If you have come here looking for a way to install Skype, visit this post instead.
By sheer coincidence, I got my hands on an Asus EeePC just in time for the Ubuntu 9.10 release. Given the state of Windows XP on it, I was left with no option but to do a clean install of UNR.
Before
The netbook was virus infected and was crashing as soon as it booted. Not even the safe mode command prompt only worked! So I decided to wipe the factory installed Windows XP and install UNR instead. It did take a bit of time to find out what to be downloaded and how to install.
The guide at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UNR/Installation/Easy suggests that the img file be downloaded, but there is no img file for the Karmic release.
But when I landed on this page, then things got rolling from there.
Prerequisites for installing using Windows
- Download UNetbootin. No installation needed
- Download the UNR iso. Use the torrent file if possible.
- Have a USB stick handy
- Run UNetBootin and create a bootable flash drive.
- You are ready!
Installing UNR
- Insert the USB disk into EeePC
- Press ESC when the EeePC splash screen comes
- Select the USB disk to boot
-
Ubuntu boots up
- This was actually useful as I was able to back up the data on the netbook.
- You can then click on the “Install Ubuntu 9.10” icon to begin the pretty straight forward installation.
Mini pictorial review
The new interface if well thought out, but a few applications are still too big. Either they waste screen real estate or they have some dialogs that just do not fit into the tiny screen.













Final Thoughts
Although I have mostly highlighted deficiencies above, the truth is that it is a rock solid OS. I am very pleased with the polish that Ubuntu in general and particularly UNR has. The netbook feels fast and light. But the real test is when my sis uses it. Hope she leaves a comment soon.
4 replies on “Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10”
haha.. loved the last line! i am putting UNR to test!!
let me give the comment in parts.
part 1 : am scared. first of all it does not have microsoft office, and open office is giving problems! hope i find it fast and light too!
part 2: after i get the netbook. 🙂
Does the EeePC have a cd-rom drive? My Acer Timeline doesn’t have one and the UNetbootin based installer gave me immense amount of grief for that. After two or three failed tries, I discovered that Ubuntu now has an official tool to create USB installers: the usb-creator. It needs Linux to run, which I have, and works flawlessly.
So in summary: if you have to do a USB install on a CD-ROM free machine, use usb-creator.
No, EeePC does not have a CD drive. I used a 4GB USB Stick to install UNR. UNetbootin on Windows 7 worked fine. I think it had some issues with the format of the drive. Once I formated is as FAT32 everything worked.
So in summary: use what works for you ;).
Or usb-creator on Linux, UNetbootin on Windows
Hi I have an asus pc900 12G who came with XP. I clean installed UNR, but wondering. Which drive to put it on? The 4gb or the 8 gb?
I figured when I dowload the updates the 4gb migt not be enough anymore? I just can’t figure the disk partition part.