[ale] Best Netbook for Beginner

Tue Mar 10 08:25:01 EDT 2009

I acquired an Aspire One (with Linpus installed), wiped the drive and
installed Fedora 10 and did the tweaks to get max performance and
useability.

What performance can be seen is based on how the machine is used. XP
_can_ be thinned down to get decent speed but that requires adding
extra software and some is of dubious source/quality.

The gnome environment on Fedora is about the same as the one in
Ubuntu. But Fedora patched theirs to include a few bits that Ubuntu
did not ship with. Bleeding edge? Yes. Both distros are (for Ubunutu
!= LTS) pushing the envelope.

Rpmfusion. Well designed and implemented. RedHat has been a strong
supporter of both principle and practice of the GPL. So they don't
ship patented software or derivatives. Thus the need for rpmfusion.
It's really simple: install 2 repos from an rpm, run 'yum install
mplayer-gui gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-ugly' and you can
play pretty much any multimedia except flash. Get that from Adobe.

Now put all this on that aspire one and it's a pretty impressive
little machine! My daughter has it and uses it daily for college work
- mostly writing and researching for papers but also for clowning
around with youtube videos. She doesn't do her French homework on it
as the website has a screen height that is too clunky tall for that
short screen. Lots of scrolling up and down to read, listen and
respond. Really crappy design on the web site.

On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 2:59 AM, Omar Chanouha <ofosho at gatech.edu> wrote:
> Hmmm... well would you agree that Linux ran faster than XP based on
> similar benchmarks, ie. firefox, general open/closing of apps,
> pidgin..? All I know is that my two friends who got them were die hard
> windows guys, and switched to ubuntu because it was so much better on
> the aspire (they both love linux now, "come for the price, stay for
> the quality!!!").
>
> As far as Fedora is concerned, I don't think it is as user friendly.
> It is more bleeding edge, and I heard on this list it doesn't switch
> between distros easily. I also think trying to explain rpmfusion or
> free software would only incite a "yeah, so... yum install what now?".
>
> I definitley appreciate all the comments, thank you.
>
> 2009/3/9 Brian Stanaland <brian at stanaland.org>:
>> I have to disagree with the Acer Aspire One being unbearably slow under
>> WinXP. My wife uses an 8.9-inch one for her accounting business. She runs
>> Quickbooks Pro with no hiccups whatsoever. And it's a LOT lighter to carry
>> to client offices than something "faster." Having said that, I have a few
>> flash drives that I set up with UnetBootin
>> (http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net) running Fedora 10 and several Ubuntu
>> based distros and it works great for that too. So far Fedora 10 has been the
>> easiest out of the box.
>>
>> Brian
>>
>> James Sumners wrote:
>>
>> Okay. Sounds good to me.
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 7:20 PM, Omar Chanouha <ofosho at gatech.edu> wrote:
>>
>>
>> I disagree. He just asked for the best netbook. I have used the asus
>> aspire with XP and it is unbearably slow. He would hate it. Also, I
>> have talked friends who are miles away through recovering seemingly
>> bricked PCs by installing Ubuntu. After the initial install, and a
>> breif tutorial they never had to ask me questions beyond, "what
>> program do you like for this?". None of these people were very
>> computer literate either, I mean they did brick their PCs in the first
>> place. Ubuntu has come long way in terms of user friendliness. The
>> only issue with the netbook is that to get everything installed and
>> working from scratch is not as simple as, "put in the disc and hit
>> install", which it generally is with a regular laptop.
>>
>> I respect your opinion, but this is not some old man set in his ways.
>> He asked for the best tool, and that is Linux. Plus I would rather
>> help him install software over the phone, than help him remove
>> viruses.
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 6:50 PM, James Sumners <james.sumners at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Did he ask you about a netbook with Linux instead of Windows? If not,
>> I really don't see the reason behind talking him into something he
>> doesn't want. All your requirements for Ubuntu (a pipe dream IMHO) are
>> present in XP.
>>
>> I know that is contrary to what you would expect to hear on a Linux
>> enthusiasts mailing list, but it's the truth. You're dealing with
>> someone many miles away. You can't just pop over to their house when
>> something goes wrong (and it will). So recommending something strange
>> to the user just because it is your preferred thing doesn't make sense
>> to me.
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 5:37 PM, Omar Chanouha <ofosho at gatech.edu> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Hey Everyone,
>>
>> A friend of mine asked me about a netbook that comes with XP
>> preinstalled. I heard that XP is really slow, and I would never
>> recommend it anyway, however he lives in PA and I cannot switch it
>> over to ubuntu for him. I took a look at the tutorial on how to get
>> ubuntu running on it, and there is no way he is going to be able to do
>> it.
>>
>> So my question is, does anyone have or know of, a netbook that comes
>> with Ubuntu preinstalled that they happen to really like?
>>
>> I really need something that he is just going to be able to use.
>> Meaning he turns it on, everything works, Ubuntu updates itself
>> automatically, and he can just go on using the web without even
>> realizing he is using Linux.
>>
>> Also, anyone have one they don't like, and why? Info like that is just
>> as, if not more important to me.
>>
>> -OFosho, Miami Dolphin and Netbook Consultant
>>
>>
>> --
>> James Sumners
>> http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/
>>
>> "All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
>> pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
>> is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
>> drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."
>>
>> Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
>> CH:D 59
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-- 
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James P. Kinney III