Asus eee 901 Update

A while back I wrote about some problems with the eee 901 model – namely the update tool seemed broken and the eee download site that allowed one click install of a variety of apps didn’t work. Well, I reinstalled the Xandros OS the other day and was pleasently surprised to see that both these issues are fixed. My update installed and I was able to click and install Opera and a few other apps from the website – pretty slick actually. Maybe Asus didn’t think these would be issues for their average customer, but it would have been nice if their tech support could have said they were aware of the issues and working on them. While I’m glad they eventually fixed these problems, I think thier tech support could still use some work.

I know a lot of people don’t seem to like the simple, tabbed Xandros OS, but for a device like this I think it works well. Even with desktop Ubuntu or XP most people will just use a computer like this to surf the web and maybe play various media content and Xandros handles this just fine. It’s great that Linux is finding a home on these types of computers. I think it bodes well for the future of Linux.

On a related note, I noticed that the Dell Mini 9 will ship with what looks like a modified version of Ubuntu. It seems a bit of a cross between the simple Xandros OS and desktop Ubuntu. Who knows, maybe this is the magic combination. I ordered one to test for work, and I thought it was interesing that the configuration I wanted (1GB RAM, 16GB SSD, 1.3 mp webcam) only came with Ubuntu. I was actually going to order it with XP as that is what my district supports, but through the education store they said my build would have to come with Linux. I thought that was actually pretty cool – that Ubuntu was an option but not XP. Usually it’s the other way around. I should be receiving this soon and will share my thoughts when I can. In the meantime, this site has a few screenshots.

Hey, I’m Famous

I saw a small upturn in my blog stats the other day and noticed that the moron who runs the Linux Hater’s site linked me. I’ve never wasted any time on that site (won’t was yours either by linking it) but I just spent about 2 minutes glancing over it. Why anyone would waste time ranting about Linux is beyond me. As everyone knows, Linux is an insignificant and flawed operating system unsuitable for anyone so what’s this guy afraid of?

Ubucon in Boulder, CO – Sept 27, 2008

Some intrepid members of the Colorado Loco Team (not me, I’m just plugging it) have been busy organizing our second Ubucon at the Google offices in Boulder, CO. I attended the first one last year which was also my first un-conference of this kind. It was a lot of fun and it was cool to actually see inside Google. I would encourage others to attend if possible or look into setting up your Ubucon. I wonder if it would be possible to simulcast this and get people from affar to participate. Hmmm, something to look into.

Anyway, if you want more info see the team’s website.

Ubuntu on the Asus eee 901

I recently wrote about my frustrations with the 901 model of the Asus eee PC. I think the problems are specific to this and perhaps similar models and will hopefully be fixed before too long. However, I have no idea if Asus is even aware of the problems as calls to tech support are less than informative. I like the simple Xandros OS and would gladly use it if it wasn’t a bit borked.

My solution, at least for now, is to load Ubuntu, and I have done so. Here is a not-so-brief rundown of what I did, what issues still exist, and my general impressions of Ubuntu on a device like this.

Installing Ubuntu:

This is pretty straightforward. Ubuntu has always been quite easy to install. I used UNetbootin to put the live CD on a flash drive. Press escape at boot and select the flash drive. Install is just like any other Ubuntu install.

I did manually partition the system. I used the entire 4GB SSD for the root operating system and formatted it to ext3 file system. 15GB of the remaining 16GB SSD was formatted as ext2 for /home. I did this because I have read there may be some concern over the amount of drive access of a journaling file system and how that might affect the life of the cheaper storage SSD. The final 1GB was used as swap. I put the swap on the 16GB drive as I thought I might want the full 4GB on the main OS drive for applications. Current base install plus custom kernel and a few codes leaves 1.3 GB free on the 4GB drive.

Running updates (need to fix networking first) after the install was rather slow. Downloading the 100+ update was about as fast as on my desktop but the installation of the updates took well over 30min. That may reflect the slower processor or the slower SSD or a bit of both.

Post Install:

Quite a few things are broken with Ubuntu on the 901, and a bit of work is needed to fix them. I have not addressed them all them all yet, but my eee 901 with Ubuntu is currently working fine. The big problem with Ubuntu at the moment is that at install BOTH wired and wireless networking don’t work, but the fix is surprisingly easy. Download the custom kernel from http://array.org/ubuntu/setup901.html and save it to a flash drive. Once you have installed and rebooted just install the new kernel as described on the Array site, reboot and networking now works just fine.

