General Linux Chat and Small Questions v. Year of the Linux Desktop! - Hardware & Software

This is something that was brought up on Reddit, and they're right. Having the SteamOS logo, next to Steamplay, makes it look like the SteamOS logo is part of the Steamplay icon.

[QUOTE=nikomo;47820103]Run lsusb, see if the WiFi card shows up there.[/QUOTE] Besides USB hubs and my boot drive all I can see is "04F2:B483 Chicony Electonics Co., Ltd" which is probably the webcam/microphone. It's like the wifi card doesn't even exist. [editline]28th May 2015[/editline] Looking at the Debian X205TA install guide it seems like whoever wrote it didn't see it either but got it working anyway. [url]https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Asus/X205TA#System_Summary[/url] [url]https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Asus/X205TA#WiFi[/url] I'll just have to try and install arch without any networking then

And here I thought all Chicony does is make shitty power supplies. Good to know.

Looks to me like the drivers for that WiFi chipset were accepted into the kernel at some point, and Linux 4.0 is confirmed as working. You might also have to manually get the firmware and nvram files for it, and install them. I'd tell you to use Ethernet during installation, but you were... unwise enough, to purchase a laptop without a wired network interface.

every distro worth using supports local package installation, and last i checked most output their fetch URLs if you fed them the right args (usually some combo of "pretend" and "fetch only") output the URLs to a file then use wget's input file feature to fetch them on another system

[QUOTE=nikomo;47822687]Looks to me like the drivers for that WiFi chipset were accepted into the kernel at some point, and Linux 4.0 is confirmed as working. You might also have to manually get the firmware and nvram files for it, and install them. I'd tell you to use Ethernet during installation, but you were... unwise enough, to purchase a laptop without a wired network interface.[/QUOTE] It's a 200$ notebook, an ethernet port doesn't really belong on those. Debian support offline installation. The only "real" reason I want arch is because of yaourt. I guess I could live without and just install debian so I don't have to jump through hoops for offline install.

Got it running, the wifi seems to disconnect randomly when idle. Meaning that I have to have ping 8.8.8.8 running in a tty to prevent from disconnecting. The audio doesn't seem to work which is not a huge issue but something I want to solve. It always thinks it's connected to AC instead of getting me the battery status (missing a package?). The mouse is super sensitive but that should be fixable. BUT I manage to get ~15 hours of battery life out of a device that was tested at 8 hours so that's a nice bonus. [editline]29th May 2015[/editline] I'm spending most of my time in tmux at the moment until I figure out what a nice WM would be for it, which is currently awesome. I've never used Awesome before so I have no clue what good applications for it are, especially the terminal. [editline]29th May 2015[/editline] [t]http://i.imgur.com/PJeveXG.jpg[/t]

[QUOTE=Mega1mpact;47819293]Figured it out! [code]set root=(hd0,gpt1) linux /arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=archisolabel initrd /arch/boot/intel_ucode.img initrd /arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img boot [/code] [editline]27th May 2015[/editline] Currently backing up the hard disk /dev/mmcblk0 to an img so that if I fuck up I can recover the windows installation. dd-ing the img back into the disk to restore the windows installation should work right? [editline]28th May 2015[/editline] For some reason it's not seeing the WIFI card. Linux 4 should have support for it tho. If I run lspci all I see is the host bridge, VGA controller, USB controller, Encryption Controller (wat?), ISA bridge. No wifi card to be seen. The only network interface I seem to have is loopback. [editline]28th May 2015[/editline] It's an Asus F205TA. I've been told that it's sold internationally as the Asus X205TA.[/QUOTE] The battery and CPU would really be the only reasons I'd ever purchase something like that. My netbook currently has an Ethernet port, dual core, 500GB HDD, and 4G RAM, and cost me about 350$ which is probably more like 270$ in the US. However, the battery is pretty shit. It doesn't last longer than 3 hours on a good day, and the WiFi is pretty limited too. Everything else it does though, it does really well, and everything is such a smooth experience, with the slight exception of running Gentoo (compilation does take a really long time on a slow dual core netbook CPU).

