Arch Linux

Vighi

Member

Registered: 2008-08-16

Posts: 16

MSI Wind

OK its getting kinda awesomely popular with this new laptops aka low weight, small, but still good laptops when it comes to hardware.

One of them is called Micro-Star International WIND http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSI_Wind. I'm going to get me one of those. I think it is superior to the other notebooks, tiny-laptops that it competes with. The Asus EEE and the Acer Aspire One.

So what do you guys think? Wouldn't it be awesome to run Arch Linux on such a baby? I'd upgrade my ram to 2gb, maybe the hard drive to 320gb and I'm not sure how good the wireless is functioning in Linux, but I guess people are all ready working on drivers for Linux?

Edit:

How to install Arch Linux on this baby: http://wiki.msiwind.net/index.php/Arch_Linux

Wireles:  Having problems with r8169 on 2.6.26 kernel? Try the working pkgbuild by member deno based on r8101 drivers: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=20201

Last edited by Vighi (2008-09-27 13:23:06)

signor_rossi

Member

Registered: 2007-08-24

Posts: 257

Re: MSI Wind

The MSI Wind is a fine Netbook, it only lacks in battery lifetime so far, with less than 2 hours of it. It will be available with a bigger battery soon, but that comes at a higher price. Asus EEE 901 and 1000H have the best battery lifetime atm. Lenovo will soon be releasing its Ideapad in 8,9" and 10" versions, you should keep an eye on them.
RAM upgrade on the Wind voids the warranty somehow because you have to open the whole thing and destroy the 'warranty' sticker doing so, but in Germany (probably other countries too) you can write to MSI to get a new sticker if you only do the RAM upgrade.
If you understand German, here is a recent review of the WIND:
http://www.barebonecenter.de/index.php? … Itemid=143
And didn't MSI present the WIND with Linux OS on Computex too? (not sure about this, would have to dig)

I am certainly getting one of these things, only don't know which one yet and won't buy one until november yet.

Bye, signorRossi.

scubanator87

Member

Registered: 2008-08-11

Posts: 26

Re: MSI Wind

I agree, although dell's offering is coming out soon as well. And the HP 2130 (although uses a VIA C7 processor not a VIA Nano so not as good as the Atom)

I was thinking either about the Asus Eee pc 901 or the dell model (the Ubuntu netbook remix does look kinda funky in a good way). Battery life and performance are what are going to do it for me.

Wikipedia has a whole page about these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netbook

s0lar

Member

Registered: 2005-05-19

Posts: 56

Re: MSI Wind

Hi,

I have a MSI WIND. The realtek 8187se wireless is kind of a work through, but you can compile the driver. You also need to change your xorg for the Intel 945 graphic card to work more snappy. You can offcourse change the wireless card. For the moment I am still running XP on mine. There were no linux versions available in Belgium.
You can find a lot of information on the MSI WIND forums. I upgraded my ram to 1,5GB.

Vighi

Member

Registered: 2008-08-16

Posts: 16

Re: MSI Wind

I just ordered mine today. It will be excellent for my studies
Hope more of you guys will get it as well, an we'll get Arch Linux up and running on it 100% stable

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: MSI Wind

Yay, gonna have one with SUSE tomorrow. Gonna try to put Arch on it anyway, of course.

Vighi

Member

Registered: 2008-08-16

Posts: 16

Re: MSI Wind

Yay, gonna have one with SUSE tomorrow. Gonna try to put Arch on it anyway, of course.

Great!

If you get it up an running. You should tell us how you did it. I still haven't got mine yet. Ordered it 3 weeks ago almost!! Consumers are consuming those Winds Huh?!

By the way, maybe this links can be to some help for you:
http://forums.msiwind.net/default-msiwi … 3eb16d6e13
http://forums.msiwind.net/default-msiwi … 8dddd34ef1

illya_

Member

Registered: 2008-09-10

Posts: 4

Re: MSI Wind

I might have missunderstood something, but since the wind is x86 it cant use arch linux?

"x86-64 is so far only activated for the desktop model Atom 230. N and Z series Atom models cannot run x86-64 code."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_atom

And wind uses: N270
http://www.msimobile.com/nblist.aspx?pr … =IntelAtom

If possible could someone correct me? (I hope I have gotten this wrong)

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: MSI Wind

Arch is either x86 (i686) or x86_64.

I'm just playing with my Wind, purged SUSE already, but it seems it won't be that easy to install Arch, 'cause FaunOS doesn't work as it should (can't load a network module, can't install FaunOS to disk).

barc

Member

Registered: 2008-09-10

Posts: 3

Re: MSI Wind

I installed Arch on my Wind using this tutorial:
http://wiki.msiwind.net/index.php/Arch_Linux

Everything works so far, even suspend to ram using s2ram

There is some kind of bug in kernel 2.6.25 that keeps the ethernet driver from working correctly. This bug is fixed in 2.6.26. So you need to upgrade your kernel or install the wireless lan card.
I switched the Realtek wlan card with an Intel 4965 AGN and never bothered with wired ethernet.

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: MSI Wind

Yeah, I have a working Arch.

