screenshots please? congratulations im on xubuntu right now ironing out issues, hopefully a rpm, deb distro and ofcourse slackware one get made soon but pioneering users. The eee is just so sexy with a full linux on.

Chaos wrote:

You should write up what you did and someone can stick it in the wiki.

I am typing it up step by step.  I have to weed through the notes I wrote down all over the place.  I also want to make sure it is easy to follow.  I am not a great communicator.

I'll have something up asap.

Slackware 12.0 Install on EeePC

Before I begin, let me warn you that I performed my install on the
internal flash drive, and the hidden partition used to restore the system by
pressing F9 on boot is erased in this process.  You will have to have an
external USB DVD drive and the factory supplied restore DVD if you want
the Eee back to normal (which you won't if all goes well).  That being
said, here we go.

Installation Method and Notes

The only option I had for the install was to use a pendrive to boot the
installer from, and a SD card for the packages source.  An NFS install
would've been nice, but there are no network drivers availbale in the
installer.

On the Slackware 12.0 install disk No. 2, there is a directory named
usb-pxe-installers.  I navigated to that directory and read the
README_USB.TXT file.  I then followed the instructions and was left with
a bootable pendrive.  The README is very clear and easy to follow, so
there is no need for me to reiterate it here.

Next, I copied the package directories in the slackware folders on both
disks to my SD card's root directory.

After that, I was ready to install slackware.

I placed the pendrive in one of the USB ports and inserted the SD card
in the card reader on the Eee PC and powered it up

Just to be sure it would boot to the usb device, I hit F2 after poweron
and entered the BIOS.  I navigated to the boot tab and down to the boot
priority tree.  It was already setup to boot to a Removeable Dev. first.
I exited the BIOS and continued.

The Eee booted to the pendrive, and it took a loooong time until I was
at the Slackware install prompt.  The README_USB.TXT stated that it
would be quicker...it was not accurate.

After logging in as root, I partitioned te hard drive (/dev/hdc) using
cfdisk.  I deleted the 4 partitions that were on it and created one
partition using all the available space.

hdc1 Primary Linux 3997.49

I entered setup and went to the TARGET section and chose hdc1.  After
that I flipped over to another console (ALT+F2) and created a mount
directory for my SD card and mounted it to there.  My SD card was
detected as /dev/sdb1.

I flipped back to the setup screen and, in the SOURCE section, pointed
it to the directory I just mounted my SD card to. 

The rest of the setup was pretty standard.  The only differences were
not setting up swap space, and making sure I formatted the file system
as ext2.  I also left out a ton of packages I did not need.

I did install the Kernel source.  I knew I would need it later for the
Attansic ethernet driver.

After Slackware was installed, I turned off syslogd and edited my fstab
with the noatime option on my hdc.

My fstab

/dev/hdc1        /                ext2        defaults,noatime    1   1
/dev/sda1        /mnt/usb         auto        noauto,user,rw    0   0
/dev/sdb1        /mnt/usb2        auto        noauto,user,rw    0   0
devpts           /dev/pts         devpts      gid=5,mode=620    0   0
proc             /proc            proc        defaults        0   0

Attansic L2 Ethernet Driver (atl2.ko)

I needed to get internet on the Eee PC to make it easier to mess with
and install things on.

To get the ethernet working I compiled a module for my kernel using the
driver source.

After some internet searching, I found out that the driver was packaged
as l2-linux-driver-new.rar.  I googled the file name and found a place
to download it from.  Since it was a .rar file, I went to
linuxpackages.net and found a package for unrar.  I put the files on a
usb pendrive and transferred them to the Eee PC.

I installed the unrar package, made a tmp directory, and copied the
l2-linux-driver-new.rar to te newly created tmp directory.

After changing to the tmp directory, I issued the commands (as root)
>unrar x l2-linux-driver-new.rar
>cd src

I already new I had to edit the at_main.c file, so I did.  There
are 2 instances of 'vlan_devices' that need to be replaced with
'vlan_devices_arrays'.  I used nano and replaced the strings.

After editing the file, all I had to do was issue the below commands as
root from within the same directory.
>make install
>cd /lib/modules/2.6.21.5-smp/kernel/drivers/net/atl2.ko
>insmod atl2.ko

I ran netconfig, entered my information, and restarted the network with
the inet1.rc script (you can also just reboot).

I was online.  Now I wanted to get my wireless up and running.

Wireless with ndiswrapper

Wireless was very easy.

First, I downloaded ndiswrapper from inuxpackages.net and installed it. 
Next, I downloaded the Windows XP drivers for the Eee PC from the Asus
website. The file is called Wireless_XP_071011.zip.  After unzipping the
file, I navigated to the ndiwx5 directory in the unzipped Wireless
folder and issued the below comands as root.
>ndiswrapper -i net5211.inf
to install it
>ndiswrapper -l
to see if it was installed
>ndiswrapper -m
to make sure it was aliased

I then just rebooted.  I logged in as root and ran
>iwconfig
and there she was...wlan0

I then ran
>iwlist scan
and found my neighbors' wifis

I turned off the ethernet card and setup wlan0 to use DHCP.  I then set
the essid to my neighbor's unsecure network, and I was able to connect.
I also installed wpa_supplicant (it's on the Slackware install) and the
card supports encryption, too.

