It's pretty simple really, since the entire system fits on a CD, which can be blown from either Windows or Linux.

It can also be put on a Thumb-Drive, but the instructions depend on which type of desktop you're doing the preparation from. You could even build the whole distribution from the ground up, if you wanted to.

Since you need to boot the Eee from something attached to a USB port, your choices are :

• External CDROM (go for the ISO version - and blow it to CDR on any platform)
• USB Thumb drive - getting this bootable depends on the desktop system you're starting from.

On 20-Feb-2008, the name of the download page is changing (for IRL reasons) from EeeDora.RMBSanalytics.com to EeeDora.ComplexValues.com - it may take a couple of days for the DNS stuff to settle down, though - apologies

• Download the ISO version from download page :
  • Save the ISO somewhere memorable - it'll be <350Mb
• Blow the ISO to CDROM using whatever software is convenient for writing a CDROM image.

• Download the ISO version from download page :
  • Save the ISO somewhere memorable - it'll be <350Mb
• Since you're running Fedora:
  • you can use the linux command ”livecd-iso-to-disk XYZ.iso /dev/sdb1”, where XYZ.iso is the name of the ISO file, and /dev/sdb1 is the name of the USB key partition where you want the image.
  • The image is added non-destructively, so other files on the disk should be preserved.
• if you don't have ”livecd-iso-to-disk” installed, you will need to install the ”livecd-tools” package (and dependencies). The easiest way to to this is to use yum:
  • (as root) # yum install -y livecd-tools

• Download the ZIP version from download page :
  • Save the ZIP somewhere memorable - it'll be <350Mb
• Format the USB drive
• Unzip the files into a directory (suppose this is C:\Temp\EeeDoraZip)
• From a Command Prompt :
  • get on the right drive with C: (where the files were extracted)
  • enter the directory with cd \Temp\EeeDoraZip\ (where the files were extracted)
  • run syslinux -ma F: (assuming the thumb-drive is your F: drive)
  • run xcopy /s *.* F:\ (to copy the two main directories onto the thumbdrive - takes about 5 mins total for 10 files)
• The EeeDora image is added non-destructively, so other files on the drive should be preserved (apart from any previous bootloader)

• Download the ZIP version from download page :
  • Save the ZIP somewhere memorable - it'll be <350Mb
• Format the USB drive 'vfat'
• Run syslinux /dev/sdb1 (supposing that /dev/sdb1 is the name of the USB key partition where you want the image)
• Extract the image to the thumb-drive :
  • mkdir /media/disk1/
  • mount /dev/sdb1 /media/disk1
  • gunzip XYZ.zip -d /media/disk1/ - which should put two directories /syslinux and /LiveOS onto the thumb-drive's root directory
• The image is added non-destructively, so other files on the drive should be preserved (apart from any previous bootloader)

1. Plug the device into the Eee, and switch it on
   • If you've installed the ZIP version, you have to stick the thumb drive into the USB socket on the near right side of the computer when you're looking at the screen (chose the one furthest from the screen, nearest you, on the right)
   • Unless you've already done so, hit F2 to get to the BIOS setup - and on the Boot screen, change the Hard Disk boot order so that USB drive is at the top of the list, then press F10 to save and exit
2. If you see the EeeDora splash screen, and the count-down, you should be in business…
3. XFCE should boot automatically

• There are some hot-keys set up already :
  • Ctrl-Alt-T : Brings up a Terminal
  • Ctrl-Alt-F : Brings up a File-Finder (Thunar)
  • Ctrl-Alt-B : Brings up a Browser (Firefox)
  • Ctrl-Alt-W : Brings up Wifi-Radar (to connect to an access-point)

• Whether you like it or not, Firefox has a couple of Addons installed and set up :
  • TabBrowser Preferences - makes browsing a little more comfortable
  • Distrust - for the paranoid amongst us

• Inevitably, many things will require root access (major example: yum)
  • the root password defaults to eeedora - lame, I know.

• Networking :
  • The ethernet works as eth0
  • The WiFi can be brought up using wifi-radar under the network tab, or the Ctrl-Alt-W shortcut key

• Security :
  • For the webbrowser : Distrust plugin installed by default
  • For the user : Truecrypt module is installed - so your data can be encrypted strongly

• Addons :
  • There's a script in /root/eee-setup/addons/install that makes it easy to install a wide variety of stuff - like OpenOffice, media players, flash, java, etc…

There are quite a lot of quirky things that still need to be sorted out.

Please see the issues page to see what needs fixing, and see whether you can contribute a hint or a solution…