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Ubuntu 10 04 Netbook Remix On An HP Mini 2140 Netbook Part 3

Now that I have Ubuntu Netbook Remix installed on my HP Mini 2140 netbook, I became aware of another thing about the HP that is different from my Lenovo S10-2 netbook, and that was the display size and clarity. At first I thought it was simply my imagination but after comparing the powered-up netbooks side by side, it became apparent that the display on the HP was very much sharper and was easier to read. It was also noticeable that the HPs screen was slightly smaller than the Lenovos - which was confirmed by the specification in the HP Mini 2140 Data Sheet. The HP has a 1024 x 576 pixels screen while the Lenovo has the normal (for a netbook, that is) 1024 x 600 pixels screen. Why this was so is not clear but the type of LCD panel used by HP resulted in the sharper and clearer display than the Lenovo - so I am not complaining :)

Another feature of the HP that differs from the Lenovo is the standard battery that came with the netbook. HP only supplies a 3-cell battery as standard while Lenovo supplies a 6-cell one. Obviously this has an impact on battery life under normal netbook usage. According to reports and reviews found on the web, the 3-cell battery on the HP was only good for about 2 hours under normal usage - compare this with an actual 4.5 hours which was actually obtained by me for the Lenovo. So, if I wanted to extend the battery life on the HP, I have to purchase the optional 6-cell battery. After making several inquiries, I discovered to my horror that such a battery cost around 25% of the actual cost of the netbook! Way to go HP! Is this your way of screwing your users? In retrospect, I should have expected this - after all, after working with HP for more than 20 years, I should know by now that HP stands for High Price.

Expect for the 6-cell battery price farce, I found several things to like about the HP Mini 2140 - which was a saving grace (else I would have just got rid of it). One, as I mentioned previously, was the sharp screen display. The other likable item was the keyboard - the keys were large and nice to use - unlike the somewhat soggy feel of the Lenovos keyboard. I also felt that the inclusion of the ExpressCard/54 slot as a nice feature to have - provided, of course, I can get actual ExpressCard/54 cards locally. As mentioned previously, I am looking for a 4-port USB ExpressCard/54 card in order to expand the number of available USB ports. More on this ExpressCard later.

Anyway, enough about the HP Mini - allow me to elaborate on my first impression of the new Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Remix (UNR) OS. The first and most noticable impression is the new color scheme (or theme). The standard brown scheme found in the previous version (9.10) has been replaced with a purple, gray, and orange theme called Ambiance. Personally, I prefer the old scheme but I could live with the new one. Fortunately the background could be easily be changed to almost anything I wish and I do have some nice images to serve as the background. This was the first thing I did on the netbook - copy my favorite images to my home folder (Pictures subfolder) and changed the background to my liking.

The next (and somewhat irritating) thing I noticed about the new UNR is that, for some reason or another, the Canonical team decided to place the windows control (maximize, minimize and close) buttons on top left side of the windows - instead of the usual (and familiar) top right side. According to reviews found on the web, the decision was to copy the Mac OS layout. It was also evident from the various posts on various user forums that this was not a popular decision. Fortunately, there is a way to restore the placement of the button back to the normal position. The procedure can be found at this link (http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/13535/move-window-buttons-back-to-the-right-in-ubuntu-10.04/).

As the HP netbook is to be a mobile device, battery life must be preserved at all time - which means that the power management utility in the new UNR must work correctly. This was tested next - the result was not very encouraging - in fact, it was downright disappointing. On my other netbook (the Lenovo S10-2), power management worked flawlessly with the UNR 9.10. When I close the lid of the Lenovo netbook, the system went to sleep. At the predetermined time it went into hibernation. With this power management I was able to make the battery last for the duration I am on the road. On the HP, closing the lid did not do anything - the only way I could put the HP netbook to sleep was to do it manually by pressing the Fn+F1 key combination. Opening the lid after manually putting the HP netbook to sleep did not wake it up - again I had to manually wake it up using the on/off button. To my alarm, I noted that it did not prompt me for a password upon waking up (as it is supposed to) - it just restored the last screen. Plainly, the 10.04 UNRs power management utility did not work as it was supposed to do.

After doing a bit of research on the web, I discovered that there was indeed a unresolved bug concerning the HP 2140 and its lid closing detection on UNR 10.04. It seems to be unique to the HP - other netbook did not seem to be affected. At the moment, it cannot be determined as to when this issue will be resolved. This fact alone put a bit of a damper for my plans for the HP Mini 2140 and I need to re-think them for my sleep-deprived netbook.

