Ubuntu 8.04 on the EeePC

After a kernel-update for Ubuntu 7.10 yesterday all my EeePC-specific modifications didn't work anymore. Things like overclocking to 900 MHz on-demand were lost, wifi as well as the control of the sound volume via function keys. After fiddling around with the init-scripts, ACPI-events and so on I decided it's not worth the effort. So this morning I finally started a fresh installation of Ubuntu 8.04, that version with long-term-support.

Since 8.04 came out, a lot of people came up with very useful tools and scripts to make it easier to customize the Ubuntu-installation for the EeePC. First, I had to create a bootable USB-Stick with the installation-CD-image. I found the project UNetbootin on Sourceforge. The developers created a tool which takes an image of an installation-CD for e.g. Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva or FreeBSD and creates a readily bootable USB-Stick from that. It is available as sourcecode, but packages/binaries for Linux and Windows are downlodable on the project-site as well.

The installation from that USB-Stick went straight-forward. I connected my EeePC via cable to the net so the installer could download language-packs and other things. After the first reboot I got offered more than 180 updated packages, resulting in another 200 MB which got downloaded and installed. You might want to delete the contents of the cache-folder in /var/apt to save some space on the tiny solid-state-disk.

The network connection is also useful for the RiceeeyTweak.sh-script. It downloads all the necessary sources, scripts and packages for overclocking the processor on demand, for the wireless-driver and it also adopts the font sizes, makes changes for reducing write-operations to the SSD and more.

The customization for the EeePC for Ubuntu 8.04 is as simple as this: Start the terminal. Type

mkdir temp
cd temp
wget http://eee.ricey.co.uk/files/eee/RiceeeyTweak.sh
chmod +x ./RiceeeyTweak.sh
./RiceeeyTweak.sh

Watch the script running, asking you for the superuser-password every now and then. It only takes a few minutes and you're done.

I did another check with that Pinnacle 72e USB-DVB-dongle. It didn't work out of the box. I had to fetch the updated v4l-sources and compile and install the new driver from linuxtv-org. I used the SVN-snapshot. Simply unpack the tarball and compile and install the drivers. Keep the file v4l/Module.symvers, you'll need it to build a working webcam-driver again later. The firmware which is already installed by the default Ubuntu-kernel doesn't work with the dongle though. I used the firmware from this old package to replace the non-working installed firmware by typing in sudo cp firmware/dvb-usb-dib0700-1.10.fw /lib/firmware/linux-2.6.24-19-generic.

Then I had to install subversion: sudo apt-get install subversion . The webcam-driver-sources can then be fetched via svn checkout svn://svn.berlios.de/linux-uvc/linux-uvc/trunk. Copy the file Modules.symvers to the trunk-directory. A simple make and make install then lead to the installation of a working driver for the webcam.

Always so busy

Sorry for not posting for nearly a month. Good news: I got the job. Bad news: I still have plenty things to do for my current job. That's also the reason why I didn't find the time to add something to my blog.

But now things are getting better. It's nice weather and I'm sitting on my balcony, enjoying it. The little EeePC is so handy ;-)

Long trip ahead

Image taken from Google Earth
Tomorrow will be a hard day. I have to leave at 6 a.m. as I have an appointment at 2 p.m. in the bodensee region, an interview for my next job. Then I'll return to the north, hopefully I'll be back home before midnight. Wish me luck!

Yet another Xvid-build with a bugfix

As I blogged earlier, there was an issue with motion vectors (MVs), an array was too small so a wrong MV could have been chosen in some cases. Since those MVs are costly bitrate-wise, it should have happened very seldom.

I spoke to sysKin and he verified that this issue should be fixed, he also recommended using CVS head/main instead of "old" 1.1.3 nowerdays. Anyhow, I updated Xvid-1.1.3 and Xvid-1.1.3-VAQ. You can find the builds over on my homepage.

On a sidenote, today we made already over half an hour of sport, each one, my GF and I. If this keeps going on, that WiiFit-game would be a very nice investment! ;-)

WiiFit...

Yesterday was the release of WiiFit here in germany. I had to fetch that game as my GF really wanted it for some weeks now as she saw the promotion videos on the net.

It's really fun to pretend to make sport that way! But somehow I didn't really understand that "You have to play WiiFit now!" after she got up this morning...

Hmpf. Ok, I'll continue getting fit now. :-)