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Comparison of netbook-oriented Linux distributions

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Netbooks are small laptops, with screen sizes between approximately 7 and 12 inches and low power consumption. They use either an SSD (solid state disk) or a hard disk for storage, have up to 2 gigabytes of RAM (but often less), lack an optical disk drive, and usually have USB, Ethernet, WiFi and often Bluetooth connectivity. The name emphasises their use as portable Internet appliances.

Netbook distributions

There are special Linux distributions, called netbook distributions, for these machines. All such distributions are (supposedly) optimized for use with small, low-resolution displays. They tend to include a broad mix of VOIP and web-focused tools, including proprietary applications rarely seen installed by default by mainstream desktop distributions[citation needed]. For instance, Nokia Maemo and Asus's customized Xandros both ship with Skype and Adobe Flash installed, and Ubuntu's Netbook Edition offers the option to do the same to OEMs.[1]

Comparison

Features

Distribution End of Life Aim Creator Producer Base distribution Installed size (MB) Release date Interface Linux Kernel Default file system Architecture support Approximate number of pre-compiled packages Default package management tools Default installer
Debian Eee Pc Asus Eee PC Debian
Debian wheezy Written from scratch i386, AMD64, PowerPC, SPARC, ARM, MIPS, S390, armhf, s390x. Loongson[2]
Fuduntu 14 April 2013 All netbooks[3] Andrew Wyatt "Fewt" Fuduntu.org[3] None (Originally based on Fedora 14) 2012-10-01 Gnome 3.6.9 ext4 x86[4] + x86_64[5] RPM + YUM
gNewSense Free software Brian Brazil and Paul O'Malley Sam Geeraerts with sponsorship from the FSF Debian Linux-libre 2.6.32 Loongson, x86, X86-64 APT
Joli OS 1.2
(formerly named Jolicloud)
22 November 2013 All netbooks[6] Joli OS Joli OS Ubuntu 2011-03-09 HTML5 + Gnome 2.6.35.10 ext4 x86 APT
Leeenux Linux v6[7] All netbooks including ASUS Eee PC 7" Screen Aleksandar Ciric Ubuntu Lucid Lynx 2012 Gnome + Unity (user interface) or LXDE 3 ext4 x86 APT
Puppeee Linux 4.3X ASUS Eee PCs with Intel Chipsets Jemimah Ruhala Puppy Linux 4.3.1 200MB Choice of IceWM/OpenBox/Flwm with ROX-Filer/PcManFM/LxLauncher 2.6.33 AUFS+SquashFS+EXT2 Atom/CeleronM Pet PetGet
EasyPeasy 1.6 last release 2012 All netbooks EasyPeasy Community Jon Ramvi Ubuntu 2010-04-24 Gnome + Netbook Remix 2.6.32 ext4 x86 APT Ubiquity
Aurora Last release 2009 ASUS Eee PC optimized Eeebuntu community Debian 2009-05-15 Gnome or Gnome + Netbook Remix Array kernel (modified kernel)[8] APT
CrunchBang Linux 11-20130119 development stopped 6 Feb 2015 Limited hardware machines Philip Newborough Debian 2013-01-19 Openbox 3.2.35 x86 + x86_64 APT
Linux4One 1.5 Aspire One optimized Linux4One community Ubuntu Gnome or LXDE
OpenGeeeU 8.10 August 2012 Luca De Marini Easy Peasy[9] 2009-03-23 Enlightenment plus Gnome 2.6.27 ext3 x86 26000 APT Ubiquity
Firefly Linux 1.0 Beta 1 Last release 2009 Firefly Linux community Arch Linux LXDE 2.6.29.4 x86 Pacman
Kuki Linux 2.0 Last release 2009 Aspire One optimized Kuki Linux community Ubuntu XFCE
Midinux All netbooks Red Flag Linux 2007 ext3 x86
MeeGo 1.2 Last release 2012 Intel Atom processor netbooks, Nokia ARM smartphones Intel, Nokia, Maemo community Intel, Nokia, Linux Foundation None (it is a distribution developed out of Maemo and Moblin) 2010-10-28 "Netbook User Experience" (based on Clutter) 2.6.35 btrfs x86 with SSSE3 support RPM
Moblin 2.1 April 2009 All Intel Atom processor netbooks and MID Intel Intel/Linux Foundation None (borrows components for various distributions[10]) 2009-11-04 Clutter RPM (may change[10])
Eeedora[11] ASUS Eee PC 701 Martin Andrews Fedora XFCE RPM
Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10 Last release October 10, 2010 Intel Atom processor netbooks[12] Canonical Ltd. Canonical Ltd. Ubuntu 2010-10-10 Unity 2.6.32 x86 32000 APT

Specific features

Distribution Target boot time SSD write optimization (SSD degradation, I/O optimization, etc.) Specific supported hardware
Joli OS 1.2
Leeenux Linux v6 30s (900 MHz) Yes[13]
Puppeee Linux 4.3X 30s Layered filesystem - caches writes in RAM Lightweight kernel compiled for EeePCs only
EasyPeasy 1.6
Aurora 3.0
Linux4One 1.5 40 seconds[14]
OpenGeeeU 8.10
Firefly Linux 1.0 Beta 1
Kuki Linux 2.0
Moblin 2.0 5 seconds[15][16]
Eeedora[11]
Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10

While no public numbers measuring the install-base of these operating systems are available, Google Trends data on a handful of them indicate their relative popularity:

See also

References

  1. ^ Ubuntu 10.4 UNE
  2. ^ https://wiki.debian.org/DebianYeeloong
  3. ^ a b "Fuduntu Website".
  4. ^ "Fuduntu i386".
  5. ^ "Fuduntu x86_64".
  6. ^ "Jolicloud Compatible Devices".
  7. ^ "Leeenux information".
  8. ^ Array kernel site
  9. ^ [1][dead link]
  10. ^ a b Moblin FAQ[dead link]
  11. ^ a b Eeedora project at google code
  12. ^ Canonical | About the company
  13. ^ Learn more | Leeenux Linux
  14. ^ Features of Light version of Linux4One
  15. ^ Fast boot in Moblin page[dead link]
  16. ^ Youtube video showing Moblin 2.0 prerelease booting in 5 seconds.

See also