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How to install Ubuntu Netbook Remix on the Asus Eee PC

Get a taste of the forthcoming Ubuntu Netbook Remix distribution by installing the applications on your Asus Eee running Ubuntu.

Ubuntu Netbook Remix is a new official distribution from Canonical which is optimised specifically for the Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) or netbook market, which is dominated by the Asus Eee and its new competitors.

Although not due out until later this year, you can get a sneak preview of what's coming by installing the software on your Eee now. You'll need to install the latest version of Ubuntu - Hardy Heron - on your machine before you attempt this. However, since it's still under development, it's not entirely bug free. Indeed, there are quite a few of them, so make sure you backup first.

Ubuntu Hardy Heron

The original Asus Eee 2G to 8G models have a 7" screen with a resolution of 800 x 480, which makes things a little cramped. The goal of Netbook Remix is to make the user interface a little better suited to the smaller screen.

To get started, you'll need to edit your sources list. This is a text file called sources.list stored at /etc/apt. It's used by apt - the Debian package management system - to store the details on software repositories from where the system can download the files it needs when installing applications. You'll need superuser privileges to edit this system file, so fire up a shell and enter the following command.

Configures sources.list

The sources.list file will open up in the Gedit text editor. Scroll down to the bottom of the file and add the following line:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/netbook-remix-team/ubuntu hardy main

Then save the file. This will store the details on the Netbook Remix Team's software repository for Hardy Heron in your sources.list file so apt can access its packages. Next, you'll need to get apt to update its lists by issuing the command 'sudo apt-get update'.

Update

This will trigger the download of all of the repository information for the sites listed in sources.list. This process could take a couple of minutes depending on your connection speed.

Once that's completed, you'll need to grab a shellscript which runs an installer command that fetches all of the required packages for the Netbook Remix installation. You can grab this file using the wget and the following command:

wget http://netbook-install-script.googlecode.com/files/netbook-install.sh

Netbook install script

You'll then need to make the script executable, which you can do by entering the following command in your terminal: chmod +x netbook-install.sh

Make executable

Once that's done, you need to run the script with this command: sudo ./netbook-install.sh. This will then use the repository you added to sources.list to fetch all of the packages required. You'll be prompted a couple of times to ensure you want to install these, and you'll need to answer yes to these questions to continue installation.

Install packages

Once that's completed, logout of your session and log back in again. You should now be greeted with the basic Netbook Remix launcher application, as well as remnants of your original desktop environment. The launcher is called the Ubuntu Mobile Edition Launcher or UME Launcher.

Netbook remix

A few tweaks are required to get Netbook Remix running smoothly. We found some very useful tips at the Ubuntu Eee Wiki which helped iron out some of the initial problems encountered with the installation.

The first requirement was to turn off Compiz by going to System > Preferences > Appearance > Visual Effects and selecting none. Then, still in the Appearance panel, we selected the Human Netbook Theme from the bottom of the page. Then we deleted the bottom panel from the screen by right clicking on it and selecting Delete This Panel.

Netbook remix

We also added maximum to the session's startup applications as recommended by the Ubuntu Eee Wiki. After that, things were much improved and running relatively smoothly. Clicking each of the section icons in the right or left hand sidebars of the launcher triggers a neat animation that displays all of the icons for the applications stored in that category.

Internet

Clicking on one of the application icons triggers another animation which provides some visual feedback that an application is starting up. This looks really slick and everything feels very snappy.

Visual feedback

Obviously, Netbook Remix is a while away from being ready for release as it's not due out until late 2008. However, initial impressions are promising, and it will be great to see some of the many new UMPC manufacturers installing it on their hardware, giving users new to Linux a great taste of what is arguably one of the nicest open source operating systems around.

If you want to remove Netbook Remix and revert back to your old desktop, simply fire up a terminal and enter sudo apt-get --purge remove ume-launcher.