HP spruces up Ubuntu for netbooks

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 5 Feb 2009 at 14:39

HP is offering its customised Ubuntu interface for netbooks to anybody who wants to give it a try.

The customised interface, titled Mi, is built on Ubuntu 8.04 and essentially replaces the Gnome desktop with a simplified dashboard offering a web search box powered by Microsoft's Live Search, a list of favourite website and shortcut links to music and photo albums.

A Start New Program link offers a route to the rest of the applications, which are grouped under the familiar netbook tags of Internet, Media, Utilities, Work and Play.

However, anybody who feels the simplification a little cloying can restart the familiar Gnome desktop through the terminal window, which will remain accessible.

The Mi interface is set to make its debut on the company's forthcoming HP Mini Note 1000 Mi Edition, but those with older HP netbooks will also be able to give it a whirl thanks to an installer the company plans to post on its website.

The installer will run from a USB stick within either Linux or Windows XP environments. HP wasn't able to confirm precisely when the application will be made available at the time of writing, and though it should work with any netbook running Ubuntu 8.04 or over, it didn't recommend installing it on non-HP machines due to potential driver problems.