An external USB drive won’t mount unless you do so manually or remove or comment out the cdrom line from /etc/fstab as it seems to cause a conflict. Once done external drives work fine.

Playing videos and mp3 presents the same issues it does with any Ubuntu install. You just need to install the appropriate codecs. Often you will be prompted to search for appropriate codecs as I was when I tried to play mp4 videos. I am now able to watch videos and play mp3 files.

Sound works just fine as does the headphone jack. I haven’t tried the mic but this fix suggests it will need tweaking. The webcam works after re-enabling it in the bios. For some reason it gets disabled.

Copying over USB is very slow but this could be more a hardware issue with respect to the SSD used. For example, it took over 30min to copy 3GB of music. Transfer speeds started at 20MB/sec and steadily dropped to about 1.5MB/sec over the course of the transfer.

One plus is that I haven’t noticed any real heat issues. My experience with Ubuntu on laptops is that they tend to get a bit hotter than what is perhaps normal. On the eee the temps seem to stay quite low. After an hour of mild to moderate use the bottom is not all that warm and the fan only seems to kick on when run CPU intensive apps and even then it’s not that warm or loud. Watching videos does seem to use a lot of juice but I suppose that is to be expected. I have not watched an entire movie so I’m not sure how hot it could get.

Ubuntu Netbook Remix:

Despite its flaws, I really liked the Xandros tabbed interface. It made a lot of sense on a device like this. The Ubuntu Netbook Remix is a good attempt at a similar UI. While not yet finished, it is not too hard to install. It does have some quirks but nothing I can’t live with.

To install it, see https://edge.launchpad.net/netbook-remix. The instructions don’t explicitly say so but you will need to do the following after adding the netbook repository

• sudo apt-get update
• sudo apt-get install go-home-applet window-picker-applet maximus human-netbook-theme ume-launcher

There is a warning about installing ume-config-netbook if you don’t have a dimondville processor. I believe the Atom CPU in the eee 901 is dimondville so I installed it as well. Not sure what it does but it didn’t seem to cause anything to break.

I deleted the bottom panel and set the top one to auto-hide. I also didn’t activate the maximus app. This makes all apps auto maximize and also seems to remove the title bar from windows. I didn’t like that as it looked odd and didn’t allow me to minimize or maximize windows. Instead, I used auto-hide on the top panel and can min or max windows as I see fit. Not all windows look good maximized so this works better in my opinion.

What’s Working and What Isn’t:

While I haven’t tested everything, here is a list of things that seem to be working fine and those that are not or that I haven’t checked.

• Working:
  • CPU scaling (it seems the Atom is dual core and both are recognized and scaling – 800mhz at rest (edit: apparently I’m wrong about the two cores and that the “two” CPUs shown in the system monitor are just and effect of HyperThreading))
  • Desktop effects (but have to turn off for the Netbook Remix to work right)
  • USB ports
  • Wifi
  • Ethernet
  • Webcam after re-enabling in the BIOS
  • Sleep and resume (but haven’t tried hibernate as I never use it)
  • Bluetooth (I was able to connect a bluetooth mouse but could not connect an Apple bluetooth keyboard)
  • Battery meter but not sure about accuracy
• Not Working or Unknown:
  • VGA out (untested)
  • Compiz Fusion with Netbook Remix – did not test enhanced effects but normal effects worked until I installed the netbook remix
  • Most Fn keys – brightness keys do work but that seems to be it

One odd thing I noted about sleep is that the load seemed really high when waking. Right after waking I opened a terminal and checked uptime. It reported

• 20:04:40 up 10:03,  2 users,  load average: 9.39, 3.37, 2.85

which is odd because 6 of the 10 hours were in sleep and I’ve never seen a load of 9. On a second try a bit latter the load was 11. Perhaps it’s just the waking action but even the 15 min average is high for sleep. Shouldn’t the CPU be basically off during sleep? I’m not sure if that hints at a problem or just a quirk.

Overall Impressions:

While I’ve only been using Ubuntu and the netbook remix for a couple days, I have to say I like it better than the Xandros OS. Assuming everything can be got to work in the near future, I would think Ubuntu with or without the netbook remix would be a good alternaive to Xandros. Given the popularity of Ubuntu this would seem a wise move on the part of Asus to increase sales. They would also benefit from all the hard work of the large Ubuntu community – who, incedentally, seem to have done most of the work for them already.

