Ubuntu Netbook Remix

If you are like me who has found a new home in Ubuntu Linux then you should be happy to know that with the coming of the new mini laptops come a remix of Ubuntu tailored to perform better on smaller screen mini laptops - the Ubuntu Netbook Remix. The current version they are working seems to mimic the Asus EEE's tabbed programs (Xandros version).

Mobile Laptops Reinvented

If you like the Asus EEE, and planning on getting one soon, I would suggest you wait. The success of the EEE PCs has caught the attention of other companies and some are now offering similar or better ultra mobile laptops. Even OSs are now being re-worked to make it better on smaller limited resource laptops like linux.

Some of these new laptops to watch for are: Acer Aspire One starting at $399, Dell Mini Inspiron (not announced yet), HP 2133 Mini-note, Everex Cloudbook $399. There are also several mini-laptops springing out of Asia that starts at $299 like the Alpha 400 but these products are not commonly known. Prices of new or current offerings can go down as more of these become available in the market. So let's just wait.

Ubuntu and Epson Stylus R280 - Plug and Play

Another surprise today. I got a new free printer when I purchased a new camera. It's an Epson Stylus R280. After plugging the printer USB to my server and pressing the "ON" button, Ubuntu popped up a message "Epson Stylus R280 Printer added". Wow! Now that is what you call plug and play. What should I do now with the CD installation program that come with the printer?

Where to get apps from the Net?

It is recommended and is safer to get all your apps that you install on your Linux system from your Distro's repository. There are several ways to install things on Ubuntu: 1)Add/Remove from the Applications Menu 2) Synaptic Package Manager from Systems Admin Menu and of course 3) by the terminal using "sudo aptitude install .

There are times when some apps are not available in your distro's repository or an updated (unsupported) version is not available (yet), then you can get them from the web.

Be very careful where you download apps and make sure you know what you are doing :)

Two websites that I recommend to get some apps from are: www.getdeb.net and cnr.com

What Does Your Desktop Look Like? Gnome KDE Compared

When you are in MS Windows you already know that the default desktop has a start menu button on the left bottom of the screen, the files can be found using Explorer and your desktop is mostly like everyone else's. Linux is a different story. There is more than one Desktop Environment you can choose from. Two of the major DEs are GNOME and KDE. The first things that I always read when people try out Linux is what is better or what is the difference between GNOME and KDE . This blog about the comparison of GNOME and KDE (although a bit dated) is a good starting point.

Asus EEE 900 - Ultra Mini Laptop

This is my ideal laptop on the go. At 2 lbs, an 8.9 inch screen and a built-in wifi, this is a sufficient system to surf the web, watch movies or photos and check emails and chat on the go.

Smaller laptops are generally more expensive than their regular size counterparts, but at about $550 (more expensive in some stores right now because its out of stock) this is a really reasonably priced laptop. Other systems at this size cost in the $1000 mark and above. Some articles say to wait (if you can) till the new Intel Atom processors are out which maybe used on future releases on this system.

A review of Asus EEE 900 from LaptopMag.com

Ubuntu 8.04 is Ready to Take on Windows

This is an article from eweek:

"Canonical has marshaled the best of what the open-source world has to offer in Ubuntu 8.04, a Linux-based operating system that's capable of mounting a serious challenge to Microsoft Windows on mainstream desktops and notebooks. During my tests of Ubuntu 8.04, both in its final form and in a series of test releases that led up to the official launch April 24, I've been impressed enough with the distribution to award it the eWEEK Labs Analyst's Choice designation." Read on...

Ubuntu 8.04 Feature of the Day - Panels

This time I am taking a close look at the panels (taskbars - in Windows). This series of posts is intended for people who have not tried or is curious about Ubuntu (and Linux in general).

Ubuntu has 2 panels - top and bottom. (The panels are actually part of GNOME, one of the more popular Linux Desktop Environments. Ubuntu comes with GNOME by default). These panels are customizable. You can delete the top panel, delete both panels. Add more than two panels, and even put panels on each side of your screen (more on this later).

Desktop screenshot. Look at the top and bottom panels.

To the right of the the top panel you have the Applications Menu with all the programs installed, Places, a dropdown list of shortcuts or bookmarks for locations in your computer, and the Systems menu for configuring the computer.


When ever you bookmark a place in Nautilus (window manager) it is automatically added to the Places Menu. It also automatically adds any mounted drives and storage.

This is where you customize your computer. The dropdown menu makes navigating in Ubuntu faster because it requires less "mouse clicks" than a pop-up window with all the configurations that you have to click twice to launch an item.

Synaptic Package Manager in where you search, install and remove thousands of open-source programs available with just a few clicks. You will almost always find the program you need from here.

After the menus are the quick launch icons. This is where you place icons or shortcuts of programs you often use. It launches the program in one click. My list shows: firefox, thunderbird, the terminal window, trash bin, calculator and leafpad - note editor.

There are several ways of adding and removing these icons. The easiest that I know is just by dragging the icons to the to the tool bar. From the menu list of programs, click and hold on the icon and just drag it to the group. Deleting them is as easy as a right-click, remove-from-panel. You can also add a quicklaunch icon by right-click, add-to-panel, application launcher.

How to add or remove more panels or add panel applets? Just right click on the bar and click on the choice you want.


And lastly, below is a screenshot of the window for adding applets to the panel.