Samsung NC10 Netbook

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Samung NC10 Netbook

It seems that each and every week there are new netbooks that are introduced, but there are not many differences between most models. Some netbooks will have a slightly longer battery life, a different exterior, or a solid-state drive, but there are more similarities than differences. However, one of the latest companies to join the netbook bandwagon here in the United States has been Samsung with the introduction of the NC10. Is there anything special about this 10.2-inch Atom-powered netbook? We will tell you in this Linux review of the Samsung NC10.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=13348

[jeffro-tull]

Which Atheros WiFi chipset does that thing use? From my Acer Aspire One:

jeffro@jeffro-one:~$ /sbin/lspci | grep Atheros
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

With Kubuntu 8.10, it didn't work out of the box, but I didn't neet to compile anything. I just had to disable the default-installed driver (I think it was an older version of Mad Wifi), then install the "linux-restricted-modules" package (or whatever it's actually called). That had a working version of ath5k, and gave me no troubles once installed.

Sorry if I'm hazy on the details, I ditched Kubuntu for OpenSUSE 11.1.

[tulcod]

Is there anything special about this 10.2-inch Atom-powered netbook? We will tell you in this Linux review of the Samsung NC10.

i haven't read the answer in the article. false advertising?

[Vadi]

Originally Posted by tulcod

i haven't read the answer in the article. false advertising?

Then you clearly missed it.

[joffe]

Mine still has Windows XP on it as I am wary of installing Ubuntu again due to the broken Firefox I have thus far experienced in three different installs (8.04 and 8.10 on the old laptop, 8.10 on the desktop).

Anyone know a distribution that works with Wifi on this one as easily as Ubuntu?

[jeffro-tull]

Anyone know a distribution that works with Wifi on this one as easily as Ubuntu?

Well, I'm still waiting for one of the Phoronix guys to reply with lspci output for this thing.

Assuming that, underneath the skin, it's the same as my Aspire OpenSUSE 11.1 will work fine. I used UNetBootin to make a USB installer. Had a couple time-outs with the installation repository, but once installed everything important just worked. I had to do absolutely zero messing around to get the wireless up and running.

Only problem is ath5k (at least the version that ships with all the major non-rolling-release distributions) doesn't yet have support for the wireless status LED. I don't know about the other netbooks, but the wifi-kill switch on the Aspire is a momentary contact type. So, it can be difficult troubleshooting if the wireless should crap out (no visual indicator if the radio is actually doing anything)

[mesamoo]

[QUOTE=phoronix;57462]Phoronix: Samung NC10 Netbook

It seems that each and every week there are new netbooks that are introduced,

---snip-------

Guess not enough are released for you to find linux based netbooks to review.

Yes all of the GENERAL reviews I've read suggest the nc 10 is a very nice machine, (I even considered it myself before purchasing a linux based device) but I come to Phoronix hoping for news about Linux products, unfortunately I am usually disappointed. Phoronix does not need to re-iterate what has been said elsewhere. If your benchmarks had compared the NC 10 with other (Linux Based) netbooks it would have been more useful.

To tell the truth I would have preferred you send the device back and let Samsung (A company I have had good dealings with) know that you would be glad to review the machine when it comes with linux as a supported platform.

It is nice to know that Linux runs on this machine, but you didn't do much to tell us about problems or successes (other than the wireless).
How do other distros fare on the device?

Any problems w/ hard drives going to sleep and waking up constantly.
(I've read this may be a problem w/ some other machines). Will Samsung have any warranty issues with a linux install? I don't know. What features work or fail under linux (or xxxBSD for that matter)

Maybe you should send it to me so I can do part 2 of the review ;-)

Instead you filled 5 or 6 click through advertising pages with graphs showing how the NC 10 compared to a totally unrelated product. (At least as far as target market is concerned)

I appreciate the effort that has gone into creating the Phoronix test suite and hope other hardware review sites will begin to use it as well, I just wish that Phoronix would take a tougher open source stance reguarding its reviews,

I like Phoronix, I just expect more from you.

Thanks for reading

[FireBurn]

Please do not recommend any Samsung laptop products

There BIOSs are utter garbage and many models simply do not work correctly with Linux due to these problems. It's mostly due to laziness having one BIOS for both integrated and discrete graphics chipsets

You may find brightness control a minor feature but it's highly irritating this doesn't work out the box with OpRegion on the Intel chipsets.

I've contacted Samsung about this but they state quite clearly that they don't support Linux (or any 64 bit operating system) which is a bit silly considering they sell laptops with 4GB of RAM on board

Anyway enough of me complaining feel free to search for open bugs on bugzilla.kernel.org for further verification of this

Mike

[Kizo]

Just to report a typo in the headline.
One S is missing ( Samung ), maybe a mod could correct it.

Cheers.

[Svartalf]

Originally Posted by joffe

Mine still has Windows XP on it as I am wary of installing Ubuntu again due to the broken Firefox I have thus far experienced in three different installs (8.04 and 8.10 on the old laptop, 8.10 on the desktop).

Anyone know a distribution that works with Wifi on this one as easily as Ubuntu?

Define "broken".