21 replies to this topic

[airshowfan]

Like I said at...

http://forum.eeeuser...opic.php?id=926

... I'm getting an EEE PC mostly to learn Linux on (and also to have a fun little laptop to keep me entertained during air travel, etc). And like I said at...

http://forum.eeeuser...pic.php?id=1082

... seeing Brenny's screenshots, and reading that he got the wireless card working and the battery management to work pretty much ok (except it displays funny numbers when the AC is plugged in) is what motivated me to order my EEE PC.

So, if I can retrace his steps, I will consider that to be a major personal accomplishment, and it will go a long way towards fulfilling the reason why I bought the EEE.

But to accomplish what he has achieved, I need your help. Experienced Linux users, I would really, REALLY appreciate your help. All I can offer in exchange are some pretty wallpapers (which I will post shortly) and the promise that, when I accomplish all that this post asks about, I will write a thorough "click here and type this"-level tutorial so that someone who is at my current stage of n00bness can follow the steps and have themselves a smooth-working Ubuntu installation. (Eventually I want to do it for Xubuntu since I hear it should run faster, but at my level of experience (level zero) this may be too ambitious for now).

Here I will break down Brenny's steps. If you noticed that I missed anything, or if you have any information about how one of these steps should be done, please contribute your input! Again, when I get all this to work, I promise to turn it into a nice step-by-step set of instructions on the Wiki, so detailed that a moderately smart chimpanzee can follow it. I'll create a page that will be THE resource for people who want a smooth Ubuntu installation on their EEE PCs. But for that to happen I'll need more details about each of the following steps.

1) Brenny said he "syslinux"ed the installer. I guess that means he used

http://syslinux.zyto...ure_SYSLINUX.3F

How do I use that? How do I "syslinux" an installer?

2) Brenny said the CD-sized installer, from the ISO, did not detect the ethernet card, but when he installed from the 8-meg installer (the one that downloads everything during installation) the ethernet worked. Which installer, exactly, is supposed to be used on the EEE PC? Which "boot.img.gz"? I'm guessing it's this one:

http://archive.ubunt...images/netboot/

But why is it not, say, this one?

http://archive.ubunt...images/netboot/

3) Then, to get the wireless working, I have to install this ndiswrapper thing;

http://ndiswrapper.s...d,installation/

and, if I want to use it through a GUI, then I have to install ndisgtk:

http://spohlenz.blogspot.com/

I think I can do that by following the installation instructions. But then, I need to find the drivers for the wireless card. What exactly should I be looking for?

4) Installing Firefox extensions, at least, is something I already know how to do. This one seems handy for our little screen

https://addons.mozil...refox/addon/607

I'll probably also install FireFTP, and an extension to download embedded/streaming videos (like YouTube FLVs, etc).

5) Some more vertical space would be nice. Brenny suggests

http://wiki.awn-proj...title=Main_Page

but I think this should be enough:

http://ubuntuforums....hp/t-41150.html

Besides, I don't want my EEE to look too much like a Mac! ;) Although I must admit these applets seem quite handy:

http://wiki.awn-proj...=Applet_Gallery

6) To make the windows pretty/shiny/3D, Compiz Fusion:

http://wiki.compiz-f...t_Compiz_Fusion

http://wiki.compiz-f...rg/Installation

Again, I think I can follow the installation instructions.

7) I don't think Brenny specifically mentioned these, but for me the next step would be

http://www.videolan....oad-ubuntu.html

and then...

http://www.zsnes.com

http://www.aldostools.com/psxemus.html

http://romhustler.net/roms/psx/all

http://ubuntuforums....ad.php?t=394097

Whew!

At this point all I know about Linux is what I know from having used Unix a little bit, and what I have read at

http://ubuntuguide.org

http://tldp.org/LDP/...ntro-linux.html

My EEE PC will probably be delivered on late Tuesday or early Wednesday (if all goes well), and as soon as I get it I will set out to try and get Ubuntu on it, and I will make sure to document my efforts to an excruciating level of detail, so that Linux n00bs in the future will be able to follow my step-by-step instructions and get Ubuntu up and running and working with the wireless and looking good.

So, if you guys (and gals) could supply a little more detail, especially regarding steps 1 and 3, and maybe 2 and 6, I would really appreciate it!

Edited by airshowfan, 05 November 2007 - 07:20 AM.

[airshowfan]

I just noticed that the wiki has SOME info on these questions already

http://wiki.eeeuser....gurendiswrapper

http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ubuntu

but these are still not very specific. For example, the ndiswrapper one says things like "unzip the Windows drivers of your WiFi card" without specifying where those come from... The Ubuntu one says things like grub booting from (hd1,0) and how a remedy is to remove the usb drive "after loading initrd", and I don't know what that means...

