Waiting for Eeebuntu 4

Things have been a bit on the quiet side here for a couple of weeks—mostly because I’ve had plenty else to keep me occupied, but partly because I am awaiting eagerly the public beta of the next version of Eeebuntu.

As you’ll know if you’ve been following this blog over the last few months, I installed Eeebuntu v3 on my Eee 701 at Christmas, and except for a couple of niggles (mostly related to sound, a bug with the Conky system stats application, and the Compiz window manager), I think this Linux distribution has proved a worthy OS for the 701.

For version 4, the Eeebuntu team are taking a radical new approach: for starters, apparently they may be renaming the distro, as from this point on it will be based directly on Debian instead of Ubuntu (itself a Debian derivative). I admit I haven’t really “clued up” on all the reasons why the Eeebuntu folk have taken this decision, but frankly I am more interested in whether the new version will improve on v3, so will reserve judgement on the change until I can get an idea of whether (or not) it has delivered.

It certainly looks promising, with built-in apps including Thunderbird 3 and Firefox 3.6, and I understand that it should be possible to upgrade existing Eeebuntu installations without having to start from scratch (though thanks to the “live CD” option, I’ll be able to wait until the final version is out before deciding whether to take the plunge).

The team believes that the beta should be made available some time tomorrow (Wednesday 10th February), so I have a BitTorrent client on standby ready to grab the ISO image as soon as I can get the request through. I hope to post back here later this week and update you on how the 701 gets on with Eeebuntu 4; for the most up-to-the-minute feedback, keep an eye on my Twitter feed from tomorrow evening (GMT).

Update (8.30pm): What a difference a few hours can make… Just as this post was published, I learned via Eeebuntu’s Twitter feed (and a big “hello” to anyone visiting here from there, by the way ) that they have made the v4 beta available for download. I’m BitTorrenting it as we speak, though the download speed is pretty glacial, which suggests there are quite a few folk interested in this release!

I may well have to leave this downloading overnight, but once I’ve had the chance to boot Eeebuntu 4 on my 701 and play around with it a bit, I’ll try and post back here with a few first impressions. In the meantime, my Twitter feed will carry more up-to-the-moment updates, usually tagged with “#eb4″. Stay tuned…

Ten programs I want on all my computers: the Eee 701 view

Last September, on my “main” blog, I posted a list of ten applications which I would want to have on every computer I owned.

To save you looking ( ), these were:

1. Firefox
2. VLC
3. OpenOffice
4. TweetDeck
5. Inkscape
6. The GIMP
7. Audacity
8. Skype
9. Miro
10. Stellarium

This isn’t an exhaustive list—and isn’t intended to be—but I thought I’d revisit my choices, insofar as I’ve been able to get them working (or not) on my Eee 701 (running, at the present time, Eeebuntu 3).

Mostly, the news is good. Eeebuntu 3 comes with a number of the above apps (Firefox, VLC, OpenOffice, Inkscape, The GIMP) preinstalled, meaning that I had to install only the other five myself. (Of these, I found four in the software repositories—easily installable via apt-get or Synaptic—whilst the last one (TweetDeck) just took a few moments to install via their Web site.)

(In passing: if you’ve been following E7P since late last year, you may recall that at that time I reported being unable to get the Adobe AIR runtime installed on my 701 with the default Xandros OS, meaning that TweetDeck was, literally, a non-starter. Fortunately, under Eeebuntu, TweetDeck installs without complaint, although how well it actually works on the 701 is a subject I’ll come to shortly.)

OK, that’s getting the ten apps onto the 701 in the first place. How well do they run, once they are on there?

Well, for the most part, well enough, as long as you’re not too demanding and bear in mind that the Eee 701 isn’t going to go toe-to-toe with a fast desktop any time soon. Skype works beautifully on the 701, with the proviso (on Eeebuntu 3) that the sound may take a bit of tweaking to get “just right”, though that’s not Skype’s fault. Furthermore, Miro does a sterling job as a video podcast “catcher”, within the caveats connected with the 701’s small screen (of which more shortly, though it’s not a deal-breaker for me).

Firefox and OpenOffice won’t usually tax the 701 that much, though obviously if you’re viewing a document/page with lots of graphics and/or other multimedia, you might start to run up against memory issues, or (at worst) the processor could begin to struggle with (say) heavy-duty embedded video or Flash. (I haven’t seen much of this myself, but acknowledge that it could happen.)

