Inoltre verranno riportate le informazioni generali sul riconoscimento dell'hardware e i possibili metodi di installazione. L`Asus EeePC è un notebook di basso costo, ultra portatile. Per installare Ubuntu sull'Asus Eee PC a cui manca un'unità ottica, occorrerà creare una unità USB avviabile che contenga una adeguata immagine del sistema operativo, oppure usare un lettore CD-ROM via USB. Inoltre, saranno necessarie piccole modifiche al sistema dopo l'installazione per adattare Ubuntu alla macchina.

Installazione

Creare un installer avviabile da USB

Seguire la guida [:Installazione/DaUSB].

Installazione da USB

Una volta ottenuto un supporto USB che contiene la versione Live/Installazione di Ubuntu, per avviarlo è probabile si debba modificare l'ordine di boot delle periferiche, mettendo al primo posto il dispositivo USB. Per farlo, è sufficiente accedere al BIOS premendo il tasto «Esc» all'avvio del PC ed agendo sulle impostazioni. Una volta avviato per primo il supporto USB, selezionare l'opzione Start or Install Ubuntu per avviare Ubuntu in modalità Live.

Installation on the EeePC continues normally, but you may want to consider a few changes in the partitioning.

The EeePC uses a Solid State Drive(flash-media) for it's hard drive. It is in your best interest to restrict the amount of writes to the device helping to prolong the drive life. Based on this the following are suggested guidelines:

• Select an ext2 file system. The default Xandros installation uses an ext3 for one of the partitions, but its argued that ext2 will limit the number of writes to the drive.
• Do not create a swap partition. We don't want the machine writing swap to the SSD hard drive. If you really need swap space post-installation that can be achieved via a swap-file. The installer will complain briefly about the lack of swap space, this can safely be ignored.

More information concerning the reduction of drive-writes is in the section below Reducing Drive Writes

Post Installation

Before you dive into the hardware related tweaks and driver additions there are two quick things we'll want to remove so that your installation no longer expects or needs the USB device you installed from.

Remove the reference to the cdrom in the /etc/fstab, as you don't actually have a CD-ROM and it can conflict with mounting devices later:

/dev/sdc1       /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec 0       0

Remove the reference to the CD-ROM in the /etc/apt/sources.list file if you don't want to plug in the USB installer and would rather just download the packages from the internet.

deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 7.10 _Gutsy Gibbon_ - Release i386 (20071016)]/ gutsy main restricted

This can also be accomplished by removing(un-checking) the CD-ROM from System>Administration>Software Sources.

Configurazione dei componenti

Customizing the tiny desktop

You may notice that such a tiny desktop doesn't leave a lot of real estate for applications. There are a few tweaks we can set for the gnome desktop in order to make some more room. I've used these and it does allow for a bit more space in our otherwise cramped display:

Setting smaller font sizes

gconftool-2 --set /apps/nautilus/preferences/desktop_font --type string "Sans 8"
gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/document_font_name --type string "Sans 8"
gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/font_name --type string "Sans 8"
gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/titlebar_font --type string "Sans Bold 8"
gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/monospace_font_name --type string "Monospace 8"

All applications can go full-screen using F11

gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/window_keybindings/toggle_fullscreen --type string "<Alt>F11"

Smaller toolbars using icons only

gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/toolbar_style --type string "icons"

Setting the right mixer (fixes the mute key)

gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/sound/default_mixer_tracks --type list --list-type string "[PCM]"

Do not display the incorrect battery warning at login

gconftool-2 --set /apps/gnome-power-manager/notify/low_capacity --type bool 0

Unconstrain windows to the top of the screen

gconftool-2 --set /apps/compiz/plugins/move/allscreens/options/constrain_y --type bool 0

Making the top & bottom panels smaller

gconftool-2 --set /apps/panel/toplevels/top_panel_screen0/size --type integer 19
gconftool-2 --set /apps/panel/toplevels/bottom_panel_screen0/size --type integer 19

Resolution

By default you may be running a 640x480 vs the 800x480 that it should run at. To set the higher resolution by reconfiguring xserver-xorg with the following command: Note: If you plan on using an external screen, you may want to have it connected on the previous reboot before issuing the next command, and selecting resolutions appropriate for your external monitor.

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

Select all the default values, making sure to select intel as the video driver and then 800x600 as the resolution. Setting this resolution, even though it doesn't exactly match, will fall back to the 800x480.

