Debian on Asus UL80VT

Steampunking A Flip UltraHD with DOF (pics)

2010-05-23T20:04:00.001-07:00

(Apologies to readers looking for Debian/Asus UL80VT info, said posts will resume after this short interlude.)

Want to add expensive DOF (depth of field) to your cheap (Flip) camera? Don't waste hundreds of dollars on an expensive DOF adapter. If you're willing to sacrifice some ease of use, I'll show you how to do it for a few bucks.

Equipment:

Hose Clamps: $2.90
Furniture "Bumpers": $2.97
2 Magnifying Glass Lenses: $2.98
3 Stainless Steel Corner Braces: $2.99

In order to create depth of field, all you really need are two magnifying glass lenses (aka "diopters"). That's it. You could buy a "DOF adapter" that "vibrates" (why, exactly?) for $300 ... or you could spend $11.84 to build your own. The only difference is that while a professional adapter will give you the ability to change DOF while shooting, building your own usually won't.

As with all optical media, you'll get better visuals with better lenses. Go with real glass, not crap plastic magnifiers. Larger lenses of higher quality can be placed farther away from the camera to adjust the DOF. Choose between x2, x4, x10, etc. magnifiers for different effects. And if you can, cannibalize an SLR lens for really high quality optics (the outermost lens is usually what you're looking for).

Using the lenses can be tricky. I constructed a non-moving armature to hold my lenses in place in front of the camera. Hose clamps surround the lenses (with soft furniture bumpers to keep the clamps from getting too tight). You might want to create an armature that holds lenses on rails for easy adjustment. Take a look at the photos below.

2.6.33 Kernel

2010-05-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

Rumor is going around that the latest kernel (2.6.33) released only in Debian Experimental right now, fixes a number of function key issues, including screen brightness and turning the trackpad on/off.

Thanks to user dilinger at #debian-kernel on irc.debian.org I found you can manually install the 2.6.33 kernel (no word on when it will be available for Testing) from packages.debian.org.

I gave it a shot and it's no good. Still having issues with brightness and the trackpad.

Power Consumption

2010-04-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

I hooked the UL80VT up to a Kill-A-Watt device just for fun.

Before NVidia fix:
1.5 kW/h

After NVidia fix:
(coming soon)

Dual Boot Windows 7 Debian Testing

2010-04-30T09:40:00.001-07:00

If you'd like to dual-boot Windows and Debian, install Windows first (sugg. 20GB partition), and leave the rest of the drive as free space. Then install Debian (sugg. 20GB partition) where you'd like and Grub should automatically run grub-update to include the Windows loader.

Because sharing files between Windows (NTFS) and Debian (ext3, ext4) can be such a hassle, I recommend the following setup, which allows a large Fat32 partition to hold all non-OS files and be mounted in either OS.

20GB: Windows
20GB: Debian
Rest: Fat32

You'll have to specify the free space as Fat32 when installing Debian, and later run mkfs.vfat -F 32 -I /dev/sdaX (X is variable) to format the partition as Fat32.

Suggested Packages/Tweaks

2010-04-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

Tools:
system-config-printer, dosfstools, ntfsprogs, hfsprogs, hddtemp, ntfs-3g, lshw, wicd

Security:
p7zip-full, aircrack-ng, wireshark, tcpdump, nbtscan, kismet, nmap avahi-daemon, avahi-discover, arp-scan

Entertainment:
iceweasel, flashplayer-mozilla (via debian-multimedia.org), rhythmbox, avidemux, ffmpeg, vlc

Development:
gthumb, gcolor2

Iceweasel:
HTTPS-Everywhere, Flashblock, Firebug

Gnome Themes:
Elegant Brit:
http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php/?content=74553

Elegant Mine:
http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php/?content=77491

GDM Login:
http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=88305

Gnome Terminal
1. Edit /usr/share/vte/termcap/xterm and find :co#80:it#8:li#24:\
2. Change 80 to desired columns and 24 to desired rows.
3. Suggest 150x15. Does not affect teletypewriter.

