Ubuntu Netbook Remix 1.01

Wondering if anyone installed the new Ubuntu Netbook Remix 1.01 that came out on Nov 7th, 2008.

It's running on the new atom based kernel and installs from USB.

I download the image file from the lanuch pad site for ubuntu netbook remix. It doesn't seem to have as much issues as installing 8.04 standard or 8.10.

Sounds, Camera, USB, card readers, 3D video, etc works.

Mic needs to be reconfigured, no hibernation (Must be turned on manually through the quit menu, and you lose audio when coming out of it), and I had to had only those four lines listed in the Ubuntu 8.04 for the wireless kill switch and to get the led lights working for wireless, also the fan control stuff. Seem to be already install but I made sure it was correct.

I was able to get Open Office 3.0 installed, and Firefox was already the newest version. It only takes up 2 GB of space, which is really small compared to even the standard Acer Aspire install.

Apt-get works great for new applications, performance is fast 7 seconds to boot. Been running it all night, I love the wirless works out of the box.

 

Is this available as a prepackaged distro or do I have to install intrepid then put this overtop. I would much rather have it all put together, i don't mind tweaking a few things, but I have very little free time right now and I don't want to spend it piecing together an OS.

 

It's a full image, you download to a current ubuntu system, run the usb writer, and it install the image to the USB drive. Plug it into the Acer reboot and boot from USB and wait, thats about it

 

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UNR

1. View release notes at http://oem-images.canonical.com/unr/unr-1.0.1.README
2. Save image to disk from http://oem-images.canonical.com/unr/unr-1.0.1.img
3. make bootable USB key using Usb Imagewriter or dd command line
4. boot the device with USB key and install UNR

 

Why isn't there also an iso image available? I do have an external cd/dvd, but no large enough usb-key. Is there a way to write that usb image to a cd/dvd?

 

Wow.. I thought this sounded to good to be true and didn't even research if it was true!
Now I'm downloading the .img and will come back to report how it works.

 

Hey, just installed Remix on my Aspire One - fantastic, compared to Linpus it is great, like a breath of fresh air, the machine is open and the repositories are full and they work.

Just two things to do.
1. The LED for the network is not working
2. Fan Control is iffy.

I know there are fixes on the Internet for these but does anyone know when they are likely to be addressed in the official distribution. Although the fixes are relatively easy I am prepared to wait, because the problems are minor. I would like to keep the distribution as standard, if its going to be fixed soon.

However if we are looking a four or five months then.....

Anyone any idea on this?

 

Seriously?

 

What exactly is meant by "fan control is iffy" please?
If the fan doesn't function correctly the CPU could be permanently damaged - it's a vital hardware item and must work correctly.
Sounds promising though...

 

Note to early adopters: The current UNR is based on Hardy so know that there may be compatibility issues if you're already used to Intrepid and it's repositories...for example...medibuntu.org will not be supporting packages for this distro since Hardy is no longer the "current" release. (the build's differ due to the architecture of the UNR distro so the normal Hardy medibuntu repository isn't compatible).. That is just one example...I'm certain there are currently many more compatibility issues that will arrise.

That aside...it does run quite well.

 

I have been trying out Netbook Remix added over a ubuntu-umpc image (on a persistent LiveUSB). Is there any significant difference between the UNR-1.01 image and what I already have ?

 

OK - Hardy is the Long Term Support (LTS) version of Ubuntu ( I think it has over 2 years to go as the current LTS). The new version (Intrepid) is a 6 month interim(read development version), next one is Jaunty in April/May 2009, so there should be no problems with Hardy Support.

Fan Problem being Iffy. - When I first installed I noticed the fan was running at various speeds but continuously, which I believed may be a problem. However today this seems to have disappeared, so perhaps not a problem after all, may have been heat build up due to the high load during install.

Other than the LED for wireless all is working (have not tested the microphone or headphones).

