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Subject : Re: LUG: Has anyone had success with Linux on an Ultrabook?

From : Richard Carter <rwcarter@ncsu.[redacted]>

Date : Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:27:03 -0500

Parent

I run Fedora 16 LXDE on my Cr-48, just put it on several weeks ago, and it's working very well. That linked blog post was interesting - I haven't even used the 3G card but I guess it's a benefit. I mostly like the size; I have a 17" MBP and two 10" Asus Eee PCs, and just like in goldilocks, the Cr-48 is juuuust right for the times when I don't need my everything or a tiny computer.

Still, if you have the money to spend, I probably would suggest something with better build quality. The Cr-48 is made of a pretty cheap plastic and the touchpad is like a cheap plastic imitation of Apple's touchpads. The hardware is still great and Chrome OS is actually really cool (root fs mounted read-only, data space marked noexec, Cr-48 has a hardware BIOS read-only switch default on) but if you could find pretty much the same thing in a sleeker, more durable package, I'd recommend it.


On Sat, Feb 4, 2012 at 2:24 PM, Michael Wright < mdwrigh2@ncsu.[redacted] > wrote:
Hi Jay,

While I can't say anything specifically about current ultrabooks, depending on your needs, a Transformer Prime may actually be something to look into. It runs Android, but apparently its fairly easy to setup an Ubuntu chroot and use one of the numerous terminal apps for development (given your editor of choice works on the command line of course).

Another alternative that I believe CarsonLynn has gotten working is a CR-48 with Ubuntu installed ( link ). That seems like a fairly good option (and perhaps the new chromebooks are even better for this, but I don't know).

Anyways, hopefully somebody else has some experience with ultra books, but if not, maybe one of those two solutions is a reasonable alternative.

Best of luck!

Michael Wright

On Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 2:06 PM, Jay Goel wrote:

Hi! I really really want to buy one of those new ultrabooks - those computers which are super-thin, don't have optical drives, have SSDs, and generally compete with the Macbook Air in terms of form factor.

Being that they are so new, there isn't much of a track record of people successfully installing linux on these things. For example, I haven't been able to get a good install on a new (Late 2011) Macbook Pro, and according to the internet, the Asus Zenbook X31 is also a no-go. [1, 2].

Does anyone have any experience with the newer laptops and linux? Models to avoid? Models which work particularly well?

No clean linux installation on these:


Thanks!

Jay