# Help me take the Linux plunge on a netbook



## Lobar (Feb 16, 2010)

Playing with Windows 7 on my netbook (hp mini 2140) was fun at first, but certain frustrations since then have left me unimpressed, and with the beta expiring soon, I'm looking to downgrade.  It came with an XP OEM disc, buuuuut with my upcoming project of building a desktop, I'd rather save it to install on that instead.  And while I've loved my little netbook since I got it, once I have a modern desktop, I honestly don't think I'll be using it as heavily as I have been, and I don't think I'll need Windows on it at all anymore.  So I'm looking to install Linux for the first time, preferably in a dual boot situation so I can still use 7 in "dick mode" if necessary until my desktop is built.

*What I intend to do on the system:*
Portable internet
Audio/Video playback
Word processing
Light gaming (emulators)
Play around and get acquainted with Linux in general.

*Questions I have:*
Which flavor of Linux would best be suited to a new user and netbook hardware?
How do I install, with the limitation of having no internal optical drive?
What are the "must have" applications?

Any and all advice appreciated as well.


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## ToeClaws (Feb 16, 2010)

Windows 7 on a NetBook!? :shock:  Oi... NetBooks are pretty weak little machines - about akin to a Pentium IV 2.2GHz (non-hyperthreaded).  Bloated and inefficient OS's like Windows 7 are best left to the realms of bigger, stronger machines that can handle the overhead.

Personally, I would suggest Linux Mint.  If you want a very complete, very reliable and very stable Linux, that's the one you want.  But I also suggest you have a read through of this post:

http://forums.furaffinity.net/showpost.php?p=854560&postcount=5

I keep the info as up-to-date as I can and it gives a good break down of the pros/cons of the various *nix choices.  Mint (or pretty much any of the other ones) will allow you to also keep the Windows 7 install on the drive in case you want to boot back to it as you suggested.  One thing to note - Ubuntu does have a Netbook version that's more specifically tailored to the Netbook, but personally I don't like the "tweaks" in it.  You can download it as a live CD as well if you want to try it.

I would also suggest using something like the G-Parted Live CD to shrink the partition that Windows 7 sits in and prep the rest of the drive for Linux (or you can also just use the tool available with the installer on Mint or whatever you choose to run).


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## Lobar (Feb 16, 2010)

7 runs surprisingly well on netbooks, actually.  But it still has all the same issues of 7, of course.

I've never used a live CD before.  Will using it in an external drive be an issue?


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## ToeClaws (Feb 16, 2010)

Lobar said:


> I've never used a live CD before.  Will using it in an external drive be an issue?



Ah, right - most Netbooks need external drives.  An external ROM should be okay so long as the system can see/use it as a boot device.  You can also install any of the *nix versions to a USB drive (1g or more) and boot off of it.  Most of the sites will have instructions on how to do that.


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## Lobar (Feb 16, 2010)

USB sounds safer.  That's how I got the 7 beta on there in the first place.  Now I just gotta remember how I did it. >.>


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## Kivaari (Feb 16, 2010)

I just put Xubuntu on my Eee, and it's great. I got it on there with a USB drive.

Once you get it installed, I reccomend getting Google Chrome. It has less of the screen taken up by toolbars, which is great for a netbook.


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## Atrak (Feb 16, 2010)

A...netbook? Seriously? It'd probably be better to just get an ipad :/ .


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## Lobar (Feb 16, 2010)

atrakaj said:


> A...netbook? Seriously? It'd probably be better to just get an ipad :/ .



You shut your whore mouth I love my netbook. >:[


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## Atrak (Feb 16, 2010)

Lobar said:


> You shut your whore mouth I love my netbook. >:[


 
Sorry, but you paid for more than one post, so my whore mouth has to keep whoring  .


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## WarMocK (Feb 16, 2010)

Lobar said:


> *What I intend to do on the system:*
> Portable internet
> Audio/Video playback
> Word processing
> ...



