Near the peak of the netbook fad, I picked up a refurbished Dell Mini9. At the time I purchased it, there were several linux distributions which seemed at least worthy of trying out, and I spent several months doing just that. It was around this time that I realized that purchasing a netbook without a data plan was an obvious mistake; nearly everything that I'd want to do with a tiny laptop required an internet connection.
Still, this was like a project of discovery...I don't NEED everything. So these are my requirements:
- ssh client
- web browser (preferrably Google Chrome)
- wireless internet (3g / 4g or wifi)
That's it! (note, if I was shopping for something like a 13" MacBook Air, that list would be a little different.) But I digress.
After upgrading to the latest version of Ubuntu, I noticed a considerable drag on performance on my Mini. Boot times were longer, applications took longer to launch. And considering the software requirements I identified above, I wasn't looking for much. So I started my search for a stripped down linux that would give me what I need.
I first ruled out all the Ubuntu flavors. They are by far the most functional, but also significantly more than I need. Same deal with Centos. I have some experience with straight up Debian and Gentoo, but seems like more work than I wanted.
Finally, I checked in with CrunchBang. I had run #! on a Dell laptop even older than my Mini with various amounts of success. The biggest hassle was not really an issue with the operating system, but with Dell's insistance on using Broadcom wireless cards. Installation took about 35 minutes, configuring the wireless card took another 2 hours or so. And now I have a full-fledged linux that's snappy and can handle my meager needs.
In case you were wondering, here's the specs on my Mini 9:
1.6 gHz Intel Atom processor (with speed step so it runs mostly at 800mHz)
1 gb RAM (2MB shared with video)
16 gb SSD hard drive
Current capacity:
RAM 431 MiB/0.98GiB (only app running currently is Chrome)
HD: 3.35 GiB / 13.5GiB (600 MiB is swap).
Finally, I checked in with CrunchBang. I had run #! on a Dell laptop even older than my Mini with various amounts of success. The biggest hassle was not really an issue with the operating system, but with Dell's insistance on using Broadcom wireless cards. Installation took about 35 minutes, configuring the wireless card took another 2 hours or so. And now I have a full-fledged linux that's snappy and can handle my meager needs.
In case you were wondering, here's the specs on my Mini 9:
1.6 gHz Intel Atom processor (with speed step so it runs mostly at 800mHz)
1 gb RAM (2MB shared with video)
16 gb SSD hard drive
Current capacity:
RAM 431 MiB/0.98GiB (only app running currently is Chrome)
HD: 3.35 GiB / 13.5GiB (600 MiB is swap).
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