Adventures with the eeeeeeeee and Linux

[triskellian]

I have discovered that the eeeeeee with its default installation of Xandros won't work with Eduroam (the wireless system used by universities). No problem, I am assured, it works fine with Ubuntu, and there's an eeeee-specific version with handholdy instructions.

So I've spent this evening trying to install Ubuntu on my eeeeeee. After some minor tribulations I have managed to boot my Macbook from a Ubuntu CD (which was a weird experience in itself), but failed to run the script that's supposed to make a USB stick into a bootable thing.

I'm working from these instructions, and it all starts going wrong about the point I'm supposed to be verifying the identity of my USB stick. If I follow the instructions about removing and reinserting the stick, nothing happens. If I just run the script, I get told the directory doesn't exist (and it does, I've checked. It's in exactly the place it's supposed to be AFAICT). Am I missing something? Are there some steps I'm supposed to infer? Can someone write me an even-more handholdy explanation?

Comments

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

I recommend you ask on the forum. Chances are you're hitting some known problem.

Incidentally, your description above isn't enough to work out what you're doing. You say "these instructions" and link to a page which contains multiple sets of instructions for different procedures.

Would I be correct in assuming that you're running through the section "Detailed USB installer instructions" and that they fail at the point "Please insert your flash drive now"?

Assuming this is the case, what do you mean when you say that you "just run the script"? (For Linux debugging generally I'd recommend posting stuff exactly as typed/seen using <pre> ... </pre> to avoid confusion.)

In the unlikely event that the forum users can't help you, email me a copy of the mkusbinstall.sh script and I'll see if I can spot the bug.

[triskellian]

Yes, I do seem to have been rather vague, don't I? Sorry about that - was obviously flustered and tired.

You're right about where it's failing, but looking at it just now to confirm, I've spotted a place where I think I misinterpreted the instructions, so I'll have another go.

(I'm scared of posting in tech forums, but will do that if my next attempt doesn't work.)

[triskellian]

Ah-hah! A combination of poorly-written documentation and tired me was to blame for last night's failure - I now (at this very moment) have Ubuntu running from an SD card on the eeeeeeee. Latest 'opportunity' is to work out why it's not offering me any wireless... (typing this on the MacBook.)

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

<applause>

[triskellian]

Applause too soon!

Wireless "works out of the box", they say. And if it doesn't, it's just a case of "typing this simple command", they say. Gah!

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Applause was for the previous achievement! Getting Linux working is a lifelong task, if we didn't celebrate until everything was done we'd never get the chance.

So... what approach are you using to wireless? And who told you it would work out of the box? Not that I know anything about it really, but eeeuser seemed to imply otherwise.

[triskellian]

Getting Linux working is a lifelong task
That's why I was wary of doing it in the first place! It's only not-working-with-my-work-wireless that convinced me to try it!

Further down the same page I linked in the post claims that Xubuntu's wireless works out of the box, but I'll investigate your link too, thanks.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_kent/]

What model of Eee is it? I'd be surprised if an old install of eeeXubuntu was really what you needed there. I don't think they've been officially updating that in over a year.

[smiorgan.livejournal.com]

Good point - although once triskellian can connect to the interweb she can do an update over the net to the latest stable version. Not so good if you can't connect via wireless, but the eee does have an ethernet port I believe

[http://users.livejournal.com/_kent/]

My suggestion would be to start with straight vanilla Ubuntu 8.10 or 9.04 Beta. I installed 9.04 Beta the other day, and that genuinely did work straight out of the box. I also tried Ubuntu Netbook Remix, but found that the swishy animations of the netbook specific launcher crawled on my older Eee (it's on of the older 900s before they started using Atom processor.) The basic Ubuntu 9.04 install works great.

[smiorgan.livejournal.com]

Interesting - I was about to point at eeebuntu.org for the NBR, because of the FAQ:

Couldn't I Just Install Ubuntu?

Absolutely. However there are several important parts of the kernel which won't work if you install Ubuntu yourself (wifi, networking, function keys etc) and several important fixes that will prevent you from enjoying the full Ubuntu experience on your EeePC - in order to get those things working, you would need to install a custom kernel and make several changes to the configuration. Eeebuntu has all of those changes made by default. It works out of the box.

But if a base install of Ubuntu works, so much the better.

[triskellian]

It's a 901 (ie with Atom). I got to eeeXubuntu from the work wireless support pages - if all else is equal, I'll choose a distro that I know will be familiar to the people who might end up troubleshooting the wireless connection. But I'll check out vanilla Ubuntu too, thanks.

[knirirr.livejournal.com]

You may also wish to try OS X (http://eeepc-osx.wikispaces.com/901); dyddgu's Ravelry projects contain pictures of a similar installation.

[triskellian]

I've seen hers on Rav, yes :-) And it is pretty tempting, especially since the page you link suggests that speed isn't a problem, which would have been my first concern. But I'd rather get the free option working than either pay for or pirate MacOS (although, hmmm, must investigate student discounts...)

[knirirr.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's a student discount for the OS, so it's either pay or pirate. There is a "family pack" discount that allows 5 installations in your household, though (IIRC).

[knirirr.livejournal.com]

By the way, she said that she found the Ubuntu installation on the Mini 9 fine for general use, but wanted some specific software and features from OS X.

[triskellian]

I've just checked and it's a poxy £10 discount. And my other puter is a Macbook, so I've got access to OS X anyway. And I rather like the idea of playing with Linux a bit - I never have before ;-)

[knirirr.livejournal.com]

Playing with Linux is certainly good, although for the maximum fun I would recommend Gentoo. ;-)

[secretrebel.livejournal.com]

I need a new eeeeeevil inside icon.