Ubuntu desktop version 10.04LTS on an Asus 701 4G eeePC

The Asus operating system on my little 701 netbook was becoming dated, with little in the way of updates forthcoming from Asus, so for a lark, I went ahead and installed the full-size version of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS - first onto a USB stick, and from there onto the netbook. Even with just 512 MB of random access memory and a 4 gigabyte solid-state harddrive, it's working fine.

Critics of the concept of Linux on a solid-state drive claim that the rate at which the EXT4 file system and swap partition move the information around on the drive could "wear it out" prematurely. I went ahead and included the swap partition and set up an EXT4 file system - we'll see how long the drive lasts - it's already several years old.

This new operating system has brought the machine right back up to modern standards of computer performance. Impressive!