My VAIO UX UMPC: Now open for experimentation; Suggestions?

Posted on 24 February 2009, Last updated on 11 November 2019 by

ux

It has been at least three years that I’ve owned my Sony VAIO UX180P, and I’ve been using it as my primary PC for a long time. As the internet continues to evolve, I’ve started to notice that my UX180 is slowing down and slowly becoming less that optimal to function as a primary PC. I can’t believe how long it has lasted with only a 30GB HDD, 512MB of RAM, and a 1.2GHz Core Solo CPU. The components of this machine are crammed into an incredibly small package that still challenges the size of modern UMPCs (and the newer UX models are some of the highest performing UMPCs to date). My UX can definitely still hold its own as a fully functional PC, but as I said, it is becoming less than optimal as internet use becomes even more performance intensive. It isn’t uncommon these days to be streaming HD video over the web, be running a multi-tab web browser with several web apps open at once. All of this multi-tasking is starting to take a toll on my UX180’s mere 512MB of RAM, and the biggest concern was that I was quickly running out of storage space.

Recently I’ve switched over to a full sized desktop system. I was getting really irritated that I couldn’t find anything less important than photos to delete to make space for more stuff on my UX. So I adopted a desktop as my new main PC. Nothing fancy; a Dell machine that is a few years old with 1GB of RAM, 3.4GHz Pentium 4 with hyper-threading and an on-board graphics card (boring, I know). I also picked up a 1TB external HDD to be able to have long-lasting storage for all my media which is great.

Anyway, enough about all this ugly full sized computer stuff. The silver lining here is that my UX180 is not my primary computer any longer, and I don’t need it to be in 100% working condition all of the time in order to function. What I’m trying to say here, is that it’s time to experiment. I now how a relatively powerful handheld touchscreen computer that I can try lots of different stuff on, and I want your suggestions. Windows 7? Ubuntu? OSX? Who has some interesting ideas for me? I’ll probably be keeping this on the software side of things as I’m not a modding genius, like some people.

23 Comments For This Post

  1. Steve 'Chippy' Paine says:

    My VAIO UX UMPC: Now open for experimentation; Suggestions? http://www.umpcportal.com/?p=5843

  2. MID fan says:

    Linux, sure… it will benefit us future users as well, especially if you try some sort of finger friendly window manager, for which I don’t have any specific suggestions at this moment.
    Here is a dated, but probably useful link with the machine running Ubuntu:
    http://mozy.org/vaio/

  3. snowviper says:

    Linux is the way, (androit may be ?)

    Windows 7 min requirement is 1GB RAM.

    I had same problem with my FS.

    I gut and take it apart to see if I could make it better. I tried to add Yoggie Gatekeeper, SSD HDD, etc. But in the end still 512MB is the bane. I’m interested in the u820 but soon 1GB would be the new 512MB.

  4. abu yussif says:

    reinstall a stripped-down XP on it, use a streamlined (minimal add-ons) firefox and use it strictly as a cloud computing device. that’s what i’d do since the device’s performance will forever be your biggest limitation.

  5. fab says:

    you can try all of them, although win 7 or OSX might be a problem with 512 RAM. me personally i don’t even care about the two just mentioned systems, just go for GNU/linux and you’ll have fun again with it! install ubuntu for example or crunchbanglinux use a window manager or/and desktop environment which does not require a lot of resources and you’ll find that it will run very well.

    another questions: 512 RAM is maximum? you cannot add more?

  6. animatio says:

    yup, why not compare usability asstes for your mobile concept ideas for different linux “philosophies”:
    ubuntu netbook flavours, or quick and lean puppy, or “cloudy” android

  7. bob says:

    contact the micropctalk forums and speak to a guy there called ‘anh’ who will take your ux and upgrade the cpu to a u7700 dual core cpu.

