DIY netbook Linux easier than it sounds

First, this article, from the headline, is supposed to be about creating your own netbook distro when, in fact, it's about installing a few "alternate" packages into Ubuntu. It's about Ubuntu customization. To make matters worse, it's lousy Ubuntu customization. Netbook optimization is about one of two things: 1> Making the best use of a small screen and 2> Using lightweight apps to optimize performance on a low spec machine. His suggestions for things like Google Chrome or Mac-like menus do none of the above. Sorry, this article is pointless and useless. It's about how to get the author's favorite apps on Ubuntu, not about any sort of real netbook optimization or doing something meaningful yourself.

From the article:

Quoting: Although the forthcoming release of Firefox 3.5 is said to be speedy, the fact is that Firefox runs very slowly under Linux. In my experience, it's borderline unusable on some netbooks. On my Dell Mini 9, this manifests itself as a general lag throughout the program. The highlight selection trails behind the mouse pointer as I run it up and down menus, for example, and some JavaScript-heavy sites barely work at all. It feels as if the program has been given a sleeping pill, and is slow to respond to everything.

Is it something with Dell mini 9? On my eee 1000, browsing with both ff 3.0 and 3.5 has been smooth without issues except for the occasional script/flash heavy sites (for which noscript/adblock/flashblock works well).

> Is it something with Dell mini 9?

The version which comes on my Mini 9 runs fine, so I'd say it's something about the installation, not the machine.

I agree with jdixon. It runs fine on my Sylvania in all three distros currently installed. It even runs OK on my six and a half year old Toshiba laptop.

Firefox *IS* slow only when compared to some other browsers. Some of them lack functionality that Firefox has and none of them has the selection of add ons and extensions that Firefox has.