Linux on the ASUS N10 N10J

Well, maybe the new BIOS will fix your fan problem. If not just keep an eye on your temps.

 

yeah, i'll keep an eye on things and we'll see what happens... thanks again for all your help.

 

Updated howto for NVIDIA 190.18, it fixes the lockup problem with 190.16 and is working well for me.

Edit: Huge update, added my own fingerprint reader directions. You can find them in the Fingerprint Reader section of the howto. Please give me feedback on this, especially if you are using Ubuntu.

Edit 2: Power has just been restored to my webserver after a 3 hour outage.

 

hey AllyourGroceries..

I'm planning on having a bootable Debian on a removable drive for tech work can you install debian without the GUI?(I'm sure you can) also if I wanted ext4 FS i'd have to go with the unstable version right? because of kernel version(2.6.26 v 2.6.28)

 

Yeah just make sure 'desktop environment' is deselected. If you want ext4 without compiling your own kernel you'll need one from unstable or experimental, but you're entire distro need not be squeeze or sid, you can just get the kernel package.

 

So you can put the 2.6.28+ on the install disc? To make it create ext4 partitions, or will I have to do that before hand with gparted?

 

Check out this image:
http://kmuto.jp/b.cgi/debian/d-i-2630-lenny.htm

Should be all you need, but for the root partition you'll probably have to make it ext3 and then convert to ext4 after the install. You'll probably want an even newer kernel too after you install.

There's more generic info here:
http://wiki.debian.org/Ext4
http://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Ext4_Howto#For_people_who_are_running_Debian

 

From what I heard GRUB1 doesn't support ext4 booting unless it's patched like ubuntu is. So I'd either have to patch it or install grub-pc (GRUB2).

Thanks for the link. From what I was reading making a custom Debian cd involves making a debian mirror(30-40GB) to install packages onto the CD...sounds like A LOT of trouble when it's already been done

Thanks for the link

 

Hi,

few things:
1) you have misstyped

Code:

chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86-190.18.pkg1.run

must be

Code:

chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86-190.18-pkg1.run

(must be "-" instead of "." after 190.18)

2) In Fn+10 Mute... section

Code:

sudo mv asus-voume-up asus-volume-up.x

you mist "l" in volume, must be

Code:

sudo mv asus-voulme-up asus-volume-up.x

3) I think we could delete kernel after extracting it because it's not needed any more

Code:

...........................
tar jxvf linux-2.6.30.2.tar.bz2
rm /usr/src/linux-2.6.30.2.tar.bz2
cd linux-2.6.30.2
...........................

4) in xorg.conf.nvidia you have a line: Busid "PCI:3:0:0"
do we need it?

thx and good luck

 

Woops. Thanks

Of course you can delete the kernel sources, it's a matter of what you plan on doing later. I don't delete kernel sources until I am one or two versions past it and know I will never need them again.

It's not required for most people but some distros/setups get cranky without it.

 

Hi,

looks like you replayed at the same time when I edited it and you missed one:

2) In Fn+10 Mute... section

Code:

sudo mv asus-voume-up asus-volume-up.x

you mist "l" in volume, must be

Code:

sudo mv asus-voulme-up asus-volume-up.x

 

Reload, edited about 2 mins ago.

Thanks for spotting that.

 

reloaded

 

Updated howto for 2.6.30.4.

 

i seem to be having problems with my wireless... it drops every couple of minutes.. (i've only now had a chance to try out the wireless).. i'm using the 2.6.30.2 kernel

any suggestions? (or if there is any info i can give you that will help you determine what the trouble is let me know)

 

Is your wireless signal very weak, and/or do you have a lot of APs around?

See this post: (Edit #2: note that I wrote these directions for 2.6.30, so replace 2.6.30 with 2.6.30.2 or whatever version you are using):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5039396&postcount=475

Try changing the IEEE80211_MONITORING_INTERVAL value, the values that work are from 100Hz to 600Hz in 100Hz increments.

Also are you using encryption or is it an open network?