Similarly, even with Eeebuntu, a high-quality video can leave the 701 a bit “out of breath”, especially if it’s running off batteries and therefore in “reduced power” mode. If you want to watch a DVD-rip captured at full quality (even standard-definition) with VLC, I’d advise a fast USB storage device and AC power to hand, or that playback will end up choppier than the Atlantic in a hurricane.

Unsurprisingly, the 701’s WVGA (800×480) screen can mean that some apps struggle to fit into the available space. Inkscape and The GIMP are usable enough if your imaging needs are modest, and/or don’t mind scrolling around a bit, whilst you’ll need to play around with Audacity’s toolbar settings if you want to see more than about 50 pixels’ height of the waveform you’re editing.

Furthermore, TweetDeck can fit only about three columns in a maximised window (with their “narrow” setting enabled), and about two entries in each column vertically if you have the “entry” panel open. If this doesn’t bother you, no problem—I like TweetDeck enough that I can live with the constraints, but I keep Twitux on my 701 just in case.

TweetDeck can take over twenty seconds to load, but at least it runs tolerably well. Unfortunately, Stellarium (with its heavy 3D-rendering) struggles to manage more than 3-4 frames per second, making it all but unusable on my 701; astronomy types may wish to consider a less demanding application for their sky views.

There are a few apps I would now want to add to my “must-have” list—Dropbox, TrueCrypt and KeePassX, to name but three—and as it happens, I am writing a follow-up post to the original which I hope to publish at the Sidingsound blog within the next couple of weeks. Until then, I’m pleased to report that, as long as you’re prepared to make an allowance or two for the Eee 701’s reduced size and power, it’s a capable enough platform to run some favourite useful applications.

My Eee Desktop – January 2010

It’s that time of the month again (no sniggering at the back, there), where I give you a snapshot of how my Eee 701’s desktop is looking at the moment… and it’s a bit of a departure from this time four weeks ago:

Eeebuntu 3 desktop with Conky

Shortly after the December 2009 desktop screenshot was posted, I installed Eeebuntu 3 on the 701, and this pic shows how I’ve currently got it set up.

The system stats overlaid on the desktop come courtesy of Conky (as seen on the previous month’s screenshot). I took the .conkyrc (configuration) file from my old setup, and modified it to take into account the new OS, much newer version of Conky, etc. (as well as changing the font). There’s still a bit of work to do on the configuration, and you’ll notice that there’s still a shaded window border—this is due to the Compiz window manager, and the fact that the Compiz settings app is so buggy that it won’t let me make any changes. However, I can live with it for a bit, as there’s another possible OS change in the pipeline (of which more in a moment).

The background image came from a stock photo—I haven’t settled on a desktop image yet, though I probably will before long. The top and bottom GNOME ‘panels’ are both set as “translucent”; I have moved the Eeebuntu app icons “dock” (actually, another GNOME panel) from the bottom to the left-hand edge, and set it to auto-hide, appearing when the mouse pointer moves to that edge.

Next month’s desktop may change further, as at time of writing (late January 2010), the beta release of the next version of Eeebuntu (v4) is due to be made public any day now. The word is that the distro will be renamed from Eeebuntu, as it wil be based on Debian instead of Ubuntu, and I for one am hoping that it will build on what makes Eeebuntu 3 my Linux of choice for my 701, whilst fixing the few areas where I think v3 is weaker (mainly around the Compiz (window manager) side of things).

But that’s for another post, or two…

Setting up a Nokia N95 as a 3G modem in Eeebuntu 3

In yesterday’s post on Eeebuntu, I mentioned in passing that I wished Eeebuntu made it easier to configure PPP-over-Bluetooth, to use a mobile phone as a 3G modem wirelessly.

Whilst that particular gripe still stands, I’m pleased to report that if you don’t mind using USB instead of Bluetooth, the maintainers of Eeebuntu have made it quite straightforward to set up Internet access via a 3G phone (and, according to this forum post, at least some USB 3G broadband “dongles”).