[Chaos]

Im planning on using Ubuntu with the Eee so will be interested in reading how you get on as im pretty new to linux to.

[rozojc]

Quote

I just noticed that the wiki has SOME info on these questions already

http://wiki.eeeuser....gurendiswrapper

http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ubuntu

but these are still not very specific. For example, the ndiswrapper one says things like "unzip the Windows drivers of your WiFi card" without specifying where those come from... The Ubuntu one says things like grub booting from (hd1,0) and how a remedy is to remove the usb drive "after loading initrd", and I don't know what that means...

Hi, just a suggestion... If you feel something needs to be more specific in the wiki, go agead and change it (it is a wiki, after all, the idea is for people to edit it themselves...). Anyway, regarding the one of ndiswrapper which I wrote quickly just to get that thing started on the wiki, when I say "unzip the windows drivers", I'm not sure how else to say it...The Windows drivers, the ones that come with the DVD, are usually an executable file that you have to run (in Windows), and they generate a bunch of files. Those are the ones that you have to copy to your EEE in order to continue with the steps in that tutorial. However (and hope I don't sound rude cause it's not my intention), if you find those instructions, as well as those you mentioned for the one on Ubuntu hard to follow, you probably are better off staying with the default linux on the EEE, as changing from one distro to another does require some background knowledge (and you can always do it later, once you are more familiar with linux)...

[Brenny]

I got a little sloppy with my instructions, so I'll try to answer your questions the best I can. I'm a noob to Linux too, but I'm learning more every day :P

I roughly followed a guide for making the bootable USB network installer. Unfortunately, some may see this as a cart before the horse kind of situation, because they want Ubuntu, and don't necessarily have it already, but I only know how to do this in Linux. I assume it isn't much different in Windows, but you need to find Syslinux on the internet somewhere, and use your own formatting program (the built in Windows one may do the trick),

https://help.ubuntu....-usb-files.html

I'll pick out the important bits that I used. I basically used the "easy way".

First, I popped in the USB, and found it's location.

Quote

fdisk -l

Then, using this information, I formatted the USB properly (replace X in "sdx1" with your drive letter you found in the above step)

Quote

sudo mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n ubuntu /dev/sdX1

Now, you need to download the 8MB boot.img.gz file found at http://archive.ubunt...images/netboot/

Navigate to the directory where you downloaded it (if it's on your desktop, usually "cd ~/Desktop") and then extract it.

Quote

zcat boot.img.gz > /dev/sdX1

Finally, make it bootable.

Quote

syslinux /dev/sdX1

If you don't have syslinux installed, in Ubuntu you can snag it with "sudo apt-get install syslinux".

That should do it. Pop it in the Eee, hit Esc while booting, select the USB drive, and you can boot it up and install Ubuntu. This minimal installer is a tad more difficult to use than the default full-featured installer, but it isn't too difficult if you read all the instructions.

I've tested these steps using Ubuntu on my Eee, and it works like a charm.

Edited by Brenny, 05 November 2007 - 09:25 PM.

[airshowfan]

Quote

If you feel something needs to be more specific in the wiki, go agead and change it (it is a wiki, after all...)

Normally I would. But in this case I am trying to learn how to do this, so that I can then document it. If I knew how to do these things, I would add more detailed explanations to the wiki.

Quote

However (and hope I don't sound rude cause it's not my intention), if you find those instructions, as well as those you mentioned for the one on Ubuntu hard to follow, you probably are better off staying with the default linux on the EEE, as changing from one distro to another does require some background knowledge (and you can always do it later, once you are more familiar with linux)...

That's certainly not rude, and I appreciate your point. I too have been wondering if I should just leave my EEE alone for now, and only start tweaking it once I am more comfortable with the system. But it seems to me that Ubuntu is more powerful (AND a better platform to learn Linux on) than the somewhat restrictive OS that comes with the EEE. So that's why I was hoping I could get some specific steps to get Ubuntu into the EEE before I even knew what I'm doing. You're right, this may or may not be a good idea, or even realistic. But I'll try it for now anyways. If I get too frustrated I'll just system-restore and/or use Ubuntu from a LiveCD-type bootable source.

Quote

I got a little sloppy with my instructions...

That's perfectly understandable! You were (and are) still in the process of figuring out how to get this to work smoothly. I would not expect you to put much effort into mapping it all out until you know you have a good solution.

