Handtops, UMPC - OQO Linux Installation & Configurati

02/13/05 + jarango

This topic is intended to serve as an information repository about Linux installation and configuration on the OQO. I start by reporting my experiences and sharing my configuration. The idea is that we share installation and configuration information, report issues and provide solutions. Also important is that we limit the discussion on installation/configuration issues and solutions and not stray to other things.

Jesus Arango
jarango at cs dot arizona dot edu

---------------- Summary ---------------------

I have installed debian with good results. Other people would have you believe that "it just works" out of the box but this is not true. Here is a summary:

- kernel version >= 2.6.10 highly recommended. Trackstick will not work with previous versions.

- trackstick: works. you need kernel >= 2.6.10 and use the 'i8042.noloop' kernel parameter. Will not work with kernels < 2.6.10. The credit here goes to "Milan" ... Thanks.

- X11 works with a little tweaking. My XF86Config-4 is posted below. Resolution needs to be 800x480 and a corresponding modeline needs to be added to the Monitor section. Video device is "siliconmotion" but I am using "vesa" because I could not come up with a modeline that would work properly with the "siliconmotion" driver. If you have a working modeline for the "siliconmotion" please share it with us.

- cosole output: works but you need the vga=0xf05 kernel parameter. Without this parameter the bottom of the display will be blank.

- WiFi: Works, buggy, only works exporadically, could not reproduce working results. If you have this working reliably than please let us know how. This is an Atmel AT76C505A USB WiFi. There are two third party drivers available. The kernel source also has an Atmel drivers but it seems to me that it does not support USB devices. I would recommend first trying the driver at link Before compiling add the vendor/product ID of the OQO wifi device to the file ~/src/includes/usb/config.h. "lsusb" will report that the vendor/product ID is 0x1557/0x0002. The driver's site says that if you are running a 2.6 kernel than you need to apply a pacth (available on the website) to the kernel source before compiling the driver. I would like to add that as of version 2.6.7 this patch is no longer needed. There is another driver available at link To use this driver you also need to install the firmware from link Before compiling you need to add the vendor/product ID to ~/at76c505a-rfmd2958.c.

- stylus: I suspect this works but I have put minimal effort into this. Here is what I know: It is a wacom device accesible through /dev/ttyS0 (serial port) and you need an "InputDevice" section for it in your XF86Config-4. See link Milan reported on another topic that he has the wacom working and perhaps he could share the configuration with us.

---------------- Notes on Debian Installation -----------------

I installed Debian by first doing a minimal install with the netinstall CD then compiling and installing the WiFi driver to do the rest of the installation through my wireless network.

You should get the latest copy of the netinstall CD from link I first tried to use a few-months old netinstall CD and the installation program would not even complete the booting sequence. You will also need the first full CD of the debian distro (sarge-i386-1.iso) to install gcc, make, patch, wireless-tools, bzip2. You need bzip2 to untar the kernel sources that you will need to compile the WiFi driver. Be aware that some external CD drives will not boot. I used a Plextor PX-716UF. I used a USB jumpdrive to copy the WiFI and kernel sources to the OQO. Just plug it in and "mount /dev/sda1 /mnt"

------------ XF86Config-4 ------------------

Section "Files"
FontPath "unix/:7100" # local font server
# if the local font server has problems, we can fall back on these
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "GLcore"
Load "bitmap"
Load "dbe"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "record"
Load "speedo"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "keyboard1"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "device1"
# Driver "siliconmotion"
Driver "vesa"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "monitor1"
HorizSync 30-92
VertRefresh 50-85
Option "DPMS"
Modeline "800x480" 40 800 864 928 1088 480 481 484 509 +HSync
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "screen1"
Device "device1"
Monitor "monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "800x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout1"
Screen "screen1"
InputDevice "keyboard1"
InputDevice "mouse1"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

04/06/06 + wenid

A Debian/Ubuntu package of the kernel I'm currently running is available at link
This package includes the "externally built" usbvnet5A module for the WLAN as well as the OQO-patched asix module for the docking cable Ethernet. However, it doesn't include all the ancillary modules that most generic kernel packages have. If there's some module you need and you can't or don't want to build it for yourself, let me know and I can probably do it for you.

04/11/06 + wenid

Oops! I just realised/discovered that the kernel package I originally posted did NOT have the patched asix module (that's what I get for keeping two copies of the source tree on different machines). I've just put up a corrected package at the same link as before. If you already installed the original kernel package then you can just grab the fixed module from link and drop it into /lib/modules/2.6.15.4oqo6/kernel/drivers/usb/net in place of the old unpatched module. Unload the old module if you have it loaded ("rmmod asix") and then do a "depmod -ae". If your docking cable is connected while you're doing this you'll have to manually load the new module ("modprobe -vv asix"), otherwise it should now auto-load when you plug in the docking cable.

05/02/06 + Psinewave

I didn't notice it mentioned in this thread but it *looks* like the current CVS version (2006-05-03) of the Berlios Atmel at76c505a wireless LAN driver is now stable on the OQO 01+ with Fedora Core 4 and a reasonably standard (apart from the Transmeta stuff) 2.6.15 kernel ... I've had it sitting on my desk pinging away with SSH sessions for a couple of hours without dropping any packets ... the only change I needed to make was to add the vendor and product IDs (1557:0002) as mentioned in the original post.

05/02/06 + Psinewave

BTW just to clarify ... although the driver is the at76c505a, the download link says 503a ... at any rate the relevant driver is here link (it's the "other" driver mentioned in the original post).

05/05/06 + anthonyb

Can anyone or everyone help me install linux using the steps on OQO's site that identifies the Transmeta changes and Atmel changes, etc. I really would like to have a non-dual boot linux only OQO that works reasonably fully and it looks like the steps at OQO will allow this to happen.

My problem is that I do not know yet (I will learn fast though) what to install first.

My OQO currently has no OS on it at all so I don't know what to boot from CD with.

Can anyone tell me what my first few steps should be considering that I have no OS at all installed.

Psinewave

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05/22/06 + lynns

I just installed the Ubuntu package from Wenid and everything works great except the screen appears to be shifted up 40 or 50 pixels and I can't see the top of the screen. I set the kernel parameter vga=0xf05. Any ideas?

08/07/06 + kas

Hi everyone,
is it possible to run linux directly from a usb thumb drive on oqo?
please help me if anyone knows how to

08/07/06 + Supp0rtLinux

Set the BIOS to boot from USB, go into Windows and format the memory stick and make it bootable. Try to boot from it. If it works, you should be able to boot linux from it. Just be careful where you boot the bootloader... don't stick it on the MBR, but on the first sector of the boot partition...

Recent Blog: The Motorother Talktouch

08/16/06 + kas

hi everybody,
ive recently bought oqo 01, and im so new to lunix and dont know much about it.
guyz i need your help plz. i want to run linux on my oqo but i need to boot and run it from usn stick.
i actually successfully booted knoppix from usb stick. it runs ok but the problem is it wont regognize my hardware drivers so it wont setup my hardware.

any of you guyz tried running linux from usb? this version of linux here have all the drivers for oqo, so is it possible to setup and boot linux from usb stick with all drivers working?
please let me know if someone can help me.

thanks guyz,
regards

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