Differences between revisions 44 and 45
Revision 44 as of 2008-12-15 14:20:48
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Editor: ?Jetxee
Comment: a note about volume up/down/mute keys on eeepc 901
Revision 45 as of 2008-12-29 02:43:12
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Editor: ?lancelot
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[Lancelot] Suspend-to-disk does not work for me, using the instructions provided by Ozelot above. s2ram complains that "Machine is unknown." s2disk and s2both both yield the following behavior: they do seem to write to my swap partition and suspend normally, but upon pressing the power button, it does not resume but instead goes through a normal boot sequence...

Translations: [:DebianEeePCFrench/HowTo/Configure:French], [:DebianEeePCGerman/HowTo/Configure:German], [:DebianEeePCPortuguese/HowTo/Configure:Portuguese]

?TableOfContents

Repository

The new installer adds our ["DebianEeePC/Repository"] to your /etc/apt/sources.list automatically. This includes some packages required to take full advantage of hardware in the Eee PC which not yet suitable for inclusion in the official Debian archives.

Model specific issues

Please go to ["DebianEeePC/Models"] to find out about model specific configurations.

Additional modules not yet in Debian kernels

Introduction to building out-of-kernel modules

The instructions below require you to install and compile module source packages using module-assistant. This can be done on your Eee PC, but will result in the installation of a lot of development tools that you might not otherwise need.

An alternative method is to do the installation and compilation of the modules on another Debian machine (one that is faster and has more disk space), and then install the resulting module packages on the Eee PC.

If you decide to go this route, refer to the manpage for module-assistant. You will need to run "m-a build ..." instead of "m-a auto-install ...". Note that if your Eee PC is running a different kernel version than your build machine, you will need to install the linux-headers and linux-kbuild packages corresponding to the Eee PC's kernel, and use the "-l" option to specify that version when you invoke module-assistant.

Note: "m-a" is an abbreviation for "module-assistant" which can be used as a command too. You can even use "m-a a-i ..." for "module-assistant auto-install ..." on the command line.

Once you have successfully built a module, copy the resulting .deb to the Eee PC and install it there with "dpkg -i ...".

Ethernet (atl2)

This just works now. The old version of our installer had a bug which required a manual install of atl2 after installation – this is now no longer required.

Wireless (madwifi)

This is installed automatically by the new installer. See ["DebianEeePC/HowTo/Wifi"] to set up wifi with or without encryption.

If you have problems to reactivate your Wireless connection with the hotkey, you have to ensure the module pciehp is loaded with the right options. See [#head-7b20dbd395dc85ab2bbe201c8f2af0b7d71527bc Power management & hotkeys]

Webcam (uvcvideo)

Ever since kernel version 2.6.26 there is no need to build uvc module which is now included in.

Become root and type the following command:

modprobe uvcvideo

Then test it's working by executing:

Become root and invoke the following command:

apt-get install luvcview
As normal user you can now make use of your web cam tool
luvcview -f yuv

The camera is switched off by default after the installation. You can enable it in the BIOS, or by doing:

echo "1" > /sys/devices/platform/eeepc/camera

You should see messages about the camera being detected if you do:

dmesg | tail

If you broke your webcam settings, use mplayer -fps 30 tv:// once to restore them.

Power management & hotkeys

Kernel module (eeepc_laptop)

The eeepc_laptop kernel module is now included in 2.6.26. The eeepc-acpi-scripts package is installed automatically by the installer.

Notes:

  • The battery info is not very precise (jumps from 10% to 100%, no rate information, etc...). Apparently, this is normal. It appears that the userspace battery utilities expect the battery to report mAh, but in fact it reports percentage. This is either a bug in the battery firmware or a bug in the BIOS. In either case, unless someone comes up with a patch to deal with batteries that report percentage, Asus needs to fix this. [Lutz] Battery indicator works fine with last BIOS and kernel 2.6.25
  • [?DamyanIvanov] Hibernation mostly works for me on current Sid with 2.6.24 kernel once I've set up swap (and following the hints from ["DebianEeePC/TipsAndTricks"]). There is some problem with the madwifi driver that does not recover completely, but I think it is not hibernate-related as I see the same behaviour after suspend/resume.

  • [SamMorris] suspend worked for me with 2.6.24 with the s3_bios and dpms_on quirks. I have sent a patch upstream to hal@lists.freedesktop.org and also filed [http://bugs.debian.org/469648 #469648].

