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heiowge · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 9:20 pm Post subject: Helping my mum out

My mum managed to temporarily bork her eeepc900XP on the XP partition and asked me to fix it.

It was running so slowly and wouldn't let her install her mp3 player software. Loving son to the rescue again! Rolling Eyes

Her setup WAS XP SP3 on her 4Gb drive, and Ubuntu 9.10 (thanks to me!) on the 8Gb, and an 8Gb SD card for storage.

When I last did a windows reinstall, there was 1.6Gb of spare space on the 4Gb drive after Office and skype and a few other apps went on. When she gave it to me today it had less than 200mb left and all she'd saved was a single wallpaper file.

It was down to wonderful XP automatic updates. The Windows had swelled to over 2.4Gb. Anyway, cut a long story short, I reinstalled and set it all up. Problem 1 fixed.

Problem 2...

Ubuntu 9.10 was too slow for her puny 900Mhz processor and 1Gb RAM to run at anything above a crawl. I like my *buntus so, I was reluctant to switch. Plus if the eye candy isn't at least as good as XP, she'll moan about the point of it! Laughing

So I tried Xubuntu on it before, but it was still slow. Since the restart discs had decided to attack the drive Ubuntu was on, it was easier to reinstall.

I tried Ubuntu 10.04. No good. I tried UNE (even slower than vanilla Ubuntu). Crunchbang may be a little too bland and complex for her, so I wanted to try Lubuntu. Could I get it to download?

So... I'm here again. Cap in hand...

Any suggestions? I'd prefer a *buntu, but I'll settle for anything with eye candy thats easy to install, easy to use, can work quickly on that spec box and is reasonably parent proof.

PCNetSpec · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 9:35 pm Post subject:

Peppermint OS One is supposed to be quick, but still have eye candy... can't say I've tried it, but I keep planning on it.

Linux Mint based, so therefore Ubuntu/Debian based Shocked

http://peppermintos.com/

some reviews
http://desktoplinuxreviews.com/2010/05/12/peppermint-os-one/
http://cristalinux.blogspot.com/2010/05/review-peppermint-os.html
http://linuxcritic.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/peppermint-os-a-review/

and the Peppermint Ice version
http://desktoplinuxreviews.com/2010/07/18/peppermint-ice/
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heiowge · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 9:59 pm Post subject:

Thanks. I'll give it a whirl.

nelz · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 10:40 pm Post subject:

I prefer LXDE on my Eee PC, so I'd say have another go at getting Lubuntu.
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PCNetSpec · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 10:54 pm Post subject:

Peppermint uses LXDE but is a kind of netbook/web app type distro a bit like Jolicloud, but with a full desktop, and uses the Ubuntu repo's.
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heiowge · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 10:55 pm Post subject:

It's not a matter of not having a proper go, it's a matter of failing to download.

Lubuntu website wouldn't load, and grabbing off torrents was stuck at 0.1K/S. My mum will be on holiday by the time that completes and she's taking the eeepc! Laughing

If you can point me at a download that works (or seed one), I'll grab and try it. Very Happy

PCNetSpec · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 11:02 pm Post subject:

If you do give Peppermint a go, is there any chance you can let me know how you get on with it please.

If not, I'm sure I'll get round to trying it at some time Wink

Thanks.
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heiowge · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 11:29 pm Post subject:

I'm gonna have another crack at it tomorrow. Peppermint completed about 5 mins ago, so I have to make the disc / flash drive then try it out. Then I'll try any others the same way. Best method stays.

heiowge · Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2010 10:23 pm Post subject:

Installed and ran Peppermint. I used the Startup Disc Creator to put it on a flash drive (to save my discs and unpacking my mum's annoying DVD drive).

Thoughts:

Wow! Very fast. The LXDE desktop makes quite a difference.

It uses a single bottom taskbar to manage everything. While this is a very Gnome feel, the Power button was often hard to spot when the theme got changed to something more like she wanted (a pale blue thingy. Not sure the name though). It did save space though.

I'm not sure how much of this was down to me, LXDE or my method of install but...

Persistance was broken. I set it up and it lost everything! Annoying as I thought I'd got the right distro for her!

No auto login option. I know you should use the password, but she won't. Especially if she gets asked for keyring passwords sometimes. I'm sure it's a parent thing.

Screensaver threw a wobbler when I asked it to change. It decided that I could have what it offered or nothing. And if I tried to change that, the options became nothing or nothing.

Window borders didn't seem to change to match the theme.

Battery warning was broken. I hear this is a long term fault though.

So while initially impressed with it, the cons were doable right up to the point where I realised the persistance thing.

Next up... Linux Mint LXDE. See if that makes a difference.

DaveS · Joined: Mon Sep 07, 2009 4:51 am Posts: 49 Location: UK

I dont know why this should be, BUT: Ubuntu 10.04 on my lappy, fine but slow, Mint 9, WAY quicker. Odd, but what can you say? Give Mint a try, even with the Gnome desktop.
For a real flier though, Puppy Linux is it. The release called QuirkyNOP http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=57860 has Xfce. All of 110MB!
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heiowge · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 9:03 am Post subject:

Puppy is my last resort. Only because I've had issues with installing it in the past. When I got it working I found it quite nippy, so it's definitely on my list.

heiowge · Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 7:44 am Post subject:

Linux Mint 9 LXDE was the winner. Worked fine.

PCNetSpec · Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 2:07 pm Post subject:

Talking of Mint, has anyone tried the Linux Mint Debian Edition yet?

heiowge · Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 8:47 am Post subject:

Just a quick add-on from last time.

Mum got her eeepc back yesterday. She saw windows work, and remarked that it was still quite slow.

She was extremely impressed with the speed of Linux Mint LXDE. Very Happy

She said it was faster than Win7 on her brand new desktop PC. Laughing