tbaumi’s tech blog

Best practice guide Ubuntu on Asus EEE PC 900.

First of all… I tested various Ubuntu flavors and version on my EEE 900. The new 9.04 Jaunty and Ubuntu Netbook Remix has some issues with the chipset which degrades the performance of the EEE 900 noticeable (i915 kernel bug). Even with the available kernel patch is the performance bad. Ubuntu 8.04 LTS has a much better performance on the EEE 900.

I finally installed Ubuntu 8.04.2 LTS and installed the packages for the Ubuntu Netbook Remix manually. I also installed special EEE PC kernel from array.org which “… will deliver for you a Linux kernel with full wired, wireless, webcam, and sound card support via the latest drivers from various third parties, plus a few more extra optimizations”. This instruction show you how to do this.

First of all, get Ubuntu 8.04.2 LTS media and an external optical drive. Then install from the media (press ESC to get into boot menu). When installation finished, update over the internet.

Install UNR packages.

Set up the repository for the netbook remix packages. Open a terminal and type:

# sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

and add the line:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/netbook-remix-team/ubuntu hardy main

With Strg+X you can close nano and agree to save the file.

Now we can update the package cache and install all required packages for UNR:

# sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install desktop-switcher go-home-applet human-netbook-theme maximus ume-launcher window-picker-applet metacity

Maybe there are messages regarding that packages are unsigned or the key is unvalid, just accept/ignore that. When installation finished, reboot. After Login you should have your new UNR interface.

Now we are about to install Kernel from array.org.

Setup the repository:

# wget http://www.array.org/ubuntu/array-hardy.list
# sudo mv -v array-hardy.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

# wget http://www.array.org/ubuntu/array-apt-key.asc
# sudo apt-key add array-apt-key.asc

# sudo apt-get update

Install the EEE specific kernel:

# sudo apt-get install linux-eeepc

I recommend to remove the generic kernel, but this is optional. If you don’t remove them you have to choose the xxx-eeepc kernel in grub on every boot.

# sudo apt-get remove linux-generic linux-image-generic linux-restricted-modules-generic
# sudo apt-get remove linux-.*-generic

Reboot.

Ok, now there are some minor settings to do.

Sound:

In my case I got no sound after upgrading the kernel. To fix this right-click on the sound icon in the task bar and choose ‘Open Volume Control’ -> ‘File’ -> Change Device and enshure that HDA Intel (Alsa mixer) is activated. In case of doubt reboot.

FN-Keys:

To get the keys for the backlit, sound and wlan runing, install these packages:

# sudo apt-get install eeepc-config eeepc-acpi-source

Fan-Control:

Get the fan control script from hartvig.de. I set it up like this:

# sudo mkdir /usr/share/eee
# sudo nano /usr/share/eee/fanctl

Insert the script and save the file. Edit /etc/crontab:

# sudo nano /etc/crontab

And add the line:

*/1 * * * * root sh /usr/share/eee/fanctl

Reload cron:

# sudo /etc/init.d/cron restart

Webcam:

Install Gnome Cheese (like Photo Booth) to use your webcam:

# sudo apt-get install cheese

That should be all. Please leave a comment, thank you.

Tags: 8.04.2 LTS, 900, asus, EEE, linux, netbook, Ubuntu, ubuntu netbook remix, UNR

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 by Thomas and is filed under How to, Ubuntu. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.