Linux on netbooks

[Daniel Hedlund]

Most netbooks that are 1.6ghz and above should be able to play videos
fullscreen.  I have a Samsung NC10 I bought a year ago.  I run Linux
on it and have been able to stream DVDs to the device using VLC and
watch videos on Hulu without trouble.

Keyboard layout was a big thing for me.  A lot of netbooks used to
move some of the punctuation keys around and that's a huge pain if you
try to do any programming on them.  Something I didn't think about at
the time of purchase was the button layout for the trackpad.  I used
middle-click extensively and, while you can emulate it with a
simultaneous left and right click, it doesn't work too well if you've
only got one button that pivots like a lever (NC10 only has one
button/bar).  Some newer netbooks are now losing the buttons
altogether to make the trackpad larger (Dell Inspiron Mini 10).


On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 09:06, David Kramer <david-8uUts6sDVDvs2Lz0fTdYFQ at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> I've been casually toying with the idea of getting a netbook, but last
> weekend I decided I probably will.  I was at a convention where I saw a
> lot of them, and the screen and keyboards on the newer ones look pretty
> usable.  I mostly want to use it for note taking at meetings and mail/web
> when traveling. In the "That would be too cool for words" camp would be to
> use it as a MythTV client, but I doubt that's possible.  I think a 10"
> screen is about right.  And since it's mostly for note taking, the
> keyboard can't bee TOO contorted from a ful sized keyboard.  I'm open to
> advice on specific units and brands.
>
> I have an important high-level decision to make; Do I get a Windows one
> and make it dual-boot with Linux, or get one that already has Linux
> installed?  My wife, bless her, said "You will never be happy with it
> unless you install the Linux distro you want yourself".  She might be
> right.  I've been looking at the Ubuntu netbook remix.  I'm not sure I
> would like the UI, but it looks like one can change that later.  At the
> very least their compatibility list will be useful.  Since many of these
> units have 120 or 160GB hard drives, having two OSes shouldn't be a
> problem, and makes it a little more useful.
>
> Thanks in advance for any advice.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org
> http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>