Netbook + Linux = ?

Netbooks have come a long way from the tiny EeePC that first debuted almost two and a half years ago on the 16th of October 2007, from that day the world was taken by storm by these sub-sized laptops and their potential.

Especially the GNU/Linux community who have tried to port the Linux kernel from microwaves to the PS3 and everything in between. Seriously they have tried to port the kernel into some really strange things just try googleing it the answer may surprise you. In fact its fairly fascinating how far into the market the Linux kernel has penetrated, such as digital watches or microwaves.

After successful ports of the Linux kernel to Desktops and Laptops the community turned its attentions onto these new netbooks, a device with unlimited potential, being the first netbook on the market the EeePC got tremendous exposure by enthusiasts who immediately started to port their distro of choice onto the little machine.

Linux Distributions for EeePC

Keyboard / Console Mouse X11 Graphics Audio Ethernet Wireless 802.11b/g Wireless 802.11n SDHC Cardreader UVC Webcam FreeBSD Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No OpenBSD Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No NetBSD Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes with patch Yes Yes Arch Linux Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Debian Yes Yes, as PS/2 or ImPS/2[87]; no fine tuning of Elantech touchpads without a kernel patch Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows XP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes openSUSE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Mac OS X Yes Yes Yes out only No Yes Yes No Yes

Source: Wikipedia

Along we come to fall 2008 a year later and countless other companies have seen the profits to be made by making netbooks, and jumping in as part of the craze I got myself a Acer Aspire One (AAO).

The specs are:
Processor: Intel Atom 270 1.6Ghz
HardDrive: 120GB
Ram:       512Mb
OS:       Windows XP Home

Now being a windows user I have never paid much attention to the Linux distributions, but I was curious to try and run one but refused to do so on my desktop so AAO was going to be my test machine. After spending countless hours on google trying to figure out how to dual boot on the AAO as it does not come with a CD/DVD drive I need to borrow an external DVD drive.

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A video demonstration of FreeBSD running on an ASUS Eee PC 701 from a USB stick. Here you can see FreeBSD booting up and running some basics like ...