Ubuntu Netbook Remix on Eee PC

As soon as I had Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron on my Eee PC, I couldn’t resist trying new interfaces. I had seen the Canonical Netbook Remix on Tombuntu less than a week earlier and did some searching until I found the launchpad site and found that I could add the applets into my current installation!

I added the ppa apt repository and installed everything except the ume-config-netbook, because it is not meant to be used on all systems. The applets are:

• go-home-applet: a button that when clicked, returns to the main launcher
• window-picker-applet: a nice window switcher that shows windows opened by the application icon and the title of the current window
• maximus: forces all windows to open in fullscreen mode while leaving only the top panel
• human-netbook-them: a nice theme with dark colors
• ume-launcher: an application launcher that makes it easy to get to applications and fills the easy mode need that Xandros offers

I took a few screenshots of it in action:

Here it is in the internet category with the default appearance.

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It has a nice popup showing an application is loading.

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The window picker handles several windows nicely.

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Of course the colors, themes, and panels can still be changed.

All I can say is: Well done Canonical. Maybe this will help convince new mini-pc manufactures to choose Ubuntu instead of Xandros…