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Story: Asus 9 inch NetbookTotal Replies: 9
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alejaaandro

Feb 01, 2010
10:10 PM EDT
i have a dell mini 9 with 8 gigs and i've squashed ubuntu 9.10 down to around 2 gigs..

you can get rid of a lot of stuff on a netbook, like: *gimp *ttf fonts for languages you know you're not gonna need (for me Korean, Chinese, Indian etc.. they take A LOT of space) *everything having to do with cd's/dvd's (brasero etc) since there's no drive for that and i don't plan on using an external) *evolution (i prefer webmail) *f-spot (no way you're gonna keep your photo collection in 8 gb) *accessibility stuff like orca *themes i'm not using *vinagre (desktop sharing) *games (not really into it) and a bunch of apps i never use

you can even replace apps with others that are more "efficient": *replace totem and rhythmbox with vlc which which plays EVERYTHING you throw at it *i do some web developing and use quanta plus in my desktop, but for a netbook geany or gedit with some plugins are more than enough (i find that geany can be a great basic ide for a lot of programming languages)

then, there's the drivers for stuff you don't have and don't plan on using: *bluetooth (i stupidly decided not to put in my netbook.. i use a usb bluetooth though, so i have the drivers and apps for that) *printer drivers (if i want to print something i just share it to my desktop.. if not at home, i always carry a usb thumb anyways, so i can just pass it to another pc and print it) *scanner drivers and apps (xsane)

and that's only from the top of my head..
Bob_Robertson

Feb 02, 2010
8:52 AM EDT
Al, what "desktop" are you using, the Ubuntu GNOME?

It would be interesting to know if the Ubuntu repositories keep the really light-weight window managers like OLWM and Windowlab, which could be used to cut the footprint even further.

One of the problems with using Debian is that I've gotten spoiled rotten about what is and isn't available in repositories.
alejaaandro

Feb 02, 2010
11:31 AM EDT
i'm using ubuntu 9.10 with gnome

i searched in synaptic, OLWM is there but Windowlab isn't.. I know i could i could bring it down to an even smaller footprint by using some other "Desktop". I tried LXDE once and looks quite promissing and fast, maybe now that it's gonna be natively supported as LUBUNTU it will be even better.. But for the moment i'm used to this interface and configurations.

i could even remove compiz but on a small screen like this i find it really useful to use all the different window managing options it gives..
Sander_Marechal

Feb 02, 2010
11:37 AM EDT
@alejaaandro: For a leightwieght window manager with many options, try Awesome. It's fast, flexible and can be controlled entirely by the keyboard. A very useful thing on a netbook with an impossibly small touchpad. It's in the Ubuntu repositories IIRC.

Awesome's only downside is that the configuration file is a Lua script. That means it's fantastic and powerfull for geeks like me who can program Lua, but it may be too hard for you if you don't know how to program.
gus3

Feb 02, 2010
1:09 PM EDT
@Sander:

That's nothing. The config files for Sawfish are written in a Lisp descendant.
Sander_Marechal

Feb 03, 2010
4:09 AM EDT
Ah, Lisp. So elegant, but I still haven't managed to fully wrap my head around it. I'd love to find a small project somewhere that benefits from Lisp so I have a chance to learn it better.
gus3

Feb 03, 2010
4:33 AM EDT
@Sander:

http://www.paulgraham.com/rootsoflisp.html

It's an excellent introduction to the Lisp paradigm, complete with a section titled "The Surprise".
bigg

Feb 03, 2010
10:07 AM EDT
I haven't watched them all, but if you want a classic course on Lisp, there are twenty hours worth of videos here:

http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.001/abelson-sussma...

Sander_Marechal

Feb 04, 2010
2:24 AM EDT
Thanks for that link Gus. Personally I have been working on-and-off on this: http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/
alejaaandro

Feb 04, 2010
6:40 PM EDT
than sander, i'll take a look at it..

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