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Friday 26 October 2007, 4:10 PM
Ubuntu 7.10 Gibbon swings on the Asus Eee
The Gibbonfest continues. We've just had an Asus Eee in to look at - the £220 laptop that everyone who's seen it is going to buy. It's one of the hottest things in the office this year: the combination of the insanely low price tag, the perfectly functional specification (512MB RAM, 4GB internal flash SSD, wi-fi, real keyboard, VGA display) and its extreme portability makes it an instant hit.
However, we inherited the Eee from another reviewer, who had accidentally nuked the Xandros Linux OS with which it had been supplied. To spare his blushes, I'll let him remain anonymous for the next three words - but it was Rory Reid from cnet.co.uk - and I won't reveal he'd then bodged an XP install to leave things in quite a challenging state.
Since we couldn't find the binaries to reinstall the Asus custom version of Xandros, and had Ubuntu 7.10 CDs sitting around, we thought we'd give the Gibbon another spin.
First problem: although the BIOS spotted the USB external CD-ROM, and would let us select it first in the boot order, it refused to actually boot from it first, choosing instead to revert to the trashed internal flash drive. We tracked this down to an automatic ordering function which couldn't be overwritten; just removing the SSD from the boot list worked fine.
Then... well, there wasn't a then, really. Ubuntu just loaded. Not very fast - took around twenty minutes - and I had to guess some of the options I selected: a problem with 7.10 is that when you install on native resolution VGA (640x480), some of the dialogue boxes have their selection buttons off the bottom of the screen, and there's no way to change that.
It's not hard to do blind - even if you get it wrong it's rarely irreversible.
So there we had it - an Asus Eee running Ubuntu. And running it very well: the default colour scheme and wallpaper is a very good match for the hardware and looks quite swanky. Here's a shot of the beast in full gibber:
The Asus Eee running Ubuntu without a care in the world
The performance is great - Ubuntu is very comfortable with the 900MHz Celeron, and while it does have a CPU cooling fan it's inaudible. You won't have the greatest of times with the VGA resolution or the rather spongy twee little keyboard - but they're very usable.
There are some problems to fix. The wi-fi adaptor isn't working (it's an Atheros I haven't encountered before), there have been a couple of odd battery messages, and selecting power down from the desktop doesn't actually turn the PC off. Haven't even started to look at those yet, but I'm sure they're eminently fixable.
Assuming they are, this is an extremely nice little computer which is an ideal second laptop. If I can't hang onto this one, I'll have to buy one and start pimping it up. The 3G internal card would seem like a good place to start...
PreviousComments on this post
Wireless now working - although there are some issuettes over Atheros support, not all of them directly technical, the quickest way to get things up was by using the XP drivers from the Asus support website, and then loading them in with the ndiswrapper utility.
Some other observations: after a full Ubuntu install, 2.3GB of the internal 4GB SDD is used and 1.1GB is free, and when browsing the Web on the Eee F11 is your friend...
It is possible to autohide the menus at the top and bottom of the screen to get more screen height, while not web browsing?
Hi Rupert. What is the quoted and real battery life from a full charge on this model?
Hey RupertG,
Followed you here from eeeuser.com forums. Great to see Ubuntu running on this beast. I think I will go with Xubuntu for light-weighted'ness (hhahah an English scholar is totally having a heart attack over that one :P).
Anyway... some things to think of when using a full distro on the Eee:
Get the LightFox firefox theme... it shrinks all the buttons down and gives you plenty more space to make it easier to view large pages.
Holding the Alt+Drag on a window should allow you to move the window anywhere (including up so you can view the missing buttons at the bottom of some dialogs). I find this window-management feature invaluable when working on smaller displays.
I heard that the native Linux Atheros drives should work with this chipset. Do you have the 'restricted' options in your software properties (repositories)? If they are, try modprobe'ing them into the kernel, perhaps it just needs a kick in the pants. I would hate to have to use ndiswrapper just to get wireless. I hope eventually the native Atheros drivers will work with this card.
Anyway... good to see you like the Eee and even better to hear you trashed the XP install that CNET left on there... hahaha XP is such a waste of a good computer like this baby!
Enjoy!
Nice work, Rupert! I've dedicated in my blog a post (in italian language) for your phenomenal job! ;) ... very nice! :)
Post:
Asus EeePC con… Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10!
Blog:
http://zeirus.wordpress.com
Thanks for all that: most helpful. Autohide makes a big difference with the taskbars. It's amazing how much screen space we lose without noticing, especially on larger displays where we can afford it, and conversely how usable a smaller screen can be when we try and optimise it.
Other things I've tried: have plugged in a 5G iPod, 4GB of flash SD and a 5GB Seagate portable hard disk. All worked perfectly (although not, perhaps, as swiftly as one would like. A 700MB movie file took around 12 minutes to copy off the Seagate, when I'd expect closer to ten times faster from USB2). The audio's really rather good, too; listened to a few tunes from the iPod.
