Installing on the Dell Mini 12

[Tiler]

Anyone still working on the Mini 12?

Yep. CrazyDesi, You and I howdied at the dellmini forum, I think. Mine was shipped with the Dell ubuntu and I tried installing the UNR img with ImageWriter. It also seems to be looking for all the lpia packages.

Everyone seems to be having better luck with UNR when they convert from regular Hardy. I've tried several different approaches to installing vanilla Hardy but the Live CD can't see the Hard Drive (not SSD). This issue is well documented and I've basically given up this approach.

Now, I've got UNR installed but have access to a limited list of items in Add/Remove. This particular mini-12 is a gift and I'm hesitant to give it because I'm not sure if the end-user is going to have access to the full list of third-party apps. Wine, for example shows up in the list but disallows the install.

I've tried to sort through sources.list in other installs to pick and choose which ones to add but it still seems to end up wrong.

I opened a ticket with the UNR team to get the Software Sources changed in the UNR img but it hasn't been open long.

[zero4281]

Wine, for example shows up in the list but disallows the install.

I'm able to install and run wine in the hardy install of UNR. My system is up to date. Here's my sources.list:

deb http://netbook-remix.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy main universe multiverse restricted
deb-src http://netbook-remix.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy main universe multiverse restricted

deb http://netbook-remix.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main universe multiverse restricted
deb-src http://netbook-remix.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main universe multiverse restricted

deb http://netbook-remix.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security main universe multiverse restricted
deb-src http://netbook-remix.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security main universe multiverse restricted

deb http://netbook-remix.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-netbook-base main universe multiverse restricted
deb-src http://netbook-remix.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-netbook-base main universe multiverse restricted

deb http://netbook-remix.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-netbook-remix main universe multiverse restricted
deb-src http://netbook-remix.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-netbook-remix main universe multiverse restricted

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mobile/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mobile/ubuntu hardy main

deb http://netbook-remix.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy-netbook-remix-proposed main universe multiverse restricted

[Belveder]

Hi,

I don't know if anybody of you already had access to IEGD 9.1.1. I did not have and it was not available for download from Intel as fas as I know. However, this is what I found just minutes ago

http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=511213

Anyone interested in trying this? Unfortunately I do not have our Panasonic Toughbook CF-U1 at hand right now, but I will have a look at the Linux and the XP drivers as well.

Regards
Clemens

[pistoncito]

I used to have crashes of the X system when I am compiling software. Someone else with this problem? I had the original Ubuntu and UNR updates.

By the way, which is the best configuration for the HDD click?

[kylecronan]

X crashes are normal at this point, until Intel fixes the driver for real. The clicking can be fixed in the way described in earlier posts- doesn't matter which configuration you're using.

[Chris B]

I've had my Mini 12 for about a week now. The first set of brteag00's instructions (in post #94) worked perfectly for getting 2D set up (thanks!)

I decided to start trying to get 3D working but without success, and I'm not sure where I'm going wrong. I don't pretend to know much about how everything works, but I'm reasonably good at following directions.

So far
(1) The firmware is in the right place (checked using dmesg)
(2) My Xorg.0.log file shows "Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//Xpsb.so" and "Xpsb extension for 3D engine acceleration enabled."

but glxinfo says (among many other messages):

ERROR! sizeof(PsbDRIRec) does not match passed size from device driver
libGL warning: 3D driver returned no fbconfigs.
libGL error: InitDriver failed
libGL error: reverting to (slow) indirect rendering
direct rendering: No

As I said, I don't really know what to look for or how to fix this. Any hints? I don't think I missed a step anywhere...

[microman777]

Man, I just ordered the Dell Mini 12 with Ubuntu pre-installed, and now after reading this thread, I'm worried about using it.

I can't comprehend how Dell would release a new laptop with an OS all full of glitches.

[Chris B]

Okay, I'm a glutton for punishment. Just for fun I thought I'd see if I could get a dual-boot Windows setup going. Everything went fine until I tried to configure GRUB: the Live CD won't recognize the Mini 12's hard drive! I tried several different versions I have lying around, including a Mythbuntu 8.10 CD I used to set up my DIY DVR. None of them can see the internal hard drive.

Now I can't even boot back into Ubuntu . Any advice on how to configure GRUB?

[kylecronan]

Chris, I can't say for sure. Please provide more information on _exactly_ what you're trying to do. Which LiveCD you were installing from when it failed to set up grub, for example.

If you have everything installed, but grub is messed up, then here's what you do: boot an installer cd/usb, mount your linux partition, chroot into that mountpoint, run grub, issue the setup command. Obviously, that's the abbreviated version.

[Chris B]

Kyle, thanks a lot for the reply. Let me explain what I've done:

(1) Started with a blank HDD and tried several LiveCD's to install Ubuntu (8.04.1, 8.04.2, 8.10). None of them recognized my internal HDD.
(2) Installed successfully from UNR CD, made recommended modifications; worked great.
(3) Used a Gparted Live CD to repartition HDD, making a 10GB partition for Windows (sits before UNR-installed partition). Saved a copy of my menu.lst file on a USB stick.
(4) Installed WinXP on the new partition, losing ability to boot into Ubuntu.
(5) Booted to a live CD (used 8.04.2) ran GRUB, when I try the command "root (hd*,*)" I just get "Error 21: Selected disk does not exist."

I'm guessing my problem is that I don't know how to get my linux filesystem mounted. Sorry for such a basic question in a rather specific thread.

Edit: I figured out how to mount the HDD when booting from the Gparted Live CD. I ran GRUB from that and then messed things up. I think my linux partition switched from hd0,0 to hd0,1 after the windows partition was formatted. So I changed the menu.lst settings for the ubuntu filesystem to hd0,1; it was originally hd0,0. Then in GRUB I did "root (hd0,1)" followed by "setup (hd0)." Now it boots to the ubuntu splashscreen but then just hangs. I'm going to experiment with a few different iterations of the menu.lst file...

Edit2: Now it's booting into Windows XP again, but no GRUB menu appearing. Here's what the relevant lines from my menu.lst file looks like (I'm assuming this is where the bootloader looks?):

Edit3: Finally have dual-boot working perfectly. I had to change a line in my fstab because after installing on the previously-unused partition my linux partition became /dev/sda2 (had been sda1). Also changed the root location in my menu.lst to /dev/sda2.