I decided to try out Linux Mint 6 on my Asus Eee 901, after hitting some glitches that crept up in 5 - and after experiencing failure getting the LM 5 XFCE version onto a wired network (looked great and ran fast, but gotta have connectivity).
Felicia (based on the Ubuntu Intrepid kernel) looks like a good fit, but it still needs a couple of tweaks to get everything running properly on the 901. I tried installing, from a USB stick (see directions below), Linux Mint 6 Universal Edition [1.2G] and had some problems when trying to install it on the 4G [Master Asus Phison SSD / SCSI2 000, sda] drive, and my goal was not to load it all on the 16G [Slave Asus Phison SSD / SCSI2 010, sdb] space. So I waited a couple more weeks until Linux Mint 6 Main [680M] hit and tried that one. The initial install worked out well and included all the necessary drivers to get the 901 on a wired network, display well and to play music (did not try the webcam). Turns out you still need to download Array’s custom kernel to get the wireless card recognized - unless you are one of those who have replaced the Ralink 2860 miniPCI card with something a little more popular…
How to create a USB or SDHC-based LM 6 Main Edition:
- Prep your USB stick or SDHC card by COMPLETELY formatting it. I use the HP USB Storage Format Tool v2.1.8.
- Download Linux Mint 6 Main Edition ISO, and put it somewhere you will remember - but NOT on your USB/SDHC!
- Download UNetbootin (v3.04 or newer), and run it.
- In UNetbootin, under the “Disk Image” select where you saved the LM6 ISO.
- Make sure to select the correct USB / SDHC drive and away you go.
How to install Linux Mint 6 Main on your Asus Eee 901:
- Plug your USB / SDHC into your Eee and turn it on.
- Press the [ESC] key when you see the BIOS logo and post screen pop up.
- You should see a blue ASCII menu pop up offering boot device options. You will see two Asus Phison SSD drives and whatever other media you have plugged in. Choose your USB / SDHC drive.
- Select “Default” when the grey Linux Mint boot selector screen pops up.
- Once Linux Mint 6 Main completely loads, double-click on the Install icon shown on the desktop. From here on it’s a normal installation.
- NOTE: Don’t run a system update until AFTER you have run the following tweaks. I found that I had kernel install quirks if I updated (wired connection) from Linux Mint before I added Array.org’s custom Asus kernel.
How to tweak Linux Mint 6 Main for the Asus Eee 901:
Custom kernel:
- After a reboot open up a terminal window and type the following:
wget http://www.array.org/ubuntu/array-intrepid.list
sudo mv -v array-intrepid.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/
wget http://www.array.org/ubuntu/array-apt-key.asc
sudo apt-key add array-apt-key.asc
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-eeepc-lean
- Once this is done, you’ve fixed 99% of the quirks and issues. Array.org’s Intrepid Setup was used as the source for the above.
- Next, you want to move /home and the Swap Space from the tiny 4G SSD you have to the larger 16G SSD. This will keep the OS from choking itself to death as you continue to use it in the coming weeks and months.
Moving Swap and /home:
- asd