Trying out lubuntu on the EeePC 901

......and it's not too bad.
This is a lite version of Ubuntu Karmic with the LXDE window manager that's still in Beta. I got the iso from here and used Unetbootin to create a 1GB Live_usb-key.
Then I used the Live_usb to install lubuntu b23 to a 4 GB usb key with just one ext2 partition. Note that the LiveUSB provides an Install icon on the Desktop that doesn't actually work (at least, it didn't in my case). However, to get over this just open a terminal and type "sudo ubiquity" and the Install dialog should open without problem.
I should just mention here that I originally had two ext2 partitions on the key with a small unallocated space between the two partitions.
When I tried to install lubuntu on this key, it failed twice to mount the / partition. I have a feeling this may have been due to the unallocated space so I repartitioned the key to just one ext2 partition and this time it installed fine.
However, my preference would be to have a /home so I might try this later if lubuntu continues to look good.
Now, I'll say that the install was extremely slow at about 75 minutes. I don't know how much of this time was due to installing on a usb-key.
In terms of performance, lubuntu is so much better than moonOS which I have now ditched. Essentially, moonOS was almost unusable from the key.
In lubuntu, I installed Opera 10.10 (snapshot) from the Opera site, yakuake, compiz, fusion-icon and lastfm from Synaptic.
Some problems I've noticed are:
i) Synaptic doesn't always start from menu but does by typing "sudo synaptic" in a terminal.
ii) Still can't find how to autostart apps (e.g. yakuake, fusion-icon)

But, in summary lubuntu looks very good which is not a surprise given that it's based on Ubuntu (but so was moonOS). I'm going to keep a close eye on how this develops. As of now with a fully functioning OS, lubuntu takes up only 1.4 GB on the 4 GB usb key. This is about 40% of the / and /home space taken up by Ubuntu 9.04.

The first time I shutdown lubuntu, the usb-key got corrupted. I tried to mount the key in Ubuntu but failed. However, neither fsck nor e2fsck would work either UNTIL I unplugged the key and plugged it in again. Then, running "fsck -y /dev/sdc1" carried out a sizable repair after which everything worked again. The second shutdown, though, gave no problems.