EeePC and FreeBSD page

Putting FreeBSD onto my EeePC

OK, finally get around to it. First read John's info on the wiki: http://wiki.meraka.csir.co.za/wiki/index.php/Category:ASUS_eeePC

Then copy John's FreeBSD EeePC distribution (img.tgz) to my PC. Follow Werner's instructions to get the distro on USB memory stick

fdisk -I da0
fdisk -B da0
bsdlabel -w da0s1 auto
bsdlabel -B da0s1
newfs /dev/da0s1a
mount /dev/da0s1a /mnt
tar -xvf img.tgz -C /mnt/
echo /dev/da0s1a / ufs rw 1 1 > /mnt/etc/fstab
echo ifconfig_DEFAULT=DHCP > /mnt/etc/rc.conf
echo hostname=demo >> /mnt/etc/rc.conf
umount /mnt

Plug into USB port on EeePC. Select boot form USB (Press ESC at bootup to get menu) Boot FreeBSD Dump WinXP image on a USB disk

dd if=/dev/ad2 of=/dev/da2 bs=4k

Follow instructions above to get FreeBSD on ad2

fdisk -I ad2
fdisk -B ad2
bsdlabel -w ad2s1 auto
bsdlabel -B ad2s1
newfs -U /dev/ad2s1a
mount /dev/ad2s1a /mnt
tar -cf - --exclude /mnt / | tar -xvpf - -C /mnt
echo /dev/ad2s1a / ufs rw 1 1 > /mnt/etc/fstab

Enable ipv6, ssh and moused in /etc/rc.conf

ipv6_enable="YES"
sshd_enable="YES"
moused_enable="YES"

Shutdown and reboot.

Install Xorg and KDE

setenv PACKAGEROOT ftp://ftp2.za.freebsd.org

pkg_add -r xorg
pkg_add -r kde-lite

Enable and test sound. Add the following line in /boot/loader.conf

snd_hda_load="YES"

Search for app that can show the battery status in X. Install and test desktopbsd-tools. Battery status works. Test wifi install gui. Not impressed, it only supports WEP

pkg_add -r desktopbsd-tools

Battery status works. Test wifi install gui. Not impressed, it only supports WEP. Delete package and search for other battery apps. See that KDE has a package that can show battery status. Install klaptopdaemon.

pkg_add -r kdeutils-klaptopdaemon

Battle to get it to work. Eventually find out that you have to load AMP (advanced power management). Edit /etc/rc.conf and add the following lines.

amp_enable="YES"
ampd_enable="YES"

Shutdown and reboot

Login and start KDE. Enable battery monitor under kde "Start" "Settings" "Power control" "Laptop Battery". Yes, I get a new battery icon. Remove power and test it. Battery shows power, but reporting of "time left" is broken.

Enable power manager to preserve power while running on battery. Add following to rc.conf

powerd_enable="YES"

and lower CPU speed. Add the following to /etc/sysctl.conf

dev.cpu.0.cx_lowest=C3 

Try to get dstumbler to work so that we can use the EeePC as a wireless measurement PC. Install BSD-airtools (dstumbler part of it), but it looks like the package is broken. Search for other packages that we can use, but I can't find anything. Start looking at what command line stats available.

Try to enable virtual screen resolution in Xorg. Add the following in the Screen section of xorg.conf

SubSection "Display"
              Viewport   0 0
              Depth     24
              Virtual 1200 720
EndSubSection

Restart X, but it doesn't work. Do a lot of reading and playing, but I cannot get it to work.