On 6/7/2013 11:25 PM, Jason Hsu wrote::
> It sounds great except for the inclusion of Ubuntu.  This is a double-whammy.  First, there is the user-unfriendly Unity interface.  Second, I'm not sure 1 GB of memory is enough for Ubuntu, as it's now as heavy as Windows 7 or Windows Vista.  Debian with 256 MB of memory (the Raspberry Pi setup) can smoke Ubuntu with 1 GB of memory.
>
> If this $99 supercomputer came with something lighter, it would be a sure winner.  Linux Mint Debian Edition, Snowlinux 4 Glacier, antiX Linux, and Puppy Linux prove that a polished user-friendly interface doesn't require the bloat of Ubuntu.

Just because it comes with Ubuntu, or they recommend an ARM Ubuntu image 
you download to use with the board *DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE TO USE IT*. 
Come on man, don't smash the beauty of the architecture here just 
because it comes with a distro you don't like.  You are missing the 
point.  This company designs hardware, not a distro.

I have 6 PIs, and several other ARM boards.  I have *never* used any of 
the stock images provided by any of them (most were Debian based). As 
long as they provide the firmware (and so far all I've seen do) you can 
create your own images with any ARM based distro you want.
I personally use Slackware ARM (ARMedSlack) with my boards as other 
distros (especially the ones you listed - although Mint isn't so bad I 
guess) really bug me.

Freedom brother.  Embrace it!