Alternative operating systems on netbooks

Current netbooks mostly come with Windows preinstalled, but some manufacturers offer alternative operating systems on their lightweight computers. This article will cover the most common systems on netbooks. If you have additional information, feel free to leave a comment.

Windows XP

Microsoft Windows XP Home is used on most netbooks which is one reason why this operating system will live on for a while. It offers a familiar system most users are comfortable with. There is a lot of software for this platform including hardware drivers and alternative software for programs which consume a lot of power. Also the battery life is excellent and especially netbooks with 6 cell batteries hold on up to 7 hours.

Windows Vista

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Edition is barely used for netbooks, it comes preinstalled on the HP 2133 Mini Note and Dell Inspiron Mini 12, for example. The reason for this is obvious, Vista is just to slow, especially when most netbooks come only with 1 GB memory. Reviews prove that Vista is not an optimal solution. However, if you like Vista better than XP, installing it on your netbook seems to be no problem.

Windows 7

Microsoft is working on a new and improved operating system which will mostly provide several improvements under the hood and a better user interface. The Windows 7 Beta is already available for download. I recommend testing it in a virtual machine, like VMware or Virtualbox. Reactions are positive so far. Although it will not likely bring a computing revolution, Windows 7 will hopefully enhance user experience. The release date will be around late 2009 or early 2010. There is also rumor that Microsoft is developing a special netbook/laptop edition of Windows 7.

Linux

Netbooks really gave Linux a boost in popularity. It comes preinstalled on several netbooks like some Asus Eee PCs or the Acer Aspire One. Linux offers a different user interface and behavior, concentrating on the most important tasks you probably do on a netbook. Different distributions can be installed like Ubuntu or SUSE, but there are also custom-build distros like the Ubuntu-like distro Easy Peasy or Fedora based Linpus Linux. On some models there might be problems with hardware drivers if Linux is not preinstalled on them. In this case, consult the Internet, the Linux community is very friendly and will help you.

Mac OS X

Some Apple enthusiasts managed to install Mac OS X on netbooks and released several how-tos for everybody to follow. Unfortunately, we will most likely never see an official version of the Mac OS for other platforms then Apples, but users reported that the Apple operating systems works fine on netbooks. There might be some issues with hardware drivers, so before installing Mac OS X check out if there are deal breakers for you. However, dualbooting with XP is supported and the community has a growing list of common workarounds. May be worth the shot for some of you.

Android

Some guys managed to get Google Android working on an Asus Eee PC. This might be an interesting first glance on the future of netbook operating systems. As Google is planning to use Android for any mobile device, Android might be ready by 2010 to take on netbooks and regular notebooks. I talked to some colleuges of mine who are working on an Android project and their opinion is that Google will first concentrate on mobile phones, but the chances are good for an operating system, too. A manufacturer like Asus could also provide a modified version of Android, so it hasn’t to be from Google itself.

Conclusion

As you can see, netbooks are fun. Even more, if you are a computer enthusiast and like to experiment. The downsides for the regular customer who try hacking their netbooks might be hardware issues, like lower battery life or unsupported ports. Also some hacks may require BIOS modifications that kill the warranty, so please be cautious. But for all the geeks and nerds out there, it is definitly a lot of fun to install alternative operating systems on netbooks.

Leave me a comment about your experiences!