MSI u180 distro?

What Linux distro to choose for msi u180 netbook (4gb ram extended)?

I've tried installing 64x Mint with KDE but somehow the DE wouldn't activate so I was stuck inside Console.

I've tried almost every distro possible and can't get it to work. On Ubuntu / U / L / X it's even worse than Mint because Mint at least gives me access to Terminal, while Ubuntus freeze right before loading DE.

It could be GPU related. Any ideas?

Hi:

What kind of netbook?
If another OS is already on this netbook that info. is a need to know as well.

You mentioned that you tried to install Linux Mint-KDE

How by burning and ISO to DVD/CD or USB?

http://www.msi.com/product/nb/U180.html

Came with W7 Starter. I've tried almost every possible Ubuntu distro (USB was my method of choice trans-loaded with Rufus). I haven't had a problem running trials of aforementioned distros on other PCs and laptops.

Google "cedar trail ubuntu forums" and you will find a wealth of info and how-to's to get Ubuntu up and running on your netbook with Intel Cedar Trail graphics.

Thanks, I figured, but is it worth it considering the GPU appears to be slow on Linux from what I've been reading?

I'm not sure I understand your question. Here is a list of Ubuntu-certified hardware: http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/

Originally Posted by m3c4 http://www.msi.com/product/nb/U180.html Came with W7 Starter. I've tried almost every possible Ubuntu distro (USB was my method of choice trans-loaded with Rufus). I haven't had a problem running trials of aforementioned distros on other PCs and laptops.

Dual booting with Win's 7 shouldn't be a problem; provided you shrink that partition to make room for Ubuntu.

I looked at the page to the link that snowpine provided and I didn't see MSI in the list.
This video may help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejzYeKMmzPo

Here is a whole page of articles in regard to the MSI u180 Netbook alongside Ubuntu-

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_rn=...fd0f82bcfe473d

My msi U180 netbook came with Windows 7 starter, to which I have added (as below) Lubuntu 13.04 (beta 2 version) - which works fine. The final release is due at the end of this week.

In preparation I used a "live" Linux running from a USB stick, though a USB attached live CD would presumably do instead. To boot from the stick it seemed necessary to first go into the BIOS (DEL key on startup) and make sure the stick was in the boot list. Then save (F10) and restart, pressing F11 to get the boot choice. The live system must be able to change partitions - I use gparted for this. (On reflection, the partition changes could presumably have been done within Windows.)

The hard drive had 4 primary partitions - the maximum possible. The last (/dev/sda4 - D: in Windows and with partition label "Data") was effectively empty. This was replaced with an extended partition (still /dev/sda4) with a new, smaller D: - /dev/sda5 - inside, formatted as NTFS. This left room within the extended partition for Linux.

I prefer the LXDE desktop in Lubuntu to "Unity". I copied the 32bit installation download to a USB stick using "sudo ddrescue -fv iso-file-name /dev/sdX logfile" though other tools such as plain dd could be used. (sdX was sdb in my case - yours may be different so make sure you know what you are doing.) With this (and checking the boot selection) I choose to manually define the partitions in the free space - a 3GB swap partitions and a 10GB "/" for now). Installation proceeded smoothly and Lubuntu is working with the correct screen resolution - a problem on the U180 with earlier releases.

GRUB gives the usual options, including Windows 7 if wanted.

Note: I also compressed my C: and swapped to a smaller, solid state, drive. Though Windows 7 still works it is requesting a start-up repair on entry. This takes quite a while, then fails. However, if I choose normal startup rather than repair it goes straight in and works fine. But I will normally use Lubuntu.

Swap partitions over 1 gig on most systems, especially a netbook, are a waste of space, they're just not used.

A swap partition in the size of physical RAM is needed if you want to use hibernation. Since this netbook has 4GB of RAM a swap partition of 4GB is not that unusual.

But anyways, the PowerVR SGS545 that is used in the Atom D/N2xxx models is not really supported under Linux, you will get no 3D acceleration and no video acceleration, so using that machine with Linux is not really recommended.

Fedora in standard VGA mode appears to work fine on MSI u180. There are no drivers necessary for the DE to work.

In case you are still running the u180 and would be interested in an update, I successfully run the very latest 64-bit Mint 18 with the Xfce desktop at native resolution.

https://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=222