Today I got Ubuntu installed on the netbook. It was peaches. :)
But that's probably becaused I've got experience with installing Linux from somewhere in the middle of the nineties (Red Hat, Slackware)...
So, I read up here and there on what to do. Lots of documentation and heplful hints. After reading through various docs, I found
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/Unetbootin, which could transform a USB-stick into a bootable .. thingy. So, I fired up Unetbootin, plugged in a USB-stick and selected the latest Ubuntu Netinstall. It didn't take long, maybe half a minute and I had a bootable stick.
Another thing documentation mentions on the net is that you need to press the Esc key when the Eee is starting up, to get to select the USB-stick as a boot device.
That's what I did and the Linux installer started booting.
As I mentioned, I've installed Linux countless times, and the Ubuntu console install is pretty similar to Debian which we use at Nidelven IT, so this was familiar. However, I hit one snag, and that was the retrieval/install/configure phase of the installation of Ubuntu...
I'd selected the basic, desktop, netbook remix and openssh server options for package groups, and the installer choked on that after progressing 10% or so.
So, in something that was a Zen-like moment, I unselected the netbook remix group and tried again - and it worked. :)
I've now got Windows XP and Ubuntu installed on the netbook, and it seems to be working just fine!