[Isthmus]

Hi everyone. Noob here. Wonderful forum you have. I've been doing a lot of reading, and I think I'm ready to ask some questions. Yes I've used the search engine, but have only found partial answers. Anyhow, here it goes.

I want to learn some Linux Desktop. Being a Noob, my friends have recommended that I start with a friendly version like the Mint 9 or PCLinuxOS. After looking at both, I decided to go with Mint (though I'm unsure as to which of the editions (stock or community) is best for me). I'd like to install Mint 9 along with Compiz on a Mini 1012.

The hardware specs on the machine are as follows:

• Processor: Intel Atom Processor N450 (1.66GHz, 512K L2 Cache)
• RAM: 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (1 DIMM)
• HD: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
• Video: Intel NM10 Express
• Network Card: Dell 1397 802.11B/G Wireless Mini Card
• 6 Cell Primary Battery
• 10.1 inch Widescreen Display (1024x600)

I would like to upgrade the RAM to 2GB. Dell won't do it, so I was hoping that you guys would be able to point me to the exact ram chip I need and a how to guide for changing it on this machine.

Also, I was wondering if there was a step by step guide for installing Mint 9 on a Mini 1012 from a Thumb drive. More specifically accessing the bios on the 1012 in order to do the install.

I also understand that mint 9 has had problems with rendering proportions on netbooks. I was wondering if anyone here has tried mint 9 and experienced anything specific (I saw the thread where someone was having issues with PDFs on a 10v using Mint 6).

I was also wondering if anyone had tried Compiz on a 1012 and whether they had had any issues with the 3d effects.

Lastly If anyone has any tips trick or issues that I should be on the look out for, I'd appreciate it.

____________________________________________

Sorry for the Long request. as I said, Noob here and this is my first attempt at building one of these machines and I'm trying to be as prepared as possible going in.

Thanks in advance.

Isthmus

[reflex]

Welcome.

It's relatively easy to upgrade the RAM on the 1012. You need to undo three screws to free the keyboard, then carefully lift the keyboard up (gently pushing through the screw holes can help). Then the RAM is under an access panel. Dismantling and upgrade info w/ pics. Official RAM upgrade procedure info.

As for installation from a USB flash drive, I expect the procedure is similar to Ubuntu's.

As for telling the BIOS to boot from USB, on most Dells, including the 1012, it's as simple as plugging the drive in while the system's off, then powering up and hitting "F12" to bring up the BIOS boot device menu.

As for "mint 9 has had problems with rendering proportions on netbooks.", I dunno. Some GUI programs don't fit well on the 600px tall screen, but you can make it slightly better by rearranging the panels/taskbars and/or using something like Ubuntu's netbook theme. Fullscreen mode in your web browser of choice also helps.

For the most stubborn apps, you can also try setting the resolution higher than the native 1024x600. In a terminal, run "xrandr --output LVDS1 --fb 1536x900 --scale 1.5x1.5" to set the screen to 1536x900, 50% more width and height than actual. It'll be zoomed out to fit, and won't look fantastic, but it'll give you more desktop space. Or you could try something like "xrandr --output LVDS1 --fb 1024x768 --scale 1x1 --panning 0x768" to get a 1024x768 desktop, where only 1024x600 is visible at once (the screen will pan to follow mouse movement).

There are also other RandR utils, in addition to xrandr. Some friendlier to noobs, but they might not be as capable.

These tweaks via the xrandr util won't be persistent. To make them persistent, see here. You basically have to add the commands to a script, so that they're automatically executed. Also, xrandr can sometimes be flaky. When playing with panning settings, I found that I have to reset panning to "0x0" before I can use the "scale" command above. Also, graphical performance sucks at scale levels other than "1x1". But panning a 1024x768 desktop works smoothly, even video playback works perfectly (although I don't think any players are "panning" aware, so it might be awkward getting video to fill the screen perfectly).

As for Compiz, I dunno.

As for tips and tricks, I like the Adblock and NoScript addons to Firefox. They help keep intensive web content from crippling the weak CPU.

Good luck.

[Isthmus]

Wow!!! Thanks so much for the detailed response reflex. I asked a similar question over at the Linux Mint Forums and here is the reply I got, that might supplement the one you gave me:

I have run several versions of Mint 8 and 9 on an Acer Aspire One D150 with an N270 Atom, 2GB of ram(up from 1GB OEM), A 160 GB hard drive, Intel on board graphics 945GME, Intel ICH7 chipset, and an Atheros 5001 WIFI card. Loaded via external CD-ROM drive. Usually dual or triple boot with Crunchbang Linux and other Mint versions, Lately dual booting Mint 9LXDE with PeppermintOS.

Never had major problems specific to the netbook install.

This topic will give you an idea of how Mint runs on various netbooks

viewtopic.php?f=46&t=30097&start=0&hilit=mint+netb ook+version

I would recommend any version of Mint on your choice of netbook. There are a couple of topics in the forum about modifying Mint to get better screen usage on the netbook's small screen.

