Are you in the market for a ultra-portable but don’t want to pay the Windows tax? We round up seven possible options for anyone looking to purchase a Linux-based netbook.
asus-eee-pc.jpg ASUS Eee PC 1000
The company that really started the consumer netbook craze could also be considered the one most committed to Linux offerings.
dell_inspironmini9_back.jpg Dell Inspiron Mini 9
Dell’s first foray into the netbook market, the Inspiron Mini 9 runs the Ubuntu Netbook Remix OS, a custom GUI build for a netbook’s limited real estate.
While the battery live of the Mini 9 seems to be a bit shorter than that of it’s competitor’s, the entry level offering — like many things from Dell — is priced very competitively.
Acer-Aspire-One-White.jpg Acer Aspire One
Sporting quite a bit of storage for the price, the popular Aspire One runs the Linpus Linux Lite operating system. Linpus is based on Fedora and was developed by a Taiwanese company to run on everything from cellphones to low-end laptops.
While a newer version of the Aspire One with a 10″ screen is now available, the company does not appear to have one available with Linux pre-installed.
lenovo3.jpg Lenovo Ideapad S10
I’ve got some good news and some bad news about Lenovo’s Ideapad S10. First the good: It’s basically a small ThinkPad, which, if you’re into that sort of thing (I am), is probably pretty exciting.
Now the bad: the Linux version isn’t being sold in the US. However, the company has said that they are selling the S10 with Linpus Linux in other countries. Maybe it’s time to give that cousin in Korea a call…
hp-mini-1000-mi-netbook.jpg HP Mini 1000 Mi
The HP Mini 1000 is a slick little netbook that runs an operating system called Mobile Internet (Mi).
A bit like Google’s Android (built on Linux but isn’t Linux) Mi is a custom interface that comes with the curious feature: “the Linux command line interface is disabled on this edition.” Caveat emptor.
Quick Footnote: If you’re looking for something a bit more “Linux” than the Mi operating system from HP, you can see if you can track down an HP 2133 Mini-Note (no longer available from HP). Released in the spring of last year, it’s possibly a little long in the tooth as far as netbooks go (uses the Via C7-M processor) but did feature the option of SUSE pre-installed.
msi_wind.jpg MSI Wind U100 The MSI Wind U100 is probably the last MSI netbook that will be running Linux for awhile. After deploying a stock version of SUSE on the U100 without much thought toward usability, the company then saw more than 40% of the Linux version returned for refund. To correct this problem it appears the company is only offering Windows XP on its netbooks going forward — nor are there any Linux U100s listed on the MSI website at this time.
dell-mini-10.jpg Dell Inspiron Mini 10 “Hey,” you’re probably saying, “the Inspiron Mini 10 only comes with Windows XP.” True, but, according to the company, a version with Ubuntu Linux will be available soon.
So if you in the market for a netbook, here’s one to put on your radar.
Bryan Richard is a writer and software developer, avid runner, pretty good cook, and has a habit of buying more books than he can read. He's also the VP of Editorial and Infrastructure for Linux Magazine. Want to get in touch? Send him an email.
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