Portable internet: not much of a problem.
You always get the tools you need for dialing up and browsing. You can get most of the browsers you can use under Windows for Linux as well (except IE, dunno about Safari)
Audio/Video playback: VLC, MPlayer, Amarok, (G)Xine, Songbird, Totem, ....
Pick your choice 
Word processing: Abiword, OpenOffice, StarOffice, KOffice (requires a Linux Distri with the KDE desktop environment, such as Kubuntu or OpenSUSE)
Light gaming: WINE, among with a few other emulators you can find for DOS games and older gaming consoles. But with the limited ressources on your system, gaming won't be that much fun depending on what you wanna play.
Getting acquainted with Linux in general: This is a tricky one. My honest suggestion is to do some research about the Linux basics before you even start preparing your netbook for a Linux installation, as you might get a few headaches as a Linux newbie if you encounter a problem and need to browse a few forums or IRC channels in order to find a solution. Unfortunately, there are quite a few RL losers out there who think they can decide who is allowed to use "their" operating system (ignore them, the only time they see a real woman is when their mommy pays a visit to bring them their coke and pizza ;-)).



Lobar said:


> *Questions I have:*
> Which flavor of Linux would best be suited to a new user and netbook hardware?
> How do I install, with the limitation of having no internal optical drive?
> What are the "must have" applications?


Since it's a netbook you should try to stick to a distribution that either requires little ressources or is specifically designed for netbook hardware. You find a huge list of Distros on www.distrowatch.com
Quite a few distros also offer USB installations these days, so you should find what you need pretty quickly.
And I honestly don't know what apps are a "must-have" on a Linux system. I only install what I need for my daily work: GIMP, OpenOffice, Firefox or Opera, geany for programming if I feel like it, VLC or Gxine for some entertainment, and Pidgin as multi IM protocol client. But that heavily depends on what I'm using the current system for, so that's anything but a valid must-have list. As long as it has a kernel, the necessary basic tools, and a graphical environment that fits your needs (unlike with windows or OSX, there are MANY different flavors for a Linux desktop), the decision is totally up to you. ;-)



Lobar said:


> Any and all advice appreciated as well.


Hope that helps.


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## Lobar (Feb 28, 2010)

Okay, so I'm getting around to doing this this weekend.  I got my live USB made, and once I realized that the SD card I left in the reader slot was taking the drive letter I marked as bootable and took it out, I got my computer to boot from it.  It went through the load screen (slowly, I assume that's because it's not reading from the hard disk), then splashed a wallpaper up for a couple seconds, then cut to a black screen except for a "waiting" mouse cursor.  It's been stuck there for several minutes.  Help?


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## Irreverent (Feb 28, 2010)

Lobar said:


> It went through the load screen (slowly, I assume that's because it's not reading from the hard disk), then splashed a wallpaper up for a couple seconds, then cut to a black screen except for a "waiting" mouse cursor.  It's been stuck there for several minutes.  Help?



Did the load screen have options?  Reboot and select "compatibility mode" and if that's not there, you might want to make another distro.  Are you using ubootin to make the key?  It should let you pick a bunch of distros to install.

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/


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## Lobar (Feb 28, 2010)

Same issue with compatibility mode, only it fucks my display to boot.  Any recommendation on a "second choice" distro?


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## Kivaari (Feb 28, 2010)

Which one did you try? I had those problems when trying to get Ubuntu Netboox Remix to work. Xubuntu works fine.


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## Lobar (Feb 28, 2010)

Sponge Cat said:


> Which one did you try? I had those problems when trying to get Ubuntu Netboox Remix to work. Xubuntu works fine.



Mint.  Will probably try Ubuntu Netbook next unless someone has a better recommendation.


