Thanks to Jack Wallen of ZDNet for this one: The Ten Best Reasons for having Linux on your netbook:
Netbook hardware is the perfect match for Linux
Netbooks require a secure OS
It's all about the interface
Your netbook can be more than just a slow laptop
Linux will keep your cost down
Linux offers more flavours to choose from
You'll gain speed
Improvements will come faster and more often
The next version will work
Support is better (believe it or not)
Good one. Number 2 is the big one for me.
I finally converted to Linux (ubuntu), for my home PC a few months ago, and I haven't looked back. And the chief reason is the freedom from worry about viruses, trojans, updating protection, etc. etc.
So, yes, I agree - Linux and Netbooks should be a very good fit.
Thanks Al, that's very encouraging. It seems the 'Must have Windows' argument is the strtongest shot in the Wintel Netbook locker. If Linux is as good as you say, ARM-based Netbook take-up shouldn't be a problem
"It seems the 'Must have Windows' argument is the strtongest shot in the Wintel Netbook locker. If Linux is as good as you say, ARM-based Netbook take-up shouldn't be a problem"
But why can't you get Windows on an ARM?
Well, obviously you *can* get Windows Mobile cos lots of smartphones do: I wonder how that is on a netbook?
But I was thinking couldn't you just recompile tha the bloody thing to the different CPU?
Thinking of how Apple (using 'Rosetta' from Transitive) moved from PowerPC to Intel which seamed pretty smooth: could M$ move the other way?
Not sure you want to / that it is a good idea.
But is the "w" in wintel necessarily tied to intel?
To be honest, El Rupester, I haven't a clue. It would be a super thing if it were to be done, but the fact that non one's done it suggests, to me, there are pretty big obstaclews to achieving a satisfactory result. Didn't Transmeta try to do that, and wasn't it backed by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft? If that combination couldn't pull osmething off, maybe it can't be done satisfactorily (though didn't Sony use the Transmeta chip in laptops so it must have been half good)but the honest answer is I don't know why it's not been done.
I tried Linix (admitedly not on a Netbook) some time ago believing the "it'll run faster" argument and found very little measureable difference on the desktop machine I was using. It did occupy less HD space but these days not a big issue. I have a Samsumg NC10 running Windows XP and to be honest its plenty fast enough for most apps except photo editing (but the screen is too small anyway) and any real CAD. Movies are fine and web-browsing is excellent. I think the need for Linux even on a web book is over-blown (and I'm no Windows fan, I even recall DR-DOS and GEM as better than early MS-DOS and Windows).
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