staetler alpha1 on EEEpc 1000HE

torrilin · 2010-04-16 10:50:55

Test machine Eee Pc 1000HE
Machine Specs: CPU Atom n280 2GB ram 160GB HD
Bios version: 0607
Wireless 802.11 b/g/n (Aetheros card)
Time required to install OS: ~10 minutes
boot and shutdown times are fine, but I don't have a stopwatch to test them

OS space required on disk - no effective way to check since I use /boot, /, and /home partitions. conky reports 2.13GB used out of 25, so it is probably monitoring /
Standing desktop cpu usage 2% AVG
Standing desktop memory usage 85MB w/only gedit open
Windows Manager: XFCE
Wireless: working WPA WPA2 and WEP

FN keys
F1 Sleep: no sleep
F2 Wireless: turns off, turns back on (OMG! this is a longstanding Linux kernel bug fixed), tested via ping
F3 touchpad: doesn't turn touchpad off or on
F4 screen resize: doesn't work, probably an X configuration issue
F5 dim screen: works
F6 brighten screen: works
F7 turn off screen: doesn't work
F8 external monitor: not tested (can test if it is important)
F9 system monitor: doesn't work, is non-obvious what would be correct default
F10 mute sound: works
F11 lower vol: doesn't work (did work in 9.04)
F12 raise vol: doesn't work (did work in 9.04)
PRT Sc Screenshot: doesn't appear to work without triggering Screenshot first
Sys Rq System Request: launches Screenshot

Super Keys:working

Screen resolution: 1024x600

Flash: Working
Sound: Working
Headphone Jack: untested
Mic jack: untested
Battery Icon: working
Wireless Icon: working

USB: does detects flash and external CDRW drives (don't have a currently working enclosure to test with)
webcam: not tested as mine is known faulty
onboard mic: not tested (yet)

It looks like it's a pretty unmodified Squeeze under the hood, which I really appreciate. My partner is his dev-team's Debian/Ubuntu guru, so having my machine always running the latest and greatest comes in handy for bughunting. He's pretty bad about keeping Virtualbox images up to date, and it can take a day to get one up and running for their project.

keithpeter · 2010-04-26 21:20:54

Hello torrilin and all

I've put statler on an EeePC 1000 which is similar to your machine but with the N270 cpu and solid state storage divided into 8Gb and 32 Gb devices (root and home respectively). I can post the lspci output if it helps.

Cheese picks up the webcam and can take photos but attempts to video are not good. There was an error during installation about not finding snd_oss device.

Headphones work fine as do the internal microphones, and an external analogue microphone. Some fiddling with alsamixer capture levels was needed (mic was turned way down). Tested using Audacity with Preferences | Devices | Recording set to the actual card (HDA Intel: ALC269...) selected rather than 'default'.

The asus also recognised my logitech usb microphone - I had to use the Multimedia | Volume Control (gui) to create a 'control' for the usb microphone and then change the audacity recording device to match. Handy for remote podcasting.

This particular EeePC came with Ubuntu 9.04 installed from a UK supplier of linux laptops. I am finding crunchbang statler smoother in operation so far, especially iceweasel (firefox on 9.04 was a tad flaky).

PoliticsOfStarving · 2010-04-27 01:28:04

Any chance someone can do me a favour and test the external monitor switch?

I was about to lay down the last of my money on a monitor as my eyes are getting worse, probably good to know whether it's working properly first.

keithpeter · 2010-04-27 20:02:53

PoliticsOfStarving wrote:

Any chance someone can do me a favour and test the external monitor switch?
I was about to lay down the last of my money on a monitor as my eyes are getting worse, probably good to know whether it's working properly first.

Hello Politics

I have the Asus EeePC 1000 with solid state storage, it was released before the hard drive versions. I'll put the full lspci below this. I have a 17 inch no name cheap Chinese LCD monitor which does 1280 by 1024 pixels. I'm typing this with the monitor plugged in after booting normally and with the built in LCD panel turned off.

Hardware switch (Fn F6) does not work.

Main Menu | Settings | Display Settings | Adjust with grandr detects the second screen and allows me to pick an appropriate setting (in my case 1280 by 1024 with 60Hz refresh). I can also turn off the built in panel from the same GUI settings program, I noticed that the panel was only showing part of the new canvas size.

