eeePC Netbook Ubuntu mod and a bit of fun

As you can see, I've managed to get TweetDeck installed on my languishing eeePC 8G Netbook.

Originally we'd picked the eeePC up as a light web browser, but found the native Xandros OS a bit weak.

Time passed and we'd not had time to really explore the potential of this little guy...until now.

First off, the OS needed a rework. I was considering a TinyXP (stripped down) Windows XP install, but decided against it for a number of reasons.

Then Easy Peasy was released. It's a fork of Ubuntu Linux, optimized for the requirements of the netbook's smaller form factor (screen, keyboard, wifi, etc).

Cutting to the chase, the Easy Peasy installation went perfectly, following these instructions.

Then, to make this refreshed netbook work for me...it needed TweetDeck (the ultimate Twitter client) which runs on Adobe AIR. Ubuntu and Easy Peasy don't include AIR, but lucky for me there was a simple walkthrough which I'll summarize here:

1. Open the Terminal
2. Download the file from here using the wget command:
   http://airdownload.adobe.com/air/lin/download/1.5/AdobeAIRInstaller.bin
3. The name of the file is AdobeAIRInstaller.bin
4. Save the file in the Home folder (Places > Home Folder)
5. Run this command:
   chmod +x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin
6. Now run this command:
   sudo ./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

The normal installer will open, install it. From now whenever you download a .air file, just double click it and it will be installed.

So this means we simply browse to the TweetDeck download page, click on the Linux Version, and select 'install with AdobeAirInstaller' when prompted by the operating system.

Poof done! TweetDeck now installed and the eeePC netbook can now play with Twitter like the big boys.

Related posts:

1. Installing Eeebuntu on my eeePC
2. How to view PDF files on your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch with DropBox
3. Local Edmonton Caches — sample export from GeoToad
4. Using Google Wave to ‘book club’ Trust Agents
5. Want to get more ReTweets (RT)?

Tagged as: eeePC, Laptop, Lifestyle Technology, Linux, Mod, Netbook, Social Media, TweetDeck, twitter, Ubuntu