Features, Broken Things, Fixes

2010-04-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

Physical Components:
Power Button: Turns on machine, also brings up suspend, hibernate, restart, shutdown prompt in Debian.
Optical Drive: Works out of the box, read/write, no issues.
SD Reader: Works out of the box, automounts, no issues. SD card adapter with MicroSD works too.
Webcam: Does not work.
Lid: Failed to Suspend: Failed to execute child process /usr/sbin/pm-suspend (no such file or directory), stdout:(null), stderr:(null) ... screen locked instead. Fix: Install pm-utils package.

Function keys:
F1 (sleep): Works with package listed above
F2 (wifi): Turns wifi off, LED stays on
F5 (lcd dark): Does not work
F6 (lcd bright): Does not work
F7 (lcd on/off): Works
F8 (projector out): ! not tested yet
F9 (trackpad on/off): Does not work
F10 (vol mute): Works
F11 (vol down): Works
F12 (vol up): Works

F9 Fix:
1. Create off.sh,

#!/bin/sh
rmmod psmouse

2. Create on.sh

#~/bin/sh
modprobe psmouse

3. Create custom keyboard shortcuts to run these scripts with gksu sh /path/to/script.sh command. I used F9 to turn on the trackpad and Fn+F9 to turn it off.

Audio
Speakers: Does not work
Headphone jack: Works

Video
VGA out: ! not tested yet
HDMI out: ! not tested yet
NVidia: Always on, doesn't work
(drains battery life from 10 hrs to 5 hrs)

Networking
Works with ath9k kernels, see 'Installation' post.

Touchpad Fix
http://ubuntu-virginia.ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=8431344&postcount=14

Brightness Fix
http://forum.notebookreview.com/5665108-post1246.html

Details
Ethernet: Atheros AR8131 Gigabit
Wireless: Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n
CPU: Intel U7300 Core 2 Duo @ 1.30GHz
Battery: 5400mWh

Installation

2010-04-30T08:29:00.000-07:00

Debian Live: Not worth the trouble
Netinst/Business Card: No ethernet/wifi drivers: FAIL
Debian Stable Install CD: No ethernet/wifi drivers: FAIL
Debian Testing Install CD: WORKS!

Debian Testing ("Squeeze") currently includes the latest kernel with support for ath9k, which is necessary to get online. If desired, you can revert to Debian Stable once you're finished.

1. Burn disc with Debian testing ISO (~700MB).
2. Install without connecting to the net ("no ethernet card installed")
3. Once installed, check that wpasupplicant and wireless-tools packages are installed using "dpkg --get-selections". If for any reason they're not included, you can always download the .deb files from packages.debian.org and put them on via thumb drive, then install with, "dpkg -i package.deb"
4. Via a terminal, run "modprobe ath9k"

That's it, feel free to edit /etc/network/interfaces to get your wireless up and running. An example of a WPA2 PSK setup is listed below. Some have issues with Atheros cards providing intermittent service. To fix this, write a script that executes "iwconfig wlan0 power off" at boot.

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The ethernet interface
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

# The wireless interface
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-ssid MYACCESSPOINT
wpa-psk mypassphrase

Ethernet will now work, use "dhclient eth0" to obtain an IP via DHCP or install any package like wicd to connect via GUI.

If at this point, you'd rather use Debian Stable than Testing, edit /etc/apt/sources.list and replace all "testing" with "stable". Then run apt-get update, apt-get upgrade, and apt-get dist-upgrade commands.

Introduction

2010-04-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

This is a guide to properly running Debian on Asus' UL80VT laptop. Please keep in mind that information provided here is based on 2010 knowledge and resources; this blog may be obsolete in the next six months.

On Ubuntu 10.04: It works on the UL80VT, and most things work right out of the box. When it comes to applying fixes for what doesn't work, the Ubuntu community is great, but the OS can be finnicky, requiring special Ubuntu-only packages and tweaks that may not be clear to the native Debian user.

Also, this geek is a gay atheist Jew hooked on Keynesianism. Not relevant, just thought I'd mention it for kicks. Have fun!