Anyone using K-lucid NETBOOK edition?

[Aykay]

Recently I started mulling over purchasing a Kindle 3, as I lead a fairly migratory lifestyle that is starting to challenge my book collections. I was really psyched to find out about the Pixel Qi screen though - if you haven't heard, PixelQi (which I believe spun out of the OLPC project) have released a 10.1" screen that can alternate between display types, including E-ink. I'm really excited about the technology, as the main reason I've avoided e-readers (and moreover e-boos) thus far is that my eyes can't take the amount of reading I already do on a computer.

So I'm currently looking at buying a netbook with the sole intention of dropping that screen into and having a super-e-reader, and I've been looking into the netbook edition of Kubuntu. It may be shallow, but one of the biggest draws of Kubuntu for me is that I can completely customize the desktop appearance/window behavior. I've spent a year working on my desktop aesthetics, but looking at reviews of the Netbook edition, I noticed that the default layout seems to focus on 3 icon-filled panels. My intuition says "it's linux, it can be changed", but can anyone confirm this for me? I still prefer a taskbar & application launcher a million-fold to anything resembling a smartphone layout, and I'd hate to abandon the feeling of a desktop OS interface.

Further, I admit that it's been quite a while since I was properly versed in hardware terminology. Reading a few reviews online, I get the feeling that most netbooks are considered underperformers and/or glorified email checkers? Most of what I do these days IS internet access and playing mp3s, but I do occaisionally use programs like Audacity and Gimp for creative projects. Also, as mentioned, I want my next compy to do a kindle imitation. Are netbooks truly THAT underwhelming in their processing power? Can they really not handle an occaisional 5-programs-at-once session? (Ie, Firefox, Amarok, Nicotine, Skype, OpenOffice).

[Snowhog]

Re: Anyone using K-lucid NETBOOK edition?

My 'limited' understanding of the Kubuntu Netbook interface, is that it isn't easily customizable, or, has limited custimization available. It's the nature of the interface.

That said, you can opt to replace the Netbook interface with the traditional KDE Plasma Desktop, which again, as I have read, requires some tweeking to 'make it right.'

[Guest]

Re: Anyone using K-lucid NETBOOK edition?

Aykay,

I use Kubuntu Netbook in my Lenovo S10e.

Yes, the screen layout is not configurable, as far as I know, and the default behavior is to maximize ALL windows, which most people used to the standard desktop paradigm hate.

You can configure some appearance like preferred programs, add plasmoids to the top panel (ie to have a taskbar). Change the maximization rules to something more palatable (having some configuration screen and popups maximized drives me nuts!!)

But if you like kde's standard plasma desktop. Nothing prevents you from using it in your Netbook. I did it for some time just to try it although I came back to the netbook version.

Both are different packages and can be installed side to side, install kubuntu-desktop or kubuntu-netbook or both. You can change the preferred desktop from system settings (sorry I cannot remember where exactly).

Regarding the processing power of your netbook, my little toy runs on an atom N270@1.6Ghz processor and 2Gigs memory. I usually have kopete, skype, firefox with three to five tabs, amarok, and eventually ktorrent and twonkyserver (a media server) join the party . It is not as agile as my desktop PC (switching windows has some delay, starting firefox takes some time, and starting OOO is... well, not for the impatients), but it is workable. You must consider as well that some of the new Atom Z processors installed in modern netbooks are a bit less powerful than the N series that I have due to power consumption issues.

You can suffer more with Audacity or the Gimp. Definitely I don't consider my Netbook a work tool. It works to read a document in OOO or make small modifications to it, but I wouldn't use it to edit a big presentation for example. Not only because of the processing power but also because the size of the screen and keyboard makes it very inconvenient.

I don't know if I completely answered your question or created more doubts If you have more Qs do not hesitate to ask.

[wizard10000]

Re: Anyone using K-lucid NETBOOK edition?

That said, you can opt to replace the Netbook interface with the traditional KDE Plasma Desktop, which again, as I have read, requires some tweeking to 'make it right.'

I installed Karmic KNR and removed plasma-netbook and kubuntu-netbook-default-settings and installed kubuntu-desktop instead as outlined in this thread.

All I had to do was shrink the default Kubuntu fonts a little and everything works great. If I was gonna do it again I wouldn't bother with KNR, I'd just do a straight Kubuntu install. I did replace kwin with compiz because it's got a smaller memory footprint, is more customizable and I have my favorite emerald theme and a proper desktop cube

Screenshots -

[img width=400 height=234]http://ebassist.com/pix/netbook.jpg[/img]

[img width=400 height=234]http://ebassist.com/pix/netbook1.jpg[/img]

[dibl]

Re: Anyone using K-lucid NETBOOK edition?

@wizard, nice job there!

[Pillage Idiot]

Re: Anyone using K-lucid NETBOOK edition?

I just recently installed netbook on my eeepc, which is an earlier one with the rather pedestrian celeron processor.
It runs plenty well enough and way better than xp or 7 on this platform (the big surprise about 7 was that it was actually quite usable, not hugely slower than xp).
But I would have to say that the biggest thing that makes it so much better to use is the new layout, designed for the small screen.
XP and 7 are a bit painful to use on such a small display.
Sure it's a bit different from what we are used to, but once you get used to it so much better on this form factor.
I think the guys have done a great job with this edition.
Now I just need to find a way to squeeze a new phenom in there.