Boing Boing has a chart listing down what works and what doesn’t when you install Hackintosh on your netbook. Apparently the MSI Wind and Dell Mini 9 winds.

Be sure to read through the comments for more tips.

If you remember, Nokia’s Maemo and Intel’s Moblin project recently merged to make a Linux operating system optimized for netbooks, phones, and other internet-connected devices like tablet computers. The result of the merger was MeeGo Linux. Since Maemo is set to replace Symbian in Nokia’s N-Series and Moblin has one of the prettiest interfaces in Linux computing, expectations for this project are understandably high – for example, I was impressed with Maemo and I found Moblin neat.

The MeeGo team has reached a milestone. They were able to release MeeGo 1.0 for netbooks, and you can easily install it on your computer. Brasd of Liliputing has done a Live USB test, and this is what he has to say about the release:

The operating system is fairly stable at this point and it offers a few features that might make it worth checking out if you’re a netbook users. First, it’s fast. I mean, really, really fast. I tested MeeGo on an MSI Wind U135 with an Intel Atom N450 processor. It’s not the fastest machine in the world, but it booted the operating system in XX seconds and switching between windows was ridiculously fast — although it sometimes took a few seconds to actually launch an application. I should point out that I was running MeeGo from a USB flash drive. It’s possible the OS could be even more responsive if you install it to your computer’s hard drive.

He also notes that since the operating system is new, there aren’t too many apps out there. But now that version 1.0 has been released, we can expect more apps to be developed in the future. Download MeeGo here.

I’m pretty sure there are lots of you who are pretty curious as to what really is the big deal with Linux, and there may be a few Linux virgins among you guys who are willing to run it on your machines. However, I’m willing to bet that most of you guys aren’t that tech-savvy and that you would’ve wanted to install it on your Asus Eee PCs, but the thing is, the instructions regarding creating a Live CD, mounting the .ISO file, and partitioning the hard drive might be a little overwhelming for newbies. If you’re really into installing Ubuntu (or any other Linux flavor for that matter) you might solder on and be successful if you have the time to do so, but if you’re to scared to even give it a try, theres this little trick you can use to save you time and effort.

Ubuntu has long been using this installer called Wubi to help ease Windows users into running Ubuntu on their computers. It’s an .EXE file that grabs the Ubuntu .ISO from their servers, or if you’ve already downloaded it, from your hard drive. And it’ll go about installing Ubuntu like it was an ordinary Windows application. The next time you reboot your computer, you’ll be able to choose if you want to go to your crusty old Windows installation or if you want to go to your shiny new Ubuntu partition. And if you get tired of it, heck, you can uninstall it just like any other program!

A few caveats however: since this isn’t really a true Ubuntu installation on a separate partition, your Ubuntu experience might be as slow as molasses. But it’s going to be a great way to try out Ubuntu without making changes to your hard drive.

Us geeks rejoiced when the latest and greatest Ubuntu version, 10.04 was released. It has a new look and feel, faster boot times, and it’s more cloud-centric than ever, and, well, it’s great. But you know, Windows actually beats Ubuntu for once.

You see, Phoronix has tested Ubuntu 10.04 against Windows 7, and they found out that it’s a power hog compared to Microsoft’s operating system.

From Liliputing:

Out of the box, Ubuntu 10.04 used 56% more power than Windows 7 Professional. At least that’s what happened when running the tests on an Asus Eee PC 1201N, which is a 12.1 inch notebook with a dual core Atom 330 processor and NVIDIA IOn graphics. It’s a fairly power hungry computer by netbook standards under the best of circumstances. Throwing Ubuntu 10.04 on the notebook looks like it could seriously impact battery life.

Phoronix also tested a Lenovo thinkPad T61 15.4 inch laptop with n Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 processor, and found that while Windows 7 still used less power than Ubuntu 10.04, the difference dropped to 14%.

I don’t have Ubuntu 10.04 to test their findings myself. Okay, I find it surprising that Ubuntu now is the power hog compared to Windows. To be quite honest, this is kind of disappointing. A 56% difference out of the box is a huge number. Even if after tweaks, the difference dropped to 14%, it’s still a big deal for me, especially if I run it on an Eee PC, where every bit of battery life is precious. Give me something like 5% out of the box and I’d be sold.

What do you think? Do you have first-hand experience on Ubuntu’s power management capabilities versus Windows’s? Tell me about it in the comments!

[http://www.myasuseee.com/?p=851

From Lifehacker:

Built from the same guts as the andLinux system that lets you seamlessly run Linux apps on your Windows desktop, Portable Ubuntu is a stand-alone package that runs a fairly standard (i.e. orange-colored, GNOME-based) version of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. It just doesn’t bother creating its own desktop, and puts all its windows inside your Windows, er, windows.

