Can't install Ubuntu-eee on my Eee PC :(

manic111

manic111

manic111

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I downloaded the latest Ubuntu Eee (www.ubuntu-eee.com) on my desktop, and, using unetbootin, put it on a flash drive, in order to allow myself to connect it to my Eee and install it. However, on booting to the flash drive, it comes up with something that looks like a welcome line (something along the lines of syslinux copyright to Peter somebody etc) and a flashing cursor. The line does not give any error message, but I have left it there for a good half hour and nothing has changed. I don't have my Eee on me at the moment, but if anyone needs to know what that line says, I can find out later (like I say though, it is not an error message).


So, I next tried to boot from a virtual machine on my desktop, and install the OS to an SD card. Again, no joy. When I hit enter on the "try Ubuntu without making changes to your system" option, it goes to a command prompt entitled BusyBox. The same thing happens if I attempt to run the live CD on my desktop.

Has anybody got any ideas? This is driving me nuts!
 
I'm thinking about buying a netbook, i wanted to put ubuntu on it but i didnt realise there is a smaller eee version.

Which is best and does it actually install on the flash drive in the netbook?
 
I have no idea what that means Minto!!! I'll do it if anyone can help me out with it though :)

Quackers, you can install it onto the SSDs in the netbook, either over or dual booted with XP. I'll let you know how the Eee version is when I get it working; apparently the full versions of Ubuntu have wireless issues with the Eees.
 
I've downloaded the iso and tried to get it running in a virtual machine, it didnt get very far into the installation process. Seemed to be moaning about a floppy drive
 
Also, i'm just trying to install the eee version again in a virtual machine. This time i get a busybox prompt and thats it? Any ideas on how i go forward from that?
 
quackers said:
I'm thinking about buying a netbook, i wanted to put ubuntu on it but i didnt realise there is a smaller eee version.

Which is best and does it actually install on the flash drive in the netbook?
Click to expand...

Hi mate, I've got a eee 701 4G that I am running "eeeXubuntu" http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ubuntu:eeexubuntu:home on. Works like a charm. You do run into some problem when you install all the upgrades, but they were easily fixed. Take a look at that site ^^^.
 
Thanks for the link, i'm downloading now to see what it's like in VMware.

Have you had any problems with internet/wireless connections etc?
 
quackers said:
Also, i'm just trying to install the eee version again in a virtual machine. This time i get a busybox prompt and thats it? Any ideas on how i go forward from that?
Click to expand...

Not sure, it's the same problem that I have, apparently due to the custom kernel. However, if it's the kernel that's the problem I don't know how anyone succesfully installs it!
 
quackers said:
Thanks for the link, i'm downloading now to see what it's like in VMware.

Have you had any problems with internet/wireless connections etc?
Click to expand...

Yeah, when I updated i did, but the problems are easily fixed, as shown on that wiki. Wireless should work out of the box (on the virtual cd) fine. i installed it using unetbootin onto a usb drive.
 
Right, I have Ubuntu 8.10 working pretty well-the touchpad, some of the shortcut keys, and networking are all fine. Haven't yet tested the webcam and mic. No bluetooth at the moment though.

Here is how I did it:

1/ Downloaded Ubuntu 8.10 ISO (www.ubuntu.com)
2/ Install UNetBootin (I got this from the Ubuntu Eee site, although I'm sure you can find it elsewhere)
3/ Plug in your USB stick, and run Unetbootin, selecting the ISO you just downloaded. Wait a while!
4/ Plug the USB stick into your Eee. In the BIOS, tell it to boot from it (should be able to do this by reordering the hard drives).
5/ Install Ubuntu as you normally would from a Live CD. I installed to an SD card, but nothing should change should you choose to install to your SSD.
6/ Reboot into your new install of Ubuntu! The wireless drivers won't work.
7/Follow the remarkably easy instructions here <http://www.array.org/ubuntu/setup-intrepid.html> to install Adamm's custom Linux kernel.
8/ Boot from this-your wireless networking should now be working fine :)

This took me about half an hour, really easy and very chuffed with the results. I also installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix, which is so far very glitchy and almost unusable; I would recommend waiting a while to bother with it.

Also, if you are installing to an SD make sure it's a big one. I installed with a 512mb swap file, and now have less than 1GB of free space on it (this with a 4GB card). If you are installing to the SSD you shouldn't have an issue, as long as you don't try to dual boot with anything else large.


EDIT: Just turned of Compiz and Netbook Remix is now awesome and not glitchy in the slightest. Here's how.

1/ Follow these instructions to start with when installing it, as they will give you all the packages you need. DO NOT do it's final command to reset though. http://www.ubuntumini.com/2008/10/installing-ubuntu-netbook-remix.html

2/ Reboot the Eee.

3/ Then go to preferences/appearance, and turn off all visual effects (set it to "none"), and set the theme to "human-netbook".

4/Delete the panel at the bottom of your screen. Get rid of the menus on the top panel (these will be included in the Netbook Remix desktop).

5/ Hit alt+f2, and run "netbook-launcher" then "maximus". This will give you the Netbook Remix desktop.

6/ Go to preferences/sessions, and add maximus and netbook-launcher to your startup programs. You will now boot to Netbook Remix :)

EDIT: Got webcam, bluetooth and the microphone working. Webcam and bluetooth done through the BIOS, and the microphone involved fiddling around cluelessly with the sound settings!

Piccy:

258z3om.png




So, all in all:

Pros:
"Feels" faster than Windows.
Netbook Remix really well tailored to the small screen.
Generally uses smaller files than the Windows equivalent.
Looks pretty :)
Easy to use.
Surprisingly easy to set up (compared to my previous forays into Linux).
Less bloated than XP

Cons:
The hotkeys (ie the ones above the keyboard) don't work.
Webcam and bluetooth must either be turned on or off in the BIOS-can't be toggled once in the OS.
Slightly shorter battery life (on a full charge mine projected 4.30 hours compared to 5.30 hours on Windows). I assume this is due to the "always on" status of the Bluetooth and Webcam.
Takes some setting up; not too tricky, but slightly time consuming-I've spent about 3 hours in all on it, and it's now working the way I want.


All in all I'm happy with it. I currently have Ubuntu NBR on a 4gb SDHC card, and Windows on the SSDs, and think that I will leave it that way for now. The SD card is big enough to allow me to do all my work in Ubuntu, and I have Windows there if I want to play a game or something. I don't need room for music, as anywhere my Eee goes, so too does my MP3 player!
 
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quackers said:
great post mate :)

So you xp on the drive of the eee pc and now ubuntu on a sd card?
Click to expand...

Yep, works really nicely-all I do to switch between them is re-order the hard drives in the BIOS. I guess you could install Grub to one of the SSDs which would do something similar, but it seemed like it was more trouble than it was worth, and I didn't want to risk messing my XP install up.

One thing though, I found that if you are installing to an SD card from the live CD or a USB stick you need to do something a bit odd to get it working; it seems that if the SD card is mounted in the Live CD, the installer can't read it, but obviously the card needs to be in or you can't install to it. I think I got round this by taking the card out and putting it back in without unmounting or remounting it. Either that or I unmounted it, then put it back in without mounting it.
 
Does sound like a good plan, I could have xp on the netbook and ubuntu on an sd card.

Did your eee come with XP Preloaded?
 
It did, yea. That's another reason I didn't want to wipe XP off my SSDs, as I don't have an external CD drive, so if I wanted to put it back on I couldn't.
 
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