User's guide for Debian Eee PC Live
What is this?
The Debian Eee PC Live image is a small, bootable debian-live-based disk image made for use on a USB stick or SD card that will demo Debian running on your Eee PC without installing anything on it. See our live project page to download it and copy it to your chosen flash device. Then boot it and follow this guide.
Because our project makes Debian itself run on your Eee PC, not a customized derivative, this demo only shows you one way Debian might look and feel on your Eee. It reflects the developers' preference for a lightweight desktop environment. It should not be taken to represent what your system will look like. It's up to you to install whatever software you want and set it up to look and feel however you please, just like any other Debian system you might own.
Installing the image
An installer is also included so that if you like how the demo looks, you can install it. See our Install HOWTO for alternative install methods.
Booting the live demo
- Very early at boot time, (normally when the manufacturer's splash screen is displayed,) you have to press the Esc key and select the correct device from the boot device manager.
- The first option in the boot menu is the 'live' option. That will start the live demo. You will also see some other options including an installer. There is an alternate install GUI in the live system itself, available via an Install launcher icon on the desktop.
The default language is English with a US keyboard. For anything else, press Tab and add the "locale=", "klayout=", "kvariant=" and "kmodel=" boot parameters (we now use console-setup and therefore no longer support "keyb="). For different languages, keyboards, etc. the debian-live-based webconverger project lists some possible values. For example, if your Eee PC has a Spanish keyboard but you work in English you would press Tab and add to the end of the line: locale=en klayout=es and then press Return to continue the boot process.
A brief tour
To |
Instructions |
View this document |
Click the web browser icon on the panel at the bottom of the screen to view a local copy of this brief tour. |
Enable wifi |
Connect to a wireless network by clicking the NetworkManager network icon in the bottom right corner of your screen. If the wifi card is turned off, press Fn-F2 to toggle it back on again first. |
Suspend/resume |
Press Fn-F1 to suspend the system to RAM. Press the power button to resume. NetworkManager should bring the network up a short while after resuming. |
Get chat help |
At any time, if you want help via irc, open a terminal (you'll find a terminal icon on the panel at the lower left of your screen) and enter "irssi" to start an irc chat client. You will be auto-connected to the #debian-eeepc support channel on irc.debian.org. Use "/nick YourName" to change your nickname to "YourName". |
Use the web |
After opening this document in the web browser as indicated above, press Ctrl-T to open a new tab and enter any web address. Click on the UsersGuide tab to continue reading the demo. |
View an image |
Double-click the image on the Desktop to open it with GPicView. |
View a video |
Double-click the movie on the Desktop to open it with MPlayer. |
Adjust volume |
Use the Fn keys on your system to (un)mute and adjust volume up and down. Note: we assume channels other than "Master", which the Fn keys control are already turned up and unmuted. Open a terminal and use alsamixer to adjust these (e.g. Front, Speaker, PCM, etc.) if they aren't. |
Adjust brightness |
Use the Fn keys on your system to adjust brightness. |
Browse files |
Click the folder icon on your panel at the lower left to browse your filesystems with the PCMan File Manager. |
Use the webcam |
Click the webcam icon on the panel to demo the webcam. You can use the same icon afterwards to turn it off again after the demo. Press 's' to take a snapshot. Press 'q' to quit. Find the shot####.png file on your desktop and double-click to open it. |
Take a screenshot |
Click the camera icon to take a screenshot. As with the webcam demo, find the Screenshot-#.png file in "My Documents" and open it. |
Explore the apps |
Locate the start menu in the panel at the lower left. Examine the selection of applications and tools installed for this demo. |
Play a game |
Start briquolo from the "Game" menu. It is a 3D brickout game. |
Install more apps |
Install more applications with Synaptic. These are installed in the live system in RAM and will only be there until you reboot. In the Start menu, select System Tools and then Synaptic Package Manager. When it has opened, read the Quick Introduction in the Help menu, Reload the package list and then search for what you want to install. Our users have listed some of their favourites on our ../../Software page. |
Attach a monitor |
If you have a monitor, attach it and use the Fn key on your system to toggle between LCD and VGA. |
- If you end up with an application window open that is too big for your screen, you can move it around by holding the Alt key while clicking and dragging it to where you like.
- You shouldn't need the username and password, as xscreensaver locking is disabled, but if you do (e.g. to do a console login,) the username is "user" and the password is "live". You can become root at any time with "sudo", and this does not require a password.