The author of the above forum post, stated that all he had to do was plug in a USB dongle, and a “wizard” dialogue box popped up, allowing him to configure the device as a modem. I wondered if the same would happen if I plugged in my phone (a Nokia N95), so I did so, remembering to set the phone’s connection type to “PC Suite”.

Lo and behold: up popped the “wizard”, asking me for my country and 3G network provider; within sixty seconds, an option for a 3G connection was added to my list of available networks.

Yes, a wireless (Bluetooth) option would really “ice the cake”, but for now, I’m pleased to report that in many cases, setting up a 3G modem in Eeebuntu is as easy as plugging it in and following a couple of easy steps.

Having fun with Eeebuntu 3

A very Happy New Year to all readers, and apologies for taking nearly two weeks off posting here. You may or may not be surprised to learn that I’ve not been entirely idle: not least, because my Eee 701 has been put to good use, road-testing the Eeebuntu 3 alternative Linux distribution for the Eee range of “netbooks”.

Eeebuntu 3 desktop with translucent panels

Unfortunately, I don’t have time right now to present a detailed review of this distro, but I thought you might appreciate a smattering of “bullet-point” items of feedback on my experience of Eeebuntu so far:

• It’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into making Eeebuntu “suit” Asus’ range of teeny laptops, and even better, this includes the 701 machines with their especially small displays. Many of the fonts and other presentational elements of the interface, have been reduced in size to suit the 701’s 800×480 native resolution, and although some windows still extend beyond the desktop’s boundaries (oh, how I wish MS Windows had Linux’s “Alt-and-drag” feature for such moments), they’ve done a mostly great job of fitting in the GNOME desktop to such a small space, without it looking too cramped.
• There are numerous nice “touches” to the apps, which are rather more up-to-date than Eee/Xandros has ever been: for instance, the mail client is Thunderbird, and (joy!) it has the Lightning (calendar) and Enigmail (OpenPGP encryption) plugins pre-installed “out of the box”.
• So many things “just work” in Eeebuntu—not just the built-in hardware, from the wireless network to the webcam, but also many add-on and plug-in items. Got a USB Bluetooth “dongle”, for instance? Just plug it in, and a “tray icon” appears straightaway, for you to start pairing with other devices and transferring files. (It could be made easier to set up PPP over Bluetooth—for using a mobile phone as a 3G modem—but that’s a relatively minor quibble.)
• Whilst most parts of the system work flawlessly—at least for me—the major “fly in the ointment” for me is the buggy version of Compiz, the compositing window manager, which is enabled by default. Whilst many of its features work—translucent windows, 3D transitions and so on—there are numerous odd behaviours. The main Compiz options manager interface barely functions on the 701, the window moving all over the place when I attempt to enable other effects (e.g “wobbly windows”—I don’t think this is what they meant!). Furthermore, some effects render the display unusable, meaning at worst that a hard reboot of the machine can be the only resort, and for a while I switched from Compiz to GNOME’s own Metacity window manager, just to ensure a usable if less flashy desktop. (One tip: a few glitches can be avoided if you choose another window decoration theme in System > Preferences > Appearance, instead of the default “eb3″. For some reason this results in a few less odd behaviours, and I have no idea why.)

Overall, though, Eeebuntu is a sizeable improvement over the Eee’s “native” Xandros Linux, and I am also excited by the impending release of its new version, which is due out within a few weeks. This new distro will be based on Debian instead of Ubuntu, and I am hoping this will mean greater reliability, hopefully without sacrificing too many “bleeding-edge” features. Of course, they’ll have to call it something other than Eeebuntu, though…

(updated on 2010/01/07, with a screenshot of my Eeebuntu desktop; and again on 2010/01/29, correcting a reference to the Eee 701’s display resolution as “800×400″)

Happy Christmas!

Just to wish you a very happy Christmas, “happy holidays” or whatever you celebrate at this time of year—have a great time, and see you here soon for more adventures with my Eee 701

A new OS: booting Eeebuntu from a USB optical drive

Asus Eee 701 running Eeebuntu 3.0 booted from an external optical drive,
originally uploaded by tawalker.

Well, as you can see from this photo I uploaded to Flickr, the USB CD/DVD drive has now arrived, and using it, I have successfully booted Eeebuntu on my 701.

First impressions are very positive: Eeebuntu looks very slick indeed, and they appear to have gone for a hybrid GNOME/MS Windows Vista look for the desktop, using the Compiz system to provide the “eye candy”.