More to come ... stay tuned.

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Ubuntu 10 04 Netbook Remix On An HP Mini 2140 Netbook Part One

It was 5 months ago when Canonical announced the release of the Ubuntu 10.04 (codenamed Lucid Lynx) Linux OS - which also carried the LTS (Long Term Support) moniker. The Netbook Remix version was also released at the same time. At that time I was using the 9.10 Netbook Remix version (Karmic Kaola) on my Lenovo S10-2 Ideapad netbook and was very satisfied with it. Needless to say, I was tempted to upgrade to the 10.04 version - however, from experience, I decided to hold off for a few months until all the bugs have been ironed out from the OS.

Recently, I obtained a Hewlett-Packard Mini 2140 - a netbook similar to the Lenovo S10-2. My sister had purchased it because it was relatively cheap but was very disappointed with its small sized screen. After using it for a short while, she gave up and offered it to me. I now own 2 netbooks - one already running the Ubuntu 9.10 (the Lenovo) and the other running Windows XP (the HP). This situation presented me the opportunity to try out the Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Remix OS on the HP Mini.

The HP Mini 2140 is an Intel Atom based netbook and it uses a 1.6 Ghz N270 CPU. It also use the Intel 945GSE chipset with the GMA950 mobile graphics. For wireless connectivity, it utilize the Broadcom chipset. As you can see, these specifications are the same as for the Lenovo S10-2 with one major exception. The exception is the number of USB ports - only 2 is present on the HP while the Lenovo has 3. The space that would be required for the extra USB port on the HP is occupied by an ExpressCard/54 slot (with an SD cardslot immediately below it). Note that the Lenovo does not have an ExpressCard slot. It looks as if a USB hub is a must for the HP - or if a 54mm wide ExpressCard card with 4 USB ports is available, it would meet the need for extra USB ports.

In order to try out Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Remix on the HP Mini 2140, I purchased a brand new WD Scorpio Blue 500GB hard disk to replace the existing disk (which I carefully stored it just in case I need to use Windows XP again) in the HP netbook. I also replaced the 1GB memory stick in the HP with a 2GB stick. I also discovered that I simply could not locate a 54mm wide ExpressCard card with 4 USB ports anywhere here in Malaysia - only a 34mm wide version is available. Anyway I had a spare 4-port USB hub for use during the trial if needed. Thus armed with all the items mentioned, I then proceeded to download the ISO image of the Netbook Remix from the Ubuntu web site and a CDROM was created using Brasero (a CDROM burning software) on the Lenovo with an external CD burner attached. Instructions was also available on the download web site on how to create a USB drive for installing UNR from it. Just in case something happens to the external CDROM drive for the netbook, I also created the install USB drive.

I then proceeded to install the Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Remix on the HP Mini 2140 netbook. Happily, it was a success. The installation will be described in the next part of this blog ... stay tuned.

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Ubuntu 10 04 Netbook Remix On An HP Mini 2140 Netbook Part 4

As mentioned in my previous blog, I mentioned that I was disappointed with the inability of the HP Mini 2140 to enter sleep mode when the lid was closed and also mentioned that there was indeed a unresolved bug (#376793) concerning the HP 2140 and its lid closing detection on UNR 10.04. Intrigued, I decided to test whether this inability affected the previous UNR (version 9.10 codenamed Karmic Kaola). So out went the hard disk from the netbook and in its place I installed a spare blank hard disk that I had kept for such a test.

After installing the UNR 9.10, I updated the OS with the latest updates (after going through the process in getting the Broadcom wireless working as outlined in my older blogs) and then started testing the power management features. I found out that they worked perfectly! The netbook went to sleep when I closed the lid - unlike UNR 10.04. Clearly there was a problem in UNR 10.04 and NOT with the HP netbook.

The question now remains - shall I wipe out UNR 10.04 from the removed hard disk and use UNR 9.10, or continue using the already installed UNR 10.04 but always have to remember to put the netbook to sleep manually? There was one big advantage of using UNR 10.04 - it has Long Term Support (3 years support for the desktop). Battery conservation is a big issue here - if I forget to put the netbook to sleep manually, then there will be problems relating to inability to use the netbook in a remote site. Decisions, decisions, .....

More to come ... stay tuned.

