Linux Format forums

jjmac · Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 9:59 am Post subject:

Howdy All,

>>

heiowge · Posted: Sun May 08, 2011 6:02 pm Post subject:

OK. All sorted. Not how I'd have liked, but sorted nevertheless.

The version of leeenux that actually works with an eeepc 2G Surf won't be ready by her birthday.

So I borrowed my mum's external DVD drive and rolled it back to default Xandros.

It's not perfect (far from it), but it works well enough. It took 5 minutes to install and 2 minutes to configure.

I can get her a 4GB SD card to store things on and if she breaks the OS, I can reinstall in less than 10 mins, without harming her files.

SpecialStuff · Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:06 am Posts: 53

If you're after a good OS for the Eee, then you could do much worse than Zenix Linux here - http://zenix-os.net/index.html. It's lightweight, based on Debian Squeeze, and uses OpenBox and AwesomeWM. I stuck it on ours (it's a 4G 701) over the weekend and it's absolutely brilliant. If you do install it, I recommend you connect it via Ethernet as you install just so you can set up the repos properly. I couldn't get the wireless to work during install, though it's fine once it's on. After you've installed it, grab xorg-synaptics-driver and eee-acpi-scripts (I think I got the names right!) from the package manager and that's you. Otherwise the mouse can be a bit sensitive, and the keyboard hotkeys won't work without these packages.

I've tried all sorts of different systems on the Eee, and I appreciate how difficult it is to find one that's just right. This is the closest I've come to perfection on it, though there are still compromises. There's no boot up splash, just a black screen, and sometimes the default dark theme makes it tricky to read text online, but on balance those problems are minimal (and probably easily fixable). It definitely gives more than it takes. I've never seen our Eee so fast. It boots up in about 20 seconds, and shuts down in 5!

Let me know if you try it.

heiowge · Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 12:46 pm Post subject:

Ok. I've finally sorted it.

I put Lubuntu on it. I did a custom install of it with / on the 2GB ssd, and /usr and 500mb SWAP on the 8GB SDHC. Works well.

Does anyone know how to change the window border colour? I've changed the theme to clearlooks and changed the colour to pink. Most things are now suitable for an 8 year old girl, but the file manager insists on staying clearlooks blue. Any ideas?

TheBigMing · Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 5:42 pm Post subject:

I have an old desktop with 128MB Ram & an Athlon 750Mhz chip - it's running SuSE 10 with a KDE 3.5 desktop. Slowly, but it's still running. Normally, it sits on the corner of my desk (actually, under my desk - the Belinea, 17', Tinitron CRT sits on the corner). I haven't used it for years - got my first laptop about 6 years ago - but I have just gone in, booted it up and played a game of Klondike on it.

Old technology may be like an old car - old but it still runs!

dmk

pjroutledge · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 9:26 pm Post subject: Zenix

pjroutledge · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 9:31 pm Post subject: Zenix 2 - correction

... actually, just checked more closely, the Distrowatch reference is to something different, I think. It is a specialised server distro.

So I retract what I said about uncertainty.

Still interested in whether it is still living up to its promise, though.

Cheers,

Peter