Arch Linux

jbooth

Member

Registered: 2006-12-29

Posts: 34

Re: Arch on Eee PC

The ralink driver doesn't appear to be handling either sleep or wireless on/off well. Just FYI. I'm working on an acpi_eee901 PKGBUILD built off ighea's package. I'm not there yet (OSD flashes up, but key presses don't do anything. His build talks about "/etc/acpi/handler_eee.sh" but the package doesn't install said file...)

ighea

Member

From: Finland

Registered: 2007-10-20

Posts: 118

Re: Arch on Eee PC

The ralink driver doesn't appear to be handling either sleep or wireless on/off well. Just FYI. I'm working on an acpi_eee901 PKGBUILD built off ighea's package. I'm not there yet (OSD flashes up, but key presses don't do anything. His build talks about "/etc/acpi/handler_eee.sh" but the package doesn't install said file...)

That line is supposed to tell that we don't want to use the /etc/acpi/handler.sh which comes from acpid-package because it will fuck up things, so /etc/acpi/event/anything should  be edited so that it will be never run.

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jbooth

Member

Registered: 2006-12-29

Posts: 34

Re: Arch on Eee PC

That... makes sense. That would explain why when I suspend to ram I have to wake it up twice!

I went looking for the file, said, "it isn't there this can't be right?" and started digging elsewhere.

Going to have to modify the /etc/acpi/*.sh files heavily -- different wireless/etc drivers, different name for the sound output location. Bleh.

Actually, should the sound output location actually control the "LineOut" or should that be "Master" volume? Anyone got a stock xandros install available that can tell us? (I thought about installing it to a USB stick maybe I should have)

mastapsi

Member

Registered: 2008-07-27

Posts: 14

Re: Arch on Eee PC

Other than acpi, are most of the hardware issues with the 901 and 1000 solved now?  I assume that the quick launch buttons will be included in the acpi, which seems to be the only other thing I dont have working.

JazzplayerL9

Member

Registered: 2006-03-31

Posts: 109

Re: Arch on Eee PC

@mastapsi,

Yeah, other than the acpi and the microphone...hardware issues are solved.  I can confirm working webcam, sound, video, mouse, keyboard, wireless, and ethernet.  The last two are using ndiswrapper and the AUR atl1e package to work right now.  Jbooth's package compiled for me but I couldn't connect to my wireless network at my house.  I used ndiswrapper and it connected in a blink.

So...other than the acpi,  I'd say we're good to go for the 901, 1000, and 1000H.  I suppose the speedstepping (power save, normal, and super performance modes) are an acpi issue as well?

jbooth

Member

Registered: 2006-12-29

Posts: 34

Re: Arch on Eee PC

I was having issues getting on a WEP encrypted network with the native drivers. I haven't tried WPA yet. Nor have I debugged WEP. It seems they put some sort of configuration in /etc/Wireless/RT2860STA/ which might have something to do with that. If so that's annoying, because changing out that stupid file to swap networks will blow.

On the bright side since they published the drivers under GPL, mayhaps we can fix a buggy implementation.

JazzplayerL9

Member

Registered: 2006-03-31

Posts: 109

Re: Arch on Eee PC

@jbooth,

Ok then it's not just me.  My network is WEP encrypted.  I'll go recompile/install the driver again and look at /etc/Wireless/RT2860STA/ to see what you're talking about...but I'm equally likely to be no help as I am to help.

delcake

Member

Registered: 2008-07-28

Posts: 62

Re: Arch on Eee PC

I can second the issues with WEP on native drivers. An issue that I was having was thant my settings applied through iwconfig would not take, but I found out that I could set them using iwpriv instead, and that worked fine.

At the moment, I'm connected through an unsecured wireless network here at my office. I also have WEP access points here, so I will be able to fiddle with that a bit more to see if I missed a crucial setting anywhere. Sadly, I don't have WPA up here or at my house, so I won't be able to test that just yet.

jbooth

Member

Registered: 2006-12-29

Posts: 34

Re: Arch on Eee PC

I should note: I had gotten Xandros install on my home WiFi, under WEP. So there's some trick to it. I'm sure we can get it working sooner or later.

I wish my test/spare box had a more recent proc. I was going to install the xandros recovery CD in a fully-virtualized VM. Sure, it won't have wifi drivers and such, but seeing the system running would be really nice for testing/debugging. I could put xandros back on my Eee and Arch on a USB stick, but that'd be kinda annoying to boot back and fourth.

