I've had my Eee for about 6 days now and I've already had 4 operating systems on it.
- It was shipped with the Eee PC version of Xandros Linux in Taiwanese. I ditched this for a obvious reason, I can't read Taiwanese.
- Next, I tried the English version of the Eee PC Xandros. This one wasn't bad, but it wasn't a full featured Linux and I've got so used to Ubuntu on my desktop that any Linux that wasn't full featured was just going to be nuisance.
- So, I decided to give Ubuntu-eee a try. Ubuntu-eee is a variation of the current Ubuntu version 8.04, Hardy Heron. It's slightly modified with smaller fonts and a little different GUI (which, by the way, is absolutely beautiful). There was one major problem though, it didn't like the firmware power management in the Eee and it would enter Stand by in the middle of typing sentences. That wouldn't do.
- I then did something that I absolutely hated to do, I borrowed a friends USB CDROM and installed Windows XP. Ever since I first installed Ubuntu, I've absolutely hated Windows, I've been trying to get it to what I consider as "tolerable," but I no longer have the USB CDROM and about every change you try to make to a Windows product requires the CD to do so. So far, the only thing I've been able to do is upgrade to Windows XP SP3.
As of right now, Windows XP is the only thing that the Eee will play nice with and is featured enough to satisfy my tech cravings, but it's not going to be the permanent OS. As soon as the next version of Ubuntu comes out (see Intrepid Ibex, Ubuntu version 8.10), I'll be switching back. Intrepid is rumored to have full Eee support, out of the box. That means, no modifying kernels like I had to do with Ubuntu-eee (I'm not that smart, I followed a tutorial I found on line).
On my first attempt to install Windows XP, I turned the little laptop into a brick trying to install without a CDROM.