For more info on installing Ubuntu on the eee pc see http://ubuntu-eee.com/. I did not install this version of Ubuntu so I’m not sure what is different compared to generic Ubuntu but the site contains a lot of useful information.

Screenshots:

Here are a few obligitory desktop shots.

Asus eee 901 – A Real Disappointment

I’ve been eying the eee pc ever since it debuted and finally got a chance to spend some time with the new 901 model. I wanted to wait for the 9″ screen model and the Atom CPU, and being a Linux user I also intended all along to use either the bundled Xandros OS or perhaps install Ubuntu. So far, the all around experience has been quite disheartening.

First, the Xandros tabbed OS seems really cool. As this is really just a net appliance, I didn’t think a full blown OS was really needed. All it needs to do is connect to a network and allow various apps to run. At first, it seemed like it did this quite well. Out of the box it connected to my network, albeit slowly, and there were no real issues. Then I started to notice odd behavior. First, it wouldn’t see my wireless n network – only G – even though the specs clearly state a wireless b/g/n card and lspci confirms this. Then, apps like the file manager suddenly started to disappear. Calling Asus tech support I was told to run the recovery tool which does in fact bring the file manger back. However, it is soon gone again. No explanation at all – it just disappears. At least one other app disappeared as well but I haven’t identified it yet. Then there is the non-working eeedownload tool. Clicking it takes you to http://eeedownload.asus.com/ and tantalizes you with many different add on programs that promise to install with an “install now” button. Unfortunately none of them work. They just download a .cnr file that doesn’t do anything.

Perhaps most frustrating is that the update too is flat out broken. I am told there are updates to download but all I get is a “download failed” message that can’t be overcome with any amount of coaxing. Others report this and other problems (see http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewpoll.php?id=39924). The 901 also fails to shutdown cleanly quite often. It simply hangs on a black screen with a blinking cursor and has to be forced to shutdown.

As much as I wanted to like the Xandros OS there are just too many problems. A bit of Googling suggests that the 901 model is just plain buggy which is a real shame and a blotch on what began as a revolutionary idea in portable computing. It really makes one wonder what Asus is thinking. With many other manufacturers rushing competing products to market, Asus needs to raise the bar to stay ahead – not lower it.

Anyway, I decided that the hardware is sound even if the OS isn’t so a quick install of Ubuntu should fix everything. Unfortunatley that isn’t true either. It seems that Asus has gone out of their way to use completely incompatible components which is odd given that they were intending to put Linux on it from the start. Now I fully expect to have issues with wireless on a good many products, but this is the first time I have ever seen a wired NIC not work out of the box. After installing Ubuntu, both wired and wireless networking are broken which makes any sort of fixes for other issues downright difficult. Some enterprising people have attempted to find a workaround (http://www.ubuntu-eee.com/index.php5?title=EeePC_901) but the fact that this level of hacking is even necessary on what should be a Linux firendly computer is a real disappointment. One would think that a PC shipping with Linux would be generally compatible with other versions of Linux. It really makes me wonder how this thing works at all – although perhaps this is a clue as to why there are so many problems even with the bundled Xandros OS.

I used to have a lot of respect for Asus and generally sought out Asus components when building a computer. My experience with the eee has really turned me off and I doubt I will ever look at Asus the same.

At the moment I’m looking for a solution to all of this. Can anyone recommend a Linux distro that does work well on the 901 model? I have absolutely no interest in putting windows on this no matter how well it may work. The problem with the 901 isn’t Linux – it’s a poorly tested product for which only Asus is to blame. And as if to add insult to injury their tech support seems totally unaware of anything other than how to reinstall the same flawed OS. Thanks Asus.

Asus eee and CRN – Great Idea…But Doesn’t Work

I’ve been playing with an Asus eee 901 and I have to say I really like it. Yes, the keyboard is small but it’s just too cool overall. I also like the Xandros tabbed interface. It’s easy and fun and for what one would use this for it’s perfect. I was also pleased to note that Asus is offering a one-click software download and install site – http://eeedownload.asus.com/. Navigating there with my eee I thought what a great way to introduce new users to the wonderful world of Linux. New users simply click the “install now” button for the application they want and it installs – or so I thought.