Know what? I am so stoked to use this alongside my Windows installation; in fact I am downloading this program right now so I can run Ubuntu. I’ll keep you guys posted. Meanwhile, here’s a screencast:

Finally, Jolicloud “Robby” is coming out before this month ends. I know, I know, you’re probably wondering what’s new with the update. First off, there will be supporyt for Intel Atom Pine Trail and VIA C7-M processors. But from the Jolicloud blog’s announcement of the Robby, here are other new features:

Until now, we have been using Mozilla Prism for the rendering of web apps. After evaluating the different technologies and opportunities, we have decided to switch our entire web application platform to a Chrome foundation. All our 600+ web apps in the App Center will be automatically converted to Chrome.

As a user, you won’t need to do anything manually, everything will be done automatically via the update manager.

The Jolicloud team believes that switching to Chrome will lead to a faster browsing experience on older netbooks because of the better memory usage. Plus, Chrome extensions can be supported within all web apps.

They do claim that switching to Chrome does not, in any way, affect their commitment to Firefox. Firefox still remains the browser of choice on Jolicloud, and in fact, Robby runs Firefox 3.6.

There is also a desktop mode that lets you use Jolicloud on larger screens so that using Jolicloud on nettops all web and native apps can be organized in a way that fits your screen. This lets you use Jolicloud not only on your netbook, but also on nettops (or basically anything with large screens) using the same guts as your favorite netbooks.

Once Jolicloud Robby comes out, I am going to switch my old Asus Eee 701 immediately. What about you guys?

So let’s say you run into a bit of a problem with your beloved netbook and you can’t quite remember what are the specs of your Eee PC. You’d take a peek into your PC’s manual to find the specs, but the problem is that the manual’s nowhere to be found. What do you do?

Before you panic and/or rip out your computer’s guts just to figure out what exact model number your motherboard has, there’s actually an easier way to figure out your computer’s specs – both hardware and software. Just download and install LookInMyPC, a tool that generates a complete, comprehensive system profile that includes information on all installed hardware and software. Additionally it provides system diagnostic information such as details on running processes, installed services, startup programs, Windows updates and hot fixes, active network and Internet connections, TCP/IP port usage, event log detail, and much more. All this is provided in an easy to read, formatted report that you can view and print using your web browser.

So instead of spending hours poking into your computer – or your computer illiterate next door neighbor’s PC – LookInMyPC will give you a report in no time, and you’d be able to figure out what’s wrong with it and get down to business in no time. The utility won’t make any changes to your system at all, no matter what issues it identifies. The reports open up in a browser window and many of the results—like system hardware vendors and application names—are hyperlinked so you can quickly Google-search things you don’t recognize.

[via]

If you’re on the lookout for a lightweight Linux installation that would be perfect for your Asus Eee PC – especially if you’re unluckily stuck with the really old Eee PC 701s – try Leeenux Linux. The weirdly-named lightweight Linux distribution is made mainly for Asus Eee PCs with 7″ screens, but that doesn’t mean that other netbooks can’t use it as well. The developer boasts that everything works out-of-the-box, and that every new release uses less resources than ever. The amazing thing about Leeenux is that when it’s installed, it only takes 1.2 GB of storage space, so if you have the 2GB surf models, you’re going to have some space left on your Eee PC.

They just released an update, so if you’re running version 1.3, now is the right time to download and install the newest version. They’re already on version 2.0, and the Leeenux website boasts that the current .ISO is only 359MB – that’s a huge slimming down; their previous version was 486MB.

From Liliputing:

The latest update brings a number of new applications including Firefox 3.7 beta, Thunderbird and Lightning for calendar, email, and contact management, and a number of emulators for old school Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis games. Because you know, when you’ve only got a limited amount of storage space and screen real estate, old school gaming is the way to go. Or something like that.

Yes, old-school gaming on the Asus Eee! I’ve been doing that for ages, actually, but now that it’s slip-streamed into the OS we don’t have to worry about configuring stuff anymore.

Download Leeenux here.

Maybe this might interest you then. It’s a little secret for Windows 7 users, called “GodMode” it’s basically a folder where all system configuration shortcuts are contained. Yes, it even beats Control Panel, believe it or not. It’s a bit overwhelming to figure out, and I’m using it now on my Windows 7 machine and I don’t understand half of what’s in that folder. But I like having one easy shortcut to control EVERYTHING on my computer. I don’t like hunting for solutions or Googling where to change this obscure setting when it’s all, you know, in one big easy to find shortcut on my Documents folder.

To enable this “GodMode,” just right click on your Desktop (or anywhere), choose New > Folder, and then name the folder “GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}“. The folder icon will change to the Control Panel icon, and when you open it up you’ll get a boatload of options.

Apparently, “GodMode” isn’t anything new though. It’s been around since Windows 95, and searching for tips.txt on Windows 95 will show you that particular trick. Microsoft has a support article here.

I don’t really mind though. I like GodMode and I’m using it a lot. Happy tweaking, Windows 7 owners!

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