If the following instructions cause your computer to get stuck in a boot loop, you will need to restore the files /usr/bin/startsimple.sh and /usr/bin/startfull.sh. You can find unmodified copies at http://download.tuxfamily.org/eeepcrepos/
Network Status Monitor Gone from Task Bar If your network status monitor disappears from the taskbar, it is because the original networkmonitor program has been replaced by /usr/bin/networkmonitor2. The monitor can be restored by editing /usr/bin/startsimple.sh and changing the reference to “networkmonitor” to “networkmonitor2”.
Network Status Monitor Always Shows Wireless as Disconnected If the network status monitor then always shows the wireless disconnected, check the interface name using the shell command “netstat -i”. The default line for the network monitor is “networkmonitor ath0 eth0 &”. ath0 and eth0 are the names of the network interfaces it is supposed to monitor. Various updates may cause the wireless network device name to change to ra0 or wifi0. If so, see which it is using the netstat -i command, then replace ath0 with the correct device name in /usr/bin/startsimple.sh
There are a number of different ways to enable Advanced Desktop Mode. This wiki article contains the following ways:
The Wizard method does the same as the Easy method but otherwise there are slight differences in what you end up with by way of Advanced Desktop installation. If you choose to do the manual installation read the relevant instructions very carefully otherwise you could end up without the ability to have your icons on your desktop.
Note: All of these methods require you to be connected to the Internet on your EeePC.
Now everyone with an Asus EEE PC (2GB, 4GB or 8GB) can easily enable the advanced desktop using Synaptic.
The scripts from the bottom of this page have been rolled into a .deb package to make this easy to install. It also uninstalls nicely, leaving your system the way it found it (although kicker and ksmserver remain installed, making advanced desktop still available).
It depends on kicker and ksmserver, the specific version offered by Asus, so if you have Debian or Xandros repos enabled, you may get an error message.
As a bonus, it also includes the script that disables the popup on booting if you leave in your SD card.
(there is a conflict with the libqt3c102-mt package)
OPTIONAL: this will simplify the following steps, but it means explicitly trusting the Community Repository. Type the following two lines at the prompt within the terminal, pressing Enter after each:
wget http://download.tuxfamily.org/eeepcrepos/key.asc sudo apt-key add key.asc
http://download.tuxfamily.org/eeepcrepos
http://update.eeepc.asus.com/p701/
$ sudo apt-get install advanced-desktop-eeepc
Each time you restart your computer, it will use the mode you were last in (easy mode or advanced desktop). To switch back to easy mode, click the Launch button and click Easy Mode (second last entry).
If you get the error message 'Could not mark all packages for installation or upgrade' followed by 'advanced-desktop-eeepc: Depends: kicker but it is not going to be installed, Depends: ksmserver but it is not going to be installed'.
Either you didn't reload (update) the repository list, or you have added a repository that contains a newer version of kicker and ksmserver than Asus is providing. Here's what you should do: Open Synaptic (ctrl-alt-T, type “sudo synaptic”). Click Settings… Repositories You should have: *
update.eeepc.asus.com/p701/
with the distribution “p701” and section “main”. *
download.tuxfamily.org/eeepcrepos/
with the distribution “p701” and section “main”. Both of these should have check marks. You should NOT have checkmarks next to any other entries. Click OK. Click the RELOAD button on the menu bar. Try installing advanced-desktop-eeepc again.
If you get an error about unmountable card while inserting SD card, it's because by default, the mount point is not created, just create the /media folder, and cards and usb will work well with this version. In the console, type : sudo mkdir /media Then, your SD cards will mount automatically.
This will remove the possibility of starting directly in advanced desktop. If you want to remove all possibility of using the advanced desktop, you also need to mark for removal: kicker and ksmserver, then apply.
As explained on the forum you can download derred's pimpmyeee.sh script to your user directory, open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+t) and run:
sh pimpmyeee.sh
Note: This method will only reboot into Easy Mode. In order to boot into Advanced Mode you will need to follow the instructions Simple Way to boot into Advanced Mode below and, in order to maintain the your icons on your Advanced Mode desktop, as well as improving booting speed, the instructions to Boot directly into the mode last used: Easy Mode or Advanced Desktop Mode below.
