[edouble312]

so, the lack of headphone functionality on my dell mini 9 running snow leopard, and the fact you can't easily dual boot ALMOST made me switch back to leopard.

but then i read about Boot and run Linux from a USB flash memory stick | USB Pen Drive Linux which gives you the tools to run ubuntu off of a thumbdrive with a persistent (i.e, saving changes when you exit) setup! Here's the gist of what I did and how it works:

First I tried ubuntu 9.10 following their guide (requires windows or linux to setup your drive), and it worked for the most part, but the wireless was flaky and made me "enable and disable" every time I booted... then I loaded Intrepid (8.10) and the wireless worked out of the box! A fix for the audio was found on this page: Ubuntu on the Dell Mini 9: Installing Ubuntu 8.10 on the Dell Inspiron Mini 9

So now, I can plug in my USB and choose which OS I want when I boot up! Not groundbreaking I guess, but for those of us who like to watch movies or listen to music with headphones on our mini, this works well! Install VLC and xvid & wmv play smoothly.