The log you want to look at for errors is /var/log/messages, you can run this command to monitor it:

Code:

sudo tail -f /var/log/messages

Edit: If you're using WPA, network-manager has a known problem that causes constant drops. Try using wicd instead (it will remove network-manager):

Code:

sudo apt-get install wicd
wicd-client &

Edit #3: Updated howto for 2.6.31-rc5

 

i was visiting friends where i encountered the wireless problem, and didn't get around to fixing it... but they were using WAP, so it's quite plausible that switching to wicd would have fixed things... would you suggest changing to wicd just the same, or is wicd and network-manager much of a muchness (i'm currently back to being wired)?

 

Yeah wicd is a good network manager, it's safe to use, but it's not a big deal unless you experience problems.

 

I just updated to BIOS 217 and I'm having trouble getting GDM to work under Intel graphics. Just reinstalled Ubuntu 9.04 and followed your guide (though I think I messed up the nvidia-common file swap). I can get a login screen but when I try to log in, I end up with a back screen. I try to stop and restart GDM but it fails upon starting.

Also, put my Atheros card for Wifi back in. And still having connection issues with it. My dmesg throughput shows:

 

It sounds like you have a problem with the Intel files, either a version mismatch or a broken system link. Try repeating the steps from the howto.

For the wireless dropping, try using wicd instead of network-manager. See post 566 above. You can also try increasing the MAX_TRIES and TIMEOUTs in mlme.c.

 

I have more Intel problems. I followed the instructions carefully this time and after rebooting after having installed the NVIDIA graphics I get a blank screen. I can reach the login screen but then a blank screen with the cursor on the screen. If I go into the terminals it will return to a blank screen (the non-working X) and then have to re-return to the terminals to reset. Last time I tried to replace compiz with metacity, the NVIDIA aspect broke as well.

It's strange, it was working fine before I tried to dual boot NVIDIA graphics.

I'm dual booting with XP if that has any meaning at all. And my CPU is now at stock speed since I treasured my battery life. Do you have any ideas?

Edit: tried to stop and then start gdm. no success.

 

Look for error lines in /var/log/Xorg.0.log:

Code:

grep -i ee /var/log/Xorg.0.log

As I've already said, your intel files are probably version mismatched (or missing). Totally remove NVIDIA, reinstall the two packages, and copy fresh versions of the two files to ~/intel.

Edit: Also, make sure nvidia-glx is purged with no errors or warnings:

Code:

sudo dpkg -P nvidia-glx

Edit #2: Updated howto for 2.6.31-rc6.

Edit #3: Added Magnify and power mode buttons section. Lets you use the two buttons next to the power button as play/pause and next track. Updated hotkeys and suspend/resume sections.

 

I fixed it. It turns out the problem was when Ubuntu tried to update itself. I don't know which updated packed does it though.

Also, I want to know if I can get the light switch to remain permanently off in Linux. Having to enter a terminal and echo it in is annoying. What can be done?

 

Nice. Check out post 487 for the light sensor problem.

 

For future reference, there's a file called /etc/rc.local. Every command you put in there will be run at boot time. Alternatively, commands written in ~/.bashrc will be run every time you log in and/or open a terminal.

These are just quick and dirty alternatives to AuG's startup script method, which is a bit more refined.

 

Yeah, throwing the command at the end of rc.local is easier. Another easy way would be to add it as a startup application in Gnome, but for some reason that doesn't work on Ubuntu. Debian never had rc.local until recently so I didn't even think to mention that. My script example still isn't the *right* way since it doesn't have LSB stuffs so I'm not sure how 'refined' it really is

 

I think the problem is with UXA, I'm not positive. I've made some posts here trying to get to the root of the problem with another Ubuntu user. I don't have Ubuntu installed so I can't test it, but I think if you change UXA to EXA in my xorg.conf.intel that should allow you to update without having this issue. If you try it please let me know

Edit: It is UXA that is the problem. I've uploaded a new xorg.conf.intel which solves the issue. You can still try UXA to see if a new update is stable, I've left it commented out right below the EXA line in the file.

Edit 2: Updated howto for 2.6.30.5

Edit 3: Updated howto for 2.6.31-rc7, NVIDIA 190.25

Edit 4: Added CPU frequency scaling section. Updated startup & resume issues section - the asus_laptop script isn't needed anymore for me on Debian Sid.

