Installed Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix (UNR) on my Acer Aspire One w/8GB SSD

I mentioned yesterday that I downloaded the 946.8MB Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix (UNR) IMG file. After searching around a bit I found an old Sandisk Cruzer Mini 1GB flash drive to create a bootable installation drive from the IMG file.

I plugged the Sandisk thumb drive into my first generation Acer Aspire One’s USB port, booted the Aspire One and pressed F2 to get into setup to change its media boot order. After saving the configuration, I used UNR’s “Live CD” (or Live Flash in this case) mode to try UNR without touching the existing Linpus Linux installed on the Aspire One. The screens looked fine and WiFi worked fine after entering my WPA key.

So, after backing up the data from the Aspire One’s SSD (this first generation Aspire One has an 8GB flash drive), I stared at the drive configuration options (see screen photo above) for a few minutes before deciding to throw caution to the wind and wipe out the hard drive to dedicate it to UNR. My SSD had 4.7GB free after the UNR installation completed.

I’m happy to report that the installation went smoothly and my Acer Aspire One seems like a new machine with Ubuntu Netbook Remix installed instead of the serviceable but limited Linpus Linux Lite. I really like what I’ve seen so far. And, I’ll probably be writing more about my UNR experience next week. I’ve already installed Thunderbird (UNR defaults to Evolution for email) as well as Adobe AIR and twhirl (Twitter client). If you want short but up to the moment info about what I’m doing with UNR on the Aspire One, you might want to consider following my commentary on Twitter: @toddogasawara

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.