JazzplayerL9

Member

Registered: 2006-03-31

Posts: 109

Re: Arch on Eee PC

I should mention that I was having problems even under Xandros with my WEP network.  I would connect and in about 3 minutes it would go dead...but still say it was connected.  I would then have to reconnect and after that it would be fine.  I had to use Skype as a connection monitor because Xandros never told me when it would go dead...but Skype reacts faster than the stock network manager.

mastapsi

Member

Registered: 2008-07-27

Posts: 14

Re: Arch on Eee PC

Is there any documentation on the RT2860STA.dat file?

jbooth

Member

Registered: 2006-12-29

Posts: 34

Re: Arch on Eee PC

There was some in the doc file on ralink's site, I think.

djolk

Member

Registered: 2008-03-07

Posts: 59

Re: Arch on Eee PC

My eeepc also seems to be mysteriously draining it's batteries when I turn it off.  All the power lights are off and what not so I am not sure what's going on.  Could this be related to the sound problems other people were having?  I never use it to play sounds, but it was working last time I checked. 
Also it will not boot off of USB.. is mine broken?

dninja

Member

From: Sheffield, UK

Registered: 2006-04-29

Posts: 374

Website

Re: Arch on Eee PC

My eeepc also seems to be mysteriously draining it's batteries when I turn it off.  All the power lights are off and what not so I am not sure what's going on.  Could this be related to the sound problems other people were having?  I never use it to play sounds, but it was working last time I checked. 
Also it will not boot off of USB.. is mine broken?

I had to play with the bios before it would boot from usb. I turned the OS installed thing to no along with a few other settings and it started working.

As for battery, my eee hasn't done it yet but my main laptop works fine off battery and will give me a good few hours use but if I leave it for a few days the battery discharges itself and I have to charge it again from flat before using it. I assumed this was just a "feature" of the battery but if it is a problem with something then I'd like to know so I can fix it.

jbooth

Member

Registered: 2006-12-29

Posts: 34

Re: Arch on Eee PC

Well, I have arch on a USB key now, with Xandros back on the internal disks. Too bad the USB key is really slow. Ah well, if I get it working, I can always just reinstall arch to the internal and go from there.

From the install guide on the wiki, it talks about putting /var/log in a tmpfs to save all the SSD wear and tear. Thoughts on /tmp and /var/tmp? It seems like that might also be useful.

mastapsi

Member

Registered: 2008-07-27

Posts: 14

Re: Arch on Eee PC

I thought that generally you turned logging off entirely if you had an SSD, although putting them on a tmpfs would be a good alternative, although it will eat into your RAM if you get a good uptime going and you have a lot of loggers, which could easily happen when we get ACPI running.

For the 1000H, the only bonus I can see is a slight battery life increase since you aren't writing to the disk as much, though if the loggers are written write, they will wait till another program flushes the cache to write.

I'll look into that documentation, see if I can't figure out how the driver works and how to make it use WEP.

delcake

Member

Registered: 2008-07-28

Posts: 62

Re: Arch on Eee PC

I've got WEP working using ndiswrapper and wpa_supplicant on kernel 2.6.25 now. Like I think I've mentioned earlier, I'll be unable to test WPA compatability for another few weeks.

jboot: I posted this on your AUR page, but I added two lines to compile in wpa_supplicant support for those who use it, and commented out the 2.6.26 compatability line.

pkgname=eeert2860
pkgver=1.7.0.0
pkgrel=2
pkgdesc="Driver for RaLink 2970 (EEE PC 901)"
arch=(i686)
url="http://www.ralinktech.com.tw"
depends=('wireless_tools')
license=('GPL')
source=("http://www.ralinktech.com.tw/data/drivers/2008_0708_RT2860_Linux_STA_v1.7.0.0.tar.bz2")
 
