Another successful Ubuntu install - Here's How
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 (21:51:12)
Posted by ricey
The Eee PC from ASUS is a remarkable little computer! Again today I had the fortune of installing Ubuntu onto another machine for a friend. That's 3 now including my own.
The install process is very simple, I will try, here, to run through what is needed and the steps taken.
Firstly we need to choose the version of ubuntu to use. There are 4 mainstream variants.
1. Ubuntu (this used the Gnome window manager)
2. Kubuntu (with the KDE window manager)
3. Xubuntu (this uses XFCE)
4. Fluxbuntu (this uses fluxbox - very minimalist!)
I have Kubuntu on mine, the other 2 have straight Ubuntu.
The first thing we need is the CD ISO image, these can be downloaded from the sites above.
Secondly a USB stick to install from, you'll need at least a 1GB stick for this to work.
Ok, let's get the USB stick prepared on your main computer. First we need to make sure that is is formatted as FAT16 or FAT32 and have the boot flag on or it won't work, we also need a small utility called isostick. A great little utility that makes the whole USB stick a bootable device with the Ubuntu ready to go in just one command!
Make a temporary directory in your home directory (or wherever you make temporary directories!) and place the .iso file in there. Pop the isostick script in there with it. In a terminal/Konsole change to the directory where the .iso and the isostick files are saved and plug in your USB stick. For a details explanation of creating a bootable USB stick have a look here.
For this to work we need to find out where your USB stick has appeared in the file system on the computer. This will be in the /dev directory. Mine comes up as /dev/sdg1. Taking mine as an example and using the latest ubuntu .iso enter the command in the termainal like this:
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A few error messages about file permissions will appear but don't worry they're not relevant - it is because FAT doesn't support permissions so an error occurs when we try to use them.
After a short wait a 'success' message should appear.
Safely remove the USB stick from the computer and we're finished! Wasn't that easy??
Right over to the Eee.
With the Eee powered down plug in the USB stick and hit the power button.
When the initial ASUS boot screen appears hit the 'ESC' key. This will bring up the boot device select screen. Using the arrow keys select your USB stick from the list and hit enter. The Eee will boot from the stick.
Select 'start or install ubuntu' from the list then sit back and watch it boot.
After a short while the ubuntu desktop will appear. Have a play of you like and take a look around, but not much of the hardware works right out the box and you will probably get an error message saying the battery is broken! It's not, but we don't have the right drivers in yet!
Ok let's get the install under way:
As we only have a small screen during the install some of the windows will fall off the bottom of it. Ubuntu comes with desktop effects switched on which stops us moving the windows around fully.
Go to: System >> Preferences >> Appearance
then to the 'Visual Effects' tab and select 'none' this enables you to move the windows around the screen by pressing ALT+Left Click together and dragging the window about.
Now that we will be able to see all the windows we can double click the 'Install' icon.
Follow the simple instructions until you get to the disk partitioning part.
There are a few theories around as how to partition your 4gb hard drive, but I personally go for simplicity.
One large partition and no swap space.
Select 'Manual' configuration and delete all the partitions on the first drive - /dev/sda
This should then leave 4.0 Gb of free space. Selecting this free space, create a new partition.
In the dialogue all we have to enter is the mount point, which will be
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and the file type - I use ext2 - simple and quick filesystem
accept those settings and continue.
Enter your user details and continue with the install.
All in it should take about 15 mins to install the base system. Any messages about not being able to see the security repositories are fine - it's because we have no network connection!
Once finished click the button to restart. When prompted to, remove the USB stick and hit enter to shutdown.
The Eee will then restart and boot into your shiney new ubuntu install.
Next Episode We'll look at setting up the Eee with the right drivers and tweaks to make it fully functional.
Cheers.