[mflynn]

Hey guys,
I'm a new owner of a used mini 10V. It came with OSX and while I'm a mac owner/user, I'm thinking that a different OS would be better suited for the hardware.

To that end, I want to use ubuntu, should I use the normal distro, or the netbook version. I stumbled upon some ubuntu 10.04 download off of dell's ftp site. I have no idea what the url is at this point. That doesn't seem to be a full OS, since I'm having trouble making a boot drive from the ISO image.

Another oddity, is why did I get a windows 7 disc, when in fact there's no dvd drive with the mini

If I opt to go back to windows 7, how in the world do I get windows back on w/o the dvd drive. Do you guys buy a usb dvd drive, or do you live without it.

[reflex]

Normal Ubuntu and Ubuntu Netbook Edition are identical, except for the Netbook Edition's theme designed for small screens.

On my 1012, I wanted to run 64bit Netbook Edition, which doesn't have an ISO. So, I installed normal 64bit, then installed the netbook software (the software package named "ubuntu-netbook"). Be aware, that the 10v can't run a 64bit OS, so you don't want to replicate my install.

I wouldn't bother with Ubuntu from Dell, I'd just use "real" Ubuntu.

A USB optical drive is intended to running recovery discs, but you might be able to make a USB flash/hard drive recovery disk somehow.

[akajack]

Regarding the external dvd drive, yes I bought one of these.

Dell External USB Powered DVD-RW Netbook GPK9C GX10N - eBay (item 190389044577 end time Oct-11-10 07:52:29 PDT)

[mflynn]

Thanks for the info. I have the actual ubuntu ISO images downloading and ill try loading it on tonight.

I like osx but its quite slow on the mini. Im hoping ubuntu will be a bit better. The bootup should be quicker

Regards
Mike

[highaltitude]

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate. This is the link to the instructions I used for making my USB Flash Drive into a Bootable device. Works awesome, I have installed Windows 7 and Office 2010 this way.

Install Windows 7 From USB Drive/Pen Drive

[mflynn]

Thanks and while I use windows at work, I think I'll stick with either Linux or OSX

[vahnx]

Arch Linux is pretty fast. Dell Mini 10v - ArchWiki

Takes a while to configure properly though.

[TheTerribleTinkerer]

Originally Posted by mflynn

I like osx but its quite slow on the mini. Im hoping ubuntu will be a bit better. The bootup should be quicker

In addition to using OS X on a couple of Apple PCs, I have one Dell 10v running 10.6 and another running 10.5. I find that OS X runs very well on the Mini 10v. (I have installed the 2GB RAM on both netbooks.)

I agree that OS X seems slower to start up, but I avoid the problem by suspending the OS when I close the lid of the 10v.

[speen]

I concur with TTT. OSX runs well, but definitely benefitted from the 2nd gig o' RAM.