bald_pig Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 Hmmm After all sorts of shenanigans I have managed to get Ubuntu installed on one of the N145 netbooks. Sadly, it runs like a dog - you could go and make a cup of tea in the time it takes to open anything. I'm a bit disappointed, I thought it would run OK. It probably would with an SSD, anything will take an eternity on an ageing HDD in a slow machine!
Norphy Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 Hmmm After all sorts of shenanigans I have managed to get Ubuntu installed on one of the N145 netbooks. Sadly, it runs like a dog - you could go and make a cup of tea in the time it takes to open anything. I'm a bit disappointed, I thought it would run OK. Did you install full fat Ubuntu or did you try one of the lightweight derivatives like Lubuntu?
witch Posted June 25, 2019 Author Posted June 25, 2019 (edited) Did you install full fat Ubuntu or did you try one of the lightweight derivatives like Lubuntu? Ubuntu Edited June 25, 2019 by witch
Norphy Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 If you think it's worth spending further time on it, it might be worth trying Lubuntu. It uses a desktop environment which is lighter on system resources. I don't know how much better it will be, everything about that laptop is slow from its CPU to its hard disk and 1GB of RAM isn't much but it might be worth trying. 1
witch Posted June 25, 2019 Author Posted June 25, 2019 It's actually quite fun to fiddle about with it on one side of my desk in between the mundane tasks I have going on at the moment
LeMarchand Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 I've used Porteus before. Very easy to set up and designed to be easily locked down. www.porteus.org +1 for this. Once you get the config sorted, it's fast to install. Only downsides are that you have to manually re-install to update unless you pay and that they only develop the 64bit now, and you'd probably be better off using the deprecated 32bit version on machines of that sort of spec (which does "solve" the former downside). I use the "kiosk" version in the library at one school (Libresoft, so online) and once I realised that some of my power-saving options were causing lock outs it's been rock solid. It's particularly good there as it's set up to boot to the welcome page and they can only navigate within the site. Obviously it can be set to allow "normal" browsing too.
bald_pig Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 +1 for this. Once you get the config sorted, it's fast to install. Only downsides are that you have to manually re-install to update unless you pay and that they only develop the 64bit now, and you'd probably be better off using the deprecated 32bit version on machines of that sort of spec (which does "solve" the former downside). I use the "kiosk" version in the library at one school (Libresoft, so online) and once I realised that some of my power-saving options were causing lock outs it's been rock solid. It's particularly good there as it's set up to boot to the welcome page and they can only navigate within the site. Obviously it can be set to allow "normal" browsing too. I'm pretty sure that those old Atoms were only 32bit processors! 1
sted Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 Hmmm After all sorts of shenanigans I have managed to get Ubuntu installed on one of the N145 netbooks. Sadly, it runs like a dog - you could go and make a cup of tea in the time it takes to open anything. I'm a bit disappointed, I thought it would run OK. they are slow machines the cpu is carp, they dont have much memory and even with an ssd they are better but not great. you can try chromium boot it from a usb pen once booted its fine but i found even locally installed booting took a long time at some point devices just become more of a liability to use than they are worth and netbooks are in that category imo
Ditto Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 It's actually quite fun to fiddle about with it on one side of my desk in between the mundane tasks I have going on at the moment For the fun reason only I'll make a suggestion, because ever other instinct says abandon the tasks as not a good investment of time. As an aside, I got an NC10 that was running XP to convert to Neverware, but it was no better. In the end I suggested they stayed with XP but kept them well off the network and keep an AV up to date. How many of the current stock would be in use at any one point in time? When I looked at the NC10, maybe 2 or 3 would be in regular use and all the others in a charging unit (not charging) - can't recall if it was 30 or 60. However, I was surprised how much people were paying for them on ebay. I wonder if you're better off trying to sell them at £20 each and getting a 2 or 3 newer usable devices. Even this may be impossible and you'll need to manage secure data deletion! Either way, I'm interested to hear if one of the 'lite' linux work out and how usable a device is after. Watching with interest! 1
DrBeaker Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 I'm pretty sure that those old Atoms were only 32bit processors! Yep and the old Atom architecture only supports up to 2GB RAM. Don't know about the new lot but they were touted as the next best thing since sliced bread. Frankly conned lot of people as to how well they were actually going to perform. Bear in mind all of these came out before the first iPad was launched! they are slow machines the cpu is carp, they dont have much memory and even with an ssd they are better but not great. you can try chromium boot it from a usb pen once booted its fine but i found even locally installed booting took a long time at some point devices just become more of a liability to use than they are worth and netbooks are in that category imo Linux has announced it's dropping support for x86 systems. So I wonder how long before MS do it with Windows 10? https://www.techrepublic.com/article/ubuntu-19-10-drops-32-bit-support-angering-linux-users/
bald_pig Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 Linux has announced it's dropping support for x86 systems. So I wonder how long before MS do it with Windows 10? https://www.techrepublic.com/article/ubuntu-19-10-drops-32-bit-support-angering-linux-users/ That's one distro, not the whole of linux. And iirc they're just not developing the x86 packages further, so they will still support it until around 2023 on their LTS version.
