Early Tuesday morning, Ubuntu Linux and Windows XP joined Windows Vista as available operating systems for the Dell Inspiron Mini 12. By Tuesday evening, I found myself ordering the Ubuntu version of the Mini 12 with the 6-cell battery and 80GB hard drive. Despite having installed Linux on countless systems, this will be the first time I've ordered Linux pre-installed for the client PC. I'm eager to find out how well Dell supports their Linux systems.
While the Mini 12 tops the end of the scale for netbooks due to its 12.1 inch widescreen, I believe the Mini 12 will be a perfect Linux replacement for my aging Averatec notebook. Although I wouldn't have minded a smaller netbook, the Mini 12 with its 1280x800 screen resolution and comfortable keyboard was just too enticing. Plus the thought of constantly needing to use the browser's scroll bars with the lower resolution (1024x600) of the smaller netbooks was a concern of mine.
So here ends another chapter in my pursuit to get back my "wow" when it comes to an operating system's graphical desktop. The last couple months have especially been long for me as I sat waiting for something like Dell's Inspiron Mini 12 to include Linux as a choice operating system. I'll let you know my impressions of the Mini 12 when it arrives in early January. My first test will be pulling up CMSReport.com into Firefox.
This article first appeared on CMS Report.