    There is also a project going on at the mo to replace the soldered ram and take the UX to 2gb! Add a fast SSD and you’re set even for vista! ;-)

  8. Ben says:

    Thanks for the suggestion bob. I’m actually the moderator over at MPCT : )

    I’ve considered the CPU upgrade, but I don’t think it would be worth it with only 512MB of RAM. For those that don’t know; the UX’s RAM is soldered to the mobo, meaning it is very difficult to remove. The top end UX models have 1GB of RAM, but even if you could remove it, you need to find the right memory in a capacity of 2GB on one stick which is difficult!

  9. fab says:

    alright..didn’t know that, so basically you’re quite limited in your choice. well, if you’re running XP and find it slow, there’s no other option than trying GNU/Linux. i don’t think other microsoft options are worth trying since XP would fit best compared to the others

  10. Ben says:

    XP runs pretty well but I want to give my UX a new purpose in life. Maybe turn it into a table side media computer? I’m thinking I might set it up with some speakers and my music library an leave iTunes open and control that through my iPhone for a nice music controller for my big speakers downstairs.

  11. Tasker says:

    Perhaps (also) try a different linux flavor than the ever-present Ubuntu. I’d be interested in seeing Zenwalk on a device like this.

    Would setting it up as some form of thin client be a strange idea? Getting it to connect to your desktop pc, even in long-distance mobile situations through internet connection? That would be a non-hardware/modding method of upping the processing power. Don’t know the software for this, but exploring that would be an interesting journey to read about.

  12. snowviper says:

    How about Windows XP embedded ?
    It should make it faster and more usable

  13. animatio says:

    by the way – just came across this one:
    Gnome, KDE, IceWM or LXDE Desktop on your Android!
    http://www.androidfanatic.com/cms/community-forums.html?%20func=view&catid=9&id=1615

  14. James says:

    Ive been running Windows 7 on my R2H for a while now and it is much better than XP or Vista (even though neither the fingeprint reader or webcam have drivers out yet). I would suggest Win7 but as others have said 512 RAM wont help unless you consider ready boost (dont know if the UX has a memory card reader).

  15. fab says:

    yeah, upgrade to 1 GB if possible and then when available purchase a license of Windows 7…

    …you’re not really considering that aren’t you?

    if you have an “economic” view, use opensource (free operating system) which will run perfectly and i’ll cost you..nothing. you keep the money to get a new device or something really useful

  16. fab says:

    forget this (my) post. i didn’t know that the RAM is soldered and cannot be changed…hm…

  17. Scrouge says:

    Harddrive problem is easy and cheap with a 16 gb card magicgate and install iTunes and music add picasa and pics on this you should help you out storage wise

  18. Sam says:

    Puppy Linux, although not too exciting or up to date, runs extremely fast in RAM. If anyone knows of a better Linux OS that can run completely in RAM, give that a go.

    Or you could try eXPerience’s Micro XP see The Pirate Bay – fast to begin with.

  19. Dave says:

    I have a 180P as well, and i installed windows 7 7000 on it, and as long as you disable aero and just have the basic non transparent desktop its very snappy even with 512 meg of ram. (Enable it and nearly all the ram gets used)
    Don’t bother with Windows Embedded, or Fundamentals. I tried installing fundamentals and a component of the O/S is missing that stopped the camera’s drivers from installing and working properly.

  20. Ben says:

    I’m looking into this as well as a little side thing to go along with my OS experimentation:

    http://sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick

  21. bob vansteel says:

    it’d be interesring to see a dustro of linux installed running with the matchbox window manager instead of gnome,kde,xfce,etc. It has its downsides, but its extremely finger freindly and would turn your umpc into a super-mid of sorts(i.e. look like mid,but run programs and execute task like a pc). Another plus would be the fact that it would save a ton of RAM.
    Check it out, might be worth it

  22. Soul_Est says:

    You could also try Arch Linux on it. It takes some time to set up but there is quite a bit of documentation on the wiki and in the (quite friendly) forums.

  23. MID fan says:

    Hah…my reply is from an Archlinux system… My fav distro–one that is on all of my machines.

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