Boot Time Improvement

You may notice the first few times you boot your Ubuntu installation that it is pretty slow. Probably not what you're used to on your normal desktop or the default xandros install. The highly customized xandros boots in about 15seconds, where Ubuntu should take about 45 seconds.

To help improve the boot time, we need to change a setting in the /etc/init.d/rc file first. Find CONCURRENCY=none and change it to:

CONCURRENCY=shell

This helps by allowing the init scripts to run in parallel. Expensive Core Duo laptops can also benefit from running startup scripts in parallel, but the Eee will not see this benefit.

You need to change the order that hal scripts start at boot time using the following commands (otherwise hal will not start and you won't have hal related services like network):

sudo mv /etc/rc2.d/S12hal /etc/rc2.d/S13hal
sudo mv /etc/rc3.d/S12hal /etc/rc3.d/S13hal
sudo mv /etc/rc4.d/S12hal /etc/rc4.d/S13hal
sudo mv /etc/rc5.d/S12hal /etc/rc5.d/S13hal

Ethernet

Some EeePC users have complained that they could not use Ethernet after a fresh Ubuntu installation. This does not seem to affect every user. If you are unable to obtain an IP address with your EeePC after a fresh installation, you may need to do the following.

• Unplug AC power from the laptop
• Disconnect the battery
• Reconnect the battery
• Reconnect the AC power
• Boot the computer

Wireless

Madwifi (recommended)

The EeePC uses an Atheros card which is not supported by default. Luckily the good people at madwifi have released a patch which allows us to use the card under Linux. The following steps should compile the driver and patch. You will need wired internet access for the following steps. Depending on your BIOS version, you may need to have the wired network connected on boot to be recognized properly.

I've found a copy of the madwifi source + patch in one archive and made that available for now. If you'd like to cut out a few steps you can use this, otherwise see the second example for pulling the code + patch, patching the source and compiling.

First remove startup for linux-restricted-modules-common because it causes conflicts with the madwifi drivers.

sudo update-rc.d -f linux-restricted-modules-common remove

Install the madwifi driver and required patch.

sudo apt-get install build-essential
wget 'http://madwifi.org/attachment/ticket/1679/madwifi-ng-0933.ar2425.20071130.i386.patch?format=raw'
wget http://snapshots.madwifi.org/madwifi-ng/madwifi-ng-r2756-20071018.tar.gz
tar zxvf madwifi-ng-r2756-20071018.tar.gz
cd madwifi-ng-r2756-20071018
patch -p0 < ../madwifi-ng-0933.ar2425.20071130.i386.patch\?format\=raw
make clean
make
sudo make install
reboot

Once the machine is rebooted you should have full wireless support through the network manager.

Ndiswrapper

If the madwifi drivers do not work, or you prefer to use the ndiswrapper method you can follow the steps below.

First you'll need to remove and blacklist any existing madwifi drivers:

sudo modprobe -r ath_pci

Then edit the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist file and add the following line to the bottom:

blacklist ath_pci

You'll need to then install the ndiswrapper utilities:

sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-common ndiswrapper-utils-1.9

The windows drivers that we'll use for this method are either available on the EeePC DVD that should have accompanied your machine, or are available from the Asus website.

• The drivers are located on the DVD in: /Drivers/Wireless/ndis5x/. You mainly need the net5211.inf file but it may not hurt to copy the entire folder.

• The drivers are available for download: [http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/EeePC/EeePC4G(701)/Wireless_XP_071011.zip]

Navigate to the folder containing the net5211.inf and run these commands:

sudo ndiswrapper -i net5211.inf

You should then be able to load the ndiswrapper module:

sudo ndiswrapper -m

Finally, set the ndiswrapper module to load at each boot:

sudo ndiswrapper -ma && sudo ndiswrapper -mi

You may need to reboot for everything to take effect, but you should have a working wireless connection at this point.

Sound

The microphone does not work by default. The following fixes that.

• Edit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base and add the line “options snd-hda-intel model=3stack-dig”
• ALSO, run the following command:

sudo alsactl store

• Edit /var/lib/alsa/asound.state : find “Capture Switch” and change the two “false” statements to “true”.
• Run:

sudo alsactl restore

Overclocking

WARNING: This is for experienced users only. You may experience system lockups if you do not do the steps correctly.

Overclocking the system is what allows the EeePC to run at the advertised 900MHz, vs the 630MHz/675MHz that it actually runs at. I have my machine overclocked and I have not seen any ill effects. Again, this is for experienced users only. Use this at your own risk.