Scripts (eeepc-acpi-scripts)

Special keys

Key

Function

Work, comment

Fn + F1

sleep

Yes

Fn + F2

wifi

Yes (read details below)

Fn + F3

- light screen

Yes

Fn + F4

+ light screen

Yes

Fn + F5

Change screen

Yes

Fn + F6

Task manager

No, nothing append

Fn + F7

disabled Sound

Yes

Fn + F8

- sound

Yes

Fn + F9

+ sound

Yes

Install the eeepc-acpi-scripts package to get the described functionality. This is now available in unstable and testing. Please note that this package conflicts with acpi-support. As root you must apt-get purge acpi-support. This removes all of the acpi-support scripts that would remain in /etc. If you do not follow this step you will cause conflicts.

Enabling/disabling the wifi works like plugging/unplugging the PCI Express wifi card. If you have a fresh install, this should just work. However, if you have an older install, ensure eeepc-acpi-scripts is at version 1.0.9 or greater and 'pciehp' is in /etc/modules. If it is not, add it:

echo pciehp >> /etc/modules

Then reload the module:

rmmod pciehp; modprobe pciehp

Read the doc in /usr/share/doc/eeepc-acpi-scripts/README.Debian and configure /etc/default/eeepc-acpi-scripts as needed.

[Lutz] ""Volume Up/Down/Mute"" Solved - With kernel 2.6.25 and default ALSA installation I had problem with audio hotkeys (alt + f7,8,9). Sleep and wireless button work fine but volume does not change. That's why the Hotkey event is correctly handled, but the acpid action works on the ?LineOut Channel that, on my eee701, is not present or has a different name. You can fix it by editing /etc/default/eeepc-acpi-scripts and modify this line as follow

VOLUME_LABEL='Master'
  • You can also run amixer to have a look at channel names, so you can assign a different mixer channel to volume hotkeys. The Mute key, simply set the selected channel as mute.

[Jetxee] ""Volume Up/Down/Mute"" did not work on my eeepc 901, kernel 2.6.26-1-686 and default alsa 1.0.16-2. Also the mic did not work properly. After installing hda-intel drivers from alsa 1.0.18a both problems were solved. I didn't have to edit eeepc-acpi-scripts, because with a new alsa the channel is named properly. I am using eeepc-acpi-scripts 1.0.9.

Xorg

DRI

Install the package libgl1-mesa-dri so that DRI can be enabled, providing 3D hardware acceleration.

Touchpad Scrolling

700 series

The default debian installer did not enable the touchpad scrolling for me. The following are bits that I had to add to xorg.conf to enable touchpad scrolling.

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Synaptics Touchpad"
        Driver          "synaptics"
        Option          "CorePointer"
        Option          "SendCoreEvents"        "true"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/input/mice"
        Option          "Protocol"              "auto-dev"
        Option          "HorizEdgeScroll"       "1"
EndSection
Section "Server Layout"
    Identifier          "Default Layout"
    Screen              "Default Screen"
    InputDevice         "Generic Keyboard"
    InputDevice         "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection


  • [?DavideAgnolazza] This didn't work for me. I used "?HorizScrollDelta" set to 1 and horizontal scrolling starts working. The vertical scrolling was working by default. The default xorg.conf it's a little different about the above, but for me it worked fine and I just modified the ?HorizScrollDelta option.


  • This will enable horizontal as well as vertical scrolling on the touchpad. By default, iceweasel will use the horizontal scrolling as <backwords/forwards> To disable this, go into about:config and change the following values.

mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.action   (change 2 to 0)
mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.numlines  (change -1 to 1)

900 & 1000 series

See ["DebianEeePC/HowTo/ElantechTouchpad"].

Display resolution and desktop size

In /etc/X11/xorg.conf, make sure any "?HorizSync" and "?VertRefresh" lines are commented out or removed from the "Monitor" section and set "Virtual 2048 2048" in the "Display" subsection of your "Screen" section, e.g.

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Generic Monitor"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Device          "Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller"
        Monitor         "Generic Monitor"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           24
                Virtual         2048 2048
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Multiple displays

If you plug in an external display and press Fn-F5, the desktop is shared between the LCD and external display by default.

If you want, instead, to have one big desktop with the external display positioned above the Eee's own display, ensure that you have set the Virtual size large enough to accommodate both displays as shown above and then edit /etc/default/eeepc-acpi-scripts to set:

COMBINED_DISPLAY_SWITCHES="--above LVDS --auto"

Aiglx support for compiz

The following were needed to get [http://compiz.org/ Compiz] working. Compiz works for me with xfce, but its a bit choppy rotating the cube to a workspace that has opened programs on it. (If you have a good working xorg.conf thats different to this, please update)

