c;hb=HEAD

expect them in .37 kernel release! if you dont want to wait, you can get them from compat-wireless as well...

[apalink_thailand]

I always try a LiveCD before installing to ensure everything works. Yesterday I tried Ubuntu 10.10, Mint 9, Ubuntu netbook remix, and even Ubuntu 9.04. With each of them the wireless function did not work. I've made a quick google search and not found any help. I had this problem when I initially tried switching to Linux some years ago and never figured it then. I guess I could connect via a wire to my modem but I've never done that before. I am busy downloading SUSE. Maybe that will work. I will also try AntiX as you recommended.

Thanks.

If you have the CD's for the wireless card or you have a copy of the specific windows driver for your device, you can download and install ndiswrapper and it will sort out your wireless in a hurry. I just did it with 2 different wireless dongles on Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick with no problems at all.

[BugJackBaron]

If you are looking for a popular disro with a live CD/DVD I would

go with Linux Mint (64 bit). It has everything you need and looks pretty.

You can install from the live CD.

You can get the standard Mint which is based on Ubuntu or the new Debian edition

which is fast overtaking the others in popularity.

Edited January 4, 2011 by BugJackBaron

[Richb2004v2]

A minor clitch I've found is that when I connect to my wi-fi signal Firefox does not work, but Chrome does. When I connect to a neighbors signal both work. It's not a big deal though as I will simply switch to using Chrome.

Hmm is it "Files - Work offline" that is enabled in Firefox?

but then it should fail with the neighbors network as well. this issue deserves a weirdness award of the month....

probably ipv6. type about:config into your firefox addressbar, ignore the warning, put ipv in the filter box at the top, and double-click network.dns.disableIPv6 to change the value to true. close firefox and restart, i am betting that will do it.

k

I've just been playing/disrupting my system again and have had the continuing problem with Firefox. After rereading this thread I have found that your solution does the trick. Thanks so much. Sorry it took me so long to try it. One problem ticked off.

[Richb2004v2]

what's your wireless chipset?

(just in case you don't know

$ lspci | grep Network

should tell you)

05:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)

Firefox definitely works on the neighbors signal but not my own. I can only think it's because my signal is weak or a poor connection. It seems strange that Chrome works fine though.

you, Sir, are a lucky man! the troubles you're having with this chipset will soon be history as Broadcom released opensource driver for it. it has already been merged in linus' tree (although in staging, the code still needs some work) http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=tree;f=drivers/staging/brcm80211;h=f49827a622f8e6d42ceabce11c7742e36a0d129c;hb=HEAD

expect them in .37 kernel release! if you dont want to wait, you can get them from compat-wireless as well...

I have gone back to playing around and indeed the Broadcom fix is now implemented and works well on most Distros. It didn't seem to appear on Fedora for some reason but it no problem since I've never used it before anyway, and was only taking the opportunity to try different options. It seems this particular Samsung Netbook has one or two hardware issues that make it slightly less Linux friendly than my previous machine. I now need to solve a brightness adjustment issue. Thanks anyway.