BL on an old Asus eeepc 701

Merlin09 · 2017-08-09 20:19:46

I know this is an old machine, without much power, but it was cheap, and quite a popular machine in France, back in the days.

So, if it can be of any help, this is how I configured it:

I used bl-Deuterium-i386_20170429.iso for this installation.

create usb stick

sudo umount /dev/sdxx

(replace sdxx with your mount point, in my case /dev/sdb1)

sudo cp /where/is/bl-Deuterium-i386_20170429.iso /dev/sdx

(only the letters)

boot on USB, select graphical install

Note: On my eeepc701, I had a mod consisting in an internally mounted usb stick, and a 2Go RAM upgrade, so I partitionned the whole SSD drive (only 4Go) for /, and the stick for /home
I didn't activate swap because there is no real hard drive here.

complete the installation, then go through the initial configuration script (the welcome one at first boot). My answers:

- update software sources: y
- upgrade system: y
- upgrade xfce4-power-management: y
- install Bunsen extra images: n
- install java support: y
- enable backport repositories: y
- flash browser plugin (from chromium): y
- Development packages option: n

in preferences, power management, deactivate suspend and hibernate (I don't use any kind of sleep on this machine)

execute

sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

in [SeatDefaults] section, uncomment autologin-user= and set your user here, if like me you want an autologin.

execute

sudo apt remove light-locker

this way the system won't ask for a password when reseuming

---------- Modelism ----------

I will use this as a field machine, because I'm a modelist, a drone pilot, so I install everything I need to configure my machines:

sudo systemctl disable ModemManager.service

so some flight controllers are not identified as modem (mandatory)

sudo addgroup username dialout

to access the serial connection of the flight controller, one needs to be part of the dialout group

install betaflight from google webstore in chromium

open ~/.local/share/applications/chrome-***.desktop in a text editor, and copy the command after Exec=

In preferences --> openbox --> GUI menu edit, add a Modelism menu, and a betaflight item, with what you just copied as a command

---------- End Modelism ----------

In preferences --> openbox --> GUI menu edit, add a Screen menu, and a two items, named 800x480 and 1024x768, respectively with the commands:

xrandr --output LVDS1 --panning 800x480

and

xrandr --output LVDS1 --panning 1024x768

The eeepc701 has a small 7 inches screen, with a small resolution, so panning is a way to have bigger windows in this small screen, while still being readable.

For a particular use case, I need to have google chrome installed. To do so, find on the internet the files google-chrome-stable_48.0.2564.116-1_i386.deb and libappindicator1_0.4.92-3.1_i386.deb, then run the commands:

sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_48.0.2564.116-1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i libappindicator1_0.4.92-3.1_i386.deb
sudo apt-get -f install

Reboot the computer in order to populate every menus

In Network --> www browsers --> set default, select the one you want (chromium in my case)

In preferences --> tint2 --> edit tint2s --> tint2 editor, select tint2rc

find the lines starting with launcher_item_app= and, using the same syntax :

- add /home/username/.local/share/applications/chrome-***.desktop (the exact name, for modelists only)
- remove text editor (if like me, you don't use it)
- replace the browser line by /usr/share/applications/chromium.desktop (not mandatory, but this way you will have chromium icon)
- add /usr/share/applications/google-chrome.desktop

I noticed the processor was not running at full speed. To fix this, run:

echo "p4-clockmod" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

and that's it, after a reboot, everything works like a charm, just as I wished it to

I hope this will help someone

Last edited by Merlin09 (2017-08-10 16:52:50)

damo · 2017-08-09 21:11:24

Would you edit your post and remove the line referring to unetbootin? There are a million help requests due to problems using this tool to write to usb.

Debian FAQ wrote:

Please note, that Debian advises not using "unetbootin" for this task. It can cause difficult-to-diagnose problems with booting and installing, so is not recommended.

Use a Debian-recommended method: https://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#write-usb ie "cp" or "dd".

PS Please use [ code ] tags for terminal commands and output. It is much easier to read

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-08-09 21:15:11

In addition:

Merlin09 wrote:

when install fails to find cdrom, ignore retry, press continue on error, then from the menu, launch a shell terminal
enter the commands:
 
umount /media
exit
select the menu entry "detect and mount cdrom" to resume the installation

That step was only necessary because you used an obsolete, unsupported tool (unetbootin) to transfer the image.

