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Asus 9 inch Netbook
A few weeks ago I was chatting with one of our Clients, he owns a company that does hooks up for prospective Employers with prospective Employees in the Fitness Industry, and in the process makes a few bob. He was complaining about his Asus netbook, which had Windows XP loaded on it, and how it has been getting progressively slower over time and knowing I use Linux, in fact I had recommended last year that he get someone, or do it himself and install Ubuntu UNR. He asked if I would install Linux on his machine. The Machine originally had Linux on it, that horrible monstrosity based on Xandros that Asus had shipped, and as he had not been able to add any useful applications had elected to get someone to install Windows on it. Well Windows has finally bitten him on the bum. He said he liked the Linux install up until the point he wanted to do something that Asus had decided their customers were never going to do. Then he hated it not because it was hard to use or was unstable, but because he was fenced in, chained to Asus's vision of what he should do with his computer. He lives in Melbourne, and I'm a 4 hours drive North of Brisbane, and the whole state of New South Wales sits somewhere in the middle. Not detered he posts the machine to me, with return post included. So now I have a little Asus in my possession. It really is a cute little machine with the same resolution as the bigger 10 Inch model, you can almost carry it in your back pocket. The Machine has a 20 Gig SSD with 16 Gig assigned to the C "Drive" and 4 Gig to the D "Drive". Windows and the applications take up most of the 16 Gig partition, leaving 4 Gig for everything else. I reckon we can do much better than that with Ubuntu - I have a truckload of applications including both GNOME and KDE4 runtimes and Games - on my laptop, and I'm only using 11 Gig, I reckon even if I throw in the kitchen sink we won't use much more than 4 Gig for the OS and applications together. So here we go.. |
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Comments (57)
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Al, what "desktop" are you using, the Ubuntu GNOME?
It would be interesting to know if the Ubuntu repositories keep the really light-weight window managers like OLWM and Windowlab, which could be used to cut the footprint even further.
One of the problems with using Debian is that I've gotten spoiled rotten about what is and isn't available in repositories.
It would be interesting to know if the Ubuntu repositories keep the really light-weight window managers like OLWM and Windowlab, which could be used to cut the footprint even further.
One of the problems with using Debian is that I've gotten spoiled rotten about what is and isn't available in repositories.
i'm using ubuntu 9.10 with gnome
i searched in synaptic, OLWM is there but Windowlab isn't.. I know i could i could bring it down to an even smaller footprint by using some other "Desktop". I tried LXDE once and looks quite promissing and fast, maybe now that it's gonna be natively supported as LUBUNTU it will be even better.. But for the moment i'm used to this interface and configurations.
i could even remove compiz but on a small screen like this i find it really useful to use all the different window managing options it gives..
i searched in synaptic, OLWM is there but Windowlab isn't.. I know i could i could bring it down to an even smaller footprint by using some other "Desktop". I tried LXDE once and looks quite promissing and fast, maybe now that it's gonna be natively supported as LUBUNTU it will be even better.. But for the moment i'm used to this interface and configurations.
i could even remove compiz but on a small screen like this i find it really useful to use all the different window managing options it gives..
@alejaaandro: For a leightwieght window manager with many options, try Awesome. It's fast, flexible and can be controlled entirely by the keyboard. A very useful thing on a netbook with an impossibly small touchpad. It's in the Ubuntu repositories IIRC.
Awesome's only downside is that the configuration file is a Lua script. That means it's fantastic and powerfull for geeks like me who can program Lua, but it may be too hard for you if you don't know how to program.
Awesome's only downside is that the configuration file is a Lua script. That means it's fantastic and powerfull for geeks like me who can program Lua, but it may be too hard for you if you don't know how to program.
@Sander:
That's nothing. The config files for Sawfish are written in a Lisp descendant.
That's nothing. The config files for Sawfish are written in a Lisp descendant.
Ah, Lisp. So elegant, but I still haven't managed to fully wrap my head around it. I'd love to find a small project somewhere that benefits from Lisp so I have a chance to learn it better.
