Installing BunsenLabs on Asus X205 (a Howto/HowIDunnit)

niftyprose · 2016-05-10 21:18:46

Evening all,

After Head_on_a_Stick kindly trawled Debian and other sources to give me some pointers on the issues I'd likely encounter in putting BunsenLabs onto an Asus X205 netbook, I decided I should try to return the favour by converting my install process into a "How to".

I'm not especially knowledgeable about Linux, but I use my netbook a lot. I needed a robust, fast install that I could carry out quickly with minimal resources. The following got me up and running over a couple of evenings' thought and research and could be done in an hour or so with what I know now. I only ever worked with the one PC -- an X205T built in 2014 and then warehoused for a couple of years. However, it was an out-of-the-box install and everything described here should work on other X205-designated machines.

These notes differ in detail from other advice you can google. The most important difference is that there's much talk online about switching into 'legacy' mode to facilitate the install, but most of the X205Ts that reached the UK don't actually have a legacy mode (unless you're prepared to download and install a firmware update from Asus that risks bricking the machine). On the other hand, I see no point in reinventing the wheel, so several sections are just URL pointers to the guides I used with notes indicating where I diverged.

Other platforms
If you're not on an X205 but dealing with a similar UEFI issue, here's a concise guide that will be easier than picking the good bits out of mine: https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic.php?id=1265

Background
I used an Asus eeePC 801 for seven years (and three keyboards). When it finally died in spring 2016, I learned that some branches of UK supermarket chain Tesco were selling off 2014 Asus X205T stock.

The X205 is a reincarnation of the 801 with certain important differences. It has a similar small internal SSD drive but a bigger screen and keyboard, more memory and -- crucially -- no fan. The result is a small, slim, cheap machine with excellent battery life. It is functionally comparable with a tablet/keyboard combination but with a proper OS and without the hassle of a touchscreen.

Now the bad news. The X205 ships with Windows and has built a reputation for cussedness with Linux. This is so for a number of reasons.

* The early UEFI implementation is eccentric to the point of broken -- 32bit UEFI on a 64bit processor?
* The card reader is problematic, the wi-fi is mediocre at best, and the soundcard is hors de combat pending a kernel update
* There's no ethernet port
* The SSD drive uses an odd partitioning scheme

When the first netbooks arrived on the market, Linux users faced similar hurdles, but three or four minor-league distributions were quickly released which kept the machines on the road until the major distros caught up. Unfortunately, the X205 hasn't captured the collective imagination in quite the same way, so there's no eeeBuntu equivalent to be had.

The good news is that -- with Debian and BunsenLabs, at least -- none of the problems mentioned is insurmountable, although in combination they look formidable.

The bad news is that the setup described here involves buying a few items of extra hardware. This is irritating, but the alternative is too grim to contemplate.

What will you have to do?

You're going to:

* Install a very slightly modded 'vanilla' 64-bit Debian system from a USB stick
* Use a 'late beta' BunsenLabs netinstall script to add the GUI and other politenesses
* Update the Linux kernel
* Perform various minor supporting operations

1. Where to start?

I've grouped all the hardware requirements -- buy now and avoid the rush.

You will *definitely* need:
USB stick ~1Gb
USB-to-ethernet adapter

You *may* want:
USB-to-audio adapter
MicroSD card
Appropriate case sticker

You will need access to:
Internet hub with ethernet ports (or some other kind of ethernet network)
Ethernet cable
Wall socket and transformer for the X205
Linux workstation on which to read these notes (not absolutely necessary but recommended)

2. Software for OS install

You will need:
Rufus for Windows (https://rufus.akeo.ie/)
Debian 64bit ISO (this one: http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/8.4 … tinst.iso)
bootia32.efi (https://github.com/jfwells/linux-asus-t … otia32.efi)

NOTE: A number of very credible online resources recommend using Debian multi-arch. I tried using the multi-arch installer on the X205T in all four of its modes (graphical/text/64/32) and got the same failure in all of them. The reason for going with multi-arch is simply that it includes 32bit UEFI. I don't think it's worth the hassle. Adding 32bit UEFI to a standard 64bit ISO as described below takes about 30 seconds including download.

3. Build the USB stick

Use Rufus on the X205 while it still has Windows installed. I know that the pure in heart use GNU software whenever possible, but both my Asus netbooks have had issues with USB sticks set up in Linux. (I *think* that this is because of the peculiar factory format of the Asus SSD disks.)

In Rufus, set the "GPT partition scheme for UEFI computer" and "FAT32" options, and select the ISO image you downloaded in Step 2. (The first of those pop-ups has a tendency to reset itself after ISO selection, so beware.) Set the "ISO Image" option on the "bootable disk" pop-up to enable you to mess with the stick contents. Rufus is a very thorough little program and will likely tell you that it needs to update a couple of SYSLINUX components to work with the Debian ISO. Tell it to go right ahead.