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Configured Video Device"
        Driver          "intel"
        BusID           "PCI:0:2:0"
        Option          "EnablePageFlip"    "on"
        Option          "AccelMethod"        "EXA"
        Option          "MigrationHeuristic"   "greedy"
        Option          "AccelDFS"      "true"
        Option          "DynamicClocks"    "on"
        Option          "ColorTiling"       "on"
        Option          "FBTexPercent"       "95"
        Option          "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps" "true"
        Option          "AddARGBGLXVisuals"     "true"
EndSection
Section "DRI"
    Mode 0666
Endsection
Section "Extensions"
    Option              "Composite"     "Enable"
Endsection

Notes:

  • [cmang] When following the above instructions, I was unable to get any window borders and window management when starting Compiz. In addition to the above, I had to install the compizconfig-settings-manager package. Then I ran ccsm and made sure that the "Window Decoration" plug-in was enabled. I then had to start compiz with: compiz --replace cpp

Hibernate (suspend-to-disk)

[?DamyanIvanov] Hibernate worked for me just fine after I've set up a 256M dedicated SWAP partition. Perhaps the same is possible using swap files too. The only glitch is that I have to quit memory-hungry programs like Iceweasel before attempting hibernate, as otherwise the swap space is not enough. To hibernate, run s2disk as root (from the uswsusp package). If you use gnome-power-manager you can just press the power button (but remember to disable the button action in /etc/acpi/actions/power.sh installed by debian-eeepc-scripts to avoid double prompts).

[?OzeLot] Hibernation (suspend-to-disk) is easy on Debian/lenny with 2.6.26-kernel, when a swap-partition is active (eeepc 901). This is an example:

Create a swap partition of 512 MB:

cfdisk /dev/sdb --> New --> Type 82 Linux Swap --> write --> reboot

Make an entry in /etc/fstab, if sdb2 should be your new swap-partition:

/dev/sdb2       none            swap    sw              0       0 

Format the swap space:

mkswap /dev/sdb2 

Make active with:

swapon -a or reboot 

Install acpid, eee-acpi-scripts (the latest version from sid), uswsusp and pm-utils. splashy is not nescessary at this moment.

If you want to use the swap-partition primarily for hibernation, make this entry in /etc/rc.local (somewhere before exit 0):

sysctl -w vm.swappiness=1 

You should now be able to hibernate with the root-command s2disk. A compressed image of your system-state is written to the swap and then the eeepc 901 shuts down. The image is loaded again by Power ON.

Suspend and resume with s2disk last 15-20 seconds on my system.

[?ArturCzechowski] I'd like to confirm that suspend/resume on both: ram and disk work without problem on 901. Only path I haven't tested (yet) is: suspend to ram -> battery low -> automatically suspend to disk -> resume. I'll test it this night (CET).

[Lancelot] Suspend-to-disk does not work for me, using the instructions provided by Ozelot above. s2ram complains that "Machine is unknown." s2disk and s2both both yield the following behavior: they do seem to write to my swap partition and suspend normally, but upon pressing the power button, it does not resume but instead goes through a normal boot sequence...

Graphical boot

This splashy package will enable a graphical status boot screen for your EEE, which is way pretier than that bunch of characters scrolling at the screen (OK, for a server, not for a mobile workstation).

Install splashy

apt-get install splashy

Now it is time to configure your boot loader. With grub, edit /boot/grub/menu.lst file and add

hiddenmenu

To NOT show that blue screen. Also remove the timeout, changing the timeout line to:

timeout 0

You will find a commented line similar to this:

# kopt=root=/dev/sda1 ro

Add these (read below):

# kopt=root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash vga=788

the vga=788 stands for 800x600, suitable for 900 model. Previous models should try vga=785, which stands for 640x480. There is a black magic way to make it work at native resolutions, which if you know, please write it here. Some ugly hack, at least for kernel 2.6.25, is described here: [:DebianEeePC/HowTo/SplashyWithDmcryptAndStandardGrub:Splashy and native resolution of Display]

  • To update the changes run:

update-grub

That's it. You should have your graphical boot working. Also try to splashy-themes package for some other themes (there are Debian themes on the package; remember to run 'dpkg-reconfigure splashy' evey time you change the theme at /etc/splashy/config.xml).

If at install time you have chosen grub-pc instad of grub, you should edit default config file, /etc/default/grub, adding this variable:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="splash vga=788"

and setting

GRUB_TIMEOUT=0

as well. Then update config changes executing 'update-grub2'. NOTE: For my 4G, vga=788 doesn't work, vga=786 seems to work fine.

[LuizGuaraldo]: I was successfull with usplash, no vga option needed. Just need to put insmod intelfb right over insmod png on /boot/grub/grub.cfg (grub2 - grub-pc).

Troubleshooting

If you have problems with any of the steps above, see our [:DebianEeePC/HowTo/Troubleshooting:Troubleshooting ?HowTo].