Now I wanted a gui.

xorg.conf

Getting X to work was fairly simple I used trial and error and a
conjoined version of the xorg.conf that came with the eee and the
slackware default xorg and ended up with the below.

It works for me with no ill effects, but use at your own risk.

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "Xandros"
    Screen 0 "Screen1"
    InputDevice "keyboard"
    InputDevice "mouse"
    InputDevice "synaptics" EndSection


Section "Files"
    RgbPath    "/usr/share/X11/rgb"
    FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/local/"
    FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"
    FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/OTF/"
    FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/"
    FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"
    FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/CID/"
    FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/Speedo/"
    FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/"
    FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"
    FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic/" EndSection


Section "Module"
    Load "glx"
    Load "dri"
        Load "dbe"
    Load "extmod"
    Load "synaptics" EndSection


Section "ServerFlags"
    Option "AllowMouseOpenFail"
    Option "BlankTime" "5"
#    Option "DontVTSwitch" "true"
EndSection


Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "keyboard"
    Driver "kbd"
    Option "CoreKeyboard"
    Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
    Option "XkbLayout" "us"
    Option "XkbVariant" "" EndSection


Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "mouse"
    Driver "mouse"
    Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
    Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
    Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
    Option "CorePointer" EndSection


Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "synaptics"
    Driver "synaptics"
    Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
    Option "LeftEdge" "1000"
    Option "RightEdge" "5400"
    Option "TopEdge" "1000"
    Option "BottomEdge" "4900"
    Option "PalmDetect" "0"
    Option "SHMConfig" "true"
    Option "SendCoreEvents" "yes"
    Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
    Option "RBCornerButton" "0"
    Option "RTCornerButtom" "0"
    Option "MaxSpeed" "0.1" EndSection


Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Monitor1"
    VendorName "ASUS"
    ModelName "eeePC P701"
    Modeline "800x480" 29.58 800 816 896 992 480 481 484 497 -HSync 
+Vsync # 60 Hz
#    DisplaySize 153 115
        Option "DPMS" EndSection


Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "TV"
    Option "Ignore" "True" EndSection


Section "Device"
    Identifier "Device1"
    Driver "intel"
    VendorName "Intel Corporation"
    BoardName "Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller"
    BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
        Option "XvMCSurfaces" "7"
#        Option "Cachelines" "2048"
EndSection


Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen1"
    Device "Device1"
    Monitor "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth 24
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth 24
                Modes "800x600"
#        Virtual 1680 1680
        Virtual 2048 2048
    EndSubSection EndSection


Section "DRI"
    Mode 0666 EndSection


Section "Extensions"
    Option "Composite" "Disable" EndSection

Things I Know Work

Ethernet
Wireless
X with the proper 800x480 resolution
Touchpad
USB Mouse
Battery Monitor (I use xosview)...need to run modprobe battery first.
USB Ports
Card Reader

Things That Kinda Work

ALSA - only one output and one capture device show up in asamixer.
I can play and hear sounds, so I haven't messed with it much.

Power Buttons, Sleep, Lid, Etc...need to run modprobe button - The power button issues the poweroff command with a quick press that I set it to in inittab.  The lid makes it sleep, but it won't always wake up.  This another item I haven't messed with much aside from the two things I mentioned.

Things I Haven't Tried

Webcam
External Monitor

Other Notes

The SlackEee does not start as fast as the default Xandros did.  It starts
like a normal Slackware install on this type of processor.
BUT...it performs much better, and I can do anything on it now.

Firefox was causing X to freeze up.  I was not even able to VT switch to fix it.  I had to ssh into the machine and kill -9 the X process.  If you don't have sshd running, you have to do a hard shut down by holding the power button down for a few seconds.  I don't believe this is an Eee PC issue.  I have had this probem on other PCs and laptops with Linux.  It is an X or video card driver problem.  I just thought I'd warn you here, though.  It is also not a re-creatable  issue.  It happens randomly.  The only similarity between the freezing events is tat I was using Firefox.

Hope this helps someone, and If there was somewhere I could upload to,
I have all the files that are needed to get the above-stuff working. I
also took some screenshots of my kick-butt blackbox and Rox desktop.

Last edited by dmiller (2007-11-22 8:02:35 pm)

Ok, got it installed.  Everything works, essentially.  I just need to get the thing to suspend, but that's not too big of a deal.  WPA still works at least as good as it did on the default OS, but I still have to test WPA Enterprise with authentication.

How did you get the Eee to suspend?

