Ubuntu

Timed perfectly with the deluge of mini-notebook news coming out of Computex, Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux, announced its new operating system: Ubuntu Netbook Remix.

Set to arrive preinstalled on mini-notebooks later this year, the Ubuntu Netbook Remix will feature some of our open-source faves such as Firefox 3, Thunderbird, Pidgin, OpenOffice, Rhythmbox, FBReader, Lifrea, and F-spot.

We sat down for a conversation with Gerry Carr, marketing manager at Canonical, to discuss the new Atom-powered OS that’s designed to make Ubuntu the face of the mini-notebook space.

What is Ubuntu Netbook Remix and how does it differ from other Linux distributions?
It’s not a distribution. Those are products with daily builds for end users to get the ISO and put on any PC. This isn’t. We’re calling it a remix, so basically it takes the core elements built into the desktop edition and it’s optimized for the Intel Atom processor. It’s built for small-factor machines and is fast-on, fast-off. It’s all about getting on the Web quickly, as that’s the primary user experience on these machines. It’s built equally for touch as it is for mass driven.

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When you turn on your television, it’s hard to avoid those Mac vs. PC commercials. They’re clever, funny, and also misleading. Judging by those commercials, the average non-techie consumer would assume that those are the only two computing platforms available, which would be quite erroneous. Linux, the operating system that powers the Asus Eee PC and Everex CloudBook, comes in a variety of flavors, but the current face of the alternative OS is Ubuntu.

The latest iteration is Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron Beta (the final release is slated for April), which adds more functionality to the rather impressive Ubuntu 7.10, including smoother Compiz compatibility, Firefox 3 Beta, Tracker desktop search integration, the Brasero disk burner, Transmission BitTorrent client, Vinagre VNC software (which allows users to view multiple machines simultaneously), the PulseAudio sound server (for more flexible sound output), Xorg 7.3 (a screen-resolution utility that improves connections to projectors and second monitors), ufw firewall, and Rt2×00 wireless drivers. We upgraded our Ubuntu 7.10 distro that was installed on a Lenovo ThinkPad Z60m in just over two hours. Let’s break down some of the sexier additions.

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My problems with the CloudBook last weekend had me wondering, is there something wrong with me or something wrong with the CloudBook or, maybe, is there something wrong with Linux itself?

Last night, I tried installing Ubuntu 7.1 on my laptop, a two year old ThinkPad z60m with 1GB of RAM and a 40GB hard drive. I was really excited to get my first taste of Ubuntu, after having used RedHat a little bit back in the late 90s and early 2000s.

The install of Ubuntu went smoothly enough, and the system seemed to detect all my hardware, from the sound card right up to the wireless card. However, the problems started almost immediately.

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