Ubuntu 9.04 on WebDT366-LX800

This board posts about running linux on your webdt366
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quotaholic
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Ubuntu 9.04 on WebDT366-LX800

Post by quotaholic »

Hi All,

I recently picked up a LX800 equipped DT366 from tbowland. These have twice the ram and can take after market HD upgrades with out too much tweaking. I just put in a flash chip good for 4gb this morning and spent a portion of the day compiling Enlightenment version 17 from svn source code. I put ubuntu 9.04 in command line install from the i386 alternate iso disk.

If anyone is doing the same here area a few tibits of a how to I found for autologin and the automatic starting of x. Got these from the XBMC community.

1. Make the user log in to tty1 automatically:

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sudo nano /etc/event.d/tty1
change:

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exec /sbin/getty 38400 tty1
to:

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exec /bin/login -f xbmc </dev/tty1 > /dev/tty1 2>&1
2. Create the .bash_profile file:

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nano ~/.bash_profile
Insert into the new file:

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case "`tty`" in
/dev/tty1) clear && startx &>/dev/null;;
esac
3. Make e17 start with X:

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nano ~/.xsession
Insert into the new file and save:

Code: Select all

exec /opt/e17/bin/enlightenment_start
Last edited by quotaholic on Thu Aug 19, 2010 10:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
drc-wartex
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Re: Ubuntu 9.04 on WebDT366-LX800

Post by drc-wartex »

I'm getting so frustrated with installing winxp on mine! When unpack ISO to USB drive setup starts up and then fails with corrupt "txtsetup.sif" even though there is no problems with it, as if it unmounts the USB stick when setup runs. I know the forums are new but seems like everyone is keeping it to himself, there is hardly any links to even Linux ISOs that work, ZERO tutorials. Every bastard is posting how he got his webdt set up but god forbid he posts brief tutorial so others can duplicate it. Another plague on these forums is people who post expiring download links. WHYYYYY? There are tons of file hosters who keep files for at least a year. God damn this is frustrating. I'll go for linux but I'm pretty sure half the devices on mobo won't work after installation.
quotaholic
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Re: Ubuntu 9.04 on WebDT366-LX800

Post by quotaholic »

Sorry to hear about your frustrations. With regards to windows, its not legal to repack a windows image and redistribute it within the m-soft eula. Many here will help if asked however they put their neck on the chopping block if they offer an image freely in a public venue. File download sites often wipe inactive files after a period of time. I have seen it with the linux images I make and put up on fileplanet.com.

I wish I was capable enough to fabricate an installable linux iso for the DT however I am not that gifted. There is a tool that allows one to back up the entirety of their hard disk and to save it s a single file. This tool also allows one to move that file in to an existing hard disk and essentially "restore" to that image. Due to the nature of how the computer works its a little tricky to do. Search "dd" on this forum and in the faq section and it will be highlighted. This is the dd tool and it is what I have used to make any images I have posted about on this forum.

Volkswagner utilized another tool that is much easier to use called Clonezilla. He has reworked one of my images and used clonezilla to make it super easy to install. Here is a link. forum/viewtopic.php?p=2645#p2645

If you wanted to build your own linux image on the disk I would be happy to help in any way I could. Check out this post as I gave some basic instructions on how to get started.   

forum/viewtopic.php?p=2744#p2744

A usb hub, usb keyboard and a usb cdrom (or pendrive set up with unetbootin) is all that one needs. Feel free to pm me with specific questions for a fast response. Or add to this thread with anything that comes up as a tutorial for any who follow.

As for what would not work on linux with the motherboard, not much. I never paid attention to the record button for recording sounds. LinuxMCE has been successful in making this work quite well. Bluetooth works well, the wifi is supported across all models (DT360 was a pita with the via mini pcie card) but the 366 is not an issue. Debian and Ubuntu linux support hard buttons. If you have a 500 meg flash rom I would stick with Debian as it uses less real estate. Sound works in debian however I am running in to bugs in ubuntu 9.04. All in all I think linux would surprise you as to how well the hardware integrates. We must go to www.penmount.com to get our touchscreen drivers. We have the PCM9000 serial model.  Grab my file from that earlier mentioned post as the graphic interface file (xorg.conf) that the install utility makes is not often usable on linux.

If you want to try linux out you have support. Let me ask what your specific hardware is and possibly I can recommend a distribution. Space is a concern so hard drive size and model number are important as the 366GX is more limited. Let me know...

quotaholic
Last edited by quotaholic on Fri Aug 20, 2010 10:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
drc-wartex
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Re: Ubuntu 9.04 on WebDT366-LX800

Post by drc-wartex »

quotaholic wrote: back up the entirety of their hard dick and to save it
you killed me  ;D

I have exact same tablet as you, from tbowland. My main concern is flash degradation due to writes. AFAIK linux is less abusive than windoze when it comes to disk activity. My plan is installing winxp with enhanced write filters. My other plan is to use a laptop drive inside the USB enclosure permanently soldered to a USB port pins. My third plan is to install linux. I understand the issues with piracy of XP, that was not my complaint, the bigger concern is there is not a single decent tutorial on this forum, and tutorials are bread and butter in communities like this one.

Is it possible to install windows 7 I wonder?
quotaholic
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Re: Ubuntu 9.04 on WebDT366-LX800

Post by quotaholic »

That will teach me to drink some bourbon and post. Thanks for pointing that out!

This post talks of a bios setting that will reduce flash wear:

forum/viewtopic.php?p=1235#p1235

On linux I get a dialog for mount options when I partition a drive. "noatime" will keep the write cycles to a minimum. Have yet to hear one person say they wore out a chip on the forum. Granted we are a little over a year old. Not sure if noatime exists in windows or not.

As for windows 7 go for it. I am very surprised how fast this hardware is. On a basic read test I am getting 46Mb/s off that 4gb transcend chip I installed. Not sure if it will be the same on the stock apacer chip.
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