USU Netbook

USU Netbook is an open source Linux distribution based on the world’s most popular free operating system, Ubuntu, built around the GNOME desktop environment and specifically designed to be used on netbook machines.

Availability and boot options

The USU project is distributed into multiple editions, Desktop, Mini and Netbook, each one tailored for a specific target audience and having their own features and applications. This flavor is distributed as a single Live DVD ISO image, tagged only for the 32-bit instruction set architecture.

Even if it features a different background from the ones used on the Desktop and Mini editions of USU, the boot prompt includes the same three options, to allow users to try the operating system without installing, check the optical media for errors, and boot an existing OS installed on the first disk drive.

The desktop, the apps, and other features

As mentioned, the distribution uses a highly customized version of the GNOME desktop environment. It comes with a single panel located on the upper part of the screen, from where users can access the main menu and system tray area, as well as to launch applications.

It has been designed in such a way that will open all windows in full screen, in order to take full advantage of the small screen of the netbook computer. The main menu is also customized with a powerful built-in search functionality so you can easily find apps and files.

Default applications include the Skype Internet telephony client, Remmina remote desktop client, Mozilla Firefox web browser, Empathy multi-protocol instant messenger, Flush BitTorrent client, Clementine audio player, VLC Media Player, Gnumeric spreadsheet editor, AbiWord word processor, FBReader comic reader, and Wine for running Windows apps.

Bottom line

Overall, USU Netbook proves to be a decent, yet not that good looking Linux-based operating system that comes with a great selection of applications.