Here is the small and inexpensive laptop strutting its stuff when it is not restricted to run other the Xandros derivative, which is self-limiting and gives us grief. Here's Xubuntu (dual-boot actually).
Members of the Linux community have complained that the hot new sub-notebook from Asus, the eeePC, may have violated the spirit of the Linux General Public License (GPL).
The crowd/audience Linus Torvalds panders to is paid by GAFAM to go attend and dominate (speak at) LF events. They're people whose employer forces them to use slop, it's inorganic.