Canonical Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition review

There are some things that feel a little strange to us. Clicking on the Ubuntu logo opens up a special home screen, which contains large friendly-looking icons for Web, Music, Photos & Videos, Games, Email & Chat, Office, Files & Folders and Get New Apps. Depending on the icon, selecting one either opens up another screen or starts an application, such as clicking Web opens up your web browser.

This is all sounds fine, but we couldn’t find any way to modify the screen. Going to all applications, there’s one called Main Menu, but this tool is to configure the menu that normally appears at the top of a desktop installation, not the new Home Screen. It also feels slightly out of place, as many of the features are replicated in the Launcher.

A Home Screen-style interface is also used if you select Files & Folders (either from the Home Screen or the Launcher). This splits the view into two categories. At the top you can view Recent files, while underneath you can see your Favourite Folders, as set by using Bookmarks in the Nautilus file browser. Clicking the buttons at the top let you view recently accessed Documents, Folders, Images, Audio, Videos and Presentations. It works well and quickly lets you get back to working on a recently-accessed file.

What we found a little strange is that clicking on a folder opens up its contents in the Home Screen-style view, not Nautilus. This means you can’t add new Bookmarks, connect to a network share or other server, and makes copying or moving files between locations a little annoying. Instead, you have to click on the Folder icon that appears to launch Nautilus and manage files in a more familiar way. As such, we recommend adding a shortcut to Nautilus on Launcher and bypassing this part of the new interface.

As with the Desktop Edition, the Netbook Addition has the new Software Centre where you can download commercial apps as well as free ones. There aren’t many at the moment, but we’re hoping this ‘app store’ approach will improve the range and number of applications available in Ubuntu and make it a more attractive OS for regular users.

There’s also support for Ubuntu One, where you get 2GB of free online storage to synchronise files to. This is likely to be handy on a netbook, which is unlikely to be your main computer. You can upgrade your storage space easily – see our Ubuntu 10.10 Desktop Edition review for more information on this service.

Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition is certainly a success, and its interface makes the most of a cramped netbook screen. It certainly seems to run smoothly, too. We love the Launcher and the Workspaces feature, but the new Home Screen and method to access Files & Folders feel a bit bolted on to us and not as easy to use as the old system.

Then there’s the problem that your netbook’s hotkeys may not work if you install this, making this OS a better choice for manufacturers in some cases. That said, if you’re willing to get your hands dirty and you want a leaner OS that’s built of netbooks, Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition is a great choice.