Ubuntu on the Asus Eee PC: Part 1 (or How to run a functional Ubuntu install off a USB drive)
I’ve been combing over various guides and instructions online for installing Ubuntu on the Asus Eee PC
, and I ran into a few kinks along the way since I don’t have a USB CD-ROM to install from and opted for a USB flash drive instead, so I thought I’d write the process out in this post in the hopes of helping those of you out there who are thinking about taking the plunge, but unsure of how it’s going to work. All of this information is available elsewhere, but I found it somewhat scattered, so I’m documenting it all here for my future self.
Step 1: Make a bootable Ubuntu USB Pendrive—First thing I did was follow all the instructions over at Pendrivelinux.com for installing Ubuntu 710 Gutsy Gibbon to a USB flash drive. I recommend printing out the full page and checking off each step as it is completed. The really great thing about this USB pendrive installation solution is that the install remains persistent. You can make changes to it, save changes, and it can always serve as a backup drive for your Eee or as a fully functional Ubuntu install that you load from time to time. To take full advantage of that we’ll activate the WiFi on the Eee PC for this pendrive install in a few steps.
Step 2: Make sure you have an active Ethernet connection—With the completed USB pendrive install completed, plug the USB drive into one of your Eee PC’s open USB ports. IMPORTANT: Make sure your Eee PC is plugged in to an active Ethernet connection via the Ethernet port. The WiFi doesn’t work right away (we’ll fix that in a few steps) and the Ethernet connection needs to be present at boot for Ubuntu to have an active internet connection.
Step 3: Boot into Ubuntu Live Persistent mode—Start up the Eee and hit the Escape key (ESC). This will bring up a dialogue asking which drive you want to boot from. Choose your USB pendrive and hit enter. It will take very little time to boot to the Ubuntu Live option page. Select the first choice (Persistent mode) and hit Return. Ubuntu will start unpacking the kernel and this can take a few minutes.
Step 4: Make those windows draggable—The most important tweak to do is to make sure all the windows in Ubuntu are draggable, so that windows that default to a taller size than the Eee PC’s default screen can be moved into a useable position. Fortunately, there are some pretty useful instructions for doing this on the Eeeuser wiki that I found via this helpful blog post. Launch the Terminal by navigating to Applications—>Accessories—>Terminal via the menu bar at the top of the screen. At the command line type in gconf-editor and hit Return. This will launch a GUI window with a long list of items in the left side bar. Follow this path:
apps
—>compiz
——>plugins
———>move
————>allscreens
—————>options
Then uncheck constrain_y
As soon as you do this, you should be able to hit the Alt key while clicking on any window to drag it wherever you like. Since we did this on persistent mode, your USB pendrive will remember this setting whenever you use it again, however, you will need to repeat this step after you install Ubuntu onto the Asus Eee PC itself.
Step 5: Enable the WiFi—To enable WiFi on the Asus Eee PC running Ubuntu, you simply need to follow the instructions found here:
sudo apt-get install build-essentialwget 'http://madwifi.org/attachment/ticket/1679/madwifi-ng-0933.ar2425.20071130.i386.patch?format=raw'
wget http://snapshots.madwifi.org/madwifi-ng/madwifi-ng-r2756-20071018.tar.gz
tar zxvf madwifi-ng-r2756-20071018.tar.gz
cd madwifi-ng-r2756-20071018
patch -p0 < ../madwifi-ng-0933.ar2425.20071130.i386.patch?format=raw
make clean
make
sudo make install
reboot
After rebooting repeat step 3 above to get ready to install.
This post was getting pretty long, so I decided to split it up into sections. This above post includes all the introductory steps. If you stop at this point, then you already have a pretty nice Ubuntu alternative to your default Xandros installation that you can boot to via USB whenever you like.
Update: For instructions on installing Ubuntu to the internal drive see Part 2.
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December 9th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Thanks for putting this up. Been following the drama in your twitter feed and as one (also based on your twitter feed) interested in an Asus Eee… this might be useful some day
December 9th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
I did the Pen Drive Linux thing as well, and managed to get WiFi working with ndiswrapper…
Once Ubuntu was up and running, it was pretty snappy and responsive. But it literally took 6 minutes to boot. And for some reason, even though I used the persistent option, my changes didn’t stick. So I had to reenable the wireless drivers every time I booted.
I think I’ll stick with Xandros for now. But I’m curious, does the bootup get faster the second time you boot from a working persistent USB installation?