Haven't managed to get the native Atheros drivers working: they are there and everything seems OK, but I must be missing something as they don't spring into life. The ndiswrappered XP drivers are fine, though, and since that means the wireless is working, I'd rather play around with other stuff. Suggestions for diagnostics on the native drivers welcome, though.
Can't find the LightFox theme anywhere online - where is it? (All I seem to dig up is pictures of furries).
Battery life? Good question. I've just unplugged the Eee after a full overnight charge; it's just gone 1pm in sunny Edinburgh, so I'll see when it gives up the ghost (or, for you furries, the goat).
@ Rupert
Rupert, please, try to install Blender 3D v2.45 (download it from www.blender.org) and grab some screenshots. I need to know if Blender run on Asus EeePc... ;)
Also, try to install Gimp (www.gimp.org), Scribus (www.scribus.net) and Inkscape (www.inkscape.org), if possible with some screenshots grab... thanks in advance! ;)
@ Rupert
For LightFox theme... it's maybe LittleFox Theme For Firefox? If yes, it's here:
Littlefox for Firefox
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/307
It is an add-on for Firefox (all versions):
LittleFox, designed for optimal screen usage, leaving lots of room for browsing. For Firefox 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0a9. Includes support for forecastfox, tabbrowser preferences, fusion, reloadevery, stumbleupon, gmail, basics, calendar, downloadstatusbar, quicknote, offline, rss-reader, sage, scrapbook, reminderfox, and tbx. Tested with downloadmgr, flatbookmark, foxamp, googlebar, spoofstick, and many more...
Hi, Zeirus
OK - I installed those packages (all from Synaptic, instead of going to the various sites) and ran them. All worked, more or less, although I've had little or no experience in Inkscape or Blender, and not much more in Scribus. All seemed perfectly happy, although Inkscape exhibited behaviour I've seen elsewhere - it showed about three-quarters of the screen at once, and clicking anywhere there skipped to the bottom quarter. Not sure what's happening there: it feels like some sort of virtual screen mapping mode getting a look-in. Still possible to do things, but very clumsily.
Screen shots to come!
And that Littlefox theme is just the job - thanks.
Now, what I really want next is some sort of Opera Mini screen-shrinking magic. If that works on a smartphone (and it does), what could it do here...
R
-Install Opera desktop version
-Shift+F11
-Magic!
I am interested in ways to sync with other PC's
I haven't used Linux yet but I was wondering about options that might work for the students that don't have flash drives or SD cards, and even then something that helps the to keep track of versions might be useful.
Sync to a web dav folder.
Connect to a PC as a removable drive.
Something simple I haven't considered
Would these be possible using Linux?
Rick
What is it you want to sync to?
R
I am interested in ways to sync with other PC's
I haven't used Linux yet but I was wondering about options that might work for the students that don't have flash drives or SD cards, and even then something that helps the to keep track of versions might be useful.
Sync to a web dav folder.
Connect to a PC as a removable drive.
Something simple I haven't considered
Would these be possible using Linux?
Rick
Pupils all have accounts on our school windows network. Server 2003.
Either sync my documents directly or sync to an internet location they can access from both computers and home if needed. I'm a little worried about a direct sync as I know many will change the files on both machines.
I don't know if they could have webdav access to their windows accounts my document folder.
I'm not planning to connect the eeepc's to the network directly. We may be able to use citrix in the future for thin client access. But thats not the current plan.
I haven't done this, so I can't comment about how well (or otherwise!) this works, but take a look at Unison.
From the website:
"Unison is a file-synchronization tool for Unix and Windows. It allows two replicas of a collection of files and directories to be stored on different hosts (or different disks on the same host), modified separately, and then brought up to date by propagating the changes in each replica to the other.
Unison shares a number of features with tools such as configuration management packages (CVS, PRCS, Subversion, BitKeeper, etc.), distributed filesystems (Coda, etc.), uni-directional mirroring utilities (rsync, etc.), and other synchronizers (Intellisync, Reconcile, etc). However, there are several points where it differs:
* Unison runs on both Windows and many flavors of Unix (Solaris, Linux, OS X, etc.) systems. Moreover, Unison works across platforms, allowing you to synchronize a Windows laptop with a Unix server, for example.
* Unlike simple mirroring or backup utilities, Unison can deal with updates to both replicas of a distributed directory structure. Updates that do not conflict are propagated automatically. Conflicting updates are detected and displayed.
* Unlike a distributed filesystem, Unison is a user-level program: there is no need to modify the kernel or to have superuser privileges on either host.
* Unison works between any pair of machines connected to the internet, communicating over either a direct socket link or tunneling over an encrypted ssh connection. It is careful with network bandwidth, and runs well over slow links such as PPP connections. Transfers of small updates to large files are optimized using a compression protocol similar to rsync.
