Making a Samsung liveable Netbook

Install wubi Ubuntu

• http://www.ubuntu.com/netbook/get-ubuntu/download
• http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/windows-installer

You actually do not do the installation by booting a USB key. Put wubi.exe almost anywhere and run it. You will need to okay its actions. If both wubi.exe and an .iso are at the top level of the device you want to install on, wubi will use that .iso if it feels like it.

There are lots of revisions of wubi.exe, and each one will use only a restricted set of .iso images. If it does not approve the .iso, wubi attempts to download one it likes. In at least one revision, wubi would seem to get in an infinite loop downloading a .iso which it didn't like. It seems that wubi.exe works properly even if renamed to something else, so it may be a good idea to name any wubi.exe you get ahold of to something like wubi10.10.exe or wubi-r191.exe.

A problem is that wubi appears to delete the .iso as part of the installation. wubi is also fairly ruthless about removing old installations it recognizes.

On the other hand, I have figured out how to get multiple "wubi" installations present and useable on the same machine. I'll describe this here after I've refined it. That will be an advantage when it comes time to upgrade.

After Installation

Default swapspace tends to be too small

Help at wiki.ubuntu.com

They suggest...

   % sudo su
   # swapoff -a
   # cd /host/ubuntu/disks/
   # mv swap.disk swap.disk.bak
   # dd if=/dev/zero of=swap.disk bs=1024 count=2097152
   # mkswap swap.disk
   # swapon -a
   # free -m
   #

But I like to do something like...

   # mkdir -p /host/ubuntu-common/disks/
   # cd /host/ubuntu-common/disks/
   # dd if=/dev/zero of=swap.disk bs=1024 count=4194304
   # mkswap swap.disk

And then modify /etc/fstab to use that swapspace.

   % diff /etc/fstab.bak /etc/fstab
   10c10,11
   < /host/ubuntu/disks/swap.disk none            swap    loop,sw         0       0
   ---
   > #/host/ubuntu/disks/swap.disk none            swap    loop,sw         0       0
   > /host/ubuntu-common/disks/swap.disk none      swap    loop,sw         0       0
   % 

   

That one large swapfile can be used by multiple installations (since they don't run concurrently).

Later I also create /host/ubuntu-common/disks/home.disk for use by mulitple installations.

Or for convenience when upgrading.

Make Bootloader default to Ubuntu

The Windows 7 bootloader is actually easy enough to work with that I forgot to make notes the first time.

There is a GUI

• decribed at www.sevenforums.com

The command-line tool is bcdedit.

• decribed at www.sevenforums.com
• also some bloggish place

You need to remember to select the option to run Command as administrator.

Key operations are:

     C:> bcdedit /export savefilename

to export settings (in an unreadable Registry format). You can restore by:

     C:> bcdedit /import savefilename

     C:> bcdedit

dumps current settings in readable form.

     C:> bcdedit /default {... cut/paste identifier of ubuntu section ...}

causes the default O/S to be ubuntu.

Also useful and easy is something like

     C:> bcdedit /timeout 4

To set the timeout to 4 seconds.

Change Ubuntu Window Manager to Desktop version

Set a more local mirror, probably mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca

You need to find
[System]
....[Adminstration]
........[Synaptic Package Manager]

Then... [Settings] ....[Repositories]

Select [Other] from the menu, which will allow choosing, including a button to test and select the best server.

mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca tends to be a good choice in and around uwaterloo.ca.

Install extra applications

"Server" applications

openssh-server

Stuff

imagemagick (display) (or graphicsmagick, sigh)

csh ? tcsh ?

lynx

traceroute or traceroute-nanog

mailutils

mbr

rcs

rdist

sshfs

vice

vlc

cheese (webcam support)

12.04 Things on 12.04 LiveCD, but not in resulting installation

gparted

12.04 Extras

gnome-session-fallback **

Cloning booting and running a wubicopy

• AdrianPepperNetbookCloneWubi

Saga Continues; Becomes time to Upgrade to 12.04

• AdrianPepperNetbookUpgrade1204

To Connect to eduroam under ubuntu

Select the radiating waves wireless icon...

You should see a selection of wireless networks available.

Note the padlock on eduroam. Choosing eduroam should present you with the following dialog box. (If not, exit fast).

Notes:

• Some choices come up like that; some (PEAP) must be chosen
• Username most include @institution
• GlobalSign_Root_CA.pem can be found by browsing to /etc/ssl/certs.

If things work, you get...

If you deliberately disconnect, or if the network disconnects you, you will probably see...

Bogus eduroam networks

Here's a bogus eduroam network I actually encountered while generating the screenshots.

It's remotely possible this is a deliberate attempt to snarf authentication information, but, more likely people accidentally create a Network when they intended to create a Network Definition.

-- AdrianPepper - 14 Feb 2012

Images Used to Create a Cleaner Tutorial

I edited the above images with the following to produce LinuxWirelessUWTutorial .

Desktop.jpg

EduroamDialog2.jpg

EduroamSuccess2.jpg

EduroamDisconnect2.jpg

EduroamBogus2.jpg

WirelessIcon.jpg