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: MSI Wind

Would you be able to confirm that wired connection works on 2.6.26, barc? It doesn't seem to work here, unfortunately I didn't test it under SUSE.

Last edited by lucke (2008-09-10 23:48:31)

barc

Member

Registered: 2008-09-10

Posts: 3

Re: MSI Wind

I tried it out real quick and it did not work. you're right! I thought I did, but I guess that was using kubuntu. sorry!

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: MSI Wind

It works on 2.6.27 (but then the wireless driver doesn't compile against .27).

Gave me a bit of a scare, no one else complained about that, thought my NIC is faulty ;-)

barc

Member

Registered: 2008-09-10

Posts: 3

Re: MSI Wind

I was reading through the AspireOne thread and disabled the acpi-cpufreq deamon in my /etc/rc.conf. ethernet works fine now! Still using the 2.6.26 kernel. There might be a problem with 2.6.26.2 and .3

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: MSI Wind

Ethernet on 2.6.26.5 seems to work okay after the bios upgrade.

methuselah

Member

Registered: 2007-10-02

Posts: 570

Re: MSI Wind

I'm going to wait for these 64bit sub-notebooks, I wish I had this AMD one right now: http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/2008/06/a … -cost.html

7 inch 1024 x 600 touch screen
AMD Turion64X2 with 1GB RAM
60/80GB HDD
optical mouse pointer and buttons
2 x USB and one mini USB
audio in/out
VGA out
2.5 hour battery life while playing videos
about 200mm x 120mm x 25mm

Going into small details, it looks like Raon Digitals new device as:
- Raon is known their AMD based UMPCs
- It has the same optical mouse as in Raon Digital Everun ( which is pretty good to use )
- It has same short cut buttons as Raon Digital Everun
- It has same ExpWin icon as Raon Digital Everun

this is another similar one: http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/2008/08/r … tails.html

CPU AMD Turion 64x2 Dual Core 1.2GHz, 1MB L2 Cache
Graphic ATI RS690E +64MB DDR2 Side port Memory, Full DirectX 9.0 support
Memory 1GB DDR2
OS Microsoft Window XP Home
Display 7" 1024 x 600
Dual moniter supporting external display up to 1920x1200
Storage 60GB 1.8 inch HDD/UDMA100
Wireless Connectivity 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
Camera 1.3M pixel CMOS
Media Card SD/MMC Slot
Audio ALC262 HD Audio
Expansion Slot 2xUSB host, 1 x USB mini, 1x mini PCIExpress Slot, USIM card slot
Battery life 2.5 Hours for web-surfing
Size 200(W)x 118(H)x 27.5(D) mm

Last edited by methuselah (2008-09-13 08:33:53)

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: MSI Wind

Honestly, I wouldn't like anything smaller than 10″.

methuselah

Member

Registered: 2007-10-02

Posts: 570

Re: MSI Wind

Honestly, I wouldn't like anything smaller than 10″.

I had a regualr hp pavilion d4230us 15"inch screen, then I got the a new hp pavilion dv9920us with a 17" screen, but I really wish I had waited and got one of these AMD 64x2 Turion sub-notebooks with ATI graphics.

It seems like it would be perfect size for walking around and traveling, while still being able to use like a normal computer.

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: MSI Wind

It seems like it would be perfect size for walking around and traveling, while still being able to use like a normal computer.

That's what I think about my 10 inch Wind ;-)

methuselah

Member

Registered: 2007-10-02

Posts: 570

Re: MSI Wind

It seems like it would be perfect size for walking around and traveling, while still being able to use like a normal computer.

That's what I think about my 10 inch Wind ;-)

I was thinking the sub-notebook would be perfect for backpacking with.

paulez

Member

Registered: 2007-07-28

Posts: 24

Re: MSI Wind

Ethernet on 2.6.26.5 seems to work okay after the bios upgrade.

Ethernet doesn't work for me with r8169 module. I have to use r8101 module found on realtek website to have ethernet working.

signor_rossi

Member

Registered: 2007-08-24

Posts: 257

Re: MSI Wind

The Everun is an interesting machine, the 7" screen is just right for an ultra-ultra-portable . Battery life is not that great, but a bigger one will be available.
I own a Nokia770, which is the next smaller form factor with a 4" screen, and this screen size is just to small for my taste, which means I will go for the next bigger form factor the next time (if available I would have bought an Asus 7" anyway).
Fortunately I am not in a hurry to buy an ultra-portable or netbook and can wait, I also think the Atom machines with a proper chipset will be much more interesting when they come out.

Bye, signorRossi.

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: MSI Wind

Nice, didn't know there's an alternate module. Thanks. (actually, seems I've missed the earlier mention about that)

I'm really happy I went for Wind \o/

Last edited by lucke (2008-09-25 19:26:43)

Vighi

Member

Registered: 2008-08-16

Posts: 16

Re: MSI Wind

I've just got my wind, and still just have XP installed. Will do something about that in a few days when I have the time.

But just out of curiosity. How does it feel using the Wind with Arch Linux? Does it use more power with Arch Linux then with windows XP?