Debian describes itself as the Universal Operating System, and basically tries to run in the same way everywhere, from an NSLU2 to an s390.

I find it funny to see the number of Ubuntu variants. I can understand that for marketing reasons (Debian doesn’t really know about marketing), it is good to advertise Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc. Even if it’s the same distro and the same packages. But seriously. An Xubuntu EEE now.

I’m the happy owner of an Asus EEE PC, running Debian. Installing Debian on it is quite straightforward, and only requires you to install the module for the ethernet NIC (available as Debian package), to compile the madwifi driver (non-free, patched version needed) for Wifi, and hack a few scripts in /etc/acpi if you want to get the hotkeys (volume, etc) working. Nothing impossible, really. And for those not familiar with the command line, some detailed documentation could be written, or a Debian package or a script that does all the tuning could be provided. (I think all of this has been done already anyway)

But an new Ubuntu derivative! Just for that! Are we going to see a new Ubuntu derivative for each new laptop that is not perfectly supported yet? Hey, my desktop PC’s keyboard has some hotkeys that don’t work properly without hacking .xmodmaprc. Can I get my Ubuntu derivative? :) Also, GNOME works perfectly on the EEE, and I assume KDE does as well. What about Ubuntu EEE, and Kubuntu EEE?

Now, let’s watch the flow of blog posts from Ubuntu fans acclaiming the release of the Xubuntu EEE.

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