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I’m a big fan of Ubuntu Eee, a custom version of Ubuntu that’s been tweaked to run well on the Asus Eee PC and other netbooks with 1024 x 600 pixel displays and Intel Atom processors. Ubuntu Eee isn’t officially associated with Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, and in fact the developer behind Ubuntu Eee is trying to come up with a new name for the distro so as not to incur the wrath of Canonical. But if you’ve got an Eee PC, rest assured that you can pretty much install Ubuntu Eee and expect just about everything to work perfectly out of the box.

That means you get support for the hardware buttons on the Eee PC, the WiFi and LAN drivers are all included, and you get the Ubuntu Netbook Remix interface which is designed to make the most of low resolution displays.

Josh Bancroft with the Intel Software Network recently interviewed Jon Ramvi, who maintains Ubuntu Eee. Here are some of the highlights, but I recommend checking out the complete interview if you’d like to learn more about Ubuntu Eee and Ramvi.

• Ubuntu Eee includes proprietary drivers out of the box if they’re better than the open source alternative included in a stock Ubuntu distro
• Ubuntu Eee has a small team of contributors; some work on the distro every day while others offer a single fix and disappear into the night
• Every Asus Eee PC is curently supported, and Ramvi says he’s hoping to add support for other netbooks including the Acer Aspire One, Everex Cloudbook, and Dell Inspiron Mini 9