Asus EEE PC running xubuntu +compiz

[Alfox64]

Have Easy Peasy running on My Eee 701 4G and it's pretty cool. But Xubuntu looks much faster. I'll put it on a thumbdrive to compare.

[eggchris]

is that a eee700 model? 2gb or 4gb? what ram?

[nigelmouse]

It's an eee701, 4GB storage, 512MB ram.

[eggchris]

amazing, really amazing. They are cheap as hell right now and they manage to do everything what I need. I run xubuntu with compiz on my desktop as primary system and seeing that I can do the same combo on an old eee is just amazing.

[skilo837]

also people coming from windows should try mandriva 09 its so much like windows it's scary.

but most average linux users wont like mandriva because it's not as configurable as debian or ubuntu

[tsuchan1]

Linux is never going to satisfy the mass market while it requires users to fiddle around installing their own drivers for basic equipment. It's like getting a car knowing included equipment will need manual wiring.. some users will be up for it, but most will not have the confidence

And it's a bit surprising in this case.. how do we come to have a specific distribution for a particular PC, where standard equipment doens't work? And with problems already solved by enthusiasts but not incoporated

[BrokenHorn90]

I wouldn't go as far as to say "never," just not any time soon. Linux is still relatively young, mind you. Also, the increasing popularity of Ubuntu is sure to capture the eyes of many (as it already has), soon enough. Ubuntu laptops are being sold now, as are Linux pre-installed systems, embedded devices like the G1 phone from Google/T-Mobile, etc. Not to mention manufacturers are now making their hardware more Linux-friendly by making sure they're compatible. Yup, just a matter or time.

[skilo837]

i agree .

most people think it's like sooo hard to install software inside linux but they dont realize that while they are browsing the net looking for software they have to pay for and download all we on linux machines have to do is open up the package manager type in what we are lookin for and install it or if u know exactly what ur lookin for just open a term and type sudo apt-get install "whatever" and bam it downloads it and installs it. very simple

[toyotacooper]

i would say, linux is very easy.

i had ubuntu 8.10 on a computer. it was good, but ran a little slow on the old pc. but after 10 minutes, the ubuntu was working with my internet pci card! all i had to do was install ndiswrapper. it was that easy. and, it comes preloaded with firefox and openoffice, two programs that most people only use.

[KusuriRX]

you realize all major changes in windows requried the same fiddleing read all the complaints about windows 1, 2, 95, ME, and vista, all of them require a lot of fiddling to be effective. the Fiddleing part is temporary so long as driver and software makers supply lack luster support, never say never.

[tsuchan1]

Hi KusuriRX... they need "fiddling-around" if you install the OS for yourself. That's a big challenge for Linux - Microsoft has as good as ensured that manufacturers sell PCs with Windows installed.

Issue 1> Users have already paid for and got Windows

Issue 2> Very few PCs have all the "fiddling" sorted by the manufacturers.

But in the case of eeeBuntu, it's beyond my understanding why nobody has found it necessary to get all the components working, and then fed back the fixes into the OS.

[donuthater]

i haven't had to install any drivers = Ubuntu 8.10

[tsuchan1]

Oh, that's very interesting.

Did I understand well, that you didn't install EEE-Buntu but just the regular Ubuntu 8.10 and yet everything worked perfectly straight away?

That makes me think two things:

1) Very encouraging, I want to try it.

2) In that case, I wonder what is the point of a separate eeeBuntu.

By the way, which model do you have?

[seepauliedie]

i believe eeeeeeebuntu is smaller.

[tsuchan1]

seepauliedie: fair point, I see.

[aca85nis]

would you be so kind and provide your eeePC specs?

processor, RAM, HDD...etc...

??!

[ChaosAngel667]

Hi, please I would like to know how did you do it?

[MAUROdns]

XFCE is great.

[DaVince21]

My main question is: does all Eee PC hardware still function well when installing regular XUbuntu? Asking because I'm going to be doing this very soon.

[nigelmouse]

Yep, not everything works out of the box but with some tweaks you can get everything working. There's very active forums for finding out the details, google is your friend

[diversenerd12]

wow. just wow. definitely shows the power of linux over windows

[davdi0032]

I installed...

eeexubuntu-7.10.3-desktop-i386­.iso

in EEE900, it works well,

But: No Web cam,No OpenOffice,Firefox2,no Battery Icon, problem with AVI & MP3 files,

[RyanPridgeon]

For the webcam you will have to install some standard webcam drivers, and for OpenOffice and Firefox, just install them, what else can I say?

Learn to use your packet manager. Linux is pretty useless unless you learn basic tools like the packet manager for installing drivers and applications.

Since a dispute a few years ago, linux can no longer ship with mp3 or avi drivers. For this you will need to use your packet manager to download encoders.

[BrokenHorn90]

Sir, I am envious of you tiny laptop with a superior OS xD Seriously, though, this makes me want to get Asus EEE PC.

