I've had using Moblin as my netbook OS since sometime last year, and I've been keenly waiting for it's reincarnation as MeeGo. When Ubuntu 10.4 came out last month I decided to ditch my old Moblin 2.1 on my Acer Aspire One AOA 110 netboook and give the latest Ubuntu UNR distribution a try. I think Ubuntu is a great desktop Linux distribution, but for me UNR still doesn't really stand out as a solid netbook OS compared to Moblin, so with MeeGo 1.0 released this week I was eager to give it a try.
The MeeGo distribution is offered in two variants, one with Google Chrome as the default browser, and another with the Chromiun browser (the open source variant of Chrome). Installation was easy, and the boot time (like Moblin before it) is amazingly fast. The MeeGo UI is ideal for a small netbook sized display and the revised layout of the home screen is very nice, with a calendar overview, unread email count, favorite apps launcher, and combined visual feed of twitter post and recently visited web pages.
The number of applications included with the MeeGo distribution is minimal and the number of applications available through the MeeGo Garage is currrently very limited. Some reviews have counted this a limitation, but it's early days and I think of (and use) MeeGo more as a "Cloud" OS than a fully featured desktop OS, it is after all a "NET"book. There are plenty of great online apps such as Google Docs and other online tools, so why bloat the OS with unnecessary applications.
My first impression is that MeeGo 1.0 is a solid netbook OS that I would certainly recommend others to try out.
Tweeking MeeGo for the Aser Aspire One
/dev/sda2 / btrfs defaults,noatime,nodatasum,ssd_spread 1 1
2. To reduce the disk IO I also followed the Ubuntu AA1 Wiki suggestion to "Reduce SDD Wear" by using tmpfs for /tmp /var/tmp and /var/logs
3. Apply the changes to /etc/rc.local suggested on the Ubuntu AA1 Wiki to "Increase Battery Life"
The MeeGo distribution is offered in two variants, one with Google Chrome as the default browser, and another with the Chromiun browser (the open source variant of Chrome). Installation was easy, and the boot time (like Moblin before it) is amazingly fast. The MeeGo UI is ideal for a small netbook sized display and the revised layout of the home screen is very nice, with a calendar overview, unread email count, favorite apps launcher, and combined visual feed of twitter post and recently visited web pages.
The number of applications included with the MeeGo distribution is minimal and the number of applications available through the MeeGo Garage is currrently very limited. Some reviews have counted this a limitation, but it's early days and I think of (and use) MeeGo more as a "Cloud" OS than a fully featured desktop OS, it is after all a "NET"book. There are plenty of great online apps such as Google Docs and other online tools, so why bloat the OS with unnecessary applications.
My first impression is that MeeGo 1.0 is a solid netbook OS that I would certainly recommend others to try out.
Tweeking MeeGo for the Aser Aspire One
My AA1 has a solid state hard disk (SSD). MeeGo installs using the btrfs file system rather than the more common ext3 or ext4. Reading up on btrfs it is apparently better tuned for SSDs, however as the AA1 SSD has a rather slow write speed I applied some additional tweeks improve SSD performance and reduce disk IO based on suggestions from the Ubunu AA1 wiki and btrfs FAQ
1. Modify /etc/fstab to change realatime to noatime and add the btrfs option ssd_spread
/dev/sda2 / btrfs defaults,noatime,nodatasum,ssd_spread 1 1
2. To reduce the disk IO I also followed the Ubuntu AA1 Wiki suggestion to "Reduce SDD Wear" by using tmpfs for /tmp /var/tmp and /var/logs
3. Apply the changes to /etc/rc.local suggested on the Ubuntu AA1 Wiki to "Increase Battery Life"
Comments
I after saw your blog on Meego. I decide to try it out. I have also an AA1. works fine. but I can't change the SSD option. the terminal just state not found.