The problem is that the download is a .crn file which I assume is for Click N Run. This would be fine if it did anything, but unfortunately it just downloads a text file and the eee doesn’t know what to do with it. For example, for GIMP you get

<cnr-client>
<site-id>eeedownload.asus.com</site-id>
<product-id>18258</product-id>
<product-name>GIMP</product-name>
<action>INSTALL</action>
</cnr-client>

But there is no way to do anything with this that I can figure out and I’m sure no “average” user will be able to either. To me it seems that Asus is simply offering something that just plain doesn’t work. Tech support was also less than helpful. I spoke to two different people on two different occasions and they both were very polite and wanted to help but seemed to have no idea that Asus was offering this or even any idea what it was. Come on Asus, you have a great product and the download site it a great idea but IT NEEDS TO WORK.

The eee and the simple Xandros OS would be great for schools wanting cheap, mobile labs. I wish HP would offer it on the Mini-Note instead of the generally useless SLED. But Asus really needs to make sure the whole package is complete – or at least don’t offer something that is broken.

Oh, if someone happens to know how to get the downloads to install please let me know. I know I can “sudo apt-get install” them but that really defeats the point of an “install now” button.

Anyone Know and Love Kig?

First, some background. I will be presenting a couple of FOSS and Ubuntu related sessions at the Technology in Education conference in Copper Mountain, Colorado on June 25 and 26. Information about these sessions and what I hope to accomplish can be found on the project wiki. In short, there will be a session on using FOSS in the classroom and one on setting up an LTSP server. The software session will focus on several applications that all schools should really be exploring and run in Windows so there is no real barrier to use. These include Stellarium, Maxima, Freemind, Phun and several others. Due to time restraints we can only demo a few but we will also hand out the Open Education CD to everyone.

We would also like to introduce everyone to the wonderful world of Ubuntu. My belief is that teachers (who are honestly not very tech savvy) will be more likely to venture into unknown waters if they see a payoff. Therefore, we will introduce them to a few apps that are only available to Linux users. We will accomplish this by having them use Ubuntu in a virtual machine in Windows. I think this will be easier than trying to teach them how to install Ubuntu (even Wubi may go beyond the comfort level of teachers and IT departments).

One of the apps I would really like to demo is Kig. It is a travesty that computers in schools are used almost exclusively to type papers and make flashy presentations of dubious educational value when they could (and should) be used to help students learn concepts that are difficult to grasp by reading a textbook or doing worksheets. Kig (K Interactive Geometry) is a great little program that can really help students understand many aspects of geometry and math that would be hard if they had to do it with pencil and paper.

For example, one difficult concept is the properties of polygons. Consider the triangle. Younger students have a hard time understanding the sum of angles or that the sum of two sides can never be more than the third (try to construct a 5×5x9 triangle for example). In order to explore this on paper, students would have to accurately construct a lot of triangles. With Kig, it’s only a matter of minutes to set up and then explore hundreds of variations by just dragging corners around. This is just one very simple example, but I think it illustrates the benefit of using computers to actually TEACH something.

However, as much as I love Kig, I wish it was a bit easier to use and had a few more features. For example, I cannot find a way to have the angles or length of sides automatically sum. This simple addition would make the above example easy and obvious to students. Without it, it’s much harder. Unfortunately, being a teacher and not a coder I don’t have a clue how to go about doing this. I would love to see some more development on Kig, and I will do my part to get it in the hands of teachers.

In fact, I plan to show off Kig at the conference. What I really need, is a simple tutorial or lesson that teachers can follow and see the benefits of using Kig (running in Ubuntu of course). If there is anyone who really understands Kig and would be willing to put something together I would greatly appreciate it. I have set up a wiki page to collect Lessons for this conference and future use as well. Please take a look and add to it in any way you can. I’m sure the lessons I do have could also use some tweaking so feel free to help improve them in any way you can.

TIE Conference – Copper Mtn, CO

The Technology in Education (TIE) conference takes place each year in June in the mountains of Colorado. The conference is mainly aimed at Colorado educators, but there are always attendees from elsewhere as well. This year’s conference is June 24-27 at the Copper Mountain Resort.

Last year I presented a session on using free software and Ubuntu as solutions to some of the main problems with technology in education – namely lack of computers and lack of something to use them for (i.e. software). The session was a great success. Canonical also ponied up the cash to sponsor an Ubuntu booth in the exhibition hall. Approximately 5 members of the Colorado Loco Team helped at the session and the Ubuntu booth. There are a couple write ups on the CoLoCo website here and here, and one appeared on page 11 of Issue 5 of Full Circle Magazine (and my additions to that article).

This year I will be running two session. One will focus primarily on using free software on Windows. Because most schools are Windows-centric, I believe we need to help teachers discover and access free software on their default platform before trying to introduce a new platform. That being said, we do plan to introduce Ubuntu via a virtual machine and some software that is not available for Windows to run in the VM. The second session will focus on the installation and setup of an LTSP thin-client server using Edubuntu.

