Canonical -the company behind Ubuntu- released a remix version of Jaunty which is tailor made to run on netbooks.
Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix comes with faster boot speeds, and with a built-for-purpose interface that means that favourite applications and websites are just a click away. Ubuntu Netbook Remix makes a great choice for netbook users.
If you're running the standard desktop edition of Ubuntu 9.04 you can switch to a netbook interface quite easily, but be warned: it might take a little effort to return your desktop to the way it was!
Warning: if you're using Compiz (aka "desktop effects") please turn it off now. UNR doesn't need them, and in fact it may collide with its own deskop effects system.
Open up a terminal window and run this command:
sudo apt-get install go-home-applet human-netbook-theme maximus netbook-launcher window-picker-applet
When you enter your password, that command will pull in various dependencies required to make UNR work. Now reboot your PC, and you should come back to a desktop that has the two largest parts of UNR working - the netbook-launcher app (the thing that now owns your desktop) and maximus, the window maximiser. But this is only the beginning of the transformation - to get the full effect, you should do the following:
- Remove from the top panel the Ubuntu menu (Applications/Places/System) from the left and the switch user applet from the right, plus any app launchers you don't want. Just right-click on things and choose Remove From Panel to get rid of them.
- Right-click on the top panel, choose Add to Panel, then add Go Home and Window Picker, moving them to the left and centre of the panel respectively.
- Remove the bottom panel entirely - right-click and choose Delete This Panel.
- Now go to System > Preferences > Appearance and choose the Human-Netbook them
