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Linux - Laptop and Netbook Having a problem installing or configuring Linux on your laptop? Need help running Linux on your netbook? This forum is for you. This forum is for any topics relating to Linux and either traditional laptops or netbooks (such as the Asus EEE PC, Everex CloudBook or MSI Wind).

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Old 12-02-2012, 12:22 AM   #1
penguinator
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Can I use a normal x86 distro for netbboks?


hello all,

I remember way back you needed a distro specifiably for netbooks eg. Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Does this still applies today? Is it possible to use a standard x86 distro on today's netbooks and not a netbook specific type distro?

Last edited by penguinator; 12-02-2012 at 12:24 AM.
 
Old 12-02-2012, 12:59 AM   #2
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Yes - Ubuntu haven't shipped a remix for ages.
Maybe try something like Bodhi; based on Ubuntu, and worked great on the crappy notebook I tried it on.

Last edited by syg00; 12-02-2012 at 01:44 AM. Reason: s/Bohdi/Bodhi/
 
Old 12-02-2012, 01:07 AM   #3
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Thanks for the reply. I think I will go with Arch or Mint

Last edited by penguinator; 12-02-2012 at 01:19 AM.
 
Old 12-02-2012, 01:43 AM   #4
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Mint might be a bit heavy these days (if you are talking about a Atom)- Arch would certainly work if you don't mind doing the work. I like using it when I'm in the mood for custom kernels.

The reason I suggested Bodhi is that some/most of the work has been done for you, although Enlightenment can take some getting used to.
 
Old 12-02-2012, 06:26 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by penguinator View Post
I remember way back you needed a distro specifiably for netbooks eg. Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Does this still applies today? Is it possible to use a standard x86 distro on today's netbooks and not a netbook specific type distro?
'Needed'? Not in the vast majority of cases. There was a few dells with dodgy hardware that 'needed' a special version of ubuntu, but that wasnt the standard UNR/UNE version.

x86 is typically fine. Many netbooks now have a BIOS/UEFI that is locked to 32bit (x86) only, if you try a AMD64/x86-64 version they cannot run or install.
 
Old 12-02-2012, 06:47 AM   #6
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My netbook (Acer Aspire One AOA150; Atom N270, 1GB RAM) has been running Fedora and Ubuntu (along with a few other distros that come and go) since I bought it four years ago. Current DE is LXDE (same as on my desktop PC); however, no problems with Gnome2, XFCE, or KDE when I've used them.
 
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Old 12-02-2012, 07:45 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by penguinator View Post
Is it possible to use a standard x86 distro on today's netbooks and not a netbook specific type distro?
I've used both Ubuntu 12.04 and Lubuntu 12.04/12.10 on my netbook, a Samsung N130. Lubuntu 12.10 what I decided to keep on it permanently though. There is a netbook interface but I consider it to be rather poor and use the standard desktop interface.
 
Old 12-02-2012, 11:33 AM   #8
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Mint should do. It depends on how much memory you have. I'd say the minimum requirements (and more is always better for performance) are
Mint with Cinnamon: NO — too slow
— Mate: 512MB
— Xfce: 384
— LXDE: 256
 
Old 12-02-2012, 01:40 PM   #9
qlue
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Quote:
Originally Posted by penguinator View Post
hello all,

I remember way back you needed a distro specifiably for netbooks eg. Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Does this still applies today? Is it possible to use a standard x86 distro on today's netbooks and not a netbook specific type distro?
It never did apply in reality! Ubuntu Netbook Remix was just standard Gnome based Ubuntu with extra stuff added to 'optimise' things for a smaller screen.
It was developed by the community and was quite unofficial.

Ubuntu replaced it with Netbook Edition. This saw the introduction of the Unity desktop.
That's when I stopped using The Netbook version and switched to the standard version for my netbook.

When Unity became the 'standard' version I switched to Crunchbang. For a netbook, it's a perfect, lightweight system with most of what you need as standard, but without the unneeded 'eye-candy'

But a Netbook is just an x86 computer afterall and will run almost any x86 distro. The only caveat is that some distros have too many background processes and screen effects for a basic machine.
 
Old 12-02-2012, 03:42 PM   #10
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Thanks to all the new repliers.

I had a gut feeling that a standard x86 distro should work on an atom ntebook but I posted my question just to be sure.After all, today's netbooks have dual cores and I seen one with an i3.
 
Old 12-02-2012, 09:46 PM   #11
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Quote:
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I had a gut feeling that a standard x86 distro should work on an atom ntebook but I posted my question just to be sure.
Dont get one of the new intel atom 'cedarview' (D2XXX/N2XXX) systems...the GPUs have virtually zero linux support.
 
Old 12-03-2012, 11:18 PM   #12
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Crunchbang was pretty slick. Quick and nifty.
 
  


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