See https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepo … bug=775689

EDIT: it may be worth re-installing from scratch with a correctly-burned image, the linked bug report notes that unetbootin "seems responsible for lots of user problems and difficult-to-resolve bug reports" so there may be other problems in your system.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2017-08-09 21:16:47)

Merlin09 · 2017-08-09 21:21:29

Ow, thanks for the heads up. It didn't bother me that much, but I would rather use dd, or cp anyway.

Thanks a lot. I will update this post with my trials, as I just discovered the processor does not reach full speed (it is critical as the machine is only 900MHz)

Merlin09 · 2017-08-09 21:26:37

damo wrote:

Would you edit your post and remove the line referring to unetbootin? There are a million help requests due to problems using this tool to write to usb.
Debian FAQ wrote:
Please note, that Debian advises not using "unetbootin" for this task. It can cause difficult-to-diagnose problems with booting and installing, so is not recommended.
Use a Debian-recommended method: https://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#write-usb ie "cp" or "dd".
PS Please use [ code ] tags for terminal commands and output. It is much easier to read

Done, and I did use the code tags, but maybe I should add more for readability. I started to fidget with bl today, so nothing is quite final, and neither is this post I'll try to improve it, even if it will be of interest to very few people

Merlin09 · 2017-08-09 21:29:12

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

it may be worth re-installing from scratch with a correctly-burned image, the linked bug report notes that unetbootin "seems responsible for lots of user problems and difficult-to-resolve bug reports" so there may be other problems in your system.

Will do tomorrow, just to be safe

Merlin09 · 2017-08-10 14:54:43

Initial post edit: update text formatting and added some details. I think it is the last edit, unless someone points at new mistakes. Thanks to damo and Head_on_a_Stick for your insights

damo · 2017-08-10 15:45:21

If I had noticed that you were a drone pilot I would have got my Moderator shotgun ]:D

Merlin09 · 2017-08-10 16:56:29

damo wrote:

If I had noticed that you were a drone pilot I would have got my Moderator shotgun ]:D

pfiou, good thing you didn't... drone fpv racing power!

just kidding, I'm such a bad pilot I can barely fly 30s

ohnonot · 2017-08-10 20:11:09

Merlin09 wrote:

I'm such a bad pilot I can barely fly 30s

so how many drones do you use up each week?
]:D
the more the better...

but hey, thanks for the tut.
i have one of them ol' netbooks meself, don't want to throw it out, but a normal linux desktop is getting harder and harder to run on it, because of general linux development.

Merlin09 · 2017-08-10 20:39:18

ohnonot wrote:

so how many drones do you use up each week?
]:D
the more the better...
but hey, thanks for the tut.
i have one of them ol' netbooks meself, don't want to throw it out, but a normal linux desktop is getting harder and harder to run on it, because of general linux development.

I own 4 rc quadcopters, from 7cm to 1m, and an rc wing. Most of the time, 2 at least are ready to fly

I didn't think my tuto would be useful, so I am really glad if it can help at least one person!

I'm not familiar with this particular Linux distribution, but I can find my way around the general system, so I may be able to help on some subjects if you need

#1 2017-08-09 20:19:46

BL on an old Asus eeepc 701

#2 2017-08-09 21:11:24

Re: BL on an old Asus eeepc 701

#3 2017-08-09 21:15:11

Re: BL on an old Asus eeepc 701

#4 2017-08-09 21:21:29

Re: BL on an old Asus eeepc 701

#5 2017-08-09 21:26:37

Re: BL on an old Asus eeepc 701

#6 2017-08-09 21:29:12

Re: BL on an old Asus eeepc 701

#7 2017-08-10 14:54:43

Re: BL on an old Asus eeepc 701

#8 2017-08-10 15:45:21

Re: BL on an old Asus eeepc 701

#9 2017-08-10 16:56:29

Re: BL on an old Asus eeepc 701

#10 2017-08-10 20:11:09

Re: BL on an old Asus eeepc 701

#11 2017-08-10 20:39:18

Re: BL on an old Asus eeepc 701

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