[popdodle]

hey i have an ee and ive been wanting a new operating system but i can figure out how to put xubuntu on it, can u message back and tell me how please, oh and ice cuztomization, it looks like vista

[scottie2rock]

Is this a stock eee? Or did you upgrade to 2gb ram? Im gonna get mine in the mail tomorrow, nd im gonna try to install xubutu.. I have no linux experience, but ill sure give it a try. Nice vid btw.

[Gondee]

I would try normal Ubuntu then.

[wh333t]

shit is smooth!

[poelaertpieterjan]

it looks really great! but one questioni though, where can i download canon drivers for on Xubuntu? for my printer...

[guraknugen]

There are built in drivers for some Canon printers in Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu. If you are lucky one of them will work. In my case I had to download them from some place and if you have bad luck, there are no drivers for your printer. Canon are one of the worst manufacturers when it comes to drivers for Linux. My HP printer was automatically found and instlalled on both of my Ubuntu machines and I think that Brother provides Linux drivers on their web site. Canon? No way... :P

[JoeyRamonerulz]

Wow! That's one impressive little machine! :D I'm gonna buy one once I can afford it. How much did you pay for it? And was Xubuntu installed by default?

[goaliejr]

They're $400 I think, and it comes with a different OS I think, I can't remember the name, sorry Zandros or something..

[JoeyRamonerulz]

Yes, Xandros Linux is the default OS, but I don't know if Xubuntu can some as the default OS. Do you have one, goaliejr?

[goaliejr]

Nah, I don't have one at the moment, but I am seriously looking at buying one. I'm just comparing them to other UMPC's as the harddrive on the EEE is extraordinarily small...

[JoeyRamonerulz]

Yeah it really is, but I've heard it's a pretty good and fast PC. But like you said, the HDD is very small!

[goaliejr]

The biggest SD card I could find was 8GB, and I was just wondering if 8GB would be enough for me :|

With that SD Card, would I be able to put Ubuntu onto it with my desktop computer and install it from the SD card do you know?

[rightwinglibertarian]

There is 16 GB SDs on the market. Found one for approximately $130 when I browsed the web (716 swedish "kronor").

I just wonder why theese effects work on HIS Eee PC but not MINE. Mine are slow as hell.

[JoeyRamonerulz]

I think that should work, the .iso file for Ubuntu is just 600-something MB, so alternatively you could burn it to a regular CD and install it. Ubuntu on the EEE would be pretty awesome though, Ubuntu is simply the best OS I've tried, and the EEE PC looks really nifty. Doesn't it come with 4 or 8 GB built-in as well?

[goaliejr]

Blegh, I've partitioned my hdd and installed Ubuntu 8.04 yesturday, and I can't get my internet connection working

I can't install the drivers because it's in .exe which is for windows :[

[wallyllaw]

What drivers you want to install?

Usually most drivers are included into Linux kernel itself, so you usually don't install too much. After typical Windows installation, you'll install 5-8 drivers. For typical Ubuntu installation, you need only 0-2.

I guess you mean wireless connection? There is somewhere program called "hardware drivers" for 3rd party and restricted drivers.

You'll find support from ubuntuforums(english) or from your local ubuntu community. For me, that's Ubuntu Finland.

[LordZope]

if you buy it from effeicentpc or something you can have it with normal Ubuntu costermised with all the drivers

[ihatefatmonkeys]

I have Xubuntu on my eeePC but no wi-fi. Did you get yours to work? Where did you get the driver? Can you provide link to the resource? Thx.

[xRazienx]

lol

A little pc like this can run compiz and mine will die loading compiz =p

Man, I sure need a upgrade on this pc ^^

[ladyattis]

So how is the heat response to the work that the intel video chip has to do compared to having no composite video acceleration?

[skuma718]

it looks good it inspired me to switch to linux... now i run eeeXubuntu...just one question

dude how did u run the compiz... every time i run 'compiz --replace' it locks to one desktop view and that all... no effects nada any suggestions?

[trepiccanti]

when i saw your desktop wallpaper i thought -what the duck?-

[nigelmouse]

Hehe.

[Zalariz]

Very nice but where do you download thees compiz? dose it comes with xubuntu normally?

[nigelmouse]

Compiz is an add-in package for xubuntu. If you search for it you will find many sites with walkthrough instructions of how to add it to xubuntu

[Zalariz]

pretty nice!, what is your harwar compatibilities is it 2GB HD with 512RAM? will this option works with what you did to your notebook?

What about the original OS that comes with the Asus eee notebook did you format it? or duel booted it with xubuntu?

Did you use a external dvd drive to install xubuntu or a SD card?

Thanks for the vid!

[nigelmouse]

The HW is the standard 701 with 4gig sd and 512Mb ram, I have not modified it in any way.

I wiped the original OS completely to give me as much disk space as possible.

I installed it using a USB CD drive and a CD of xubuntu.

[AmnAbdulla9]

where's the sound? turn it up a little bit.

[asphixmx]

Just curious...why xubuntu? Have you tried Ubuntu (gnome) with the Asus EEE? What can you tell about performance (I know it has a CeleronM)? Thanks for sharing your video.

