Playing with Ubuntu on an Acer Aspire One Netbook

Of course, it's in our nature to tinker so with the new release of Ubuntu 9.04 and it's new "Netbook Remix", I figured this was the perfect opportunity to check out a mature alternative. Using the tools provided on Ubuntu's website, I formatted a USB memorystick and loaded on the Netbook Remix disk image, and booted from this on the Aspire One Netbook.

The install was very smooth indeed. With every iteration of Ubuntu, the usability gets a lot better, no doubt about it. The install did take a significant amount of time however, because the SSD disk is not a performance part - understandable considering the price of the Netbook. The image itself has to extract and configure all the component applications which took the bulk of the time.

Once installed however, Ubuntu presents itself with an amazing Netbook interface. One of the major enhancements is having a combined title bar and applications bar in one, saving precious screen space. A click of the Ubuntu logo in the top left hand corner brings up the full screen application launcher, with category groupings on the left, a large area for applications in the middle and access to folders and shutdown on the right. Other running applications are displayed, icon only next to the Ubuntu logo on the top left. The system tray/dock is on the right, and the running application with its relevant window controls take up the remaining space in the top middle. Particular attention has been put into transitions and fading effects which are tastefully done and do not feel redundant.

That said, if you prefer the classic Ubuntu setup, you can easily switch back and forth within a few clicks using the Preferences option.

The only delays are generally incurred by SSD disk access which can be slow, but getting used to this quirk doesn't take long. As a general rule, if the system is unresponsive and the SSD access light is on, you know that you will get control again within a few seconds, and once your application is loaded, you likely wont have that wait again, unless you're doing some heavy work - which is what the Netbook isn't designed for.

My only other gripe is that Wireless LAN doesn't work out of the box, which is midly disappointing considering the prevalance of the Acer Aspire One. As yet, being on a Wired LAN, I haven't invested time in fixing this but having a look at the Ubuntu wiki shows that it shouldn't be too difficult, so I will try that soon. As ever, Ubuntu's support is generally amazing - community fostering efforts from Jono Bacon have certainly given Ubuntu the well deserved friendly reputation it has.

For the moment, I can't see myself switching to any other operating system on this Netbook, I highly recommend anyone with a Netbook running Linux to consider this as an alternative, more evolved experience.