The Netbook Conumdrum - A Case Study
Sometime back I wrote about netbooks and how they were morphing into what to all intents and purposes were UMPC class laptop computers. That trend has continued and the small Intel Atom processor equiped laptops have pretty well taken over the market for small ultra portable computers. They are still lacking in some respects - mostly in keyboard size and layout and they have for the most part gone over to Windows XP or Windows 7 for operating systems instead of the modified Linux OS's that the breed started out with. Early last year after my sister grew tired of trying to get a Dell Mini 9 that came with an operating system that was based on Ubuntu to work for her she gave it to me. After much fiddling with it and not a little money spent on upgrading it has finally come into its own as a reliable small laptop suitable for casual use. What follows is a rundown on what it took to do it.
The Mini 9 as it came from Dell was/is a nice looking little package barely larger than the ASUS EEEPC 701 that originated the breed. But it was a miserable performer, compromised by an operating system that was a poorly done takeoff on Ubuntu 8.04 that lacked usable wireless drivers, had only 4GB of storage and 512 MB of RAM.
Having confirmed that the operating system as supplied by Dell was more or less unusable as supplied, the first move was to try a new operating system - Dell had sent a replacement "restore" disk with what to all intents was a pure version of Ubuntu 8.04 with the needed wireless drivers. When the computer manufacturer all but abandons the version of the OS that is supplied on a machine this says a lot about the problems with it. The "new" version on the restore disk was a major improvement and fairly usable - but I was determined to find something better.
Given the small size of the "hard drive" - for all intents and purposes a 4 GB flash drive, either a small linux OS like Puppy Linux or a severely trimmed down version of Windows XP ( using N-lite) were the only practical choices. Instead, I opted to try changing out the 4 GB solid state drive for something with a larger capacity. Thus the first major expense - a Run Core 32GB SSD made for the Mini 9. At the same time the RAM was increased to 2GB. Doing this eliminated the need to do a custom version of Windows XP - anything - even Vista or Windows 7 now fits and runs reasonably well. Also, since the Mini 9 has the ability to boot from a USB drive it is possible to set up a USB key or hard drive as a second drive and boot from it. Just be careful setting it up lest you make the Windows install unbootable without the extra drive attached.
So what OS am I now using on it? After a trial run with Vista Ultimate that ran OK but didn't leave enough space on the Run Core drive for much in the way of files the drive was formatted and Windows 7 Home Premium loaded. One thing that Microsoft did right with Windows 7 was trimming down the overall size of the install from that of it's Vista predecessors and there is enough room for my basic files - documents, photos, and a trimmed down music file are available when I'm using the Mini 9 away from home. I've also set up a USB drives to boot Linux Mint and Puppy Linux.
What was the point of going to all of this trouble? Main reason was to make this little machine as usable as possible and incidently have some fun along the way. It is now reliable and well suited for casual use away from home - browsing, email, watching ripped movies, listening to music, etc. Still has the limits/problems imposed by the small keyboard though so serious or prolonged use is not in the cards. If I was limited to one computer the Mini 9 would not be my choice.
The Mini 9 as it came from Dell was/is a nice looking little package barely larger than the ASUS EEEPC 701 that originated the breed. But it was a miserable performer, compromised by an operating system that was a poorly done takeoff on Ubuntu 8.04 that lacked usable wireless drivers, had only 4GB of storage and 512 MB of RAM.
Having confirmed that the operating system as supplied by Dell was more or less unusable as supplied, the first move was to try a new operating system - Dell had sent a replacement "restore" disk with what to all intents was a pure version of Ubuntu 8.04 with the needed wireless drivers. When the computer manufacturer all but abandons the version of the OS that is supplied on a machine this says a lot about the problems with it. The "new" version on the restore disk was a major improvement and fairly usable - but I was determined to find something better.
Given the small size of the "hard drive" - for all intents and purposes a 4 GB flash drive, either a small linux OS like Puppy Linux or a severely trimmed down version of Windows XP ( using N-lite) were the only practical choices. Instead, I opted to try changing out the 4 GB solid state drive for something with a larger capacity. Thus the first major expense - a Run Core 32GB SSD made for the Mini 9. At the same time the RAM was increased to 2GB. Doing this eliminated the need to do a custom version of Windows XP - anything - even Vista or Windows 7 now fits and runs reasonably well. Also, since the Mini 9 has the ability to boot from a USB drive it is possible to set up a USB key or hard drive as a second drive and boot from it. Just be careful setting it up lest you make the Windows install unbootable without the extra drive attached.
So what OS am I now using on it? After a trial run with Vista Ultimate that ran OK but didn't leave enough space on the Run Core drive for much in the way of files the drive was formatted and Windows 7 Home Premium loaded. One thing that Microsoft did right with Windows 7 was trimming down the overall size of the install from that of it's Vista predecessors and there is enough room for my basic files - documents, photos, and a trimmed down music file are available when I'm using the Mini 9 away from home. I've also set up a USB drives to boot Linux Mint and Puppy Linux.
What was the point of going to all of this trouble? Main reason was to make this little machine as usable as possible and incidently have some fun along the way. It is now reliable and well suited for casual use away from home - browsing, email, watching ripped movies, listening to music, etc. Still has the limits/problems imposed by the small keyboard though so serious or prolonged use is not in the cards. If I was limited to one computer the Mini 9 would not be my choice.