[simonim]

because xubuntu is faster (uses less processes) and also its a known fact that gnome is faster and lighter then kde

[cornflaker]

Woot I hate kde (it's just so... ugh!) Gnome's good though. I heard they're releasing KDE for windows, hopefully they do the same with gnome.

(I finally gave up on ubuntu when it refused to work with my hardware + I like to be able to play games)

[Amebixfan]

Not only that, it's pretty buggy and full of fail.

Gnome was a good starter for me, but it's also pretty slow at times

xfce is just perfect, I love the customization, look, and fastness of it.

[meox45]

Xfce is fast... and Xubuntu but if someone could help me get compiz on Xfce that would help... if you can PM me or leave a comment on my page on howto enable compiz on Xfce ~ Xubuntu

[spacer77]

if anyones waiting on the price drop, keep waiting. Solid State media is the issue..it doesn't seem to be coming down in price anytime soon. Thats the reason the price wasn't what they suspected it would be.

[eliden]

if you wonder why this thing loads so fast, it's because flash based as your hard drive... so it has to be fast... its not your typical hard drive that spins and reads/writes... limited to its components...

[celinocaliente2002]

holy crap. the video performance is incredible. I wasn't expecting that with such a small price tag

[mohanpram]

I am interested in buying one, especially if they can Xbuntu on it. ;-)

[hotlatinmonkey]

Same here! I like the fact that it's ultra-portable, but I didn't want to use the watered down linux that it comes with... Xbuntu = Very Sexy!

Sweet video!

[tdrusk]

Why doesn't the picture fit the screen? I am interested in one of these, but not if it looks like that.

[nigelmouse]

The picture does fit the screen, but the screen doesn't fill the lid.

[tdrusk]

ah I noticed that last night. Cool stuff. I would buy one if they were cheaper.

[JonRF86]

Haha, as if £200/$399 wasn't cheap enough for a brand new laptop.

[tdrusk]

All previous talk said it might be $199, which sounded great. I will wait for a price drop. They would be great for college.

[AdamsHouse]

If it was released at $199 you'd probably say the same and wait for a price-drop. You're stingy, just buy one or get a crappy Dell.

[LordZope]

No offense whats wrong with waiting for the price to drop if you don't need a PC immediately don't buy one immediately cos they will get cheaper.

What's wrong with cheaper.

[AdamsHouse]

Because the price is already cheap enough, it can't go down much more.

[LordZope]

Yea I'll get one soon in time to go back to school the 2GB ones are £179 in PC world when the 4GB ones go to just over that I'll grab one considering a 4GB SD card on Amazon is £7 it shouldn't be too long.

[everyunitone]

Very impressive! I don't suppose you have posted your compiz config files online anywhere for others to use? Would be a fantastic resource.

[nigelmouse]

I don't think there's much point in posting the config files as I haven't tweaked them at all. They're just the standard xubuntu files along with compiz installed.

[darealbigtigga]

I have a question. How much room did xubuntu take up on the Eee drive? Thanks.

[nigelmouse]

I've added a few packages since I installed it so I can't tell you how much the original install took. I think it was about 2 gig though.

[paintandswim09]

amazing... if there is not one under the tree the morning after tomorrow i'm running to my desktop and buying one online... salivation

[gibson9001]

did you need to add more ram for compiz to run that smoothly? thanks dude!

[nigelmouse]

nope, this is using the original spec'd machine with no hardware changes.

[LinuxGalore]

Apparently there is a specific Xubuntu distro image for these machines in the works called Eeexubuntu. The kernel has been custom built for this poarticular machine so the boot time is improved overt the standard version of Xubuntu.

[nigelmouse]

Yes, I've read about eeexubuntu but I think you're slightly mistaken with a few points. It doesn't have a custom kernel, it uses the stock ubuntu one. It isn't optimised for boot times, the eeexubuntu cd simply configures itself correctly for the eee's hardware, and includes the native wifi drivers.

It's not technically a distro because once it's installed it uses the ubuntu repositories. Technically it's a boot cd/image that has been tailored to the eee.

[trublurider]

that is so cool - linux rules!

[annabwashere]

Very cool. You just convinced a Linux newbie to get one and load up Xubuntu and Compiz.

[jmh1]

I wonder, would this work if xubuntu was booted from a SDHC card?

[nigelmouse]

I don't see why not

[nigelmouse]

From completely cold to login screen takes 49 seconds, though it doesn't seem that long when you watch it.

In fact, 7 seconds are powering on and getting past the BIOS screen, 2-3 more seconds to get past the grub loader, the boot process itself is less than 40 seconds.

I also timed it from suspend, it took 9 seconds to be usable.

[historywillabsolve]

i'm waiting for hte 8g version to come down in price

[osnap32]

Sweet dude

[nvikram]

AWESOME!! how did you get xubuntu on the Eee?

[nigelmouse]

I used an external usb cd drive and booted from that. It was pretty straightforward.

[ethanemc505]

MONEY...mine comes tomorrow

btw whats the difference between xubuntu and regular ubuntu?

[nvikram]

xubuntu is just a lighter version of ubuntu w/ the same exact repositories!

[gideonMorrison]

That is truely awesome. How did you get it to work?