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## Lobar (Feb 28, 2010)

Well, scratch that.  I decided to give Mint one last shot and made a LiveUSB out of the SD card I mentioned before.  Seems to be going swimmingly.

edit: Erm, how do I get it to discover wireless access points for me?  Surely I don't need to know offhand the SSID, BSSID and MAC address of any router I want to connect to, right? o_o;


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## ToeClaws (Mar 1, 2010)

Lobar said:


> Well, scratch that.  I decided to give Mint one last shot and made a LiveUSB out of the SD card I mentioned before.  Seems to be going swimmingly.
> 
> edit: Erm, how do I get it to discover wireless access points for me?  Surely I don't need to know offhand the SSID, BSSID and MAC address of any router I want to connect to, right? o_o;



If it recognizes the wireless adapter (it may need to install a driver for it, so you might need to wire it to the network initially) it should just list available (visible) networks when you left-click on the network icon in the system tray.


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## Irreverent (Mar 1, 2010)

ToeClaws said:


> If it recognizes the wireless adapter (it may need to install a driver for it, so you might need to wire it to the network initially) it should just list available (visible) networks when you left-click on the network icon in the system tray.



This.  But it appears that  MINT8 (and upstream Ubuntu)  has very poor support for Atheros cards; particularly the new N cards.  What's in you netbook?

For non-broadcasting AP's, right click on the network icon and use the "Connect to non-broadcasting..." option.


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## ToeClaws (Mar 1, 2010)

Irreverent said:


> This.  But it appears that  MINT8 (and upstream Ubuntu)  has very poor support for Atheros cards; particularly the new N cards.  What's in you netbook?



Which is why it's best to be connected to a wired network at least initially.  They do release updates quite often, so there's a good chance it can then pull down a restricted/proprietary driver to get things working.



Irreverent said:


> For non-broadcasting AP's, right click on the network icon and use the "Connect to non-broadcasting..." option.



On some wireless NICs, I find that doesn't always work (it's something to do with the drivers for the NICs specifically).  If it doesn't though, you can easily get around it by opening up a command prompt and typing:


```
sudo iwlist wlan0 scan essid "networkname"
```

Where obviously you sub in the name of your hidden SSID.


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## net-cat (Mar 1, 2010)

Oh, god. I still can't be rid of fucking iwlist in Linux. >_>


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## Lobar (Mar 1, 2010)

Turns out Mint didn't come with a Broadcom driver.  I physically jacked in to the router through an ethernet cable today and got it.  Good thing I'm not borrowing a neighbor's internet anymore. >.>

I'm posting this over my wifi connection, so it's all good now.


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## WarMocK (Mar 1, 2010)

Lobar said:


> Turns out Mint didn't come with a Broadcom driver


Oh. That's unfortunate. I wish they'd add as many drivers to the system as possible. They got the disc space for it, but for some reason they prefer adding stuff that 99 percent of the common users will never touch. 

Good to hear that it seems to work now, though.


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## Lobar (Mar 1, 2010)

Okay, a quick "how do I" question (I'll probably have a few of these over the next couple days).  I'm trying to do some work on my old decrepit Windows tower (plan on turning it into an emulator box for the living room), which has no wireless card, and running cable through the house isn't an option, though it does have an ethernet port.  How do I create a network bridge between it and my Linux netbook so it can share the internet connection and let me download some needed updates?


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## Lobar (Mar 1, 2010)

Also Firefox tells me I don't have the Flash plugin installed, its automatic plugin service fails to install it, and when I manually download the package from Adobe it tells me that it conflicts with the package I already have installed.  I looked in the package manager and I do in fact have the flashplayer-installer package already, so why isn't it working? :|

edit: well now flash is working and I didn't even do anything so I don't know what the fuck


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## Lobar (Mar 3, 2010)

Lobar said:


> Okay, a quick "how do I" question (I'll probably have a few of these over the next couple days).  I'm trying to do some work on my old decrepit Windows tower (plan on turning it into an emulator box for the living room), which has no wireless card, and running cable through the house isn't an option, though it does have an ethernet port.  How do I create a network bridge between it and my Linux netbook so it can share the internet connection and let me download some needed updates?



Bump because I would still like some help doing this.


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