Ahhh...there's nothing like the feeling of a real Linux installation.

br00tal wrote:

2) The webcam works.  I installed the beta Skype and it works just the same as the Xandros install.  Just download the uvcvideo driver source and do a "make && make install".  Then "modprobe uvcvideo" and "modprobe videodev".  The latter might be unnecessary, but it doesn't do any harm.  Then change the permissions on /dev/video0 so it's readable by your user.

Thanks for the webcam info.  I have it running and can take videos and snapshots.  I installed wxcam to use the camera, and it works great.

added

modprobe uvcvideo
modprobe video

to my rc.local

Good work br00tal.

With the above addition, I almost have everything working.  Only 3 things left.

1.  Sound works, but I can't get the on-board mic to work.  I will mess with this a little over the weekend.

2.  Sleep/suspend, etc...don't really care, so I may never try.  Personally, even on a laptop, I never use these features.  I got the battery monitor (modprobe battery, and use your favorite app), and all I need to know is when to plug in the AC.

3.  The special fn keys.  Brightness and wireless on/off work, but I would like to get the rest working...not a big deal

Oh yeah....the modem...I would like to try it out with a fax, eventually.  I'll post anything I learn.

On a side note.  I upgraded to 1G of RAM.  I see it is being used by the system, but I don't honestly notice any performance difference.  Save your money.  In my experience, Linux handles memory very efficiently.  512M is plenty, unless you are going to do some major RAM intensive computing on the computer (Ex:  making a movie).

Finally, one issue I have.  I got an 8G High Speed SD Card.  It is recognized, I can access it, but It causes the system to become unuseable when copying files to it.  The message on the console read something about High Speed device I/O error...needs to be reset.  After a few hard shudowns, I gave up.  The 2G I am using for storage works fine.  No issues whatsoever.  If anyone has any ideas or knowledge regarding larger sd cards and Linux, please let me know.  Maybe I just got a bad card.

Last edited by dmiller (2007-11-22 8:17:57 am)

Here are some screen-shots of my Eee PC with Slackware 12.0.

Screen-Shots

Last edited by dmiller (2007-12-13 5:35:33 pm)

I got the touchpad to work with the side scroll.  It's actually pretty simple.  Go and download the latest source of the Synaptics driver here:

http://web.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/files/

Extract it, and edit the Makefile so the $PREFIX is "/usr".  Just take of /local, essentially.  The might be unnecessary, but this way X is able to find it for sure.

Then, edit /etc/rc.d/rc.modules so that the psmouse entry is changed from "psmouse proto=imps" to simply "psmouse",  Then do a "rmmod psmouse" to remove the mouse module, then a "modprobe psmouse" to insert it without the option.  Then restart X.

You should now have the scrolling capability of the touchpad.  Cheers!

Last edited by br00tal (2007-11-24 12:05:34 pm)

It would be terrific if either of dmiller or br00tal could post all this info on how to get Slackware up and running on the Wiki !!

Take a look at www.zenwalk.org its a simpler and more cutdown version of slackware - be perfect for the eee.

Alright, finally I am getting somewhere with suspending to ram.  It works almost flawlessly, but when resuming, I need to do a CTRL-ALT-F1 and then a CTRL-ALT-F7 to bring X back.  Also, the ttys (F1-F6) are gone for some reason, but X works.  Weird, I know.

UPDATE:  If you boot up with framebuffer enabled (you need to use one of the 640x480 resolutions), the TTYs are in tact.

For those interested, my acpi script is:

#!/bin/sh
#script by Fluxx from linuxquestions slackware forum
#edited by samwise, added if/fi to check whether lid was opened or closed
if grep -q closed /proc/acpi/button/lid/LID/state
then
    # discover video card's ID
    ID=`/sbin/lspci | grep VGA | awk '{ print $1 }' | sed -e 's@0000:@@' -e 's@:@/@'`

    # securely create a temporary file
    TMP_FILE=`mktemp /tmp/video_state.XXXXXX`
    trap 'rm -f $TMP_FILE' 0 1 15

    # switch to virtual terminal 1 to avoid graphics
    # corruption in X
    chvt 1

    /sbin/hwclock --systohc

    # write all unwritten data (just in case)
    sync

    # dump current data from the video card to the
    # temporary file
    cat /proc/bus/pci/$ID > $TMP_FILE

    # suspend-to-ram
    # (samwise) not using this it stuffs up the screen brightness
    echo -n mem > /sys/power/state

    # suspend-to-disk
#    echo -n disk > /sys/power/state

    # standby
#     echo -n standby > /sys/power/state

    # force blank for now...
    xset dpms force on

    /sbin/hwclock --hctosys

    # restore video card data from the temporary file
    # on resume
    cat $TMP_FILE > /proc/bus/pci/$ID

    # switch back to virtual terminal 7 (running X)
    chvt 7

    # remove temporary file
    rm -f $TMP_FILE
fi

Last edited by br00tal (2007-11-29 11:00:50 pm)

Nice, your a star br00tal.....


a

What an awesome thread! Thanks to all who've given me the intestinal fortitude to attempt this on my eeePC!