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In true geek fashion, after news broke that North Korea is manufacturing its own netbooks for business and educational use, we found ourselves clustered in the ExtremeTech boardroom, brainstorming the possible uses of a North Korean Netbook (NKN). At first we worried that it would be impossible to get our hands on an actual NKN, but then we discovered that North Korea isn’t actually making its own netbooks: it’s simply re-branding very cheap ($80) Chinese ARM smartbooks.

You can use them for word processing, but that’s about it. What you really need, if you want to make the most of an $80 netbook, is Linux. Now, we can’t be entirely sure which netbook North Korea is using, but it looks a lot like a MenQ EasyPC, the Sylvania 7″ netbook, or an unbranded netbook from Deal Extreme. Not a bad deal, considering they’re equipped with RJ45 Ethernet, 802.11b/g, USB, and an SD card slot. Windows CE runs OK on such processors, but you can forget about surfing media-rich websites, or playing Flash games or YouTube videos. These netbooks can be bought for around $80 and come with Windows Embedded CE 5 or 6 installed. The only problem is that these ultra-cheap (and ultra-light: less than 1kg!) netbooks have very weak, 300-500MHz ARM CPUs.

Believe it or not, North Korea has its own distro of Linux called Red Star. If you still want to see what Red Star Linux is like, you can easily install it under VirtualBox. The best bit is that you can actually download Red Star Linux; from The Pirate Bay no less. It really is shockingly similar to Windows XP. It’s based on KDE 3, has a Linux 2.6 kernel, features a re-branded and renamed version of Firefox 2 (“Naenara”), includes a bunch of games and media players — but for the most part, it has been designed to look and feel just like Windows XP. It’s possible that the Korea Computer Center has developed an ARM port of Red Star, but if so, it hasn’t leaked beyond the DMZ yet. The state-owned Korea Computer Center has been developing Red Star since 2002, and it recently reached version 2. Unfortunately, though, Red Star is designed for x86 processors, so it won’t work with the ARM-powered $80 netbooks.

Alternatively — and this is by far the easier option — head on over to eBay and buy the cheapest Android netbook you can find. You now have two options: if you want to proceed with installing Linux on an ARM netbook, read on. Be warned, though: it’s not easy, and there’s the risk of bricking.

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