Comments on: Why do netbook vendors make their own distribution?

By: Arief

Arief — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:10:36 +0000

Just a quick info, Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex actually works just fine on a Lenovo S10 Idepad without any modification but to reconfigure to only 1 panel to reserve screen space.

By: Howard

Howard — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:42:26 +0000

The issue here is why the EeePC needed it’s own custom Linux distribution. I think the answer is quite obvious – it’s custom tailored.
Sure, it cost them some funds to get this custom version of Linux developed, but look at all the pluses: They could control what *software experiences* users would have. That’s right, I said ‘software experiences’. By that, I mean they could ensure a smooth, integrated and predictable experience across the entire universe of software in their own custom repositories. That, and the fact that the hardware platform is also known and chosen by them, they can safely test that everything works on the target, as promised.
In a sense, Asus came closer to being Apple than any previous Linux hardware vendor – insofar as they had complete hardware and software control over the EeePC project.
Does that answer your question?

By: Serguei Fedorov

Serguei Fedorov — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:25:06 +0000

I think what manufacturers are trying to achieve is to take total advantage of the hardware at hand as they further and further develop their own distros (based on other distros). The only problem is that at this point, they aren’t really producing the distros that truly take a advantage of the hardware, that’s why many people find that it doesn’t matter, and often better if you install some other distro.
http://blackravenplace.net76.net/blog6.php

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:25:02 +0000

It’s simple: Because GNOME developers are so conservative they cannot agree among themselves on the most basic of innovations for the desktop. Who did anything to get GNOME beyond hierarchic menus and a space-wasting two-panel layout? The distributions (SUSE, Mint). And now, again, innovation is happening in distributions, not in GNOME.
Design by committee simply doesn’t work. Especially when persons on the committee personally feel SO comfortable with the way the have done things so far…
Distributions, and especially commercial ones, have a much, much higher incentive to do things _better_.
How to get innovation happening inside GNOME again? I don’t know; and I’m really not sure whether it would be desirable; look at how Aaron Seigo got burned for the innovations in KDE4.
My POV: Be happy to see innovations happening in distributions and just incorporate the most successful ones into mainline GNOME (provided that the source is available; unfortunately HP, who have created the nicest GUI-addon yet, didn’t open-source it).

By: spuffler

spuffler — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:29:34 +0000

They make their own distribution because they need to maintain the specific driver needed for the odd chipsets they used when making the laptop. This is a very acceptable situation, provided they offer their distro code per the version of the GPL they selected.

By: Simos Xenitellis

Simos Xenitellis — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 08:50:34 +0000

As mentioned above, the typical desktop distributions are not suitable for the specs of netbooks. For example, the screen is smaller, so the desktop needs to be rearranged.
Another company that has not been mentioned is Linpus,
http://www.linpus.com/about.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linpus
Companies such as Linpus came in to fill the void for commodity OS for netbooks.
GNOME Mobile (http://www.gnome.org/mobile/) is quite new and promising. I hope it becomes the defacto standard.
If it can provide cutting-edge functionality following the pace of GNOME, the community provides packages so that they can install on their netbook of choice, then manufacturers will have not other option than to switch.
We already see users switching by themselves to Ubuntu EEE,
http://www.ubuntu-eee.com/

By: pcolon

pcolon — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 08:01:36 +0000

If it weren’t for the OLPC (or $100 laptop) project, OEM’s would never have known there was a market for a simple, inexpensive, light-weight computing device. After the MS & Intel’s initial attempt at sabotaging the project, look at how many of them are tripping over each other trying to market these devices.
Like LinuxCanuck, I like the fact I can choose what distro goes on it and which apps I’m going to use. I also wish OEM’s would stop trying to shoe-horn XP/Vista where it doesn’t belong. It’s not like MS is not on every laptop being sold.

By: Fred Crozat

Fred Crozat — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 02:47:27 +0000

Since I work at Mandriva and Netbooks are a hot topic these days there, I think there are several reasons for distributions to choose non “standard” desktop solutions for this kind of hardware :
-hardware vendors target is not average computer user but people who need a small PC to browse web, write two documents and so on. So, they think the classic “desktop” metaphor is too complex and want to “fill” the screen by default with launcher for the various applications (it might be a mobile phone syndrom . I’m not sure it is a good idea but they are the one who ask for it
-GNOME desktop performance are not good enough for those low end hardware laptops, compared to other lightweight solutions (LXDE for instance). You can cold start LXDE in 2s (on Atom platform), while GNOME will take up to 5s (I hope Bedhad and other people will be able to improve that). It is often a tradeoff because you loose some features you will need later

By: Felipe Madras

Felipe Madras — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:45:39 +0000

Stormy you should really start to use the term GNU/Linux and not just Linux.

By: LinuxCanuck

LinuxCanuck — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:20:26 +0000

Addendum to my own posting:
I have installed the following distros on the eeePC: Ubuntu 7.10, 8.04, and 8.10, gOS, eeeDora, Mandriva 2008, Elive, Geubuntu (now OpenGeu), Debian (Sidux), and PCLOS Minime. Not all are satisfactory.
I have found the ones that gives the best performance are Ubuntu and gOS (based on Ubuntu) and Mandriva in that all of the features worked. Mandriva has the edge in that multimedia worked out of the box and things generally took less configuration, but Ubuntu had the best support overall. Also Ubuntu installed faster and boots more quickly. Nothing boots as quickly as the Xandros that comes with it.
My eeePC triple boots, Xandros, Windows XP and Ubuntu 8.10. I have other distros on SD cards and can switch to any distro I want by inserting a card. This is a great little machine. Even Compiz Fusion works on it!