This HOWTO will show you how to:
1. rebuild the kernel on a EEE PC 901 Linux.
2. It will also show you how to add dm-crypt kernel support.
3. Install the new kernel.

Note: I've been unable to get wiki write access, despite my attempts, I therefore made this post.

INTRO:
There are some "issues" with the 901 and the kernel rebuild process, compared to other EEE models.
They include:
* Upgrading to FlashPlayer10 (or Firefox3) breaks build-essential dependencies.
* 901 uses aufs (not unionfs)

NECESSARY STEPS:
1. If you have upgraded to FlashPlayer10 or Firefox3
1a. Factory restore the EEE. You may want to keep your user files if you like to.
1b. Do NOT update to FlashPlayer10 or Firefox3 since you will be unable to install build-essential!

2. Download EEE SDK http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile … _id=215613

3. Mount the SDK iso
3a. sudo mount -o loop EeePC-SDK-2008.04.24_19.46.iso /mnt/

4. Temporary change the /etc/apt/sources.conf
4a. sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
4b. Comment the existent entries (add a '#' to the beginning of the line)
4c. Add "deb file:/mnt xandros5.0 contrib main non-free" and save & close (ctrl-o, ctrl-x)
4d. sudo apt-get update

5. Install build-essential and libncurses5-dev (libcurses for menuconfig)
5a. sudo apt-get install build-essential libncurses5-dev
5b. Undo the changes you made to /etc/apt/sources.conf
5c. sudo apt-get update
5d. Note: If you decide to upgrade to FlashPlayer10 or Firefox3 you will be unable to compile more software.

6. Get vanilla kernel sourcec 2.6.21.4 and EEE patches
6a. http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/ … .4.tar.bz2
6b. http://rapidshare.com/files/121400617/p … ar.gz.html
6c. Unpack the source with "tar -xjf linux-2.6.21.4.tar.bz2"
6d. unpack the patches with "tar -xzf patches-2.6.21.4-eeepc.tar.gz"
6e. Use the "apply" script that is included in patches-2.6.21.4-eeepc.tar.gz to apply the patches

7. Copy the kernel configuration to your new kernel source
7a. cd into the source directory
7b.  cp /boot/config-2.6.21.4-eeepc .config

8. "make menuconfig" if you want to change the kernel configuration.
8a. Change these settings if you want to add dm-crypt support
      Device Drivers → Multi-device support (RAID and LVM)
            <*> Device mapper support
            <*> Crypt target support
      Cryptographic options
            <*> SHA256 digest algorithm
            <*> AES cipher algorithms
            <*> AES cipher algorithms (i586)
8b. If you avoid adding new "features" as modules you eliminate the need to install new modules.

9. Compile the kernel source
9a. make

10. Copy the the new kernel image to root for later usage
10a. sudo cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /root/

11. Reboot your EEE. Press F9 during boot to activate the boot menu. Activate rescue mode.
11a. Select the first item, press 'e'.
11b. Now select the second line, press 'e' again.
11c. Add 'XANDROSBOOTDEBUG=y' to the end. Press 'Esc'
11d. Select the top item and press 'b' to boot into rescue mode.

12. mount partitions
12a. 'mount /dev/sda1 /mnt-system' and 'mount /dev/sda2 /mnt-user'
12b. 'cp /mnt-system/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21.4-eeepc /mnt-system/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21.4-eeepc.org'
(If you need to restore to the original kernel just boot to rescue mode and reverse this step)
12c. 'cp /mnt-user/root/bzImage /mnt-system/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21.4-eeepc'

13. Finish up
13a. 'umount /mnt-system /mnt-user'
13b. Reboot with "ctrl-alt-del"

REFERENCE:
Rebuild the kernel http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:rebuildthekernel
Install development tools http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:installin … pmenttools
Install dm-crypt http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:dmcrypt
build-essential issue post http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=466527
EEE patches http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=32228
Rescue mode http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:installrescuemode

Hopefully these instructions will help others.
If you have problems/ don't understand the howto, please take a look at the references before posting your problem here (they will add great insight). :-)

__
- Stein.Erik

Change1: Added info on FlashPlayer10. Fixed typo.

Last edited by stein.erik (2009-04-06 1:43:48 pm)