When you run the pimpmyeee.sh script it will give you options to do the following:
Note 1: If you enable the repositories using this script, your sources list will be as follows:
# Standard repos deb http://update.eeepc.asus.com/p701/ p701 main deb http://update.eeepc.asus.com/p701/en/ p701 main # Comunity repos that should be great but just **** with my system #deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/eeepcrepos/ p701 main etch # Xandros repos deb http://xnv4.xandros.com/xs2.0/upkg-srv2 etch main contrib non-free deb http://dccamirror.xandros.com/dccri/ dccri-3.0 main deb http://www.geekconnection.org/ xandros4 main # Debian repos deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free
and your preferences file as follows:
Package: *" Pin: origin update.eeepc.asus.com" Pin-Priority: 950" Package: *" Pin: origin" Pin-Priority: 925" Package: *" Pin: origin xnv4.xandros.com" Pin-Priority: 900" Package: *" Pin: origin dccamirror.xandros.com" Pin-Priority: 850" Package: *" Pin: origin www.geekconnection.org" Pin-Priority: 750" Package: *" Pin: release a=stable" Pin-Priority: 700" Package: *" Pin: release a=testing" Pin-Priority: 650" Package: *" Pin: release a=unstable" Pin-Priority: 600" Package: *"
Note 2: If you select “Enable all codec support” it installs an older version of mplayer that should have full codec support including h.264 (Extra repositories MUST be enabled).
There is also an undo script (not finished) at the same link above.
derred's disclaimer: “This program comes with no warranties specific or implied. I tested the cr4p out of it on my own system but I make no promises it wont turn yours into the excrement of an atomic/radioactive hamster(R)(TM)”
NB: Before doing this, remove any repositories you may have added. You ONLY want to use the packages from the Asus update repositories. To do this: ctrl-alt-T, sudo kwrite /etc/apt/sources.list. Put '#' (no quotes) in front of any repositories other than the Asus ones. Save and close. Then, sudo apt-get update.
If you're installing on a 900 first do this: http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=264162#p264162
This method will get you the components needed for the 'full desktop', which is the K Desktop Environment (KDE). You must be connected to the internet before doing this.
After this command, on my 901 I get:"Package ksmserver has no installation candidate" (it's probably becouse default Asus repositories of 900 and 901 have differen packages) adding repository "http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian stable main non-free contrib" solved this problem
The comment for 901 above does not work for my 901. It upgrade many softwares and finally fail. I add two lines of 701 to /etc/apt/sources.list to solve it: deb http://update.eeepc.asus.com/p701 p701 main deb http://update.eeepc.asus.com/p701/en p701 main Then run "apt-get update" and "apt-get install ksmserver kicker".
NB: Now you need to choose either Simple Way and Boot Directly or Another Simple Way below. You're not done yet.
NOTE: After installing ksmserver on my EEE 901 Network and Wireless network icons disappeared, as well as some programs. However, network still works with DHCP.
UPDATE: For 901 see notes here
Using this method will result in a sort of “double boot” that will lengthen the startup time by about ten seconds. If you only use this method, your desktop icons and any files you saved to the desktop will disappear at each reboot. In order to maintain them, as well as improving booting speed, you need also to follow the instructions to Boot directly into the mode last used: Easy Mode or Advanced Desktop Mode below.
This method remembers which mode you were using the next time you start the computer. It also avoids the “double boot” effect. It seems to properly recognize SD cards and USB devices and shows the Windows Network in file manager (previously common problems). One issue which arises from using this method, however, is that booting directly into Advanced Mode ignores any settings requiring a password to be entered; booting into Easy Mode does require a password if it is set to require it.
The following instructions produce exactly the same effect as installing the package above using synaptic.
WARNING: Incorrectly editing startsimple.sh may result in an “unbootable” system that can only be recovered by either using a Live Linux Distro on a CDRom or Flash drive to restore a copy of startsimple.sh, or by performing a full system recovery (pressing F9 during bootup).
First do Enabling to full desktop mode (KDE) above.
Don't forget to back up the original startsimple.sh file (sudo cp /usr/bin/startsimple.sh /usr/bin/startsimple.sh.bak) Don't forget to back up the original startfull.sh file (sudo cp /usr/bin/startfull.sh /usr/bin/startfull.sh.bak)
Edit the files by copying the text below, launch a console and type: sudo kwrite /usr/bin/startfull.sh. Paste in the text.
