EasyPeasy (formerly named Ubuntu Eee) was a Linux-based

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

for

netbook A netbook is a small-sized laptop computer; they were primarily sold from 2007 until around 2013, designed mostly as a means of accessing the Internet and being significantly less expensive than regular-sized laptops. At their inception in l ...

s. EasyPeasy was built upon

Debian Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...

and

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed primarily of free and open-source software. Developed by the British company Canonical (company), Canonical and a community of contributors under a Meritocracy, meritocratic gover ...

, but was customized for low-powered computers and access to

web application A web application (or web app) is application software that is created with web technologies and runs via a web browser. Web applications emerged during the late 1990s and allowed for the server to dynamically build a response to the request, ...

s. EasyPeasy is maintained as an

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

project, though it primarily uses popular web applications or

proprietary software Proprietary software is computer software, software that grants its creator, publisher, or other rightsholder or rightsholder partner a legal monopoly by modern copyright and intellectual property law to exclude the recipient from freely sharing t ...

over

free and open source software Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a Software license, license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term ...

alternatives (e.g.

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

over

Ekiga Ekiga (formerly called GnomeMeeting) was a VoIP and video conferencing application for GNOME and Microsoft Windows. It was distributed as free software under the terms of the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later. It was the default VoIP client in Ubuntu until Oc ...

) when the functionality offered is deemed better by its users.

Main characteristics

* Uses a recent

release as a base * Supports many netbooks * Pre-installs some widely used applications and codecs like

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a mostly discontinuedAlthough it is discontinued by Adobe Inc., for the Chinese market it is developed by Zhongcheng and for the international enterprise market it is developed by Ha ...

and

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...

* Uses well known proprietary software, instead of open source alternatives * Strives to deliver netbook functionality like the Social Desktop and automatic file synchronization

History

Ubuntu Eee was started by Jon Ramvi in December 2007. At that time it was only some

script Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...

s which modified a regular

installation to support the

Asus Eee PC The ASUS Eee PC is a netbook computer line from Asus, and a part of the ASUS Eee product family. At the time of its introduction in late 2007, it was noted for its combination of a lightweight, Linux-based operating system, solid-state drive (S ...

s. In June 2008 the project was disbanded as a script and Ubuntu Eee 8.04 was released as a stand-alone

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

, based on

8.04 with EeePC support installed out of the box. On September 5 followed the 8.04.1 version. It used a new Linux kernel, came with a new user interface and

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * The Flash, several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Barry Allen ** Wally West, the first Kid Flash and third adult Flash ...

10. It was renamed EasyPeasy in January 2009, and has been downloaded well over two million times from the main mirror.

Trademark issues

On September 10, 2008,

Canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean 'according to the canon' the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, ''canonical exampl ...

notified Jon Ramvi by email that the project's use of Canonical's names, URLs, and logos violated Canonical's

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

s in the original name ''Ubuntu Eee''. In response, the owners of the project announced that they would use a new name ''EasyPeasy'' and version 1.0 was released January 1, 2009.

Release history

References

External links