Once Rufus has done its thing, copy bootia32.efi into the /efi/boot directory on the stick. You now have a 64bit installer that talks 32bit UEFI.

4. Boot the X205T from the USB stick

Carry out whatever backups you intend.

Put the bootable USB stick from Step 3 back in the slot, and plug the X205 into your local network hub via the ethernet-to-USB adapter.

Restart the X205T. You can either i. hold SHIFT during shutdown or ii. press the ESC key repeatedly during startup. Either way, you'll see a blue screen which enables you to set startup options. Choose "Enter Setup".

NOTE: Asus installed several different versions of the setup utility. The next couple of paras describe the wording on my X205T. YMMV but the underlying logic will be the same.

Choose the "Security" tab, then the "Secure Boot Menu" option. From the corresponding "Security" screen, set "Secure Boot Control" to "Disabled".

Choose the "Boot" tab and change the loading order so that the USB stick is the first boot device the computer looks for. (If the USB stick isn't visible in the menu, it isn't bootable. Go back to Step 3.)

Press F10 to save the settings and load the OS from the stick.

5. Install Debian

The computer boots into the Debian install screen. Follow the standard instructions with the following twists:

i. At the partitioning step, choose "Guided -- use entire disk" otherwise you'll have to deal with Asus' bizarro factory setup again in future. (Actually you may have to anyway, but, hey, you tried...)

ii. Don't provide a root password. The result of this deliberate omission will be that the installer doesn't configure a root account, which is what you want for BL. (It's not so good for HPLIP, but we'll get to that in a different set of notes.)

iii. When offered options, choose only the bare minimum "standard system utilities". BunsenLabs will fill in the blanks in the next step.

6. Install BunsenLabs

I have nothing to add to this excellent guide from the aforementioned Head_on_a_Stick: https://github.com/BunsenLabs/bunsen-netinstall

Although the README warns that the script is in late beta, I had no trouble with it at all.

7. Update with a backported Kernel

BunsenLabs inherits Debian's conservative kernel choice, which (at time of writing) is a variant of Kernel 3. Unfortunately, this stock version doesn't support some important hardware in the X205. The easiest solution is to update the kernel. YA guide from Head_on_a_stick on this very site:

https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic.php?id=1257

8. Sort out the trackpad

The default trackpad setting is unusable -- oversensitivity means that you will get window jumps, phantom clicks and the like. A quick and dirty fix from the CrunchBang forum (Timtro, 2009) involves tweaking a couple of acceleration paramteters with a terminal command, thus:

xset m 5 3 &

This did everything I needed. If you're picky, Googling "debian touchpad sensitivity" will turn up reams more.

9. Sort out Baytrail system freeze issue

The Baytrail processor has a weird timeout thing. Basic workaround here: https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Asus/X205TA

The forums have supposedly better alternatives. I was unconvinced, as at least one caused additional errors on boot.

10. Change lid closing behaviour

Quite distinct from the system freeze issue in Step 9. are the suspend/hibernate issues. There are stock workarounds on https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Asus/X205TA but they didn't sort out what is for me the biggest problem -- closing the lid while the machine is powered up in default settings causes a crash. This is a serious problem for me as I work on the road a lot. I tried various not-particularly-useful changes to /etc/systemd/logind.conf before doing the obvious and changing the main menu settings within the GUI by selecting /Preferences/Power Management, which invokes the Xfce Power Manager.

Within XFCE PM, I set 'Laptop Lid' to 'Switch Off Display' on both battery and mains. I'd rather have had access to the 'Lock Screen' option, but it doesn't work. Both 'Hibernate' and 'Suspend' cause crashes, of course. 'Switch Off Display' often crashes after a few minutes, but I'd rather put up with that than not be able to close the lid at all. (Remember to save.)

XFCE PM provides several tabs' worth of other settings, which I'm not covering here as they're less pressing. NB if you invoke the 'Suspend' command on any part of the dialog you always end up with a crash.

11. Fail to sort out Bluetooth

Bluetooth doesn't work. Sorry. That being so, you might as well blacklist it as the driver is believed to cause problems elsewhere. Do:

printf "# Blacklist the btsdio module as it breaks suspend\nblacklist btsdio\n" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/btsdio-blacklist.conf

That terminal command -- taken from https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Asus/X205TA -- is also supposed to make suspend/resume crashes less likely, but I didn't find that to be so. Grumble grumble. See Step 10.

12. Sort out the keyboard -- mapping and 'bonus keys'

I installed with an En-GB keyboard, but got En-US on my first few boots. I still can't tell if this was in some way specific to my machine or whether it's a generic with Debian/BL/X205. Anyway, the Good Doc on the forums was able to sort me out.

