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Eeebuntu is a popular Linux distribution designed to play well with netbooks. It’s optimized for laptops with small screens and Intel Atom processors. And as you can probably guess from the name, it was originally designed as a custom version of Ubuntu Linux for Asus Eee PC netbooks. Today the Eeebuntu team launched the first public beta of Eeebuntu 4.0, which drops the Ubuntu base for Debian Linux.

Unfortunately, the servers are getting hammered right now, so you might have to wait a little while to download Eeebuntu 4.0 Beta. Riccardo at Eee PC.it grabbed a screenshot (shown above) before the site went down, and it looks like Eeebuntu 4.0 ditches the Ubuntu Netbook Remix interface for a desktop with a dock-style application launcher and a single panel at the top of the screen. Update: Users can also install the Netbook Remix interface from the Eeebuntu repositories. It may be available out of the box after Eeebuntu 4.0 leaves beta.

I can’t say for certain whether all the applications in the dock are included with Eeebuntu out of the box, but I spot icons for the Google Chrome and Firefox web browsers, Skype and Pidgin communication software, Thunderbird email client, GIMP image editor, VLC media player, and OpenOffice.org office software. There are a few icons I don’t recognize.

Anyone have a chance to download and try Eeebuntu 4.0 Beta yet? Let us know what you think in the comments.

thanks Bennett!