Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Free up Hard drive space.

If you're like me, you are pretty reckless with installing software-I swear, for me, linux was a pandora's box of free software.

Today when i installed the usual update from the ubuntu repositories... it told me that my hard drive was full....? All I had on my hard drive was my documents, no pictures, no music, no videos. I was shocked, and pretty upset.

Not to discourage anyone from buying an eee, I just recommend it as a second computer... Because everything you install or download adds up. (I believe the 8 gig eee is coming out soon, and they have hacked the eee to hold 20 gigs now).

But for those of you still using debian or ubuntu, might I recommend something to clear up some memory? This little code cleared up about a gig of archived packages located in var/cache/apt/archives/

sudo apt-get autoclean

Reboot the computer and you're done!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Monday, December 10, 2007

Howto Install Ubuntu on the EEE PC (with only a usb drive)

First, this took me a really long time, and I really don't wish this headache upon anyone else. Before you get started, I should remind you that because Ubuntu is not made for the eeepc, you may not have every software program. Also, I'm trying to retrace the steps it took me. So they may not be 100%, so refer to the wiki here.

Note: you will need a computer with working internet nearb
  1. Let's format your usb drive so it will run smooth without any major errors. Open a Terminal. If you're using your eee (CTRL ALT T). Plug in the usb
  2. fdisk -l (remember whatever the /dev/sd*1, replace the * with that letter later).
  3. sudo mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n ubuntu /dev/sd*1
  4. sudo apt-get install syslinux
  5. wget http://kiwilinux.org/public/isotostick.sh
  6. sudo chmod +x isotostick.sh
  7. fdisk -l
  8. Remember what your usb drive looks like, it should be something like
    /dev/sd*1 (replace the * with the letter of your usb drive)
  9. sudo parted /dev/sd* set 1 boot on
  10. sudo ./isotostick.sh /path/to/image.iso /dev/sd*1 (please change this to where ever you saved the iso image.)
  11. sudo syslinux /dev/sd*1
  12. Okay so now lets put ndiswrapper and the driver on. (if you have a wired connection available skip these steps, and just plug your eeepc in for internet.
    1. Download these files to your usb drive
      1. ndiswrapper-common
      2. ndiswrapper-utils-1.9
      3. WiFi Driver
        1. Copy the folder called ndis5x to the usb drive as well.
  13. sudo umount /dev/sd*1 (unmount if you are using a computer other than the eee pc)
  14. if you used a different computer, it is time to put ubuntu on the eeepc! Plug it in!
  15. Turn on the eeepc. In that first screen press ESC.
  16. Choose the usb drive you put ubuntu on. It should start up like a livecd installation.
  17. You will need to move the windows.
    1. System>Preferences>Appearance>Visual Effects>None
    2. use Alt and Click to drag windows that are too big by default
  18. Go through the typical installation process.
  19. Time to set up the internet. if you have a wired connection skip these steps.
    1. navigate to the .deb you put on the usb called ndiswrapper-common. Install it
    2. do the same for ndiswrapper-utils
    3. Copy the folder ndis5x to your desktop
    4. Open a terminal and type:
      1. sudo modprobe -r ath_pci
      2. sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-common
      3. add this line:
        blacklist ath_pci
      4. Reboot
    1. Navigate to where you saved the .deb files of ndiswrapper-common and ndiswrapper-utils and doubleclick them to install
    2. Open a terminal
    3. cd Desktop/ndis5x
    4. sudo ndiswrapper -i net5211.inf
    5. sudo ndiswrapper -m
    6. sudo ndiswrapper -ma && sudo ndiswrapper -mi
    7. reboot
  1. Now lets get the native madwifi drive running
    1. sudo apt-get install build-essential
    2. wget 'http://madwifi.org/attachment/ticket/1679/madwifi-ng-0933.ar2425.20071130.i386.patch?format=raw'
    3. wget http://snapshots.madwifi.org/madwifi-ng/madwifi-ng-r2756-20071018.tar.gz
    4. tar zxvf madwifi-ng-r2756-20071018.tar.gz
    5. cd madwifi-ng-r2756-20071018
    6. patch -p0 < ../madwifi-ng-0933.ar2425.20071130.i386.patch\?format\=raw
    7. make clean
    8. make
    9. sudo make install
    10. reboot
  2. Next let's fix some of the known issues.
    1. sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base
      1. add this: options snd-hda-intel model=3stack-dig
      2. (that will get your mic working)
    2. sudo gedit /etc/default/acpi-support
      1. SAVE_VBE_STATE=false
      2. SAVE_VIDEO_PCI_STATE=true
      3. USE_DPMS=true
      4. # Add modules to this list to have them removed before suspend and reloaded
        # on resume. An example would be MODULES="em8300 yenta_socket"
        #
        # Note that network cards and USB controllers will automatically be unloaded
        # unless they're listed in MODULES_WHITELIST
        MODULES="ndiswrapper"
        1. I don't know if that last line is necessary... because you should have madwifi up and running.
        2. all of this fixes the suspend issues
    3. save and close. now to fix the shut down.
    4. sudo gedit /etc/init.d/halt
    5. add to the TOP:
      rmmod snd-hda-intel
  3. If you want Compiz-Fusion enabled, I recommend this:
    1. ALT F2
    2. apps > Compiz > plugins > move > allscreens > options
    3. uncheck constrain y.

I think that should be it!! Hopefully it worked for you!

Saturday, December 8, 2007

ubuntu on the eee

I want this: