12th
Ubuntu 8.10 on Dell Mini 9
My Mini 9 came with Ubuntu’s 8.04 “Hardy Heron” release, and I love it! … except for one thing: the ssh client in that release cannot connect to remote servers through a NAT firewall when using wi-fi. Ssh hangs after login, then times out. This makes it pretty much useless. Boo.
But I was emboldened by a few stories of people who bought Mini-9s with XP and installed Ubuntu from scratch, I decided the only way out was up.
Do NOT follow those guides! Or do, but be sure to use the Alternate Low-Power Intel Architecture installer instead of the standard i386 version. The lpia port is optimized for the Mini 9’s Atom processor and runs noticeably faster.
Update: the lpia install cd is missing a compiled kernel. Oops. Use i386 for now I guess.
Also, make sure you have access to a wired ethernet connection after upgrade, because you will need to download the restricted Broadcom wi-fi driver in order for wireless internet to work.
So far, these have been the only caveats to escaping from DELL’s out-of-date Ubuntu and moving forward on the otherwise excellent Mini 9.