 

hey

i've upgraded to the latest kernel (2.6.30.5), and when i tried to add the cpu frequency scaling (as directed), it said:

You will not be able to modify the frequency of your machine. Your machine may be misconfigured or not have hardware support for CPU frequency scaling.


i do now have the icon up on the panel, but left-clicking on it does nothing, and when i put the pointer on it it says:

CPU 0 -Frequency scaling unsupported 1.60 GHz (100%)


i'm using the n10e

 

Hi, CPU freq scaling is a new section so I appreciate any feedback on it.

First make sure you have the acpi_cpufreq module loaded:

Code:

lsmod | grep freq

You should see output like this:

Code:

acpi_cpufreq            9008  0
cpufreq_stats           4884  0
cpufreq_conservative     7840  0
cpufreq_powersave       1728  0
cpufreq_ondemand        7792  1
cpufreq_userspace       3460  1
freq_table              4864  3 acpi_cpufreq,cpufreq_stats,cpufreq_ondemand
processor              40172  3 acpi_cpufreq

Also make sure you have the following packages installed:

Code:

dpkg --get-selections | grep acpi

Code:

acpi						install
acpi-support					install
acpi-support-base				install
acpid						install

Code:

dpkg --get-selections | grep freq

Code:

cpufrequtils					install
libcpufreq0					install

 

when i type:

lsmod | grep freq

it does nothing, so i assume i don't have it installed... how do i install it?

 

Code:

sudo modprobe acpi_cpufreq

If you're missing any packages:

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install package1 package2 etc

Edit: Also you'll need to reload the applet after loading the module, so run:

Code:

killall cpufreq-applet

And it should ask you if you want to reload it. If not just run cpufreq-applet.

 

hmm, when i type:

sudo modprobe acpi_cpufreq

i get:

WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base, it will be ignored in a future release.

oh, and i'm not sure which packages you are talking about, do you mean the one's from the previous post where you said:

Also make sure you have the following packages installed:


Code:

dpkg --get-selections | grep acpi

Code:

acpi install
acpi-support install
acpi-support-base install
acpid install

Code:

dpkg --get-selections | grep freq

Code:

cpufrequtils install
libcpufreq0 install

 

Yes those are the packages in the left hand column that I'm talking about. Ignore that warning on modprobe -- the module loaded successfully. Try reloading the applet and it may work, or you might need to install some packages first.

 

alright, i reloaded the applet, and now when i put the pointer on the cpu frequency icon it says

CPU 0 -Performance 1.60 GHz (100%)

whn i left click on it, it just gives me one option, which is 'performance'

when i type:

lsmod | grep freq


i now get:

acpi_cpufreq 7632 0
freq_table 4028 1 acpi_cpufreq
processor 34608 3 acpi_cpufreq


does this mean some of the packages are not installed?


and (sorry, i'm being slow), for the packages, so i need to type:

dpkg --get-selections | grep acpi

and then type (i.e.):

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install acpi

(and then so on?)

 

You're missing all the cpufreq modules... so load them:

Code:

sudo modprobe freq_table
sudo modprobe cpufreq_powersave
sudo modprobe cpufreq_conservative
sudo modprobe cpufreq_ondemand
sudo modprobe cpufreq_userspace

Reload the applet once again and it should show the other modes.

Edited to prevent future confusion from doing it wrong.

 

i typed:

sudo modprobe freq_table cpufreq_powersave cpufreq_conservative cpufreq_ondemand cpufreq_userspace

and it gave me the same wanring as before, but i assume that again this is fine

i then started the applet, but nothing seems to have changed

and when i type:

lsmod | grep freq


i still get:

acpi_cpufreq 7632 0
freq_table 4028 1 acpi_cpufreq
processor 34608 3 acpi_cpufreq

 

The warning about .conf files is fine and may be repeated over multiple lines, but anything else is not. It looks like the modules aren't loading.

Again make sure the packages are installed:

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install acpi acpi-support acpi-support-base acpid cpufrequtils libcpufreq0

Then try reloading the modules and make sure they show up in lsmod. If they don't show up in lsmod they are not loading, and you will not see the modes.

