Which Distro For an Eee PC?

An anonymous reader writes "I've got an Eee PC 1000HD, and frankly, I can't stand XP. I know it's odd, because I actually like Vista, but XP is such a giant piece of crap on here that I struggle to use it day-by-day. Anyway, my question is this: which Linux distro should I run on it? Plain Ubuntu just doesn't have driver support. I tried Ubuntu-eee, which, to put it bluntly, does not work for me at all (slow, terrible battery life, even worse interface). I've heard that Jaunty Jackalope is going to have better netbook support, but that's all the way in April! Is there a distro out now that will free me from XP's terribleness without being terrible itself?" Getting wireless working on an Eee PC (though in my experience imperfectly) with stock Ubuntu is possible; for me it took some googling, though I've been told with great enthusiasm that it actually works "out of the box." What distros are you running on your netbook, and what problems do you find?

Comments

XandrOS or EeeOS?

[eldavojohn]

Disclaimer, I do not own an eeePC (keyboard too damn small) so I have not tried any of these things. Two things I found while searching around is the Linux OS that is shipped with the eeePC Linux versions and that is XandrOS, a debian based Linux. You need to torrent it I think to avoid some $10 bandwidth fee. So search on your favorite torrent site.

Also there is EeeOS which claims to be:

EeeOS is designed to be a minimalistic Custom Debian Distribution that provides a base system (drivers, system tools, Xorg) and nothing more. The idea behind such a release is so that users of Eee Linux OS can configure and build their own Eee experience ... an EeeXperience if you will :P While systems like Ubuntu, Fedora, Suse and Xandros are all amazing in their own right, they often come pre-configured and with a lot of bloat. Some power users prefer to have complete control over their systems and it is with these users in mind that Eee OS was created.

I was going to go on a lengthy explanation about how you could use Slackware or Gentoo to provide the optimal configuration you are interested in but after reading your summary, I doubt you're interested in this sort of devotion to squeezing your eeePC like a lemon over your enemy's eye.

... though I've been told with great enthusiasm that it actually works "out of the box."

Ubuntu has worked "out of the box" for two of my DLink WiFi cards. It worked on a no name CompUSA brand rebate PCMCIA card on my laptop but there were ... annoyances ... with lack of encryption options.

Also, why did you go with an Eee Ubuntu and not Xubuntu ... which I guess would be more widely supported?

eeebuntu

[IMarvinTPA]

You may wish to try http://www.eeebuntu.org/ which is NOT the same as Ubuntu-eee.

It has worked decently on my 1000HD.

IMarv

Re:eeebuntu

[theaceoffire]

Like the others, I too support this version.

Not only does it work well, but it remembers your Wifi settings and doesn't pester you, so that when you walk close enough to one setting you set up before it will auto connect...

When I go from home to work, It swaps networks automatically.

Re:Which distro? Debian.

[stevey]

Seconded.

I've been running Debian's Lenny release upon my Eee PC for the past few months. Everything works, from the power buttons, sound, video, camera, wireless.

The only instructions I used were those on the wiki you link to.

Still this question is going to receive the obvious replies - everybody will suggest the distribution they know and like the best (the two are often the same).

I'd say "try a few, choose your favourite", but I suspect the better thing to do would just be to pick what you're using elsewhere, or whatever local people are using. Then if you have problems you'll have people to ask.

Re:Xubuntu

[Fungii]

I'm the same, I've got Xubuntu and compiz running and it's perfect, get some minimal window decorations and you're sorted.

Just do a standard installation, then head over to http://www.array.org/ and follow the instructions to install the kernel which will get your wireless and hotkeys working.

http://www.eeeuser.com/ is an excellent forum if you have any more questions. There are a few threads there that have step by step guides to installing and configuring Xubuntu, but there really isn't much to it beyond getting a custom kernel.

Stock Ubuntu

[jalefkowit]

I found stock Ubuntu Intrepid with a few tweaks to be easier to set up and more pain-free than any of the "easy/tuned" distros are. Once I had everything working (including wireless), I wrote up a HOWTO explaining how to go from bare metal to a fully working system so that others wouldn't have to go digging through a dozen forums to find the info. Check it out, might be all you need to get up and going.

Re:wifi drivers, atheros and ralink

[cide]

Here's the rule of thumb I've followed... however I've only tested this with the Linux version. (I wasn't aware that Windows EeePC 901s use Atheros)

EeePC ==701SD: Realtek Wifi
EeePC <900A: Atheros Wifi
EeePC >=901: RaLink Wifi

As a result, the modules, depending on the version of Linux you're using varies.

Atheros Wifi on <=2.6.24: ath_pci (madwifi) external driver
Atheros Wifi on >=2.6.26: ath5k internal driver
RaLink Wifi on < 2.6.28: rt2860sta external driver
RaLink Wifi on > 2.6.28: rt2860sta internal driver*
Realtek Wifi on < 2.6.28: rtl8187se external driver
Realtek Wifi on > 2.6.29: rtl8187se internal driver

* Heres the crux, as of 2.6.28, the rt2860sta internal driver uses version 1.8.0.0, but this version has broken WPA/WPA2 support. If you somehow ended up with 1.7.0.0, it too has broken WPA/WPA2 support.

However, rt2860sta v1.7.1.1 appears to be good.

I've been working on porting the changes introduced in v1.7.1.1 into v1.8.x.x for 2.6.29. So far it works for me, but I still need to submit this as a patch into the kernel:

http://git.array.org/?p=kernel/stable/linux-2.6-stable.git;a=commit;h=ee8834f5551943b7bd2db49bbad9ba3c24ce6f67