How to Read Comic Books on Your Eee PC Netbook

The Asus Eee PC netbook comes close to being the perfect device for reading comic books on the go. The Eee PC is small, light, ultra portable, and every model has vibrant color screen that makes reading digitized comics a pleasure. Here's how to get everything set up:

Install Ubuntu
This certainly an optional step, but in my opinion Ubuntu provides a lot more flexibility that the default Xandros Linux that's come pre-installed on many Eee PC's. You'll also likely get a wider variety of free and legal comic book readers for Ubuntu, as well. I always recommend the Eeebuntu distribution for getting Ubuntu on an Eee PC--it supports virtually all the hardware out of the box, and includes special customizations that allow for some very neat features like overclocking the processor for better performance, easy screen rotation, and power-saving functions.

Get The Best Applications for Reading Comics
There several different options for reading comics on the Ubuntu platform, including the venerable Comix for reading cbr/cbz files. Comix allows for manga-style reading, smart options for scrolling and page turns, and even on-the-fly image enhancement. The easiest way to install Comix on Ubuntu is to open a terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install comix

After entering your password, you'll be all set to start reading comics on your Eee PC. Find out more about Comix at http://comix.sourceforge.net/.

There's also at least one commercially available comic book reader for Ubuntu called Radical Codex. It supports multiple formats for comics and standard ebook formats, including txt, PDF, cbr, and cbz. It can also export ebooks to Ebook reading devices like the Kindle and Sony Ebook readers. You can find out more information about Radical Codex at http://www.radicalbreeze.com/.

I personally like to use the default Document Viewer in Ubuntu for PDF files because it's simple, supports screen rotation, has a nice fit-to-width feature, and is installed by default. I use Comix for comic-specific formats like cbr/cbz for the image enhancement features and fantastic navigation abilities.

Find Some Comics to Read!
There are several places that offer free and legal comics for download, such as DC Comic's Vertigo division. They offer many first issues for free so you can get a taste of the title before subscribing. Another good place for free, vintage, and public domain comic books is Archive.org.

The Eee PC is probably the best and most cost effective device currently on the market for reading digitized comic books on the go. Its combination of portability and affordability, along with the wide variety of software available for the for the Ubuntu platform make it pretty hard to top!