Linux Format forums

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

Jeff — Thu Feb 04, 2010 9:48 am

Author: Jeff

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 9:48 am

Hi
I bought an Acer Aspire 1 ZG5. It has a 160 gig hard drive and 1 gig of ram. I bought it on price. It works well.
If I were going to buy one now I'd probably get something all solid state.
It came with Windows XP. I put Ubuntu 9.10 on it a dual boot. It worked well. There are no doubt better options but I kept it simple as it is the same as my other computer.

I have some problems getting it on to the USB drive.
Hope this helps.

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

shaddack — Fri Jan 29, 2010 1:03 pm

Author: shaddack

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 1:03 pm

I've seen that some of the newer 10" netbooks have resolutions up to 1280x720 compared to 1024x600. For example Acer Aspire One D250 (that model have both configurations). Is 1280x720 too big a resolution for that small screen or is it worth it to go for the one with bigger resolution?

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

nelz — Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:32 am

Author: nelz

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:32 am

shaddack wrote:

Gentoo runs well then? Good support for the hardware?

Gentoo has whatever support you build in, so if you configure your kernel for the hardware, it all works. All of the Eee's hardware is supported by the kernel, there's no need for any third-party modules. That also means that any distro should just work with it.

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

shaddack — Fri Jan 29, 2010 6:33 am

Author: shaddack

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 6:33 am

nordle wrote:

The Samsung NC10 got loads of great reviews for, well, most stuff, but particularly its keyboard.

But it has been out for a year, so theres probably better now.

I don't think I need the latest and greatest so this might be a good alternative. I think both the NC10 and their N140 was found to work well with UNR according to UNR's wiki of supported devices.

The hardware is probably enough but I'd like good battery performance and I guess that has developed a bit the last couple of years?

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

shaddack — Fri Jan 29, 2010 6:27 am

Author: shaddack

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 6:27 am

nelz wrote:

shaddack wrote:

Which distro are you using?

Gentoo, but you probably didn't want to hear that

Gentoo is definitely an interesting distro and I also find Arch Linux very interesting. But, for some reason, I did not think they had enough support for the hardware of netbooks. Their nature is very interesting for netbooks since they make it quite easy to build an optimal and slimmed installation.

Gentoo runs well then? Good support for the hardware?

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

nordle — Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:58 pm

Author: nordle

Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:58 pm

The Samsung NC10 got loads of great reviews for, well, most stuff, but particularly its keyboard.

But it has been out for a year, so theres probably better now.

EDIT:
The crappy pound and inflation increases in demand generated through printing money around the world have really impacted on prices. 15% up from 4 months ago!

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

nelz — Thu Jan 28, 2010 4:37 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 4:37 pm

shaddack wrote:

Which distro are you using?

Gentoo, but you probably didn't want to hear that

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

Captain_Tux — Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:54 am

Author: Captain_Tux

Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:54 am

Here's an article I just found... there's no mention of UNR, which is peculiar... be sure to check out the comments and views section at the bottom of the article.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Software/11218.html

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

shaddack — Thu Jan 28, 2010 4:52 am

Author: shaddack

Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 4:52 am

gn2 wrote:

shaddack wrote:

Does the built in WiFi och 3G modem work well with Linux Mint?

AFAIK most USB 3G adapters work in Linux these days.

The D250's b/g WiFi adapter works with addition of the required drivers. Mint will offer to supply them if you are connected by a wired connection when you attempt to configure the wireless.

It took me a few mouse clicks and less than five minutes to get the wireless running.

Ok. Sounds great.

Yeah, the Acer Aspire One D250 seems quite nice and so does the Asus Eee PC 1005.

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

gn2 — Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:30 pm

Author: gn2

Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:30 pm

shaddack wrote:

Does the built in WiFi och 3G modem work well with Linux Mint?

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

towy71 — Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:30 pm

Author: towy71

Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:30 pm

I have an Acer Aspire One ZA3 which has an 11.5" screen and a keyboard that allows my fat fingers to use it using UNR and everything "just works"

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

shaddack — Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:16 pm

Author: shaddack

Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:16 pm

nelz wrote:

I now use an Eee PC 1005HA and really like it. It's larger than my old 900 but the keyboard is a lot better. It plays movies well. No it doesn't have an optical drive, but movies are not necessarily DVD. I use it to watch transcoded DVDs and programmes recorded with MythTV. It doesn't have built in 3G, but I use it with a Mi-Fi modem, so there are no driver issues to worry about, although it does work perfectly with a Huawei dongle too.

Which distro are you using?

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

nelz — Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:09 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:09 pm

I now use an Eee PC 1005HA and really like it. It's larger than my old 900 but the keyboard is a lot better. It plays movies well. No it doesn't have an optical drive, but movies are not necessarily DVD. I use it to watch transcoded DVDs and programmes recorded with MythTV. It doesn't have built in 3G, but I use it with a Mi-Fi modem, so there are no driver issues to worry about, although it does work perfectly with a Huawei dongle too.

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

shaddack — Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:41 pm

Author: shaddack

Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:41 pm

Captain_Tux wrote:

Many, if not all netbooks can run Linux... your mileage varies depending on distro, but generally speaking, all the netbook-sized distros (for a lack of better terminology - should it be mobile Linux distros instead?) run well. Wasn't it last month that the mag ran an article on netbook distros?

Not sure about movies... part of the reason that netbooks are netbooks is because they tend not to have optical drives.

Yes it seems to be good support. My main concern, I guess, is that they work well with built in WiFi and 3G modems. But maybe that is not a problem at all.

The Acer Aspire One D250 that was recommended in another reply seems like a good choice. Then install maybe Ubuntu or Mint or some other slimmed distro. I think I want a full distro anyway.

Re: Advice needed for netbook purchase

shaddack — Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:23 pm

Author: shaddack

Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:23 pm

gn2 wrote:

All netbooks have very similar hardware, so get the cheapest one, you'll struggle to find better value than this in the UK:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179804

If the battery life isn't long enough you can get aftermarket high capacity ones on eBay for �35ish.

My son has that model and it runs very nicely with Mint 8.

Thanks for the reply. Does the built in WiFi och 3G modem work well with Linux Mint?