Follow us on TwitterThink Twice Before Buying a Netbook with Windows 7
Posted by Tom Greer on December 4, 2009 in Operating Systems
The introduction of Windows 7 has complicated the choices when purchasing a netbook. It used to be a simple choice. Want a netbook with Microsoft Windows? The only choice was XP Home Edition.
If you look at the today’s netbook offerings, you will find three groups:
- Windows XP Home Edition
- Windows 7 Starter Edition
- Windows 7 Home Premium Edition (of which there are 32 and 64 bit flavors)
Why two different versions of Windows 7? Price, of course!
Moblin 2.0 Review
Posted by Steve Greer on August 20, 2009 in Netbook Market, Operating Systems, Reviews
At Netbook Scoop, we have been testing various new operating systems on our netbooks over the last week.
Earlier we reviewed Google Android as a netbook OS. We also published tutorials on installing Android and Moblin on bootable USB memory sticks so that you can test these OSs without actually installing them on your hard drive.
Today I’m going to show you Moblin 2.0 Beta running on an Asus Eee PC 1008HA.
Booting Moblin
I decided to install Moblin 2.0 to the hard drive of the Asus Eee PC 1008HA to give the operating system a true run. The boot time was about 45 seconds. Not bad for a Linux based OS (note that I did not install the quick boot option).
Once I was booted into the Operating System I come right into the MyZone Screen.
How To Run Android On Your Netbook
Posted by Tom Greer on August 16, 2009 in Operating Systems
There is a lot of development work on new operating systems for netbooks. Obviously, Microsoft intends to replace XP with the soon-to-be-released Windows 7. They will make the transition gradually. But, they will phase out XP as soon as customers let them.
However, there are others who would like to insert themselves into the mix and grab a portion of the market.
So, we decided to spend time this weekend exploring Moblin (initially developed by Intel), Android (from Google), Kubuntu (from Canonical) and Windows 7 (from Microsoft). All of these are pre-production releases, so we expect some buginess.
Steve just posted an article on how to create a Live USB Stick to boot Moblin.
In this article, I do the same for Google’s Android.
Preparation
First off. Please realize that Android was developed as a smart phone operating system. Then some smart guys decided to load the OS on their Eee PC – and surprise, it actually worked. Sort of.
Since then, there has been a lot of speculation that Google would expand and extend Android as a real netbook operating system. Last month, Google suprised many people by announcing that they would be introducing a netbook operating system named Chrome OS.
Unfortunately, Chrome OS is not available to us. But Android is – and many speculate that Chrome OS will simply be Android with some netbook extensions. So we will take a look at Android.
The first thing we did was to make a bootable USB memory stick containing Android. We thought you might like to experiment with Android as well, so here is how we did it.
All you need is a USB memory stick. I used a 1 GB stick. You can probably fit it on a 250MB stick.
Step 1. Download the latest version from Google.
Go to the live-android download page at Google. Download these two files: liveandroidv0.2usb.iso.001 and liveandroidv0.2usb.iso.002.
Each of these files is about 90 MB.
Step 2. Join the two files
In Linux:
cat liveandroidv0.2usb.iso.001 liveandroidv0.2usb.iso.002 > liveandroidv0.2.iso
In Windows:
You will need to access the command line (Start Button -> Run -> CMD), then:
copy /b liveandroidv0.2.iso.001 +liveandroidv0.2.iso.002 liveandroidv0.2.iso
Step 3. Make the USB stick bootable
Whether you are using Linux or Windows, you will want to download and install UNetbootin.
Plug your USB stick in and fire up UNetbootin.
Screenshot of UNetbootin
Set the DiskImage field to the file you created in Step 2 above. Set the USB Drive to the one you just plugged in. Select OK.
Ready to Test
Now you just need to set the BIOS on your netbook so that it will boot from the USB stick and you are ready to go.
We will publish our results in a separate article once we have some time to evaluate it.
We also plan to shoot a video showing different netbooks running each of the OS’s mentioned above. So stay tuned.
How to test Moblin from a USB stick
Posted by Steve Greer on August 16, 2009 in Netbook Market, Operating Systems, Reviews
It is apparent that Windows XP’s days are numbered. So, naturally there is a lot of interest in several new operating systems being developed for netbooks.
