Pinguy has released Ping-Eee OS 11.04, an Ubuntu-based remaster especially designed for netbooks:

This was built and compiled using the ASUS Eee 901 Netbook and designed from the ground up to run on netbooks.

It comes with Jupiter (which has Super Hybrid Engine support) and Granola to help with the power consumption and most applications from Pinguy OS: Docky, Nautilus Elementary, Firefox, Thunderbird, Skype, LibreOffice, Dropbox, Deluge, Empathy, VLC, Deja Dup backup tool, Linux Mint Update Manager, Wine and more. There's also Clementine instead of Rhythmbox.



However, some of the applications available in the main Pinguy OS have been removed either because they make no sense on a netbook (e.g.: burning software) or because they use a lot of memory (Gnome DO, Glipper or Vineyard).





Ping-Eee OS also comes with extra WiFi drivers for many devices which are not normally supported out of the box on other Linux distributions, downgraded Compiz (to version 0.8.6 to avoid some problems that exist in Ubuntu 11.04) and many other tweaks and fixes.









One thing I don't agree on is using Docky by default: it's too heavy for a netbook and is not great for screen real estate either. A regular GNOME panel on the left or right with DockBarX seems a much better choice, at least in my view. Here's a screenshot from an old "Ubuntu netbook optimization" post on WebUpd8 to get an idea on what I mean - that was before Unity was announced by the way. But of course, many of you might like it and also, you can always customize Ping-Eee further and use DockBarX, AWN or any other panel/dock, they are all available in the PPAs/repositories available in Ping-Eee OS.

Thanks to Pinguy for the tip!