@Sander:
http://www.paulgraham.com/rootsoflisp.html
It's an excellent introduction to the Lisp paradigm, complete with a section titled "The Surprise".
http://www.paulgraham.com/rootsoflisp.html
It's an excellent introduction to the Lisp paradigm, complete with a section titled "The Surprise".
I haven't watched them all, but if you want a classic course on Lisp, there are twenty hours worth of videos here:
http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.001/abelson-sussma...
http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.001/abelson-sussma...
Thanks for that link Gus. Personally I have been working on-and-off on this: http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/
than sander, i'll take a look at it..
Disk layout query
27 earlier comments in the full thread.
It's a live CD
> It's a live CD...
And the live CD works with your laptop? It's always possible you're fighting a hardware problem. The camera may have simply died and not be putting out video. I can't think of any obvious way to check that though.
We actually have an Asus EEE 900 (a, from memory) here, but it doesn't have a camera. :(
And the live CD works with your laptop? It's always possible you're fighting a hardware problem. The camera may have simply died and not be putting out video. I can't think of any obvious way to check that though.
We actually have an Asus EEE 900 (a, from memory) here, but it doesn't have a camera. :(
@JD, I'm almost convinced the problem is a hardware one. The camera should just work, with Linux, on the Asus 901, and the various reponses I get from different LiveCD (and USB key) versions I've tried, tend to suggest a faulty camera.
Quoting:totem-video-thumbnailer couldn't open file 'file:///home/ubuntu/Videos/Webcam/2010-03-27-023811.ogv'
That's a really weird path for a V4L device. It should be something like /dev/videoX or something else in /dev. I'm tempted to think that this is a LiveCD issue. It looks almost like Cheese is trying to open a sample video file instead of a streaming camera device.
If you have a couple of Gig free I suggest that you install Ubuntu to your hard drive and try cheese again.
there was an empty ogv file at that location. It was created when I attempted to create a video. It's this behaviour that leads me to believe it's a faulty camera
I know that you can use Cheese to record video. But what happens when you simply start Cheese? It should simply be displaying the camera feed from /dev, not record. When you simply start Cheese, do you get a picture?
When I start cheese I get no picture.
Depending on which Linux distro I boot into (from either a Live CD or a USB key) I get a blank screen or a test pattern.
If I try to take a photo, I get a empty file. in ~/Photos/Webcam or ~/Videos/Webcam
If I open Cheese after taking the photo or recording the video, I get that error message in "cheese --verbose" output.
Depending on which Linux distro I boot into (from either a Live CD or a USB key) I get a blank screen or a test pattern.
If I try to take a photo, I get a empty file. in ~/Photos/Webcam or ~/Videos/Webcam
If I open Cheese after taking the photo or recording the video, I get that error message in "cheese --verbose" output.
Let's start at the beginning. Remove those photos and videos (or do whatever you have to do to make Cheese play video from /dev instead of from recordings).
Start cheese with "GST_DEBUG=4 cheese --verbose >cheese.log 2>&1". Wait for the no picture or test pattern. Copy the logfile and close cheese (that order, so that the log isn't cluttered with the shutdown of cheese. GST_DEBUG set to 4 instead of 3 is very chatty). Post it to pastebin.
Hopefully that will tell us why you're not getting data of the V4L device in /dev. That's the main thing to solve. Without data you can't record. That's why your files are empty.
PS: Any idea about the camera make/manufacturer? Does lspci or lsusb say anything about that?
Start cheese with "GST_DEBUG=4 cheese --verbose >cheese.log 2>&1". Wait for the no picture or test pattern. Copy the logfile and close cheese (that order, so that the log isn't cluttered with the shutdown of cheese. GST_DEBUG set to 4 instead of 3 is very chatty). Post it to pastebin.
Hopefully that will tell us why you're not getting data of the V4L device in /dev. That's the main thing to solve. Without data you can't record. That's why your files are empty.
PS: Any idea about the camera make/manufacturer? Does lspci or lsusb say anything about that?
I'll get back to you at lunch time here
FWIW: The device opened successfully, but streaming from it failed. I see that the "libgstvideotestsrc.so" library was loaded, so I'm guessing that's the source of the test pattern.