[QUOTE=mastersrp;47831110]The battery and CPU would really be the only reasons I'd ever purchase something like that. My netbook currently has an Ethernet port, dual core, 500GB HDD, and 4G RAM, and cost me about 350$ which is probably more like 270$ in the US. However, the battery is pretty shit. It doesn't last longer than 3 hours on a good day, and the WiFi is pretty limited too. Everything else it does though, it does really well, and everything is such a smooth experience, with the slight exception of running Gentoo (compilation does take a really long time on a slow dual core netbook CPU).[/QUOTE] The wifi is shit at the moment but that should be fixable with some tweaking. I'm getting a way better battery life on linux then windows at the moment. I'm gonna do a writeup on how to properly install it when I'm 100% done with it. The notebook is super cheap so for what I'm getting it's a great deal.

[QUOTE=Mega1mpact;47831196]The wifi is shit at the moment but that should be fixable with some tweaking. I'm getting a way better battery life on linux then windows at the moment. I'm gonna do a writeup on how to properly install it when I'm 100% done with it. The notebook is super cheap so for what I'm getting it's a great deal.[/QUOTE] Is it possible to replace the builtin disk for something bigger? What about RAM? I mean, if you don't mind posting these kind of details, although opening the notebook up may result in a void of warranty.

[QUOTE=mastersrp;47831217]Is it possible to replace the builtin disk for something bigger? What about RAM? I mean, if you don't mind posting these kind of details, although opening the notebook up may result in a void of warranty.[/QUOTE] Warranty smaranty. The disk is tiny, you're only able to use 29.1GB. After adding the /boot and uefi partitions that shrinks down to ~28GB. There is a hc micro sd slot that can be used. The ssd drive shows up as a sd card in /dev which is weird. There is 2GB of RAM availible with only 1940MB showing up (fault tolerance?). I could make a dump of all interesting device info in /proc if you want. I'm gonna open it up real quick and snap a pic for you so you can see what's inside.

[QUOTE=Mega1mpact;47831238]Warranty smaranty. The disk is tiny, you're only able to use 29.1GB. After adding the /boot and uefi partitions that shrinks down to ~28GB. There is a hc micro sd slot that can be used. The ssd drive shows up as a sd card in /dev which is weird. There is 2GB of RAM availible with only 1940MB showing up (fault tolerance?). I could make a dump of all interesting device info in /proc if you want. I'm gonna open it up real quick and snap a pic for you so you can see what's inside.[/QUOTE] It'd be amazing if you could also look for any soldering on RAM or builtin disk to see if it can be replaced. I'd be curious to purchase a new and faster portable system in the future, but I need the RAM and disk space. It's also great if anyone wants to tinker with shit. Is it MicroSD or SD card slot? If it's SD card that'd be amazing, but MicroSD is pretty cool too, don't see that too often in devices like that.

[QUOTE=mastersrp;47831282]It'd be amazing if you could also look for any soldering on RAM or builtin disk to see if it can be replaced. I'd be curious to purchase a new and faster portable system in the future, but I need the RAM and disk space. It's also great if anyone wants to tinker with shit. Is it MicroSD or SD card slot? If it's SD card that'd be amazing, but MicroSD is pretty cool too, don't see that too often in devices like that.[/QUOTE] It's micro SD. I bought a 64GB sd to go with it. I have not tried booting from it tho. I removed all the screws but the backplate didn't come lose. I'm gonna give it a proper attempt when I get home from work. [editline]29th May 2015[/editline] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUjSLvBYdcg]Looks[/url] like I need to snap it off. I'm gonna do that as soon as I get home.

[video=youtube;FQM5fU7V-MM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQM5fU7V-MM[/video] Pretty bloody accurate for a TV show. [URL="https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/37pj9i/so_i_see_youre_running_gnome/"]Source[/URL]

[t]http://i.imgur.com/6VcLxSK.jpg[/t][t]http://i.imgur.com/1sMghDD.jpg[/t][t]http://i.imgur.com/QvuV3oG.jpg[/t] [editline]29th May 2015[/editline] Looks like the SSD and memory are on-board

[QUOTE=~Kiwi~v2;47831899]The way he said Gnome was really really annoying.[/QUOTE] It's not exactly clear that they want it pronounced "guh-nome", they don't make as much of a point of it as the GNU guys do

[QUOTE=lavacano;47834222]It's not exactly clear that they want it pronounced "guh-nome", they don't make as much of a point of it as the GNU guys do[/QUOTE] Maybe if they change the capitalisation or something it might become more obvious. GNome.

