Hey, I actually figured it out, and now my internet is working.

And now mine isn't - as soon as I try to do large file transfers via WiFi I run into problems, which include the router and modem freezing! It's not the router, since I've tried another with the same results, and another laptop has no problems. I think I'm going to give up on Minbuntu and give Ubuntu 8.10 a go.

hi i have a mini note 2133 and when i first got it i had the same problem as you (the install bit)
now the laptop has completely buggered up. is ubuntu any good for it

The Linux part went well, and Ubuntu really is hugely better than the Suse version that comes with it. However, I've had to return the mininote to the vendor since there seems to be something wrong with its internal WiFi card - it crashes routers if you try to transfer large files! I now realise that both versions of Linux were doing this and did so on three different routers, so it has to be hardware rather than software - at least I hope so.

I finally got help from hp (the Wi-Fi problem). After going through all of the things that I have tried they agreed that it was either a faulty Distro installation, or a faulty WiFi card. I strongly suspect the latter but they are sending me the full installation CDs to try first. If that doesn't work they say they will send an engineer out to look at it!

But is there somewhere in Linux that sets a limit to the file size that can be handled? I have been trying to create a bootable USB copy of Ubuntu 8.10 on a flash drive but as soon as it starts the process it crashes the flash drive connection.

The dealer just emailed me to say that my mininote really is faulty - not just my incompetence. They're also out of stock and can't give me any sort of delivery date for a replacement.

In view of this, and my realisation that it probably isn't an ideal machine for my purposes anyway, I've decided to go for a refund instead. While I do want something small, a netbook probably isn't my ideal solution; lots of reasons, but the main one is that I ride a motorbike and it's going to need careful packing to avoid damage if I carry it with me every day. My ideal portable is probably something between a netbook and a PDA with a keyboard. I really wish that someone would build something like that into a form factor say the size of a DVD case; that would fit into a pocket reasonably well.

Many thanks to everyone who helped with this - it's a shame it didn't work out, I shall try to think of it as a learning experience.

Sharp did years ago it's called the Zaurus. about the size of a Scientific calculator.. http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2712084654.html
Of course if you did manage to get your hands on a SL-6000 and need support (as I currently do) Sharp is certain to inform you that this unit wasn't sold in the US and they have no info on it.. **sigh**

Sharp has several units in this line, some are clamshells and all are nice looking,
http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS1976464109.html
few if any can be found in the states..


maybe we could interest you in the Pandora ??
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2315196306.html

or the imovio
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS7136726850.html


Sorry your HP didn't work out, but at least you were able to get a full refund.

Annoyingly there was a Zaurus on eBay UK a couple of weeks ago - but I was still trying to get the mininote to work at that point so I didn't pursue it, and its apparent orphan status isn't ideal.

Oh well, something will come along - thanks again for everyone's help.

Not sure if it's still relevant or not. I usually check http://www.tuxmobile.com to see if someone else has been fiddling with linux on the notebook/netbook I'm interested in. Found these link for the under discussion HP there:

http://mininoteuser.com/linux-on-the-mininote/
http://hp2133.umsw.de/

I'm very new to all this so please take anything I say with a pinch of salt.

I bought an old HP Omnibook XE2 (PIII) with no o/s, and I tried a few distros with varying levels of success, but when I installed Debian it worked like a dream with very little tweaking, everything essential and brilliant audio.