The more I use the Netmix interface , the more I think it is really suitable for a machine this size. All windows open up maximized (but can be minimized) a separate icon bar can bring up other running apps. There is a switch(icon) to go directly to the standard gnome desktop. My Lan connectivity to network shares worked out of the box. Really pleased.

Boot time may be slightly longer than Linpus but not enough to make much of a difference.
PC

 

I needed to buy a new USB stick to use this image as it doesn't fit on a 1GB stick. So far most things seems to be running nicely. These were some features/issues I noticed (all out of the box):

-Boot time: ~50 seconds (From Acer logo to desktop)
-SSD formated as ext3
-No swap
-Disk usage: 2,1GB
-Power usage at idle with wifi and medium brightness: ~11 watt
-Wifi works, no LEDs, switch is not recognized by Ubuntu (madwifi)
-Speakers work, headset cut-off works
-Front mic does not work
-Right card reader works with Sony MS when inserted at boot
-Not all administration and preference panes are shown (for example services and sessions are hidden)
-Able to switch between UNR interface and normal desktop interface with press on a button
-Auto login does not require to enter a password for the keyring manager

EDIT
I had added the bootchart: 26 seconds. It's not bad, but there is room for improvement. What really kills the boottime is gnome. It seems to me that gnome startup in both this version and the normal 8.10 desktop version are slower than in 8.04.1 desktop.

 

Try adding some repositories that you have used previously on Hardy to your UNR installation and you will probably experience an issue. Neither Medibuntu, Wicd, or Openoffice 3 repositories that I have used previously are compatible. The fan works fine with the silent fan script. In fact...if you apply all the tweaks mentioned on the ubuntu aspire one page it should take the power usage down to around 7.2 watts...that's where mine is idling...I'm noticing that the processor stay in a P-state of 1333Mhz according to powertop instead of 800Mhz...I'm assuming changing this would also decrease power usage.

I've also noticed that concurrency=shell setting in /etc/init.d/rc causes hal to fail to be initialized, very similar to what users experienced in Gutsy. I'm going to apply the same "fix" that worked for gutsy users and see if it helps. *edit: the same fix doesn't apply

 

Hi I couldn't get my power usage below 8.7 (brightness two steps up, wifi connected). Can you explain if you had any network connections and what you changed (besides the wiki stuff)? Thanks!

 

The UNR wiki page says this at the end:

How do I setup the gnome-panel?

Thanks in advance.

 

You can remove applets by using right-click on them. That way you can lock/unlock their position and move them (if not fixed). If you right-click on an empty place you can choose to add applets. Then you get a list wit available applets. If you installed the window-picker-applet, go-home-applet, you can find them there.

I would say, just try it out, I am very happy with the netbook gui. Even my girlfriend uses it on her 15" laptop. The only part I don't like is the netbook theme, I use the standard theme.

 

A nice little tweak for the aspireone is to map the "home" key on the keyboard to simulate the same action as the "go-home" applet.

Open up Keyboard Shortcuts and find where it says "Minimize all windows and show the desktop" (by default it's set to ctrl+alt+d). Click on it and it will ask for you to enter a new key. Just press the "home" key and you're set. If find this much more useful than the icon on the taskbar.

I'll update the post when I get home and provide more detailed instructions.

 

Did anyone ever figure out if you could burn this to a disc and use it in an external cd drive to install? Its an ISO right? If so you should be able to burn it...Thanks...

::rayman::

 

Hey guys/gals, If anyone gets a chance press control-alt-F1 to open a tty and see if you are getting an error stating " NOT using squashfs... sleeping 2 seconds" (press ctrl-alt-f7 to get back to your desktop) I filed a bug and then a fix for an issue that was slowing down the boot on my machine by several seconds. You can check it out here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/netbook-remix/+bug/299684

I believe what is happening is the UNR installation isn't mapping the drive correctly in either grub or fstab and it's causing the system to first search for the drive and then sleep 2 seconds after it finds it. Anyway... If you need advice on how to get rid of the error and can't figure things out from the bug fix I reported let me know and I'll give a step by step.