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=47727&start=0&hilit=mint+netb ook+version

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=46969&start=0&hilit=mint+netb ook+version

I also spoke with a friend who confirmed that the chipset on the 1012 is supported by Mint and will allow for full functioning 3d rendering with compiz, so all I have to do is install it and configure it.

I hope this thread helps anyone else looking to build a Mint netbook. Thanks to everyone for their help. Now I'm off to start the build. Will post with my results and experiences in a few days/weeks after I'm done.

All the best,

Isthmus.

[sivartk]

You should enjoy Mint. I have Mint 9 on my Dell 640m right now and it runs great. I've also run Ubuntu 10.04 on a AMD 1.8GHz (3000+) machine with 1GB of RAM and it is pretty peppy for that old of a processor.

[Isthmus]

Thanks Sivartk.

I tried creating a live bootable disk out of a CF card, but I failed misserably. Even after learning more about system bios than I ever thought necessary. I'm guessing that the CF card is just not bootable, so I ordered a couple of new kingston USBs which should be perfect. The 1012 was ordered yesterday and should arrive later this week.

IN the meantime, I created a live CD and installed Mint as a dual boot in my home made machine (2.4ghz P4 / 2gb RAM / 160 GB main hd / 40 GB Slave HD). The install was flawless, and now the OS is in the middle of installing a whole bunch of updates. Thus far the only thing that has not worked perfectly was my IBM mouse, which just didn't behave as it should (made the cursor jump around wildly. I unplugged it and connected my MS usb travel mouse and it works fine. Maybe I'll try the the IBM again after the updates finish.

I'll spend the rest of the day doing configurations and playing with mint on the home build machine. hopefully by next weekend the 1012 will be here and I will have enough experience to format that bad boy however I want.

Thanks for all the help guys, you all have been awesome - unlike the folks at the Mint forum, some of who have been rather snotty. Thanks for putting up with a noob.

[sivartk]

Originally Posted by Isthmus

Thanks for putting up with a noob.

Unless you helped develop the software, we were all "noobs" at one point

[Isthmus]

Thanks again. The Dell should be here any day now. I went ahead and ordered a 2g pc-6400 800mghz memory card, and will do the upgrade once it arrives.

I've been playing with the old system and having a great time. That system is too old to run mint how I want without updating the graphics card and adding a new monitor (to take advantage of all the effects. I'm not sure that I can be bothered so I'll just use it as a testing rig for now. Can't wait to get started on the 1012.

I have an old 700m still in use that might end up becoming a dual boot (xp/linux - not sure which distro) once I'm done upgrading the 1012.

Thanks again for all the help.

[Isthmus]

How's this for comedy. So the 1012 arrives. I bought it refurbished, which I've had god experiences with before. Instead I get a machine that while marked refurbished, is clearly scratched, is dirty, has a broken hanging key and came without an invoice. It took dell just a few days from order to delivery, but here's the rub, they will exchange it but it will take the 16 (yes SIXTEEN) days to process the return.

In the meantime, I have to hang onto a broken machine that I have no use for until they deliver the replacement.

ARGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

[reflex]

Sorry that a ugly broken netbook showed up. I hope the replacement is satisfactory

[Isthmus]

Originally Posted by reflex

Sorry that a ugly broken netbook showed up. I hope the replacement is satisfactory

Thanks for the kind words Reflex. I don't want to play with the broken computer, in case I change too many settings and Dell feels the need to say something about the return. That said, in the mean time, I've been using the wait time to research other solid laptop and netbook friendly Linux Distros and have compiled a nice little list of distros to try on the laptop I have at home (Dell 700m).

Besides Linux Mint 9 Isadora (Gnome desktop) I'm in the process of creating live CD's of the following:

• PCLinuxOS 2010 (KDE Desktop)
• PCLinuxOS 2010 (Gnome Desktop)
• OpenGEU 8.10 Luna Serena
• Elive 2.0 Topaz
• MoonOS 3 Makara

I'm testing Mint and PCLOS mainly because I want to see a fully fledged distribution with all the bells and whistles working and because I want to compare KDE vs Gnome to see which one I like the best. I've been playing with Mint 9 for a few days already and really like what I see. However, I'm having to run that on my old desktop since it keeps turning off my 700m's display when booting. Sadly that old desktop doesn't have a separate graphics card, so most of the fancy effects can't be rendered on it.

The other three (OpenGEU, Elive and MoonOS) I picked specifically because they are very light on resources, have very clean UI's, have a fair amount of eye candy (hey I have to impress the wife who uses an iMac), and most of all are very fast. In other words, they should all be very netbook friendly. They are all based on a solid distro (Debian for Elive and Ubuntu for the other two) with modifed versions Enlighten E17 as the desktop and windows manager. I'm especially excited about trying OpenGEU, since that one is the second lightest of the two, but said to be the most stable, since it replaces some of the unfinished and/or unstable parts of E17, with their Gnome equivalents, adds additional gnome functionality, and adds the massive Ubuntu repositories. It sounds like a very light weight and powerful little distro and if I can get it to work, it just might be what I'm looking for in a netbook.

I'll post reviews after I've had a chance to test some of these.