And thanks for all the info so far. Right now all I have is a Vaio running XP, but I'll get my EEE tomorrow, and all these steps you just posted (formatting a USB stick, extracting the .gz file into it, and making it bootable) seem like they can be done on an EEE, not necessarily on an Ubunto PC. (And if I missed something and they do need an Ubuntu PC, then I guess I can use a LiveCD-type OS on the EE or the Vaio to set up all that's needed to get Ubuntu into the EEE).

[Brenny]

Added the instructions to the Wiki. That's a good point that you can simply use a LiveCD and use the exact same method. I'll add that as a point in the instructions.

I'm going to add instructions for getting ndiswrapper working, because it didn't quite do the trick the first try.

[Brenny]

As far as installing software goes, in Ubuntu you don't even have to search for it. There are two applications to find software. The first is under Applications, and it's called Add/Remove Programs. It's very user friendly and straightforward, but it doesn't have everything. To find more software, use Synaptic Package Manager under System > Administration.

To install avant-window-navigator (which isn't in the Ubuntu repositories), follow the instructions at http://devolio.com/b...r-in-Gutsy.html
It's very clear, and I followed it word for word and got it working without any problems.

Compiz Fusion is integrated seamlessly into Gutsy. All you need to download is compizconfig-settings-manager. You can search for that in Synaptic and get it that way, or type "sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager" in the console. Both methods do the exact same thing. After that's installed, you can modify it by clicking Preferences > Advanced Desktop Effects Settings. Then enabled it by going to System > Preferences > Appearance > Visual Effects tab and enable "Custom".

Edited by Brenny, 05 November 2007 - 10:37 PM.

[o2smartphone]

I have tried following what is on the web, to prepare a liveUSB for ubuntu 7.04.

However, after boot up seems it missed the ethernet driver or what, network connection is not possible, any idea ?

I switched to live ubuntu 7.10 and network conection is ok, seems that 7.04 got the driver missing.

Edited by o2smartphone, 15 November 2007 - 11:34 AM.

[Brenny]

Quote

I have tried following what is on the web, to prepare a liveUSB for ubuntu 7.04.

However, after boot up seems it missed the ethernet driver or what, network connection is not possible, any idea ?

I don't know why this is, but the netboot install works fine, and somehow has the atl2 driver working properly. The instructions on making a netboot install USB are here: http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ubuntu. You can follow the instructions to make that using a Ubuntu LiveCD if you don't have your own Ubuntu install yet.

[jitz0722]

Hi:

I have been reading the forums/Wiki and have successfully installed Ubuntu 7.10 dual boot Xandros, Ubuntu 7.10
I bought a 8GB SDHC ( 4MB/sec, Secure Digital™ High Capacity (SDHC) Compliant )
http://www.anitec.ca...gital_card_8gb/

I started with the minimal install CD ( 9.1M )
http://archive.ubunt...etboot/mini.iso

I have an external usb-DVD drive and plugged into one of the available ports
-configured the bios to boot from CD first.

Inserted the Ubuntu 7.10 Mini.iso and booted.
- installed the bare bones cli ( command line interface first )
- verified wired lan worked
- rebooted to see that bootloader works. OK ( and still have Xandros on 4G disk )

- then installed ubuntu-desktop
--sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop ( dowloaded and installed over 1G )
- then installed ndiswrapper
--sudo apt-get install ndisgtk ( and installed it dependencies which includes ndiswrapper )
- then got a copy of XP driver for ndiswrapper off of CD that comes with eeePC
- net5211.inf is avalible from the within the Asus EeePc 701 Support DVD Rev:1.1
at location: "/Drivers/Wireless/ndis5x/net5211.inf
- How: I used external usb CDROM, or copy to usbflash, or share over network, etc
- then I followed...
http://wiki.eeeuser....gurendiswrapper
-rebooted, verified ndiswrapper loads on boot successfully: dmesg or tail -f /var.log/messages from terminal
-wireless now shows up under network manager, configured wireless

-then I went on to configure Compiz as discussed elsewhere to remove y lock under move
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
-System -> Preferences -> Advanced Desktop Effect Settings
then tab your way to Window Mangement > Move Window, and disable "constrain y"
-enable whatever other Compiz features suit your fancy.
-Under preferences of upper and lower menu bars, I enabled autohide.

Installed Gcompris and external USB mouse and my 4.5 year old daughter was having a hoot
Childsplay does not appear to load up. Too bad.

-Anybody know any other good kids games I can load up for my daughter.

That's basically it. The two things that were causing me most grief were finding a working wireless config
and not being able to Alt-Drag my windows to my hearts content.

