Posts by George Hills

Ubuntu Lucid beta box offer 15 Apr 10

With the impending launch of Ubuntu “Lucid” (10.04 LTS), we are preparing our new Lucid-based Brightboxes.

We’ll still be offering Hardy-based Brightboxes, of course.

We’re now looking for volunteers beta test Lucid Brightboxes. If you’d like one to test, please email lucidbeta@brightbox.co.uk.

Beta test Brightboxes are free, but Lucid isn’t finished and there are still bugs, so you shouldn’t plan on running your live customer-facing sites on one yet. Once we launch Lucid-based boxes for all, we’ll be switching off the beta boxes.

Space on the test platform is limited, so don’t delay! There are Brightbox-goodies on offer for the best bug reports. We’ll be giving priority to existing Brightbox customers.

Posted 15 April 2010 by George Hills • Comments Off

Ubuntu Netbook Remix on an Acer Aspire One A110 24 Sep 09

acer-aspire-oneFor my weeks on call, Brightbox let me choose an ultra-mobile (netbook) PC. This will allow me to leave the house without having to carry a heavy full-size laptop with me.

I wanted one that worked well with Linux, preferably Ubuntu Netbook Remix, had SSD rather than hard disk, and built-in 3G connectivity.

I’ve picked the Acer Aspire One (AAO) A110. It was available in the UK from Tesco in this spec with 1GB of RAM for GBP 179 – a bargain.

It came with a truly dreadful pre-installed build of Windows XP Home. Very slow and very much not recommended. Ubuntu Netbook Remix is, on the other hand, superb.

I’ve installed the pre-release Ubuntu 9.10 “Karmic”. Here’s what I’ve found that’s specific to the A110. I’ve written up these notes in the hope that they’ll be useful to someone else thinking of running Linux on an AAO. While there is a wealth of information about it out on the Internet, it’s not all collected together in one place.
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted 24 September 2009 by George Hills • 6 comments

+ + + +