December 10th, 2007 at 2:16 am
Odd that your settings didn’t stick. Sounds like it wasn’t set up entirely right. It gets faster, but it is still insanely slow on the live USB stick. In the next step of this I’m going to blog about performing the full install onto the internal drive. I’ve finished setting it up nicely now, and Ubuntu boots on the Eee in about 53 seconds (without cutting any corners).
December 10th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
53 seconds ain’t bad. It takes about 35-40 seconds to boot Xandros once you enable the full desktop (because it sort of half boots into easy mode first).
Damnit, now I’m going to be tempted to install Ubuntu to the SSD. I’m already resisting the temptation to install XP. It’s funny how every time a new Windows device comes out people try to figure out how to get Linux to run on it. Now that there’s a popular Linux device, people are all excited about the fact that you can get Windows to run on it.
December 14th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Thanks for the tags! 1st things 1st. I needed to update my flash drive, it was bootable with Ubuntu 7.04. Now its Gutsy 7.10, I’ve run your 1st steps, and everything looks great on my Eee PC. If I’ve got time you’ll see me on Part 2 tonight.
December 24th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Been thinking of installing another OS in the eee, hope I have the courage to do it.
A reflection of lame ideas
January 6th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Wow, excellent article, great step-by-step instructions… scrapped-off Xandros and installed Ubuntu no prob! Thanks man!
January 9th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Thanks for the article. I’ve got Ubuntu installed, but wired ethernet isn’t working (network manager has networking enabled but the “wired network” option on the menu is greyed out. I have booted with the ethernet cable in.) Any ideas?
January 10th, 2008 at 2:42 am
I had the exact same problem.
I just downloaded the wifi driver and the patch onto my bootable USB ubuntu installation from another internet enabled PC, then stuck it in my eee, booted up, and installed it just fine.
You do not have to be connected to the internet to install the build essentials. Those are already on the ubuntu live cd that you copied to your USB flash drive.
I’m not sure yet how to fix the ethernet connection, but I’ll post back if I find a solution.
January 11th, 2008 at 2:12 am
I too had a problem with my wired ethernet not working. Check step 2… I think that fixed it for me.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
re-built my bootable USB and now the wired ethernet doesn’t work…. I guess step 2 didn’t fix it.
January 24th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Thanks for putting this together.
So Far I have two issues
1) I don’t see how to start in persistent mode, I just get
a boot: prompt and some F keys can’t find anywhere to
put persistent
2) after I’ve shutdown in ubuntu eee won’t boot again
until I’ve disconnected the power supply and
removed the battery.
Any Ideas
January 25th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I have now gone through the entire two posts and have ubuntu working with wifi on the Eee.
Only additional issue was I could not get the manual option for the partitioning to work as suggested and ended up using the Guided option which worked fine.
I’m sure this is just my ignorance, but perhaps some greater detail could help others equally ignorant.
Of my earlier two issues #1 is now moot as the
installed version is persistent and #2 I solve
by after shutting down it goes to only the green led
lit if I hold the on off button for 5 seconds it
switches off completely.
Very helpful post. Thanks again
February 1st, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Hey Guys!
do you know there’s a special version of Ubunto for the eee pc?? It’s name is eeeBuntu and fixs the problem you were talking about!!
March 5th, 2008 at 2:16 am
Hey there, and thanks for the article. I followed the exact steps of Pendrivelinux.com, created a boot flashdrive (actually a 8GB SDHC card), stuck it in the eee’s usb slot and booted with it - all i get is a blinking white cursor at the top of my screen. Any clues?
March 17th, 2008 at 3:25 am
For the problem with the wired ethernet not working.
I spent two days trying to fix it, and then today I found the answer on the eeeuser forums.
Just pull the battery out for a couple of seconds and put it back in.
I swear, after all the work-arounds I tried, and swearing etc.. I nearly cried with relief.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:04 am
I would like to confirm that the battery fix worked for me too. Thankyou very much Schmildo. Previously I had to install another network card driver to fix the problem, very ugly fix.
April 9th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
when i insert cp -rf casper disctree dists…..ext it and then it dosnt do anything, does anybody have suggestions
April 16th, 2008 at 12:41 am
Thank you so much for posting this. It works much better than the very simple OS that it came with. Your instructions are perfect.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Have you tried eeexubuntu?
April 29th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
midnightcomm, I did try it briefly, but I found it limiting compared to customizing my own Ubuntu installation.