This Forum and associated Wiki have been very helpful in this regard, Cheers.

Hope this helps a few people out there with their cool new little toy.

Issues:
battery monitor still confused
power down, does not power off
-( workaround: hold power button down for five seconds like discussed in other places on the forum/wiki )

[barnesr]

Quote

Hi:

I have been reading the forums/Wiki and have successfully installed Ubuntu 7.10 dual boot Xandros, Ubuntu 7.10

This looks like what I have been looking for.
I'm going to be using the eeePC in school and for my own use a full linux install will probably be useful, but if we get eeePC's for the pupils I will need to be able to boot the same OS as them.
Will I need the 8GB SD or will 4GB be enough?
I will be keeping most of my files on a USB drive.

Now I have 2 weeks before my eee arrives to learn a little about ubuntu, as I haven't used linux before.
Some how I have to learn enough to follow your instructions. ;)

[mkrishnan]

So elsewhere, it has been mentioned that the ACPI implementation seems to report back battery state as a percent of max, instead of in traditional mAh numbers. That's why tools in Xandros report a current charge of 100 mAh (which is meant to be 100%). Is this the same core issue in Ubuntu (that Ubuntu is seeing 100, interpreting it as 100 mAh out of 5200, and saying, "Dude, your battery is junk!")?

P.S. can anyone help with this issue?

I went through the process to create a Gutsy USB pendrive. It has a casper-rw partition (ext2fs) that should be usable for persistent mode. It loads, and Ubuntu is gorgeous (modulo the known driver issues). However, although the casper partition mounts to the desktop, it does not seem to be making use of it and does not seem to be persistent. Any help? Thanks! :)

And God, Ubuntu looks nice on this computer. :)

Edited by mkrishnan, 11 November 2007 - 03:34 PM.

[bandaidcork]

I can't get standby to work.

[brushedtooth]

I followed what jitz0722 posted. I got just about everything working the way it should, battery actually seems correct (got a warning at first), suspend works (suspends when closing the lid), wifi via ndiswrapper. I need to get the function keys working right, display brightness is the only one I believe that works.

EDIT: 2 Gigs of RAM, no SWAP, about 848.8MB's free on the drive. Installed a lot of development stuff for programming, abiword, etc.... Still a good amount of storage, I need to make a script for suspend that will take care of wireless since the solution in ACPI-Support doesn't always work, also have it take care unmounting the internal SD on suspend and remount on wake.

Edited by brushedtooth, 15 November 2007 - 05:34 AM.

[Oryzae]

Hi,

I've been following the wiki, and have run into problems. "sudo parted /dev/sdb set 1 boot on" gave me trouble on one computer; but worked fine on another. So I proceeded on that computer, lol.

Then I ran into another problem. What does "sudo ./isotostick.sh /path/to/image.iso /dev/sdb1" mean? Could anyone explain /path/to/image.iso? And what if I just want one partition on my USB stick? I'm totally lost :D

Oh, and any help on how to make this installer totally offline would be helpful [Once I boot into Live CD, I lose my internet connection =(]. I figure I can download the script and put it onto my USB stick, and copy it to the desktop or something once I'm done booting to the Live CD. But how do I install syslinux offline?

Thanks for all the help!

Edit: I'm on Vista ATM. My EEE has no OS. =[

Edited by Oryzae, 17 November 2007 - 04:06 PM.

[airshowfan]

I followed the instructions on the wiki, both

http://wiki.eeeuser....ing_ndiswrapper

and

http://wiki.eeeuser....gurendiswrapper

but the wireless does not work. I turn on the EEE PC, hit Fn+F2 to turn on the wireless, the little blue light goes on in the lower right... but I open up Firefox and can't surf the web. Right next to my EEE PC, my sister's laptop and my mother's laptop clearly show a strong wireless connection.

I go to System -> Administration -> Network but only see "Wired Connection" and "Modem Connection".

What am I missing here?

How do I find out whether ndiswrapper is doing its thing?

Help!

[futon]

Quote

I turn on the EEE PC, hit Fn+F2 to turn on the wireless, the little blue light goes on in the lower right...

Are you turning the wireless on before, or after booting into Ubuntu?

[airshowfan]

I've tried both ways. I have tried turning the computer on with the blue light off, and only activating the wireless once Ubuntu was running. I have tried turning the computer on with the blue light on right from the start, still no luck. Tried deactivating and activating the wireless while Ubuntu was running. Nothing!

[TheBronze]

Airshowfan, have you tried running this command to bring the wireless down: ifdown ath0 ?