This weekend, we are exploring Moblin (initially developed by Intel), Android (from Google), Kubuntu (from Canonical) and Windows 7 (from Microsoft). All of these are pre-production releases, so we expect some buginess.
There has been some talk about Acer releasing a netbook with Moblin loaded on it. So, first up is Moblin.
We wanted an easy way to test Moblin without installing it to your hard disk. We thought you might like to know, too. So here is how we did it.
Preparations
All you need is a 1 GB USB stick and a few minutes of your time.
There are a few things to keep in mind while testing Moblin on your netbook.
It is recommended that you have an Intel Atom N270 or N280 processor with the GMA950 chipset. I’ve read that Moblin does not have support for the GMA500 chipset as of yet.
While it is possible to create a bootable CD, I would also recommend booting from USB instead. I’ve done some testing with the Live CD an found it to be a very slow experience.
Steps to Create Live USB Stick
Here are the steps to create your own bootable USB key. This takes about 5 minutes and you are good to go.
1. Download the latest Moblin release from Moblin.org
2. Download Win32DiskImager.exe
3. Unzip the file and extract the contents to a known directory
4. Run W32DiskImager.exe (See screenshot below)
5. Select the Moblin Image File
6. Select the drive letter that represents your USB key
7. Select the “Write” button to byte-copy the image to the USB stick.
8. Presto! You have a bootable USB stick.
9. Make sure you set your bios to boot from USB before you try and boot.
10. Boot Moblin from your USB stick and Presto! You have Moblin available for testing.
I will make sure and post a video in the next day and share some of my experience using Moblin.
Just remember one thing while testing. This is a BETA release and does not represent the final release.
Microsoft Blames Linux Netbooks for Revenue Miss
Posted by Tom Greer on August 5, 2009 in Netbooks, Operating Systems
Microsoft Logo
LinuxWorld noted that, in the 10-K just filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Microsoft acknowledges Linux as a competitor on the client side (which is a first) saying:
Client faces strong competition from well-established companies with differing approaches to the PC market. Competing commercial software products, including variants of Unix, are supplied by competitors such as Apple, Canonical, and Red Hat. Apple takes an integrated approach to the PC experience and has made inroads in share, particularly in the U.S. and in the consumer segment. The Linux operating system, which is also derived from Unix and is available without payment under a General Public License, has gained some acceptance, especially in emerging markets, as competitive pressures lead OEMs to reduce costs and new, lower-price PC form-factors gain adoption. Partners such as Hewlett-Packard and Intel have been actively working with alternative Linux-based operating systems. Read the rest »
Microsoft’s Netbook Quandry
Posted by Tom Greer on August 1, 2009 in Netbook Market, Operating Systems
Windows 7
There is a lot of hubbub today about the Microsoft’s pricing plans for Windows 7 and the impact on the netbook market niche.
In a nutshell, Microsoft’s current plan is to have netbooks ship with a crippled version of Window 7 called the Starter Edition. Then to charge $80 to upgrade to the Home Premium Edition. With the typical purchase price of a netbook in the $300 – $400 range, this represent a 20% increase in the cost of a netbook.
To ensure that many netbook owners will be willing to fork over the the $80, Microsoft is crippling the Windows 7 Starter Edition by eliminating remote media streaming, changing desktop background and other “advanced” features.
Of course, netbook manufacturers can bypass all that by installing Windows 7 Home Premium at the factory. As a result, the list prices will rise by $50 or so.
We forecasted all this back in June in our article “Netbook Market: What Is Coming Next?“, where we said:
Moblin recently updated the 2.0 Beta image for Netbooks
Posted by Steve Greer on June 18, 2009 in Netbook Market, Netbooks, Operating Systems
Have you played with Moblin yet? What are you waiting for?? Moblin has just refreshed the 2.0 beta which has fixed a bunch of issues and has added some new features.
You can download the new Mobin2.0 beta image for netbooks here. If you need help with how to use the image, Moblin has put a nice page together to help you load the live image from CD or USB.
I recommend USB, because it gives you a much faster experience compared to booting from a CD. This will give you a preview of the OS without actually having to install it to your hard drive.
I would be interested in hearing from you on what your thoughts are? Feel free to send us an email or comment back.