witch Posted June 25, 2019 Author Posted June 25, 2019 So come on guys - which distro???? Porteus, Lbuntu or what?
bald_pig Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 So come on guys - which distro???? Porteus, Lbuntu or what? Personally, I would try Puppy but it's not used much. Lubuntu will probably be a little slower but better supported.
DrBeaker Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 That's one distro, not the whole of linux. And iirc they're just not developing the x86 packages further, so they will still support it until around 2023 on their LTS version. I didn't say it was the whole of Linux. But this has been a long-time coming.
LeMarchand Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 So come on guys - which distro???? Porteus, Lbuntu or what? If you just want a web browser, I'd say Porteus. If you want more, then I'll leave that to the Linux experts.
HTCPCP Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 So come on guys - which distro???? Porteus, Lbuntu or what? I would go Porteus Kiosk - locked to a web browser with the home page either being the school site, or your emails etc. If you want them for more... Well it kind of depends what you are looking for. Lubuntu - probably a good starter to look at. Has a bit more to it than Puppy. Can run on a P4, so an Atom should cope admirably. Fedora - My personal favourite at the momeny (and for the last 10 years). Personally, I prefer Fedora to Ubuntu, however there isn't per-se a light version, however should be more than happy to run on the netbooks. Fedora 19 worked on an old AMD Athlon Neo powered mistake without me wanting to throw it out of the window.
bald_pig Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 I didn't say it was the whole of Linux. But this has been a long-time coming. I can't see how I could infer anything else from your post. Linux has announced it's dropping support for x86 systems.
Ditto Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 So come on guys - which distro???? Porteus, Lbuntu or what? Of those two, I'd suggest Poerteus. If another, based on feedback from other people and because allegedly it is an easier transition for those familiar with MS Windows, I'd suggest https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3670.
HTCPCP Posted June 25, 2019 Posted June 25, 2019 I didn't say it was the whole of Linux. But this has been a long-time coming. iirc Manjaro dropped official support for x86 in 2017, however the community now run a semi-official x86 project. If Canonical (who have made a U-turn on the Ubuntu case), make another U-Turn, I wouldn't be surprised if a community project wouldn't fill that niche.
witch Posted June 25, 2019 Author Posted June 25, 2019 (edited) Porteus looks good but I think they want more than just web browsing - or maybe not...who knows I want the "lite" version of anything - the very litest so the little beast can cope. There are SO many versions out there - I am very confused Just for fun I am going to download Porteus and Lbuntu and put them on two other netbooks just to compare. I do have a lot of work on but nobody is giving me any of the stuff I need to do it so... Edited June 25, 2019 by witch
witch Posted July 2, 2019 Author Posted July 2, 2019 Update: Porteus didnt seem to want to work properly - not sure why Lubuntu seems to be the best bet. The netbooks take about 25secs to boot and around 15 secs to get onto the internet 1
LeMarchand Posted July 2, 2019 Posted July 2, 2019 Update: Porteus didnt seem to want to work properly - not sure why Wouldn't connect to internet, or plain wouldn't work?
witch Posted July 2, 2019 Author Posted July 2, 2019 Wouldnt work. TBH Lubuntu seemed fine so I went with that rather than doing any more investigation
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