Ubuntu HP Mini Remix

What is Ubuntu HP Mini Remix?
It is basically the normal Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) but with some customizations for the HP Mini 1120nr. It is designed to let you switch easily from the HP Mini Mobile Internet Experience (HP’s customized Ubuntu 8.04) to regular Ubuntu 9.04, so tweaks have been employed to fix some sound issues and also change defaults to be better optimized for a netbook.

Will this also work on the regular HP Mini 1000 or the HP Mini 2140?
I have tested this on only the HP Mini 1120nr. It’s very possible that HP uses exactly the same hardware for the HP Mini 1000 and other 1### models. I doubt this will be useful on the HP Mini 2140, but I haven’t tested it on that model, so I don’t know.

Does this have the Ubuntu Netbook Remix interface?
No, it doesn’t. I don’t like the Ubuntu Netbook Remix interface. I find it unnecessarily dumbed down (just like the HP Mobile Internet Experience). Sorry. I’m not going to put any work into creating a custom disk image that I wouldn’t want to use on my own computer.

If you want to add the Netbook Remix interface, just install the ubuntu-netbook-remix package. If you don’t know how to install software, read this tutorial.

What exactly is different in the Ubuntu HP Mini Remix from the regular Ubuntu installation?
There are too many little changes to list. The major ones are:

• Sound works, including in Skype
• Sound settings stay sensible even after a reboot (no returning loud PC Beep)
• Wireless doesn’t take forever to wake up after resuming from suspend
• Gnome applets are consolidated to one panel to save space
• Compiz Settings is installed by default, as is Adobe Flash plugin for Firefox
• A whole bunch of (what I consider) useless packages are removed

What if I want those “useless” packages back?
You can use Synaptic Package Manager to install the ubuntu-desktop metapackage and all the default applications will be added back in.

If you want the typical proprietary add-ins (in addition to the Adobe Flash plugin), you should also install the ubuntu-restricted-extras package.

Is this project officially affililated with Ubuntu or Canonical?
No. I didn’t have a clever cutesy-sounding name for it, so I took a look at the Ubuntu trademark policy and just opted for the name HP Mini Remix because that title was the most descriptive and seemed the most trademark policy–compliant.

I have some great ideas for how to improve this project
You’re welcome to leave comments, but I may be slow implementing changes… or I may not implement them at all. You’d be amazed at how easy it is to make your own remix. If you really feel passionate about a change that I won’t implement, then use Remastersys to make an .iso of your own installation.

No programming experience is necessary (I know, because I am not a programmer).

What Ubuntu bugs does the HP Mini Remix provide workarounds for?
These are the ones I encountered (and tried to fix with the HP Mini Remix):

• no sound from speakers on HP Mini 1000
• Extremely loud and intrusive system beep with (some?) HD Audio devices
• network manager slow to reconnect after suspend/resume

There’s also a problem with the volume settings resetting after every reboot. Several bug reports seem related to this, but I’m not sure which one is the most relevant.

Will you create a new version for Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)?
I don’t know. I hope not. I hope that the Ubuntu developers will actually fix the bugs in the bug reports people have filed so that Ubuntu 9.10 will have sound and wireless resume working perfectly without extra tweaks. It also depends on how much time I have, and I tend to be busier in the fall, so it’s not likely that a new version will appear right away, even if it were warranted.

How can I help this project?
If you have a desktop computer (I do not—the HP Mini is my computer) and a fast internet connection, it’d be great if you could seed a torrent for this .iso.

At this time, I don’t anticipate the project becoming big enough to need donations.