 

when i type:

sudo apt-get install acpi acpi-support acpi-support-base acpid cpufrequtils libcpufreq0

i get:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
acpi-support is already the newest version.
Package acpi-support-base is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package acpi-support-base has no installation candidate

 

Alright, I'm just going off my Debian Sid install, so in that case just try the last two:

Code:

sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils libcpufreq0

With dpkg --get-selections you can tell which packages you have installed, that was why I recommended doing it that way. I'm not sure what you have installed and what you are missing.

 

Haha, I am an idiot. You can't modprobe multiple things at once, I shouldn't have typed that. Try this:

Code:

sudo modprobe freq_table
sudo modprobe cpufreq_powersave
sudo modprobe cpufreq_conservative
sudo modprobe cpufreq_ondemand
sudo modprobe cpufreq_userspace

killall cpufreq-applet and it should work, lols.

 

okay, so i did that, and i get:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
cpufrequtils libcpufreq0
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 44.5kB of archives.
After this operation, 332kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://pl.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/universe libcpufreq0 004-2 [12.6kB]
Get:2 http://pl.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/universe cpufrequtils 004-2 [31.9kB]
Fetched 44.5kB in 0s (355kB/s)
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously deselected package libcpufreq0.
(Reading database ... 169353 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libcpufreq0 (from .../libcpufreq0_004-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package cpufrequtils.
Unpacking cpufrequtils (from .../cpufrequtils_004-2_i386.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up libcpufreq0 (004-2) ...

Setting up cpufrequtils (004-2) ...
* CPUFreq Utilities: Setting ondemand CPUFreq governor... * disabled, governor not available... [ OK ]

Processing triggers for libc6 ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place


then when i type:

lsmod | grep freq


i still get:

acpi_cpufreq 7632 0
freq_table 4028 1 acpi_cpufreq
processor 34608 3 acpi_cpufreq

i'm happy to do the dpkg method (and find out what it is that i have installed and what not), i just wansn't sure what it was that i was supposed to do

 

Don't worry about dpkg at this point, all the packages should be installed, just modprobe all those modules (did you see my last post? ). Sorry about that.

 

yeah, i wrote that before seeing the last post.. have now done what you said in the last post and it looks to be working.. huzzah!

so now that it is (or at least seems to be) working, what is it the cpu frequency monitor thingy does?

 

It should let you change between 4 modes: Powersave, Performance, Ondemand and Conservative; and 4 clock speeds: 800 MHz, 1.07 GHz, 1.33 GHz, and 1.6 GHz. You can make it smaller by hiding the icon by right clicking on it and selecting Preferences and selecting Text on the Appearance drop-down.

 

cool, thanks.

 

Glad it works on Ubuntu now, I'm not sure why the modules didn't load automatically for you. If it doesn't work now after a reboot without manually loading the modules let me know. I'll have to mention something in the guide at least, I thought it would have been ready to go.

Basically powersave and 800MHz will allow the longest battery life but significantly decrease the usability of the machine, performance and 1.6GHz are the best for most stuff, Ondemand is sort of a switch between modes based on how much CPU is being used, and Conservative is a bit of a middle-ground between powersave and Ondemand (as far as I can tell). I was messing with the Eee PC ACPI utilities and just thought that I should include this for the N10 guide, since the Eee ACPI (and netbook-dkms, but that is a whole different subject - overclocking) utilities and modules don't work for the N10.

Edit: Updated howto for 2.6.31-rc8

 

i did a shutdown and rebooted, and things seem to be still working.. only thing was that it started up with both CPU0 and CPU1 set at 'ondemand' and at 800GHz.. which i then had to manually change


it was set at 'performance' and 1.60GHz when i shutdown

 

Apologies, my web server went down for 6 hours last night due to a power outage. I want to move the files off of my personal web server since this is maybe the 3rd outage this summer. If anyone has experience with a reliable free file host supporting hotlinking (or has reliable webspace to offer) please let me know. Uploading to the forum here is not a solution since A) it has its own downtime issues and B) membership is required to download attachments.

 

Have you looked at ADrive.com? I think it fits your needs, though I'm not sure.

 

Thanks, tried it but when I try to wget public files with a free account it says:

I've tried almost all of these on this page without success... I'll have to keep looking.

Edit: New primary mirror is http://allurgroceries.com/n10/. All of the files will be on both servers so if that goes down use http://allurgroceries.is-a-chef.com/n10/.

Edit #2: Update for ALSA 1.0.21