In order to achieve the overclocking we'll need to compile a kernel module available for download at a Google code site.

You'll most likely need the kernel headers installed as well as build-essential before we can get started:

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-generic

Download the source, and create the module:

wget http://eeepc-linux.googlecode.com/files/eeepc-linux-0.2.tar.gz
tar -xf eeepc-linux-0.2.tar.gz
cd eeepc-linux/module
make

You should now have a file called eee.ko. To make this module a permanent fixture of your current kernel we'll add it to the list of modules that are loaded at boot time and move it to the proper location.

sudo mv eee.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/

Then edit the /etc/modules file and add the module name eee to the end of the file.

Next register and load the new module into the kernel.

sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe eee

In general, jumping directly to the overclocked speed can cause lockups so smaller jumps toward the speed are suggested. Below is an example of gradually making your way to the overclocked speed:

sudo sh -c 'echo 85 24 1 > /proc/eee/fsb'
sudo sh -c 'echo 100 24 1 > /proc/eee/fsb'
echo "FSB overclocked to 100MHz"

And going back down to the default speeds again:

sudo sh -c 'echo 85 24 1 > /proc/eee/fsb'
sudo sh -c 'echo 70 24 1 > /proc/eee/fsb'
echo "FSB returned to 70MHz"

More information regarding overclocking the EeePC available here: [http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:overclockfsb]

Suspend / Resume

Desktop Effects

Function Keys

• Brightness hotkeys work (fn-f3/f4)
• Volume hotkeys work (fn-f7/f8/f9)

Reducing Drive Writes

• Set the 'noatime' or 'relatime' mount options in the /etc/fstab file. Look for the 'defaults' section and add 'defaults,noatime'.

UUID=57480a3f-e7db-4a5e-9fca-7df45f5a7d9d /               ext2    defaults,noatime,errors=remount-ro 0       1

• Put data that is not needed long-term on a tmpfs, which is written to memory. Below is an example:

tmpfs      /var/log        tmpfs        defaults           0    0
tmpfs      /tmp            tmpfs        defaults           0    0
tmpfs      /var/tmp        tmpfs        defaults           0    0
tmpfs      /var/log/apt    tmpfs        defaults           0    0

You will lose the data in these areas after a reboot. Data in /tmp is not a big deal, though you may want logs longer than that. If so see below for additional tips on network based logging.

If you did create a swap partition and want to make sure the EeePC does not use it, you can add the following line to the end of the /etc/sysctl.conf file:

vm.swappiness=0

Webcam

The built in webcam should work out of the box in Ekiga and Skype 2 Beta for Linux.

You can install the Skype client available here [http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/linux/beta/choose/], select the Ubuntu 7.04 version and install.

troubleshooting

Note: The following has been fixed in the latest release of the Skype beta.

If you have trouble getting video to work in both directions (you can see yourself, but not the other person) the problem is likely the intel driver intel_drv.so. The version of this driver available in Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy" only supports one Xv port which is likely the cause of this problem.

One work around is to have the remote person turn off their video. Then turn off your video. Then the remote person turns their video back on, then you turn your video back on. You will not be able to see your self in the sub-window however.

A better solution is to copy the intel_drv.so driver from the original Xandros installation and put it in /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers, after first backing up the original version. (If you copy this while in X, your screen will likely freeze. Pause for a few seconds, then hit the power button once and the machine will shutdown gracefully. The new driver should be in use when it comes back up.)

A copy of the original Xandros driver intel_drv.so is temporarily available here: [http://zelut.org/projects/misc/intel_drv.so]

Reducing power consumption

• Install the powertop package and follow some of its basic suggestions on increasing battery life. The current lack of ACPI support limits what powertop can do.

Shutdown Fix

Many users experience an issue where their machine does not turn off when set to shutdown. This is due to a module not being removed and the sound subsystem remaining active. One workaround for this issue is to make sure the module is properly removed when the system goes down by adding it to the halt shutdown script.

Add modprobe -r snd-hda-intel to your /etc/init.d/halt file should workaround this issue. On my machine I have placed it just within the stop function as seen in the example below:

do_stop () {
modprobe -r snd-hda-intel
if [ "$INITHALT" = "" ]
....

Ulteriori risorse

• [http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ubuntu]

• [http://wiki.eeeuser.com/yet_another_way_to_install_ubuntu_710]

• [http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:overclockfsb]

• [http://code.google.com/p/eee-ubuntu-support/]

• [http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEeePC]

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