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Turning a NetBook into an eBook Reader

I like reading books, the one that you hold in your hands and turn the pages manually :) I like all types of books - but my favorite (ever since I was a young boy) are science fiction (or sci-fi, for short) books. I used to read them all the time, much to my parents despair. My dad thought I should have been reading my school-books and my mom thought I should apply the same zeal to the Koran. This avaricious appetite for sci-fi books continues to this day - and now that I have lots of free time on my hands, I find myself at a quandary, as far as book reading goes. Being retired means little or no steady income - which in turn, means that I simply cannot afford to purchase as many books as when I was working. Books are getting more and more expensive nowadays -so what is a compulsive reader to do?

In addition to the increasing book cost, there is one more issue concerning the existing books that I own. Books, especially paperback books, dont last and some of the ones that I have (especially my favorites, which kept being read over and over) are now so tattered that no amount of scotch tape (or rubber bands!) can keep them in one piece. There is a solution to this looming disaster - and that will be outlines in my next post.

In the meantime, I need to get more books, especially sci-fi books without spending too much money. Of course, free books are better - only I have to look for them. Armed with only my PC (and netbook, if I am on the road) and the World-Wide Web (or internet), I set forth to locate these gems, if indeed they are available. Using Google search, I was amazed to find a treasure trove of free sci-fi books available at several web sites - you can also find them easily as I did by typing free sci-fi ebooks into your Google search field. My first visit was to the Free Library of Baen Books (Baen Books is no stranger to me as I own a lot of books that they publish) and they freely offer a number of sci-fi books in several ebook format - most of which I was not familiar with - except HTML and RTF format.

Being an old-fashioned geezer, I always like to hold a physical book while reading. Reading an HTML formatted ebook on a desktop computer always gives me a headache (plus I cant curl up on the sofa while reading a book on my computer!) . It is always a chore to re-size a web browser (normally Firefox) to decrease the number of words per line in order to make it easier to read, and sometimes having to increase the font size so it is more comfortable to my old eyes, before I can settle down to read the book. Even with all that adjustment, I still am not comfortable enough reading the book - primarily because it does not emulate the book-reading experience to a great degree. Now I do realize that it is impossible to get a 100% emulation of the book-experience but there got to be something I can do to improve the situation.

Of course, there are dedicated ebook readers like the Kindle and the Nook but they are priced way too high for me to afford - plus some of them have way too small a screen size. The larger screen sized one are even more expensive. This also rules out the new tablets like the iPad and their imitators - because of the type of LCD used in their display (as opposed to the eInk display of dedicated ebook readers), reading a book on the iPad gives me a bigger headache that on a desktop computer. Believe me, I tried it on my sisters iPad - it was not a good experience at all. So, for me, a dedicated ebook reader is out of the question. The question now remains - what can I use to read ebook and maximize the book-experience?

Then it struck me! I have a netbook - a portable computer small enough (but with a 10 inch screen) to hold in my hands like a book. Can this device replace a book? Are there (free) ebook readers software available for both the Windows and Linux OS? Can the text of the reader software be rotated 90 degrees so that it emulates the portrait mode of a book? These were the questions that ran through my mind - time to research the web for answers. After several days of research, I finally came up out a workable solution, which I now present to anyone that faces the same problem that I faced and wants a solution.

The netbook that I own is a Lenovo S10-2 Ideapad but the solution can apply to all netbooks. The advantage of using a netbook as an ebook reader is (a) it is small enough to hold in the hands like a book and (b) the netbooks battery can last long enough for usage as an ebook reader. It does not matter whether you are using the Windows or Linux OS because the ebook reader and converter software works on both OS, i.e., there are versions for both OS. Now lets get cracking and turn that netbook into an ebook reader :)

First, fire up your web browser and visit http://www.fbreader.org and read about the FBReader (not FBReaderJ) software. The FB in the name of the software is a bit misleading - it has nothing to do with FaceBook (or FB, for short). The FB in the name of the sofware refers to the FB2 format - a Russian ebook standard - the de facto format of this reader. However, it can also handle the EPUB, MOBI and PRC formats - the ebook formats most widely used. This software is the only ebook reader that I know of that can rotate the text of the book by 90 degrees so that the netbooks screen now emulates the page of a book. Take care though, this reader software cannot handle some EPUB-formatted book correctly; but MOBI or PRC-formatted ebook are handled correctly. Also, you need to be aware that it cannot handle HTM or PDF documents at the moment - a big pity but you can convert those with the converter which I will describe later. In the meantime, download the FBReader software - both Windows asd Linux versions are available so make sure you download the correct one for your netbook.