build() {
        cd $startdir/src/2008_0708_RT2860_Linux_STA_v1.7.0.0
        sed -i 's/HAS_WPA_SUPPLICANT=n/HAS_WPA_SUPPLICANT=y/' os/linux/config.mk
        sed -i 's/HAS_NATIVE_WPA_SUPPLICANT_SUPPORT=n/HAS_NATIVE_WPA_SUPPLICANT_SUPPORT=y/' os/linux/config.mk
        #sed -i 's/dev->nd_net/dev_net(dev)/' os/linux/rt_main_dev.c
        sed -i 's/cp -f \$/#cp -f \$/' Makefile
        make || return 1
        mkdir -p $startdir/pkg/etc/Wireless/RT2860STA
        cp RT2860STA.dat $startdir/pkg/etc/Wireless/RT2860STA/
        chmod 644 $startdir/pkg/etc/Wireless/RT2860STA/RT2860STA.dat
        mkdir -p $startdir/pkg/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/
        cp os/linux/rt2860sta.ko $startdir/pkg/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/
        chmod 644 $startdir/pkg/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2860sta.ko
}
md5sums=('523a42e4a86cf627dd34917e93fa2ce5')

There's likely a better way to do it, as I am a complete sed newbie. Also, I haven't done conditional statements in a PKGBUILD, but maybe we should get some kernel checking in here if possible.

Last edited by delcake (2008-08-01 03:45:19)

jbooth

Member

Registered: 2006-12-29

Posts: 34

Re: Arch on Eee PC

New package uploaded. Should compile on 2.6.25 and .26. I put in your wpa supplicant changes and removed the /etc/Wireless/... crap. The driver docs mention you can config either with iwconfig/iwpriv OR the /etc/Wireless crap. I added 'wpa_supplicant' to the depends list too.

jbooth

Member

Registered: 2006-12-29

Posts: 34

Re: Arch on Eee PC

Working on the ACPI stuff now. This is cranky; the mute/unmute is backwards!

delcake

Member

Registered: 2008-07-28

Posts: 62

Re: Arch on Eee PC

Excellent, the new eeert2860 PKGBUILD looks great to me.

I kind of cheaped around the ACPI volume stuff by just adding my own shortcuts to my WM config, using the Super button instead of Fn plus the appropriate F10-12 keys. It works, but I'd prefer using Fn.

venky80

Member

Registered: 2007-05-13

Posts: 1,002

Re: Arch on Eee PC

oh just wanted to make the number of posts to 1000...;)

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Acer Aspire V5-573P Antergos KDE

patstew

Member

Registered: 2008-08-04

Posts: 10

Re: Arch on Eee PC

Grab slightly modified kerne-eee-2.6.26-1 (and madwifi-eee-svn) from here:
http://koti.kapsi.fi/~ighea/eee/kernel-eee/
Wine works, uvesafb is built as module, eeepc-laptop driver is used (fan-control, wee!) and EC (Fn-Fx problem) is patched/fixed. Don't forget to upgrade your acpi-eee to version 9-6.

I think toofishes keeps the 2G/2G VM split because it is said to give a little performance boost, but in my opinion it does not really matter and causes only unnecessary confusion (as we have seen) and the effect can't be really even noticed at all.

And you can use IgnorePkg-line in /etc/pacman.conf to hold packages from being updated.

IgnorePkg = kernel-eee madwifi-eee-svn

First, thanks for the packages ighea, I hope you will consider continuing the kernel package if toofishes prefers to keep his vmsplit and non eeepc-laptop settings.
Second, I think that the ath5k module shouldn't be in the kernel. As far as I'm aware it doesn't work with the eeepc (eeepc support is apparently scheduled for 2.6.28, or possibly .27 as far as I know), and in my case it breaks the fn-f2 wireless settings (after it has been turned off, turning it back on causes it to cycle on/off every 5 seconds). rm ath5k.ko fixed that.

Last edited by patstew (2008-08-04 10:43:00)

jbooth

Member

Registered: 2006-12-29

Posts: 34

Re: Arch on Eee PC

Well I've got *most* of the ACPI working. Wireless is, of course, the big stickler. It shuts it down and all that, but it doesn't come back *on*. I get errors out of the rt2860sta driver. Not sure how to deal with it -- I see the xandros is using 1.6.1.0 successfully, but trying to use that I can't get it to actually connect to my AP (encryption off while I'm testing).

mastapsi

Member

Registered: 2008-07-27

Posts: 14

Re: Arch on Eee PC

Perhaps it is a kernel related issue.  What kernel does the Xandros preinstall use?

jbooth

Member

Registered: 2006-12-29

Posts: 34

Re: Arch on Eee PC

Other distros imply that it works for them on a kernel more recent than Xandros'. I haven't stole^H^H^H^H^Hdug into their stuff yet but that may be the next step.