Yup. Line 38 is probing the v4l source for supported video formats. Line 39 is initialisation. In line 40-41 it fails reading from /dev/video0. So, at least we now know what device the camera is. Then it starts to rearrange the pipleine so it can add the videotestsource on line 99.
First things first, check the permissions on /dev/video0
I found two interesting articles, though both are for Ubuntu 9.04, not 9.10.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Webcam https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UVC
Ubuntu uses a the UVC standard and a generic UVC driver for webcams. That's sort of like the generic driver that USB storage devices use. One driver for a lot of different devices. Perhaps your camera is not UVC compatible. Perhaps you need to install a separate driver for it.
Any clues from lsusb/lspci and lsmod?
First things first, check the permissions on /dev/video0
I found two interesting articles, though both are for Ubuntu 9.04, not 9.10.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Webcam https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UVC
Ubuntu uses a the UVC standard and a generic UVC driver for webcams. That's sort of like the generic driver that USB storage devices use. One driver for a lot of different devices. Perhaps your camera is not UVC compatible. Perhaps you need to install a separate driver for it.
Any clues from lsusb/lspci and lsmod?
Quoting: dennis@sandra:~$ lsusb Bus 004 Device 002: ID 04f2:b071 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd 2.0M UVC WebCam / CNF7129 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0951:1606 Kingston Technology Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Quoting: dennis@sandra:~$ lspci 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 04) 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 04) 00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 04) 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04) 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 04) 00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 04) 00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 04) 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 04) 00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 04) 00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 04) 00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 04) 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d4) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 04) 00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 04) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 04) 01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01) 03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Attansic Technology Corp. L2 100 Mbit Ethernet Adapter (rev a0)
Quoting: dennis@sandra:~$ lsmod Module Size Used by aes_i586 8124 1 aes_generic 27484 1 aes_i586 binfmt_misc 8356 1 ppdev 6688 0 snd_hda_codec_realtek 203328 1 snd_hda_intel 27016 2 snd_hda_codec 75708 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel snd_hwdep 7200 1 snd_hda_codec snd_pcm_oss 37920 0 snd_mixer_oss 16028 1 snd_pcm_oss snd_pcm 75520 3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss snd_seq_dummy 2656 0 iptable_filter 3100 0 ip_tables 11692 1 iptable_filter x_tables 16544 1 ip_tables snd_seq_oss 28576 0 joydev 10240 0 snd_seq_midi 6464 0 snd_rawmidi 22176 1 snd_seq_midi arc4 1660 2 snd_seq_midi_event 6940 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi snd_seq 50224 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event ecb 2524 2 snd_timer 22276 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq ath5k 125092 0 uvcvideo 59112 0 snd_seq_device 6920 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq mac80211 181140 1 ath5k psmouse 57332 0 videodev 36736 1 uvcvideo led_class 4096 1 ath5k ath 8060 1 ath5k v4l1_compat 14336 2 uvcvideo,videodev serio_raw 5280 0 snd 59204 16 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device cfg80211 93052 3 ath5k,mac80211,ath atl2 25844 0 soundcore 7264 1 snd lp 8964 0 snd_page_alloc 9252 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm eeepc_laptop 13936 0 parport 35340 2 ppdev,lp fbcon 36640 72 tileblit 2460 1 fbcon font 8124 1 fbcon bitblit 5372 1 fbcon softcursor 1756 1 bitblit i915 226760 3 drm 160672 3 i915 i2c_algo_bit 5760 1 i915 usb_storage 52800 0 intel_agp 27940 2 i915 agpgart 35020 2 drm,intel_agp video 19380 1 i915 output 2780 1 video
Just to make sure it's not a permissions issue I set permissions to 666.
chese --verbose returns
chese --verbose returns
Quoting: dennis@sandra:~$ cheese --verbose Cheese 2.28.1 Probing devices with HAL... Found device 04f2:b071, getting capabilities... Detected v4l2 device: CNF7129 Driver: uvcvideo, version: 256 Capabilities: 0x04000001
Probing supported video formats... libv4l2: error turning on stream: Input/output error
Not the first time Ubuntu (and Linux) has
had problems with the CNF7129. Here's
a report that Launchpad has ignored
since June last year:
[url=https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ source/cheese/ bug/393617]https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ source/cheese/ bug/393617[/url]
[url=https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ source/cheese/ bug/393617]https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ source/cheese/ bug/393617[/url]
Okay, that's strange. You may want to have a chat with the Gstreamer and/or the UVC driver developers.
