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How To Get Ubuntu Netbook Remix on your Asus EEE PC
Posted on October 28, 2008
Filed Under Mobile Computing, Web 2.0 |
More fiddling on the Asus EEE 901, and more confirmation on why Linux really isn’t yet ready for the mainstream. You may recall that the EEE comes with either Windows XP (which needs little introduction) or a custom build of Xandros which I jokingly call “My First Fisher Price Computer.” The thing is, that Xandros, even in Easy Mode, is pretty slick, and does most of what I need a machine to do (which nowadays means a decent Web Browser, word processor and possibly an IMAP email client).
So why go fiddling with new operating system installation? To be honest I’m not sure, but Ubunutu is the flavour of the moment, and their “Netbook Remix” tweaks to the UI for devices just like the Asus EEE work very well.
The problem is that it’s a pain to set up, and even then not everything works. Add on top of that most problems are solved by typing in magic incantations of 120 characters at a time, and there’s little space for new users to Linux to understand what’s going on. So it’s a hassle. Big time. And there’s no central place of info.
No surprise that the Windows XP variants are more popular.
Anyway, here’s my notes on my installation of Ubuntu Netbook Remix on the Asus EEE 901. Now, when I need my notes, I know where to find them. I hope they’re useful to you but I make no warranties or claims to accuracy.
- Download UNetbootin and the latest Ubuntu ISO from the Sourceforge Page and Ubuntu-EEE project page respectivly to a regular computer (I’m using a Vista laptop, you can use anything else really - yes even the EEE PC in Xandros if you so wish!) Take note that Ubuntu-EEE will be changing names soon away from the Ubuntu trademark.
- I then formatted a 4gb SD Card, which will be my Ubunutu SD card. For various reasons, I quite lilke the ‘Fisher Price” interface that comes with the EEE PC, and it does work very well with the system. I’m not going to be touching the internal disk, or overwriting anything to do with the existing Operating System. At any point I can fall back to that system, format the SD card, and I’m back where I started with nothing overwritten. So Ubunutu will be installed and run 100% from the SD card.
- I also prepared a 1GB USB memory stick. This will carry the ‘LiveCD’ of Ubunutu. Pop this in your Windows computer, run UNetbootin, point it towards the Ubuntu ISO, and have your 1GB stick all sorted out for you.
- Place your 4GB SD Card, and 1GB USB memory stick into the relevant slots on your EEE PC. When booting, hit the escape key and you’ll get the option to choose which device to boot from. Go for the 1GB memory stick. One tip here, set your BIOS Turbo Boot to OFF to give you more time to hit the escape key. You’ll be doing this Escape/Boot a lot!
- Go the the ‘regular/default’ running option, and once Ubunutu is running on your EEE (admittedly off the USB stick in LiveCD mode) you’ll be asked to install Ubuntu from a full screen dialog - Note that Netbook Remix uses full screen pretty much everywhere if it can). Go ahead and do the install, but you need to install to your 4GB SD Card, which is likely the second or third option in the middle bullet point. Whatever you do don’t touch the ‘A’ or ‘B’ drives. These are the build in drives that Xandros and the EEE use regualrly.
- Go through all the steps in the install process. There are no ‘gotchas’ just be sensible, the only thing to change is in the last step (step 7) hit the ‘advanced’ button, and make sure that the Grub Boot Loader is installed on the SD card, and not on the main internal disk drives or USB key.
- Now, restart the EEE PC, but let yourself go into the regular Xandros environment. Open up the terminal (ctrl-alt-t). You need to edit the grub configuration file on the SD card (/boot/grub/menu.lst) so that all the occurences of hd(xxx,0) where xxx is any number, to hd(0,0).
- Shut down the EEE, remove the USB key, and reboot, hitting the ESC key when the first splash screen pops up. You can now choose which disk to boot from. Choose the SD card and cross your fingers. You should, after a few moments, be at the Ubunutu login screen. Pop in the details you set up in the installation, and have Ubuntu Netbook Remix running a few moments later.
- It’s not perfect though, there’s a lot of things you’re going to need to tweak and play around with. The main one is Wifi, but there are others. The easiest fix for non-Linux people is to install the EEE optimised kernel by Adam McDaniel. Follow the steps on www.array.com. I used method 2 for the 901, which has you moving two files via a USB memory key. Further discussion on these new kernels can be found on this topic in the EEE User Forum.
- Also, look at this page to sort out the Wifi software problems on the FN-2 button…
It’s now about 95% working, and you’ll have to work round and fiddle with all the other bits, just like everyone else, but I hope you’ve got this far. Of course at any point you can reboot into the Xandros package, so you should never (I think) bork the EEE beyond repair - that’s one reason I like this method.
One big gotcha (as of 28th October) is that using Suspend or Hibernate will cause Ubuntu to freeze on a black screen when resuming - so no handy powering down just a bit while travelling. I think I can live with that till it gets fixed.
And to finish, a few screenshots…
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Keep us posted as to how you like using Ubuntu NR.I am looking into getting a netbook as well and noticed that some of the ones at NewEgg.com are coming with the Ubuntu Netbook Remix OS already installed.