If you’re like me and you just can’t help trying new things with your netbook, the Foresight Linux development team have just released a mobile version of their distribution. At 530mb, this is no stripped-down distro. You’ll find a wide range of software preinstalled and a Gnome desktop tailored for devices with smaller displays – which Foresight has borrowed from Canonical’s Ubuntu Netbook Remix.
Major packages include F-Spot Photo Manager, Firefox, Pidgin Instant Messenger, Banshee Media Player, GNOME Movie Player, and Network Manager (for painless wifi connections). Since it’s a Foresight spinoff, the excellent Conary package manager is included as well. Yet Another Linux Blog has a great writeup of what Conary is and how it works.
They’ve tested Foresight Mobile on the Asus Eee PC and Intel Classmate PC, so owners of netbooks like the MSI Wind or Acer Aspire One should have no trouble getting it running. Two known bugs currently exist on the Eee: software power off does not work, nor does the Eee’s wireless following a resume from suspend. I’ll be posting the results of my test run on the Wind later this week.
Foresight also recently announced a deal that will see their desktop OS ship on all Shuttle KPCs, which you can read more about on Shuttle’s US web site.
I hadn’t heard of Foresight Linux until now! I just checked on the web and it seems as if the main goal of the project is “delivering the latest in desktop technologies.” But I also note as you mention that Foresight is available pre-installed on the Shuttle’s light-weight KPC system.
Sorry for the off topic:
Does anyone know of a site that sells Skins for the Acer One?
I’ve seen a few that sell for the EEE and even MSI Wind but thats it.
I could cut them to fit but Im not in a rush and would rather have it look nice.
The One is amazingly simple to use and is everything we we expecting (even the bad battery life we were warned about) except for the fingerprints like on the iphone (of course, the majority of people who buy it for its looks also hide it in hideous cases because its so delicate in every sense).
The skins Ive seen so far have been between 14 and 24$.
thanks