Booting with external monitor plugged in: I ended up with 640 by 480. I could then use the Main Menu | Settings | Display Settings | Adjust with grandr to set something more sensible on the second screen. I'd suggest posting another question in the 'problems' bit of the forum about setting up a netbook like this to use a usb keyboard and an external monitor with fixed settings. This little machine seems fast enough to be a desktop replacement for most things.

Suggestion: if you are plumping down hard earned beer tokens on a monitor, suggest you take Asus down to the shop and try it with a few different screens. Respectfully suggest also checking out any second hand PC shops that are around. In the high population density UK, there are 6 shops within a bus ride of where I live that carry second hand panels and PCs. Reasonable prices on ex-office 19 inch type displays.

Please accept my apologies if you are in the middle of the outback. My cousin has retired to 'semi-rural' area in Aussie and appears to have his own private desert :-)

keith@asus:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2860
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit or Fast Ethernet (rev b0)

Last edited by keithpeter (2010-04-27 20:13:15)

PoliticsOfStarving · 2010-04-28 04:17:15

Thanks mate.

I've been using this as a desktop replacement for about 18 months, and it's getting hard on my eyes. So the external keyboard and monitor was exactly what I was gonna go for.

I'm in the city, so I'll see if I can get it working in the shop before I buy anything. I never would have thought to use grandr though. I would've been standing there pressing the switch button and saying "nope, doesn't work".

pvsage · 2010-04-28 08:58:03

^ You might also want to take a look at the man page for xrandr - often the command line succeeds where every GUI fails. On my netbook I've found this to be the case for both Ubuntu- and Debian-based distros using any DE besides Gnome.

EDIT: Probably the easiest way to check using xrandr is just type the command without arguments after connecting the external monitor; this will show all possible modes available on both the external VGA monitor and the internal LVDS. Once you see the available modes, you can switch to the external monitor by typing

xrandr --output VGA1 --mode WWWWxHHH --output LVDS1 --off

assuming the outputs are named as they are on my netbook in Statler, with WWWWxHHH being the external monitor's native (usually its max) resolution. The man page has several fine-tuning options, but the above should get things working fairly well.

Last edited by pvsage (2010-04-28 09:08:18)

keithpeter · 2010-04-28 19:21:55

Hello pvsage

Thanks for this. I'd like to use the netbook with data projectors as well (vga and xvga) and there are various makes with varying abilities to 'recognise' the cards connected to them. I can imagine having to use xrandr to fix stuff.

Any idea how to set up an external monitor and keyboard so the settings 'stick' when you reboot? That would be really useful information. My idea is

Usb keyboard

External monitor

Set things up so when you close the lid the internal panel just blanks

Cheers

pvsage · 2010-04-28 23:30:42

There's a thread somewhere in this group that has what you're looking for, but I'm rushing to get ready for work and don't have time to look it up at the moment. I'll try to remember to look it up when I get home in the morning; if you don't hear back from me by tomorrow evening give me a poke to remind me.

EDIT: OK, I think I found the thread I was thinking of. This should help get you started; just adjust the script for your monitor's resolution and whatever the current version of xrandr calls the external port (most likely VGA1, but it doesn't hurt to check) on your eee.

I should think the USB keyboard would be recognized on hotplugging? hmm

Blanking the LVDS should be something you can adjust in the power manager. Unless I don't understand that part of your request? If what you're really looking for is switching from internal screen to external monitor when the screen is folded down, you'll probably have to tie the script to an ACPI action similar to the cpu governor tweaks in this thread.

Last edited by pvsage (2010-04-29 15:43:09)

keithpeter · 2010-05-02 20:51:25

Thanks pvsage

I'll read the thread and have a play.

CrunchBang Linux

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#1 2010-04-16 10:50:55

staetler alpha1 on EEEpc 1000HE

#2 2010-04-26 21:20:54

Re: staetler alpha1 on EEEpc 1000HE

#3 2010-04-27 01:28:04

Re: staetler alpha1 on EEEpc 1000HE

#4 2010-04-27 20:02:53

Re: staetler alpha1 on EEEpc 1000HE

#5 2010-04-28 04:17:15

Re: staetler alpha1 on EEEpc 1000HE

#6 2010-04-28 08:58:03

Re: staetler alpha1 on EEEpc 1000HE

#7 2010-04-28 19:21:55

Re: staetler alpha1 on EEEpc 1000HE

#8 2010-04-28 23:30:42

Re: staetler alpha1 on EEEpc 1000HE

#9 2010-05-02 20:51:25

Re: staetler alpha1 on EEEpc 1000HE

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