Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Version -- one step forward, 10 steps back

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Evan Leibovitch <evan-ieNeDk6JonTYtjvyW6yDsg at public.gmane.org>

| I've upgraded my Ubuntu netbook to 10.10 and it's a massive step down.

Thanks for your useful analysis.

I want a netbook to be a small notebook.  A couple of relevant
consequences: I try to get netbooks with useful resolutions (1366x768)
and I run a normal distro (not a netbook distro).

Most netbooks have low resolution screens.  Many users find that normal
distros don't work well with that resolution.  I suspect that is a
significant driver for netbook "remixes".  Netbooks are felt to have
other differentiators, but only sometimes:
- even radically lower resolution
- touch screens
- use cases skewed towards "social media"
- use cases skewed towards low attention span and intensity
- low memory
- low CPU

All these lead away from characteristics I want in a distro so the
chance I'd like such a distro low.  Maybe that applies to you too.

Yesterday I was using my zaurus.  What did I run?  "terminal", so I
could use grep and less.  That's all.  I'm old school.  But you knew
that.

I have a ThinkPad x61t tablet.  Do I ever use the tablet features?
No.  That may be a reflection of me, what I do with the tablet, or the
state of Linux programs.
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