I have dusted off the Mini Note 2133 to install Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope and add a new instalment to my history of running Ubuntu on a HP Mini Note.
But there is not much to say. I did a clean install and it just worked. I had to fiddle with the X config as per the Laptop Testing Team wiki page and I haven’t bothered with Compiz as (a) I don’t need the 3d and (b) the HP just isn’t up to it. I have more important uses for the limited processing power.
Wireless and bluetooth are much improved and connecting to the now ancient but still functioning P1i was seamless. My Huawei E169 wireless modem was identified and works – no fiddling around required!
Actually, the whole thing was surprisingly easy and (apart from the X config) is now in the realms of a famous competitor’s slogan ‘it just works’.
Would I give it to my mother? Once I had set it up – yes I would. And that is a big step forwards.
Some big improvements in the current version: wireless is quicker, easier and more reliable; bluetooth is massively better; boot up seems quicker; and battery life from the 5400mAh battery is impressive – around 3-3 1/2 hours running the Huawei USB wireless modem.
Moans? Well I think Filezilla should be a default application. Really terminal server client and remote desktop viewer are in the default install but not an ftp/sftp client? That’s about it.
More on the 2133 mini note & Ubuntu
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009Last weekend I had a brain spasm and installed Windows 7 on the 2133. It worked but is kinda slow, even with all the pretties turned off – the C7 just isn’t up to it. Better than the original Vista it came with though!
However, as per the title this is a few more observations on Ubuntu on the Mini Note. After toying with Windows 7 RC for a few days, and even trying to do some real work with it, I re-installed Jaunty last night. Just a full clean install of the standard downloadable DVD image with one exception – I use ext4 (though I know it works fine with the regular ext3 file system). Every thing worked fine.
I then applied my mods to xorg.conf to use openchrome. Again everything is fine.
I am not a hardware expert. I do not rebuild drivers or kernels any more. I use Ubuntu after all these years because I am now too old, too lazy and far too busy to fiddle around with recompiling stuff. All I can say is that on an Australian HP Mini-Note 2133 with the AMD C7-M 1.6GHz processor, 2Gb RAM, 120G hdd and the model with bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g wireless and 10/100/1000 Mbps ethernet everything (including vga out at 1280×768, internal microphone & mic socket) appears to work fine out of the box except openchrome which needs a TINY fix to xorg.conf.
I have used Vista, XP, Winbdows 7 and Ubuntu 8.04, 8.10 and 9.04 on the 2133 (and have considered trying to Hackintosh it but as noted above, no longer have the time) and Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope is the smoothest, most workingest and quickest of them.
“It just works!”
But your mileage may vary.
Tags: hardware, hp mini-note 2133, jaunty jackalope, ubuntu
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