Instead of a booth in the exhibition hall this year, we are going to set up an Ubuntu table in one of the main hallways. We have a conference pack from Canonical and will set up a couple of demo boxes.

For more information, please see the planning page – https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TIEColorado08.

We are in need of volunteers to help man the table and assist in the sessions. If you would like to spend a bit of time in the beauty of the Colorado Rockies and advocate for Ubuntu and free software, please check out the wiki above and add your name. You may also contact me if you are interested. You can find my contact info on my Launchpad page (linked on the About Me page).

Banshee + Brasero >> iTunes

Before you flame me, I’ll admit that if you really know and love iTunes (and maybe are tied to the iTunes store) then perhaps iTunes isn’t totally a waste of time. However, for me it is complete garbage. Allow me to tell you a little story.

I was having problems with the CD burner on my Hardy desktop so I thought I’d give one of the macbooks from work a try. I am trying to make some MP3 compilation discs for the car and a mac should totally rock for that, right? I first had to rip some CDs. I discovered that dragging and dropping onto iTunes would rip but not into MP3. That had to be changed. Easy enough. Then it wouldn’t download any track info on the CDs unless I had an iTunes account. Okay, what they hell, I’ll register. How hard can it be? Then I find out that I have to buy a subscription. Well, I have no interest in an iTunes subscription so I decided I could do without the info. After all, I’m using a mac and should feel very privileged so the fact that I can’t do things the way I want doesn’t matter. I’m sure the OSX folks know more than me, and I should just do it their way and be happy they let me. So I finally get some CDs ripped. Now it’s time to burn. Hmmm, how do you make an MP3 disc and how do you mix up the tracks? Oh, I see. I have to make a play list first. Silly me for just wanting to burn the tracks. Oh wait, I have some MP3s stored on some CDs that I want to import first and add to my compilations. Hmmm, drag and drop doesn’t work. The files import but no metadata. That won’t work. I can’t have bunch of files named Track 1, Track 2, etc. Okay, maybe if I copy them to the iTunes folder the data will be preserved. Hmmm, They are in the folder but not in iTunes. You know what? Screw you Jobs.

/me tosses the macbook aside, swaps the CD burner in my Hardy box and does things the right way.

Fire up Banshee and insert the CD. It’s recognized automatically and track data instantly downloaded. Set it to burn MP3 (stupid stereo won’t do ogg). Wow, lame is already installed. I wonder when I did that. Oh well, press import and kick back with a cold one. Oops, no time to drink. It’s done. Insert next disc and before long – Presto! All done. Files are added to my music folder, properly named and ready to play, burn, whatever. Oh, wait, I need to import the other tracks off the old MP3 CD. Drag – drop to my music folder. Perfect. Now to burn the MP3 CD. Open Brasero, choose Data CD, add files and burn. Ah, cool. Brasero wants to verify the burn. Wow, that was fast. Done. Pop into car stereo and enjoy. No problems. Sorry Apple. Linux wins again.

Note to OSX lovers: if iTunes works for you then great. Enjoy. I guess I’m just to old and thick-headed. I’ve never used Banshee, Brasero or iTunes and despite Apple’s claims of simplicity the Linux tools proved superior for my needs.

Colorado Hardy Release Party

The Colorado loco team celebrated its Hardy release party on April 26. It was a big success by all accounts. In addition to a lot of good beer, good food and good Ubuntu discussion, our host, Simon, went over the highlights of the Hardy release. We had a presentation on Launchpad from Canonical’s Joey Stanford and I begged for volunteers to help at the Ubuntu table at the upcoming TIE conference. In addition we had representatives from System76 talk about why they chose Ubuntu for their laptops. We also did an impromptu install of Hardy for someone who couldn’t imagine any use for vista. Unfortunately his HP laptop has the infamous Broadcom wifi. One would think companies which seem to support Linux would avoid using hardware from companies that don’t. I wonder how fast Broadcom Corp would release open source drivers if HP, IBM and Dell dropped them until they do.

Anyway, here are some of the obligatory pics…

Simon shows his stuff.

Joey introduce a little know project called Launchpad.

Yours truly shows how to count to 10.

Carl Richell, founder of System76, explains why Ubuntu rocks for his business.

Goodbye vista. Hello Ubuntu.

Subject yourself to the rest of the photos if you wish.