If you are wondering why there are so many formats for ebooks (wikipeedia lists 26 formats, with it likely to increase with time), then you are not alone. Visit http://gizmodo.com/5478842/giz-explains-how-youre-gonna-get-screwed-by-ebook-formats for a read on the ebook formats war.

Next, visit http://calibre-ebook.com/ and watch the demo video and then download either the Windows or Linux version. Calibre is open source e-book library management application. It is also an excellent ebook format converter with the ability to convert over thirteen document formats into EPUB, PRC and MOBI formats - the 3 formats handled by the FBReader software. So if you find yourself in a situation (like me!) of having ebooks that cannot be read by FBReader, just use the Calibre converter to convert that ebook. The added benefit of using Calibre is that it also has a ebook reader built-in - so, at a pinch, you can also use Calibre to read ebooks. However, the reader cannot rotate text by by 90 degrees unlike FBReader. There are other features of Calibre that you can use if you like, but my main use is the converter.

Once the two software has been downloaded to your netbook, you need to install them - the process for both being very straightforward. Next, and before starting the programs, decide where to store your ebook file. I use My DocumentseBooks folder for Windows and Documents/eBooks folders for Linux. You can further create sub-folders for each author (like me) or leave all the ebook files under this folder. Next move the ebook files that you have downloaded in zipped or unzipped format (FBReader can handle both) into the folders that you have created. Then start FBReader and, since this is the first time that you have used this reader, you will be presented with a short manual about FBReader - take the time to read it since it also gives you some idea how to start using it. Read the part about setting the book path and make sure that set it to point to your ebook folder. Next try pressing the Rotate Text button (the second-last button on the right) or just press the R key. The text will now be rotated 90 degrees but it will still be in a window - to make it full screen, just press the Enter key. Now your netbook looks more like a book! The Page Down and Page Up (along with the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys) allows you to navigate through the pages of the book. To go back to windowed mode, press the Enter key again; to rotate the text to its original mode, just press the R key again. To open a book for reading, click on the left-most button and the software will update itself with all the recognizable books in the book path (you did set the book path, didnt you?). Then click on the Show books under the author of the book that you want to read and then the Read book of the book that you want to read. The book will now open and you can now read it! Thats all the keys you require to use FBReader - however, you are free to explore the software.

Thats it - you now own a free ebook reader - free in the sense that you did not have to go out and purchase either hardware or software that enables you to read ebooks.

In my next post, I will describe how to use Calibre to convert between ebook formats and also some idea of where to get free ebooks. Stay tuned!

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Ubuntu 10 04 Netbook Remix On An HP Mini 2140 Netbook Part Two

For the actual install, I used an external CDROM drive attached to the HP netbook. For internet connection, I use a Ethernet LAN cable to the netbook.

1) Placing the install CDROM in the external CDROM drive attached to the HP Mini, I powered it up and pressed the F9 key to access the boot menu. The USB CDROM drive was selected as the boot drive by pressing the Enter key after which the netbook proceeded to boot the OS. After a while an Install dialog box appeared giving choices of languages and 2 other options. The first is to try out Ubuntu 10.04 without making any changes to the HP and the other is to install Ubuntu 10.04 to the HP without trying it first. Note that:

(a) it is possible to install the OS later to the HP even if you select the first option (i.e., try out the OS) by selecting Install Ubuntu-Netbook 10.04 on the Favorites screen that appears first after starting.

(b) it is also possible to create a USB stick containing the same Netbook Remix image as the CD by using the Startup Disk Creator present in the Ubuntu 10.04 System screen. Note that the 7-steps install process itself is similar in both cases.

2) After making sure that the correct language was used, I then selected the correct location, keyboard layout, and then came the important disk space preparation. Note that the easiest way is to accept the default - i.e., Erase and use the entire disk. However, this would create partitions using the ext4 filesystem - the default filesystem used by Ubuntu 10.04. The problem with using this relatively new filesystem is that most popular disk cloning and backup system do not support ext4 yet. I found this out the hard way when I tried to clone and backup a Kubuntu 10.04 based system using my favorite cloning software - Arconis Home 2010. This software will simply fail to process an ext4 based hard disk. In order to avoid this I decided to partition my hard disk manually by selecting Specify partitions manually (advanced) and use the ext3 filesystem for the partitions. (If you do not plan to clone your hard disk or do not want to tinker with the manual method, then I suggest using the default method.) I will skip the details of actually making the partitions - it is only sufficient to say that I created 4 primary partitions for boot, root, swap and home. When the partitions have been specified, I then entered my user information, password and netbook name in the next step. Note that the Log in automatically option is selected by default - for security reason I changed this to Require password to log in instead. The actual install process began after clicking on the Install button on the next screen that appeared and the whole process took a while to complete.

