Installing the Netbook Remix on Ubuntu 8.04

This tutorial will show you how to get the Netbook Remix working on an existing Ubuntu 8.04 install. For instructions on how to get a functioning Ubuntu Hardy install on an Eee PC, please refer to this.

First, add the these lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/netbook-remix-team/ubuntu hardy main

deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/netbook-remix-team/ubuntu hardy main

Now, open the terminal and enter the following:

sudo apt-get update

Then enter:

sudo apt-get install window-picker-applet maximus go-home-applet human-netbook-theme ume-launcher desktop-switcher

In System > Preferences you will find a new entry, the desktop switcher. It will automaticly set up all your panels, and change your desktop to the application selector (you can see it on a screenshot). All documents from your desktop will still be availvable in ~/desktop. Now go to System > Preferences > Sessions. In the window that comes up, click “Add”. In the command field, type “maximus” (minus the quotation marks). Now go to System > Preferences > Appearance. Under the “Theme” tab, select Human-Netbook. Once you're done, right click on the menu area of the top panel, and select “Remove From Panel”.

To start using your Eee PC with the new Netbook Remix, simply restart your computer or press Ctrl-Alt-Backspace. If all goes well, your desktop should look similar to this:

Feel free to edit this tutorial if I missed something.

For the newest Ubuntu version (8.10), simply follow the above instructions, but using the following APT lines:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/netbook-remix-team/ubuntu intrepid main

deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/netbook-remix-team/ubuntu intrepid main

Please note that Desktop Switcher has not yet been ported to this version, and the ume-launcher is now called netbook-launcher.

Since there is no Desktop Switcher, you will have to add both the go-home-applet and the window-picker-applet to the panel manually.

In order to complete the switch, add both netbook-launcher and maximus in the Gnome Sessions (as described above).

Ubuntu Netbook Remix 1.0.1 is a pre-configured version of Ubuntu designed for netbooks. To install it, first download the image from here:

http://oem-images.canonical.com/unr/unr-1.0.1.img

Once downloaded, install the Ubuntu USB Imagewriter:

http://ppa.launchpad.net/ogra/ubuntu/pool/main/u/usb-imagewriter/usb-imagewriter_0.1-1~ppa1_all.deb

To use this application, just select the image you downloaded, plug in a flash drive, and select its location. Before starting, make sure all important files on both the flash drive and the Eee PC's hard drive have been backed up. Once you are ready, click “Write to Device”. This process will take a few minutes as the image is expanded onto your flash drive. Once the process has completed, plug the flash drive into your Eee PC (if you haven't already), and boot from it by holding <Esc> at startup and selecting the drive. Once it has loaded, hit <Enter> to begin the process. This will also take a few minutes. After it is done, restart and follow the onscreen instructions. This will configure Ubuntu. You are now ready to begin using your computer!

Note: This flavor of Ubuntu is configured to use the LPIA architecture. It will still work perfectly fine on an x86 system. However, you may occasionally have to use the –force-architecture option when installing some packages, as they may be configured for an x86 system.