A month ago I asked you people if eeeXubuntu is worth installing and dumping the default Eee Xandros install. And the replies have been very encouraging, to say the least. So a few days after I posted that entry I just went through and installed eeeXubuntu. To say I never looked back is an understatement.
I spent a couple of days modifying the installation according to this wiki entry, I managed to streamline the OS to further suit the Eee’s hardware. Honestly, I would feel that these customizations should’ve been included out of the box, but I guess it’s for Release 4 or something. And after doing the mandatory tweaks and such, I decided to install and utilize the following apps:
- Opera – Back-up browser
- Adobe AIR – So I’d be able to use Twhirl, my Twitter app of choice
- gtkpod – I wanted to test out this app, and strangely, I like it better than iTunes
- Audacious – Because gtkpod doesn’t come with its own audio player
- VLC – It’s actually easier to install here, because it’s included with Synaptic by default
- Skype
- FileZilla – I was pleasantly surprised to find a Linux port already
- Flash & Java – Unlike in Xandros, support for these don’t come out of the box
- Tilda – Press F1, and a terminal window slides down from the top of your screen. Sweet!
- Comix – Digital comic book reader, for the kid in me
- Skippy – Expose for Linux. Okay, it doesn’t have the sweet animation, but whatever works.
- Gnome-Do – My favorite app launcher.
And of course I had to uninstall the games, Thunderbird and some other apps I really didn’t use to save up on the precious disk space. I decided to forego Compiz Fuzion because I didn’t need it anyway.
So I probably took more time tweaking this than I did with Xandros. I did learn a lot from the experience, though, and I am enjoying it. Honestly, eeeXubuntu feels more stable,more customizible, it hangs on me less, and I don’t have to worry about borking my Xandros install by removing Unionfs. Again, I never looked back. If you are thinking of going down the eeeXubuntu route, by all means, do so.
Now I wonder if JAngelo pushed through with his Windows XP experiment, and how it turned out for him.
Now guys, did you switch your default OS on your Eee for something else at one point? Tell me about it!