3) When the install process was completed, a notice appeared on the screen saying so, and also notified that a restart was required. Upon pressing the Restart Now button, the netbook re-booted into the newly-installed Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Remix OS - after logging in, of course. One noticeable difference from the previous release 9.10, is that there was no startup sound - it has to be enabled by clicking on the speaker icon on the top right panel and selecting Sound Preference. On the dialog box that appeared, I selected Ubuntu in the Sound theme drop list box after which the startup sound was heard.

4) After a while at the desktop (2 or 3 minutes), two things happened. The first is that a flashing folder icon appeared next to the Ubuntu icon at the top left-hand side of the screen. This was the Update Manager telling me that there are updates available for the OS. The second thing was that a message appeared saying that restricted drivers is available and a new icon (which looks like a plug-in PCI card for a PC) appeared next to the mail envelope icon. This was the Hardware Drivers telling me that there are restricted drivers available for me to use - in fact, this is the driver for the Broadcom wireless chipset. For the moment I ignored the Hardware Drivers notification - instead the OS was updated using the Update Manager (via the Ethernet (LAN) internet access). As of September 2010, there were 272 updates to be installed - so this process took some time to complete. The kernel was also updated, so a reboot was required as soon as all updates were installed - which I did.

5) In the previous version of Ubuntu (9.10), the installation of the restricted driver for the Broadcom wireless chipset caused problems for my Lenovo netbook. This has been fixed in this version. The restricted drivers was installed by selecting System -> Hardware Drivers from the menu. The netbook started to search for available hardware driver and when found displayed the results - which turns out to be 2 type of drivers for the Broadcom wireless chipset. I selected the Broadcom STA wireless driver and then clicked on the Activate button. After entering my password, the drivers was downloaded and installed, after which a message appeared saying I need to reboot in order to activate the drivers. The Hardware Drivers window was closed and the netbook restarted. Once restarted and upon clicking on the network icon on the top panel, I saw a list of accessible wireless access points within range - I clicked on the one I wish to connect to, entered a password and I was connected to the internet wirelessly! No fuss - no freeze as in version 9.10! At this point I also disconnected the LAN connection.

All in all, installation was painless - kudos to the Ubuntu team for making it right this time - especially the restricted Broadcom wireless drivers. Of course, it would have been nicer if the wireless had been detected and the drivers installed automatically but this would be asking too much from Canonical.

More to follow ... stay tuned.

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Try Ubuntu Netbook Remix On Desktop Ubuntu

 
Canonical -the company behind Ubuntu- released a remix version of Jaunty which is tailor made to run on netbooks.
Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix comes with faster boot speeds, and with a built-for-purpose interface that means that favourite applications and websites are just a click away. Ubuntu Netbook Remix makes a great choice for netbook users.

If youre running the standard desktop edition of Ubuntu 9.04 you can switch to a netbook interface quite easily, but be warned: it might take a little effort to return your desktop to the way it was!

Warning: if youre using Compiz (aka "desktop effects") please turn it off now. UNR doesnt need them, and in fact it may collide with its own deskop effects system.

Open up a terminal window and run this command:
sudo apt-get install go-home-applet human-netbook-theme maximus netbook-launcher window-picker-applet

When you enter your password, that command will pull in various dependencies required to make UNR work. Now reboot your PC, and you should come back to a desktop that has the two largest parts of UNR working - the netbook-launcher app (the thing that now owns your desktop) and maximus, the window maximiser. But this is only the beginning of the transformation - to get the full effect, you should do the following:

• Remove from the top panel the Ubuntu menu (Applications/Places/System) from the left and the switch user applet from the right, plus any app launchers you dont want. Just right-click on things and choose Remove From Panel to get rid of them.
• Right-click on the top panel, choose Add to Panel, then add Go Home and Window Picker, moving them to the left and centre of the panel respectively.
• Remove the bottom panel entirely - right-click and choose Delete This Panel.
• Now go to System > Preferences > Appearance and choose the Human-Netbook them

Those of you who have installed Ubuntu on their EEEPC might want to give this a go!

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