I have to admit I feel kind of guilty.
This afternoon I’m installing Ubuntu on an alternate 8GB flash card to see how it performs on the Zonbu hardware.
I’ve put my 8GB Sandisk Extreme III card (with the Zonbu OS stack) away for safe keeping.
So far, things seem to be going ok. In fact, I’m writing this from the Zonbu box, via Firefox 2.0.0.6 under Ubuntu.
I installed the Ubuntu Feisty 7.04 Desktop, did the recommended package updates via their tool, and then followed these docs on the Zonbu forums to get the audio working…
Video Driver
Now I’m following these docs to attempt to get the VIA OpenChrome video driver working. (Note, you have to leave the Gutsy repo enabled – as described in the audio link – in order to follow the video driver docs).
I feel guilty because I really like what the Zonbu team are doing and I think they’re headed in the right direction but I needed to see just how well Ubuntu would run, with a little elbow grease, on the hardware.
I have a hunch…
I have a hunch that Freespire 2.0 (I tried to install that but the bootloder wouldn’t work), on the Zonbu hardware, with a more limited application stack and some of the Zonbu kernel profiling and S3 storage magic, may be the ideal product
It also brings brand and distribution channels to the table. If I were Gregoire, I’d certainly be talking to the new Linspire CEO.
You can read more about my thoughts on OS choice in this post. I’m not religious about OS choice, I’m more concerned about business issues.
I’ll report back in a bit on my progress.
-Mr. Zonbu
PS – The red blooded, albeit juvenile, male in me could not resist sharing this amusing take-off of the Ubuntu Logo that Google offered up as an option… (and no, I don’t know if that is a guy or a girl in the middle).
Real life with the Zonbu Mini-PC 
Could you give step by step instructions how to put Ubuntu on a CF card for the Zonbu?
Knowing ubuntu, Isn’t it as easy as booting from the Live CD, and then running the installer found on your desktop? That’s how I installed Ubuntu on my then Macbook.
I thought there are special steps you need to take when installing ontu a flash device like installing and setting syslinux and vmlinuz.
As far as I know, Ubuntu is pretty easy when it comes to that. I’m assuming it’ll easily recognize the card, and you can format it to your liking. After some hacking of the Windows XP installation CD, I even managed to install Windows XP on the CF card. So if Windows can do it… 🙂
if you have a external usb cd/dvd rom drive you can easily install windows and ubuntu directly on the zonbu without the need of another pc.
Yep, my ancient LaCie DVD drive worked perfectly fine on the Zonbu.