You need to edit the Openbox autostart file. BL comes with the Nano CLI text editor pre-installed, so this is pretty easy. Launch a terminal and do:

sudo nano ~/.config/openbox/autostart

Add at the end the line: setxkbmap gb

...or your own preference. Write out, restart, and all should be well.

The 'bonus' keys (aeroplane mode, volume control etc) don't work.

13. Sort out the wireless

The inbuilt Broadcom driver is hated. While we're awaiting a kernel fix, the best solution might be to buy a transceiver that plugs into a USB port. But, if you have to use the Broadcom, follow the instructions here: https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Asus/X205TA . Then...

Open a terminal and invoke:

sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf

This will open up the .conf file in a text editor. Change the line that includes managed= to:

managed=true

Save the file and exit Nano, then in the terminal do:

sudo killall NetworkManager

Restart. Local wi-fi should now be listed in NetworkManager, indicating that it's under the control of NetworkManager. Head_on_a_Stick points out that this is not an unmixed blessing, since you will likely have to keep doing sudo killall NetworkManager and restarting every time the Broadcom falls over. I'm seriously considering opening up the back and switching out the card.

14. Sort out the sound

The latest kernel verion at time of writing still doesn't support the X205's inbuilt card. If you like rolling your own kernel with experimental software, you know what to do (but then why are you reading this?) Extensive discussion here: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=95681.

For the rest of us, it's Plan B -- an external USB-to-audio adapter. The Sabrent is an eBay favourite that gets pretty good reviews and offers separate mike and headphone jacks, better than the X205T's TRRS built-in job. Also important: when the Sabrent is in port#1 you can just about squeeze a USB lead or a USB stick into port#2. (NB I like the barebones Sabrent without any fiddly little breakable buttons, and other USB-to-audio adapters are available.)

Once you've plugged in your chosen adapter, hardware problems aren't unlikely. My experience: after slotting the Sabrent I invoked "alsactl init" in the terminal and saw a very offputting generic sysfs error line. After a long and inconclusive trawl via Google, I returned to the alsactl output but this time noted the second line of the warning, which said "Hardware is initialized using a generic method." Whatever that generic method is, it's good enough for Skype and Youtube, which is the limit of my ambitions. (I actually removed the Alsaplayer and Alsautils packages as they struck me as potential sources of trouble, although that's not strictly necessary.)

Good Skype instrs here: https://mike632t.wordpress.com/2015/09/ … -0-jessie/

Caution: 200Mb install!

15. Sort out battery status indicator

Works out of the box with kernel 4.5.

16. Sort out MicroSD card

Works out of the box with kernel 4.5.

17. Lingering issues

* Bluetooth doesn't work
Sorry. Next kernel?

* Suspend/resume
Sorry. Next kernel?

* Bonus keys (top row)
Sorry. Next kernel?

* Iceweasel
I had multiple crashes off Iceweasel, so I switched to Chrome. It would be good if someone who likes Firefox could work this one out.

* Big white lid
The X205 lid is smooth, glossy and -- especially if you buy a white one -- hideous. My answer is a period Robert Crumb bumper sticker from ace eBay vendor RufusVonRetro. Other hot choices include the Toolstation 'Weapons of Mass Construction' vinyl and classic automotive themes. I recommend that you fill in the Asus logo with epoxy, sand down with a fine grit, and make liberal use of decoupage mix to protect against rucksack rub.

Keep On Truckin'...

NP.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-05-10 21:26:36

What an astonishing guide, thank you very much for taking the time to post this!

Eraph · 2016-05-10 23:24:14

This is seriously great! I picked up a cheapo Intel Atom Lenovo a while back and struggled to get Linux to be useful on it (never got over the system freezing issue, your post gives me hope), might have to give it another try in the future. Thanks for posting this!

johnraff · 2016-05-11 07:43:56

Fantastic guide! Many thanks.

jalexander9 · 2016-05-11 14:19:20

Thoughtful, on-point and fun to read. Awesome!

#1 2016-05-10 21:18:46

Installing BunsenLabs on Asus X205 (a Howto/HowIDunnit)

#2 2016-05-10 21:26:36

Re: Installing BunsenLabs on Asus X205 (a Howto/HowIDunnit)

#3 2016-05-10 23:24:14

Re: Installing BunsenLabs on Asus X205 (a Howto/HowIDunnit)

#4 2016-05-11 07:43:56

Re: Installing BunsenLabs on Asus X205 (a Howto/HowIDunnit)

#5 2016-05-11 14:19:20

Re: Installing BunsenLabs on Asus X205 (a Howto/HowIDunnit)

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