I had to send my netbook, an Acer Aspire One, for repair after three months of use. The unit originally came with Windows XP, but had 1Gb of memory and a 160Gb hard drive, a configuration not available on Linux versions. I installed Fedora 10 XFCE respin, but when sending in the unit I knew that Acer would probably re-install Windows XP; Acer was upfront about this. As I suspected the repaired unit arrived with a fresh install of Windows XP.
This leads me to Easy Peasy v1.1, which is based on Ubuntu 8.10. Installing the XFCE respin of Fedora was not uneventful. I had to search the Internet on how to configure the wireless adapter, sound and installing all of the multimedia codecs for video and Internet. It wasn't a difficult task, but took a little time going over different web sites and getting the configuration just right. After the work was done I was happy with the final result. I didn't really want to go through that process again.
Easy Peasy was originally designed for Asus Eee PC's, however, the latest version includes support for other netbooks including my Acer Aspire One. I downloaded the ISO image and the UNetbootin utility from the Easy Peasy web site. Using UNetbootin I created a bootable USB stick from the ISO image. This was done on a Windows XP machine since I was away from my Linux workstation, but there are UNetbootin downloads for both Windows and Linux.
Booting Easy Peasy as a live distro, I quickly found the install icon and installed to the hard drive. After seven simple steps I had an Easy Peasy netbook. I was able to setup wireless on my home network, and in short order had all the updates installed. Easy Peasy comes with several multimedia plug-ins and codecs installed by default. I tested a few web sites and with the exception of some widescreen videos not displaying properly everything ran fairly well. I have some Divx video files that did not properly display in widescreen with Movie Player, installing VLC, which I prefer anyway, solved that issue.
When running the Ubuntu Netbook Desktop, applications run maximized. Multiple window applications like Dia and Gimp do not run very well in this environment. The solution is to switch to the Classic Desktop, the normal Gnome desktop, using the Switch Desktop Mode application. Switching between desktops is simple to do as needed.
With the exception of a few glitches, for example the wireless indicator LED's aren't working, I'm pleasantly surprised with this netbook distro. Several popular Linux distributions are beginning to support netbook installs. For now though, the current version of Easy Peasy is more than adequate and I'm looking forward to Easy Peasy v2.0 which is in the works. While this wasn't a complete review of Easy Peasy, and despite its silly name, I'm enjoying exploring this netbook distro.
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Easy, Yes, Peasy, Yes
After installing XP and taking off Xandros from my new eee PC 900A, I found XP to be too slow and bloated for this little machine. I grew frustrated about all the hiccups. I can't as much blame XP as I can blame the solid state drive (4GB). SSD's are known to be slow, for now.
I installed Easy Peasy after looking at some other distros, and it was too easy to install and get to work. It comes with Firefox for all my internet surfing needs and Open Office for my work needs. Over the last three days, it hasn't failed me. Compared to XP, with a boot time of about a minute, I'm up and working with Easy Peasy in about 20 secs.
It's oh, so nice, and I am anxiously awaiting v2.0, due out in November from what I've read.
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Looks interesting
This blog entry made me want to try Easy Peasy :) I've only narrowed down my choices to 2 variants which are Ubuntu UMPC and Ubuntu Netbook Remix. I'd like to know the difference between them though, so I'd like to give Easy Peasy a try. Btw, I am also using an Acer Aspire One. It also had Windows, originally.
The main differences between
The main differences between these distributions are as follows:
Ubuntu UMPC is for Ultra-Mobile PC's, that is mobile devices, normally with a touch screen or on screen keyboard and not a physical keyboard.
Ubuntu Netbook Remix is an Ubuntu project that is currently using Ubuntu 9.04.
Easy Peasy is based on Ubuntu 8.10, but works out of the box, i.e. no or very little tweaking needs to be done. The multimedia bits work right after install, no need to add additional software repositories and software.
Love Easy Peasy because it is "easy peasy" Thanks!
I was looking for a Windows alternative for my 2 Aspire One netbooks. My first is a basic model with 512 mb RAM and Linpus.
I tried UNR 9.04 but needed tweaking to get everything just right.
Then I tried Crunchbang Linux. Wow! Great distro but it would not install on my base machine.
Finally I tried Easy Peasy, mainly because of this topic! It is fantastic! Everything basically just works. I would like some additional video codecs and will install VLC, but thanks! The distro is great.
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