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**Update**: The mic works on 2.6.26 from Debian unstable.
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At Asus' default Xandros, it works good. It is possible that Asus has patched either the xorg driver or the kernel to make it work. Asus patched the xorg synaptics driver in order to make this Elantec version work properly. However, the source code is nowhere to be found, both Asus and the Xandros packager of the driver did no reply to emails asking for the source code.
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GNOME Power Manager won't warn or shutdown when the battery runs out. It might be related to the buggy driver, however, there might be a way to tweak the configuration in order to make it work. Still needs nore research. GNOME Power Manager won't warn or shutdown when the battery runs out. It might be related to the buggy driver, however, there might be a way to tweak the configuration in order to make it work. Still needs more research.
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The sound driver (ALSA 1.0.17, as described above) exhibits some sound glitches when the system is under moderate load. For example, simply switching the workplace at GNOME will make the sound break for a couple of miliseconds. One major problem of this, is HAL, which will spend high peaks of CPU from time to time (a couple of seconds) and every time that happens, a small sound glitch can he heard. It was also reported that if you use CPU scaling, at low frequencies, it will make the sound to break also. The sound driver (ALSA 1.0.17, as described above) exhibits some sound glitches when the system is under moderate load. For example, simply switching the workplace at GNOME will make the sound break for a couple of miliseconds. One major problem of this, is HAL, which will spend high peaks of CPU from time to time (a couple of seconds) and every time that happens, a small sound glitch can he heard. It was also reported that if you use CPU scaling, at low frequencies, it will make the sound to break also. Sometimes such glitches will lead the sound with that "robotic effect", which can only be restored, by pausing / resuming sound playback (mplayer specific).

?TableOfContents

Asus EEE PC 900

This page is intented to be a central repository of information regarding Debian on this specific model

Fixable items

Microphone

**Update**: The mic works on 2.6.26 from Debian unstable.

Sound playback works fine with kernel 2.6.25-2-686, however the microphone won't work. Asus made some patches to the snd-hda-intel alsa kernel driver in orker to make its hardware work. Those patches are available only at default Xandros that came with Linux EEE PC 900.

The current testing kernel for Debian, 2.6.25-2-686, does not contain such patches, neither does current alsa-source-1.0.16-2. So, in order to use the microphone, you will have to download the latest version of alsa-driver 1.0.17 from http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Main_Page and compile / install yourself.

You can do a ./configure ; make ; make install, shall work. But you can make a *dirty* trick to generate a Debian package with the new 1.0.17 drivers, using as a base, current 1.0.16-2 packing machanism:

apt-get install alsa-source
cd /usr/src
tar jxf alsa-driver.tar.bz2
cd modules
wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/driver/alsa-driver-1.0.17.tar.bz2
tar jxf alsa-driver-1.0.17.tar.bz2
cp -a alsa-driver/debian/ alsa-driver-1.0.17/
cd alsa-driver-1.0.17/
vim debian/changelog

Now, add a couple of lines to inform the new version at the beginning of the file:

alsa-driver (1.0.17) unstable; urgency=low
  * Dirty update to latest upstream version to make Asus EEE PC 900 microphone work.
 -- Your Name <your@email.com> Sat, 26 Jul 2006 16:01 -0300

Generate and install the package with:

KVERS=$(uname -r) KSRC=/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build make -f debian/rules binary_modules
dpkg -i ../alsa-modules-2.6.25-2-686_1.0.17_i386.deb

Reboot your system and mic should be working just fine.

Volume keys

The package eeepc-acpi-scripts comes with a configuartion for the mixer device at /etc/default/eeepc-acpi-scripts that does not work with 900 model. Change the value to Master mixer:

VOLUME_LABEL='Master'

and it shall work just fine.

Broken things

Touchpad

The Synaptics device is not recognized by the xorg driver:

(II) Synaptics touchpad driver version 0.14.6 (1406)
Synaptics0 no synaptics event device found
(**) Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
(**) Option "SHMConfig" "true"
(**) Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "1"
Query no Synaptics: 6003C8

It can still be used, as it behaves as a standard PS/2 mouse. However, it is not possible to make any specific device configuration, such as horizontal scrolling.

Asus patched the xorg synaptics driver in order to make this Elantec version work properly. However, the source code is nowhere to be found, both Asus and the Xandros packager of the driver did no reply to emails asking for the source code.

Battery

GNOME Power Manager will complain that the battery has only 1% capacity. AFAIK, this is an ACPI driver bug, which returns "bizarre" values. You should not bother about it, since the value is wrong. My EEE PC 900 lasts 3:15 battery life.

GNOME Power Manager won't warn or shutdown when the battery runs out. It might be related to the buggy driver, however, there might be a way to tweak the configuration in order to make it work. Still needs more research.

Sound

The sound driver (ALSA 1.0.17, as described above) exhibits some sound glitches when the system is under moderate load. For example, simply switching the workplace at GNOME will make the sound break for a couple of miliseconds. One major problem of this, is HAL, which will spend high peaks of CPU from time to time (a couple of seconds) and every time that happens, a small sound glitch can he heard. It was also reported that if you use CPU scaling, at low frequencies, it will make the sound to break also. Sometimes such glitches will lead the sound with that "robotic effect", which can only be restored, by pausing / resuming sound playback (mplayer specific).

It still needs to be tested whether Asus patched kernel 2.6.24.1 which came with the Xandros exhibits the same issue in order to try to find a fix for that.

Wireless

After the system is suspended, the wireless won't work (no network is detected, although it seems to be OK). The solution is to disable / enable it via the Ctrl+F2 key combination. Still to investigate a way to make this workaround to be automatic.