From what I can tell, the camera is an UVC camera connected through an internal USB hub. It should work with the kernel uvcvideo driver. Your lsmod shows that the camera is detected and loaded. That's probably why it appears as /dev/video0 to start with.
Gstreamer/Cheese correctly identifies the camera. The GST_DEBUG=4 verbose output shows that the camera is correctly probed for it's capabilities (1280x800... nice :-) but somehow there is an error when the camera is turned on in order to read data from it.
The only thing I can think of now is to make another verbose dump from Cheese but this time with GST_DEBUG set to 5 instead of 4. Note that it's going to be even bigger that level 4 debugging, but perhaps that will finally show *why* it cannot open /dev/video0.
Another thing which may help is yet another strace. I think your previous strace was made when cheese tried to open the video file that was supposed to be in /home/ubuntu. I'd be interested in an strace that shows the failure when reading from /dev/video0.
I also found a couple of bugs related to this in Launchpad: [url=https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ source/cheese/ bug/393617]https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ source/cheese/ bug/393617[/url] [url=https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ source/libv4l/ bug/549750]https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ source/libv4l/ bug/549750[/url]
Googling for "uvcvideo CNF7129 error" gives me quite a few results. Perhaps there's something in there that I missed.
From what I can tell, the camera is an UVC camera connected through an internal USB hub. It should work with the kernel uvcvideo driver. Your lsmod shows that the camera is detected and loaded. That's probably why it appears as /dev/video0 to start with.
Gstreamer/Cheese correctly identifies the camera. The GST_DEBUG=4 verbose output shows that the camera is correctly probed for it's capabilities (1280x800... nice :-) but somehow there is an error when the camera is turned on in order to read data from it.
The only thing I can think of now is to make another verbose dump from Cheese but this time with GST_DEBUG set to 5 instead of 4. Note that it's going to be even bigger that level 4 debugging, but perhaps that will finally show *why* it cannot open /dev/video0.
Another thing which may help is yet another strace. I think your previous strace was made when cheese tried to open the video file that was supposed to be in /home/ubuntu. I'd be interested in an strace that shows the failure when reading from /dev/video0.
I also found a couple of bugs related to this in Launchpad: [url=https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ source/cheese/ bug/393617]https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ source/cheese/ bug/393617[/url] [url=https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ source/libv4l/ bug/549750]https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ source/libv4l/ bug/549750[/url]
Googling for "uvcvideo CNF7129 error" gives me quite a few results. Perhaps there's something in there that I missed.
Sander, I've been trying to get a DEBUG=4 up to the pastebin site, but the damn thing is so big I haven't managed to do so.
Well, you have a webserver. Just upload it there and link to it from here.
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you can get rid of a lot of stuff on a netbook, like: *gimp *ttf fonts for languages you know you're not gonna need (for me Korean, Chinese, Indian etc.. they take A LOT of space) *everything having to do with cd's/dvd's (brasero etc) since there's no drive for that and i don't plan on using an external) *evolution (i prefer webmail) *f-spot (no way you're gonna keep your photo collection in 8 gb) *accessibility stuff like orca *themes i'm not using *vinagre (desktop sharing) *games (not really into it) and a bunch of apps i never use
you can even replace apps with others that are more "efficient": *replace totem and rhythmbox with vlc which which plays EVERYTHING you throw at it *i do some web developing and use quanta plus in my desktop, but for a netbook geany or gedit with some plugins are more than enough (i find that geany can be a great basic ide for a lot of programming languages)
then, there's the drivers for stuff you don't have and don't plan on using: *bluetooth (i stupidly decided not to put in my netbook.. i use a usb bluetooth though, so i have the drivers and apps for that) *printer drivers (if i want to print something i just share it to my desktop.. if not at home, i always carry a usb thumb anyways, so i can just pass it to another pc and print it) *scanner drivers and apps (xsane)
and that's only from the top of my head..