Asus Eee PC 1015PX

Apparently Linux for netbooks isn’t quite as dead as I thought. Earlier this week Asus introduced a new 10 inch mini-laptop that will ship this year with MeeGo Linux. And now Canonical has announced that Asus will offer a whole line of netbooks loaded with Ubuntu 10.10 starting this month.

When netbooks first hit the scene in late 2007 and early 2008 almost every netbook shipped with some version of Linux. The free and open source operating systems provided a way to keep costs down. They were also optimized to run on devices with small amounts of storage space — which was another way to keep costs down. Many early netbooks has 16GB of storage or less.

But over the past three years virtually every 10 inch netbook that’s hit the streets has shipped with Windows XP or Windows 7 Starter Edition.

Now Asus is going to start offering netbooks with the popular Ubuntu Linux operating system. The first Asus netbooks to get the Ubuntu treatment will be the Eee PC 1001PXD, Eee PC 1011PX, and Eee PC 1015PX. More models are expected later this year.

I’m not sure why Asus and Canonical are going with Ubuntu 10.10. That version of the operating system was launched in October, while Ubuntu 11.04 was released in April of this year. I suppose the older OS might be considered more stable, but at that rate I would have expected the companies to choose Ubuntu 10.04, which is considered an LTE release with long-term support.

Update: I reached out to Asus for comment and discovered that while Ubuntu models are due out in other countries, we may not see any in the US. There are currently no plans to sell Eee PC models with Ubuntu in the States, but the Asus Eee PC X101 will ship this summer with MeeGo Linux.

via PC Pro

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9 replies on “Asus to sell netbooks with Ubuntu Linux”

  1. More computers should be sold with a blank hard drive option. I’d rather clean install the OS of my choice. And I don’t like being forced to buy a particular OS with my computer.

  2. Wish companies would start selling laptops with linux installed(with the appropriate discount for not requiring a windows license). Tired of having to wrestle with companies for a Windows refund by not accepting the Windows licensing.

  3. Go with Lubuntu.  The LXDE desktop is pretty fast on my ASUS 1001PX.  No conflicts so far.

  4. could be they started work on this when 10.10 was what they had, and so stayed with it to ensure reliable support (project management can be a bitch this way, and why many phone still sell with “older” android versions). I guess there will be a option to upgrade to 11.04 soon after bootup.

  5. Ubuntu 11 will bick a netbook with its crazy UI requirements.  Ubuntu did not make 11 backwards compatible to netbook specs so 10 is best they can offer.

    1. The original Eee, 701, works fine with 2GB RAM on 11.04. Slightly sluggish but all of the UI magic, with all of the bugs, work fine.

    2. There is an alternative ‘2D’ UI that is designed for computers with less resources. Having said that, the default UI works fine on my Eee 901.

  6. Ubuntu 10.04 does not have the updated touchpad driver in it.  You need 10.10 for it.

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