* Unison is resilient to failure. It is careful to leave the replicas and its own private structures in a sensible state at all times, even in case of abnormal termination or communication failures."
Does that sound useful to you (sounds bloody good to me!)?
That sounds good to me. I don't think we will change the OS on the RM minibooks (eeepc's) but it may be an option if needed. I'm sure given the chance some of the pupils will be making changes so we will need a recovery strategy to fix any problems they create.
My only other thought was connecting the eeePC to PC as a removable drive.
I notice you always refer to/use Ubuntu.
Why do you prefer Ubuntu over other main distro's?
I use Suse. I am waiting for KDE 4: looks very Maclike with the new Oxygen Theme and I think it will come out first on Suse as they are main stakeholders.
I also like the fact that Mandriva can run the 3D desktop effects off my 64Mb ATI on board graphics card, which no other distro will do I have found.
I would be quite intersted in a general Linux review from yourself.
Ubuntu is the most mainstream desktop Linux, and it's attracted the most interest from non-Linux fans. Conversely, I know hardcore Linuxites who don't like it because they think it hides too much away, there are problems they think important that don't get fixed, and they have arguments over some of the decisions made during its evolution (had a long spiel from a friend over the the choice of dash versus bash as the default shell, for example, although I'm not sure whether that's Ubuntu or Debian).
I'd love to have more coverage of the other distros - but there are thousands of the bleeders. Any ideas on the best way to go about it? I'd think, in the best open software tradition, it'd have to involve the community - but there are plenty of things we could do.
I have been looking at Distrowatch.org as a main site for everything linux.
It ranks distros according to the amount of times they've been downloaded recently. I think thats a good way asy it goes for the mass market/heavy weights.
I think another key category is the support you get with it. Thats where the heavy weights deliver. Even if its just a sophiticated website with a Wiki.
As you mentioned there are alot of techies on linux who get very detailed.Thats why I was asking you because you refer to the practical problems and everyday use.
I tried ubuntu but because the menus were at the top I kept looking in the wrong place. It felt very mac-like. I am sure there is a way to change it but I want it to work out of the box.
Speaking of which as most of the Distro's use KDE they are all pretty similiar. I think thats what also held me back with Ubuntu: lack of KDE (yes I now know that they have a version)
Suse needs the DVD and MP3 codes plus a couple of other things, but as I say I am waiting for KDE4. I think they have a good site with lost of support so that is why I sticking with them for a while longer.
Mandriva was a really good allrounder and does most things out of the box. It was the "in/cool distro" with all of my friends back in the 90's. I dont have a bad thing to say about it. I only got rid of it when work required Microsoft for a period. Maybe I will have to give it another try.
I would say KDE and open office will be the main drivers of uptake as that is what most people relate to. The Gnome people et al will hate me.
You can move the Ubuntu menus and task bars to any side of the screen - just click and drag.
One of my long-term projects is to dedicate a big fat machine to multiple Linuxes on multiple partitions (or perhaps virtualbox - haven't decided yet). Should at least have RH, SuSE, Mandriva... but you see the scale of the problem!
CPU Scaling does not work under Ubuntu 7.10.
The CPU is stuck at 630MHZ, Cpufrequd and other frequency tools do not work.
If somebody knows how to fix this, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. Under Xandros CPU scaling works fine.
I have both Xandros and Kubuntu running, I shrank the first partition on the ssd, saved with partimage the two partitions on which Xandros is installed, created a third 80MB boot partition for Ubuntu on the ssd and put the / partition for Ubuntu on a 16 GB SDHC card. Initially I tried to install Ubuntu completely on the SDHC card but did not manage to boot from it (the BIOS lets you set the SDHC card as a bootable device, but it did not help). Xandros uses Grub for booting, but I did not manage to boot Ubuntu with it. Lilo manages to boot both Xandros and Ubuntu.
Have you seen this guide, Rupert?
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=611422
If you're interested in the Eee, take a look at this episode of our Dialogue Box video show where Rupert and Charles take the Eee apart: http://resources.zdnet.co.uk/articles/video/0,1000002009,39291250,00.htm
If they did the EEE with a 12 inch screen they would take teh business market apart. Currently you seem to pay a premium for laptops with a 12 inch monitor just because that what corporate execs prefer. Look at the IBM X60 and the Toshiba Portege R500.
Indeed - there are two reactions to people's first encounter with the Eee. The first is 'want one', the second is, 'and if they did x, y and z, it'd be so much better'. A bigger screen is always x.
What the Eee has done is categorically underlined one of the great and damaging myths of mobile computing - that extreme portability is a desirable luxury. It's not. It's essential, but it has to be affordable. Once that idea finally gets into the head of the marketing men, it'll affect all the sectors.