I think it's officially GNOME i could be full of shit though

[QUOTE=MasterFen006;47834934]Maybe if they change the capitalisation or something it might become more obvious. GNome.[/QUOTE] That looks like it should be pronounced Genome

well honestly they should just let people pronounce it "noam" the GNU guys only barely have an argument with "people might confuse it with 'new' software", gnome doesn't even have that

I'm still surprised that Debian don't have a signed kernel for UEFI Secure Boot. They build with the EFI boot stub though, so the shim or preloader work with a self signed kernel. Shame I'm on Sid, and will have a broken boot sooner rather than later. (Kernel upgrades). OpenSUSE on the other hand, support Secure Boot out the box. For anyone looking at going the self-signed route, the OpenSUSE wiki has a great step by step process (will work for ALL distros): [url]https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:UEFI[/url]

Why don't you just disable Secure Boot?

[QUOTE=Adam.GameDev;47838175]Why don't you just disable Secure Boot?[/QUOTE] Because, down the road, I need to do this on a system without that option.

Oh, don't worry, Microsoft will graciously make it a requirement that you can't run self-signed code on Windows-certified hardware, so you won't even be able to run Linux.

[QUOTE=nikomo;47839197]Oh, don't worry, Microsoft will graciously make it a requirement that you can't run self-signed code on Windows-certified hardware, so you won't even be able to run Linux.[/QUOTE] Hopefully by then the United States will actually implement a justice system and MS will get sued for anti-competitive practice if they try that shit.

[QUOTE=lavacano;47840573]Hopefully by then the United States will actually implement a justice system and MS will get sued for anti-competitive practice if they try that shit.[/QUOTE] Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen. Libreboot on BIOS-based PCs and ARM SoC, here I come! Seems to be the only landscape not currently completely filled with everlasting bullshit.

[QUOTE=mastersrp;47844258]Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen. Libreboot on BIOS-based PCs and[B] ARM SoC[/B], here I come! Seems to be the only landscape not currently completely filled with everlasting bullshit.[/QUOTE] Binary blobs heyoo....

[QUOTE=Van-man;47844357]Binary blobs heyoo....[/QUOTE] Same goes for BIOS and UEFI systems though. At least with a lot of ARM SoC you can use Linux Sunxi now, so no binary blobs.

[QUOTE=mastersrp;47844395]Same goes for BIOS and UEFI systems though. At least with a lot of ARM SoC you can use Linux Sunxi now, so no binary blobs.[/QUOTE] On most of them, you're left without any graphical output at all, or it's all software rendered on the cpu so even 2D shit will bog it down hardcore.

[QUOTE=Van-man;47844411]On most of them, you're left without any graphical output at all, or it's all software rendered on the cpu so even 2D shit will bog it down hardcore.[/QUOTE] Depends, because currently Mali is the only one that can cause some issues with 3D rendering, but most 2D stuff should really be solid. Even on my Banana Pi, that kind of shit works pretty much perfectly out of the box, with the exception of a missing GMAC compatible driver (which may have been solved in the past month or so, but i haven't tested it yet). The thing is, that there's 3D graphics and applications, and there's 2D applications and such, and then there's video. Video is pretty much always working on all of the devices even using free software. 3D acceleration can be a bit more difficult, but according to the Sunxi Linux wiki, the binary blob is almost always available. So you're not left in the dark, just left in the closed source area. So yeah, the main issue is usually 3D acceleration, considering everything else can be done hardware-wise perfectly and free. The RPi is an exception, with the initial boot code firmware being installed as a blob in the GPU (not replacable). [editline]31st May 2015[/editline] But that [i]was[/i] why I mentioned both Libreboot + BIOS-enabled PC, and ARM SoC. So you can have your PC and you can have your home server / nas / media center, all as free software solutions.