startfull.sh:
#!/bin/sh touch /home/user/.kdesession #changed killall xinit
startsimple.sh:
#!/bin/sh sudo /usr/bin/sessreg -d -l :0.0 -u /var/run/utmp user xhost + si:localuser:root # Allow local user root only to access the diplay # Note: some unnecessary bits have been removed form this script. # Most notably the section that plays Russian Roulette with your desktop is better off deleted imho. if [ -f /home/user/.kdesession -a ! -f /home/user/.easysession ]; then #changed sudo /usr/bin/sessreg -a -l :0.0 -u /var/run/utmp user [ -f /usr/bin/dispwatch ] && /usr/bin/dispwatch & for i in /sys/block/s[dr]?/uevent ; do sudo /bin/sh -c "echo add > $i" done (sleep 8; /opt/xandros/bin/start_netserv) & #added (sleep 16; /usr/local/bin/asusosd) & #added sudo rm -f /tmp/nologin #changed exec startkde else sudo /usr/bin/sessreg -a -l :0.0 -u /var/run/utmp user if [ -f /home/user/.easysession ]; then # we are switching from full to easy mode sudo rm -f /home/user/.kdesession #added for i in /sys/block/s[dr]?/uevent ; do sudo /bin/sh -c "echo add > $i" done fi /opt/xandros/bin/AsusLauncher & icewmtray & [ -n "$XIM_PROGRAM" ] && $XIM_PROGRAM & powermonitor & minimixer & networkmonitor ath0 eth0 & wapmonitor & (sleep 3; /usr/bin/keyboardstatus) & (sleep 8; /opt/xandros/bin/start_netserv) & (sleep 16; /usr/local/bin/asusosd) & sudo rm /tmp/nologin [ -f /usr/bin/dispwatch ] && /usr/bin/dispwatch & exec icewm fi
I found on my 901 that I lost my network and hybrid-engine icons with the above script. I replaced two lines as follows
#networkmonitor ath0 eth0 & #wapmonitor & /usr/bin/networkmonitor2 ra0 eth0 & /opt/super-hybrid-engine/super-hybrid-engine &
Make sure that all scripts are executable before rebooting! “ls -l” (followed by the filenames) shows read/write/execute status. “chmod 755” (followed by the filenames) will set the filenames to be executable.
Startsimple.sh is called every time the OS loads.
Xinit is a symbolic link to startsimple.sh.
Startfull.sh is called by the easy mode shutdown dialog when the user clicks the Full Desktop button.
/opt/xandros/bin/start_netserv is required for the Windows Network to be accessible in the File Manager.
This way you will directly boot into KDE, with usb (?) and samba shares fully working, but printers not working (http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=60108#p60108). All the changes are made in the user directory, so the side effects are reduced, and reversion is simple as an rm -f .xinitrc. Note: The “Easy Mode” option in the KDE launch menu does not work in this setup. To revert to Easy Mode you'll need to rename, move or delete the .xinitrc file.
WARNING: This may not work on an eee 901, causing the X server to crash on startup.
First open a terminal (by hitting Ctrl-Alt-t) and open the .xinitrc file in your home (/home/user) directory with your loved text editor (e.g. nano -w .xinitrc), then paste this in :
.xinitrc:
#Needed to get automount working xhost + si:localuser:root sudo rm /tmp/nologin #Needed to get the network working sudo /opt/xandros/bin/start_netserv & startkde
Save (Ctrl-X and Y with nano) and reboot.
X is and has always been a bit of a minefield, lots of funky stuff going on in all sorts of complex shell scripts. Anyway I found this seems not to break anything, its similar to the previous method and also quite simple.
Create a new file called what ever you like in /etc/X11/Xsession.d/:
11startkde:
#!/bin/sh #added by me to start kde instead of icewm touch /tmp/kdesession
I found that kde not all kde processes weren't started properly unless I added a line from the icewm start section of /usr/bin/x-session-manager (the script which defaults to start up the window manager), to the kde section.
elif [ -f /tmp/kdesession -a ! -f /home/user/.easysession ]; then sudo /usr/bin/sessreg -a -l :0.0 -u /var/run/utmp user if [ ! -d /home/user/Desktop ]; then if [ -d /home/user/.Desktop ]; then mv /home/user/.Desktop /home/user/Desktop fi fi [ -f /usr/bin/dispwatch ] && /usr/bin/dispwatch & for i in /sys/block/s[dr]?/uevent ; do sudo /bin/sh -c "echo add > $i" done sudo rm -f /tmp/kdesession /tmp/nologin --> /opt/xandros/bin/start_netserv & exec startkde
The problem I encountered was the signal from acpid when the power button was pressed to dcop, didn't launch the logout dialog. Calling start_netserver fixes this.
When switching between Easy and Advanced desktops the presence of /tmp/kdesession and lack of another file, /home/user/.easysession, indicates that the desktop is switching between mode.