I think I will almost certainly end up replacing the Eee/Xandros Linux on my 701 with Eeebuntu, and will write more on this as it happens, but I thought you’d appreciate seeing the initial results.

My Eee Desktop – December 2009

The weeks have rolled around, and it’s time to show you my 701’s desktop for December 2009, which appropriately enough has a distinctly ‘Christmassy’ theme:

A Christmassy style for Fluxbox: 'Festive'

This is a Fluxbox ’style’—the FB terminology for a ‘theme’—which I created myself, called “Festive”. I can’t remember where I picked up the wallpaper, but I have a vague recollection it may have hailed from Jeffrey Zeldman’s Daily Report blog (I’ll update this entry if I find out). The typeface used for the menus, toolbars, etc. is Century Schoolbook, which I rather like for this particular desktop style—stylish and a little “olde wurlde”, whilst still remaining legible.

As with last month’s desktop, the system stats on the desktop (top-left) are provided by Conky, and the “dockapps” haven’t changed much, with the exception of wmfishtime being replaced by wmcalclock (just for a change).

Next month’s “My Eee Desktop” might look a bit different, as I hope by then that I may have found a replacement Linux distribution for the Asus-tweaked Xandros-based Linux which came with my 701. I think it’s likely to be Eeebuntu, but I’m hoping that whatever I install, I will be able to use Fluxbox as the window manager, as I really like its ‘minimalist’ look and feel, and think it works very well on the 701’s modest hardware.

But that is for another week, as Christmas will be here in a few days. I may drop by here once or twice before the end of the year, but whether I manage it or not: have a very happy Christmas (or however else you might celebrate this time of the year), and I hope you enjoy whatever Santa happens to bring in that unfeasibly large sack in his flying sleigh

A new OS: waiting for a CD drive…

In case anyone’s waiting patiently for an update on my last post (the first in my intended series on trying out some alternative Linux distributions on my Eee 701), I’ve hit my first roadblock: actually booting an OS on the machine.

Yes, I know it’s possible to create a bootable flash device which will do the job (please don’t write in about that; I’ve read the HOWTOs ), but I have had so many problems setting this up (not helped by the fact I don’t have another computer working, which isn’t a Mac), that I’ve decided to take “the path of least resistance”, and ordered a little USB CD/DVD drive from Amazon, to go with the 701.

Hopefully, this will arrive in time for Christmas, and I will then have a few days to test-drive a couple of distros and post back about them here.

In the meantime, it’s nearly time for my “Desktop of the Month” screenshot – stay tuned!

A new OS: the search begins…

Shortly after my previous post, bemoaning the apparent lack of updates and updated applications for the Eee’s “factory” Xandros Linux OS, I found a thread on the EeeUser.com forum which seems to have solved the mystery.

The explanation for the apparent lack of OS updates is simple: there haven’t been any, at least since about the time that Asus changed their netbook “allegiance” from Linux to Microsoft, and apparently left “their” Xandros variant to wither on the vine.

So, I have now embarked on a new quest: to find an alternative Linux for my 701, which will hopefully support all the hardware features (hotkeys, webcam and so on) whilst giving me access to more applications (and more up-to-date versions of my existing ones).

Thankfully, I don’t have to make any big decisions yet; Eee/Xandros on my 701 still “does the job” well enough, and I’m especially keen to find out if I can install Fluxbox on whatever other OS I end up using, as I really like the FB interface. Moreover, I don’t have to wipe the 701’s main drive (an 8Gb SSD) yet, as I can install different OSes on a USB flash drive or SD card and boot from that, until I know which OS I want to switch to.

The first OS I’m going to test-drive, is Eeebuntu; specifically, the “Standard” variant, which I have just downloaded and am trying to install to a storage device which will actually boot. Depending on how it all goes, I have also heard positive things about the next release of Ubuntu (due for release in April 2010), regarding compatibility with netbooks, and may hold off any replacement of Eee/Xandros until I have had a chance to test the final version of this next Ubuntu version.

One way or another, I’ll let you know how I get on. In the meantime, stay tuned to this blog for the December 2009 “desktop of the month”, which will be revealed just before Christmas and will have a suitably festive theme… in more ways than one!