Eee PC + Xubuntu + wi-fi?

[peanut]

Any windows doesn't have problems? There are no "thousands of posts" on, say, virus problems?

Look, let's not getting into a pissing contest over this. The OP wanted help with Xubuntu. Your recommendation is to ditch it and go Windows. That's fine and I have no problem with you giving that advice. It's up to Chrisz what he does. I'm prepared, where I can, to assist if he stays on the linux path.

Well if you have no problem with my advice why did you recommend that the OP ignore my advice ?

. I have spent some time searching the net and reading articles in order to provide the poster with practical useful advice to help solve the current problems the op has with his laptop and os .
You on the other hand have posted a criticism of my suggestion and argued about how wonderful Linux is for you and your purpose and actually contributed nothing that helps the OP with their wireless problem.

 

[peanut]

With linux you can pick the version that suits your needs/hardware, rather than having to install lots that isn't required.There is no equivilent from ms, no 'windows lite'. There isn't much choice in what you get with a new windows install.

there is some little known software called litepc
http://www.litepc.com/
Its very cheap and I have been using it for years. You can even remove Internet Explorer and Outlook . You can cut Windose XP down to 350 Mb ! I might be tempted to try dual boot Linux/XP on an EEE .Will an EEE boot from an external drive? if so the possibilities extend considerably.

 

[yello]

Chill out peanut. I have no idea why you're getting quite so worked up. I have not been critical of your advice. Seems to me like you're being a tad defensive and can't take a little leg pulling.

 

[JamesAC]

I bought an eeePC thingy, pre-loaded with Ubuntu Linux and a load of software (internet, office suite, games). My wife, who used to be a luddite, loves it. I had no probs setting up the wi-fi connection (once I'd got the WAP working).

So impressed with Linux am I that I've installed Debian Linux on the second hard drive on my desktop pc, all by myself. It's free, it comes with the option to install thousands of packages (all free) to meet almost any requirement (OpenOffice, for example, provides word processor, spreadsheet, presentation thingy and so on. It is so good that it can open "corrupt" Excel files that MS can't open!) The joy is that, since I installed it all by myself, if I screw things up by tinkering, I just re-install it!!

Linux used to be for geeks. But now (particularly with Debian/Ubunto) the gui is so good that you don't need to venture into terminal windows and the esoterics of vi unless you want to install a LAMP setup, or something.

Stick at it, OP. You'll get there in the end, and feel so chuffed!

 

[Piemaster]

there is some little known software called litepc
http://www.litepc.com/
Its very cheap and I have been using it for years. You can even remove Internet Explorer and Outlook . You can cut Windose XP down to 350 Mb ! I might be tempted to try dual boot Linux/XP on an EEE .Will an EEE boot from an external drive? if so the possibilities extend considerably.

Interesting but I'd still rather go for Ubuntu and add the bits I need, rather than start with whatever MS deems I need and then remove the bits I don't want.
My experience of installation and use pretty much mirrors JamesAC.
I have a copy of my system on a usb memory stick and can quite happily boot up and run from it. It should in theory boot up any other pc with the same system and settings (providing its set to boot from usb first in its BIOS) not something I've tried yet though.

 

[TWBNK]

Tricky, whilst setting my linux up on my laptop it has always stumbled at the wireless access. Having the computer wired straight to the router during setup has helped greatly.

Ubuntuforums.org is a good place to look for advice, if you want to do anything at all someone else will already have done it.

More advice would be making a bootable usb stick with a live install on it. I pissed about for about a week trying to get ubuntu sorted and then I realised that linux mint worked pretty much straight out of the box.

The only other thing was that I really enjoyed pissing about with it.

 

[Chrisz]

Gotta agree - although frustrating, it is quite fun and, as it's such a simple, small system, if it all goes Pete Tong it's not a big issue to start all over again.

I'm going to stick with Linux (a) because it's comparatively simple and ( because I don't like giving up once I've started something!

The main reason for buying the Eee PC is for work use (I do a lot of ppt presentations/lessons) and it's ideal for commuting with. It alos gives me a second option if the wife wants to play on this laptop during the evenings.

 

[yello]

Gotta agree - although frustrating, it is quite fun and, as it's such a simple, small system, if it all goes Pete Tong it's not a big issue to start all over again.

Indeed! I enjoy getting the glitches sorted. Part of the fun. I've had several different flavours of linux on my EeePC and have been able to resolve issues on my own with the aid of google and forums. The Eee is an excellent toy!

 

[yello]

Chrisz, have you got wireless working yet? If you haven't got an Eee specific version of Linux then you'll need Adam's kernel - this contains the support for the Eee bits (e.g. wireless) not contained in the non Eee builds.

Btw, I installed Eeebuntu yesterday (for fun!) and everything worked straight away. Couldn't have been easier!

 

[Chrisz]

All working fine now

My next little projects are;

a) getting the email sorted out
getting the required add-ons so I can play wma & avi files (Divx?)
c) seeing if I can get my Garmin Edge 305 to work with it

 

[yello]

All working fine now

Excellent stuff, well done!

seeing if I can get my Garmin Edge 305 to work with it

Depends what you mean by "work". The Eee will recognise the 305, with GPSBabel you'll be able to receive (but not send) course files, but there is no Garmin Communicator plugin for linux. Garmin don't see any value in doing it - the MotionBased forum contains many howls of protest! This does limit effective communication with the Edge under Unix.

There is some Linux software available (PyTrainer, TurtleSport) that can pull data off the Edge and provide stats and totals etc but neither are particularly sophisticated (TurtleSport is the better of the two imo).

The only problem I have is the sending of course files TO the Edge. I have to run a Windows environment to do that (I use VirtualBox). If I could get that cracked then I could ditch Windows altogether.

 

[Chrisz]

Sounds reasonable. All I need to do with the eee is download ride data when I'm away from home (off on a 5-day ride end of May) - I don't want to risk losing the daily ride details.

Not tried uploading routes yet - I'm still using my 305 as a glorified HRM/trip computer

 

[yello]

Well, there's a nice little program that'll do that automatically for you! Just plug in the Edge, this wakes up the program and it loads down the data. It'll also send the files automatically to MotionBased... but it's actually written for the Garmin Forerunner and the 'send' bit doesn't work correctly. But you can configure the software to download only, and that bit does work for the Edge.

I'm tinkering with the program (don't you just love the unix open source world!) to try and get it working for the Edge... but I can't for the life of me think what it's called! It's on my laptop and I'll have a look when I switch it on tomorrow.

Edit: it's called garmin upload tools

This may also be of some help garmintools