Install Linux Mint on ASUS eeePc with USB
Required Files
fixmint
Linux Mint
I started by following the directions here until I got to step 7. At this point I was never able to get the USB drive bootable. Below are the steps that I followed and successfully install Linux Mint on my eee.
* (Updated 6.23.2008) I later discovered that the reason I was never able to be the USB drive to be bootable was because of the order in which I inserted the USB drive. In order to have fixmint recognize the USB flash drive, you should have it plugged in before running fixmint. Fixmint adds all the current drives to the makeboot.bat file when it is run. If you run fixmint without the USB drive connected, it will not recognize the USB drive. So either you need to insert the USB drive first or modify the makeboot.bat file afterwards to include the appropriate drive.
- Format my USB drive with FAT32.
- Created a directory on my local PC.`C:\Temp\LinuxM`.
- Download the Linux Mint iso image. I keep mine in a directory on a secondary drive. After the download was complete, I copied it over to the `C:\Temp\LinuxM` directory.
- Download fixmint.exe to the `C:\Temp\LinuxM` directory. Then I ran the fixmint.exe executable.
- Run the fixmint.bat batch file. You can just double-click on it from Windows explorer if you choose.
- Open the command prompt. Change to the directory where you created the LinuxM directory. Change directories to the mint\syslinux\win32 directory. Mine is `C:\Temp\LinuxM\mint\syslinux\win32`. In this win32 directory is a file called syslinux.exe. For some reason none of my Windows machines recognized any of my USB drives as removable (Probably why the makeboot.bat didn’t work). In order to get around this I ran the following command, K is the drive letter of my USB drive.
# syslinux.exe -fma K: // Change K: to the drive letter of your USB drive. - At this point we can copy over the content of the mint directory over to the USB drive.
# xcopy /s *.* K:\ // Change K: to the drive letter of your USB drive. - After safely removing the USB drive from my Windows PC, I put it in the right front USB drive on my eee, pressed the power button and hit the `esc` key until i got the boot menu. From there I selected my USB drive to boot from.
- Since the resolution does not allow you to see all of the dialog boxes and the Alt+Left mouse button would not allow me to see the buttons, I had to do the following to do the install. Select the Start (Daryna) button in the lower left corner, then Appearance. Select the Visual Effects tab and select `None`. This will allow you to use Alt+Left mouse hold to drag the windows around.
- Now you are ready to do the installation.
- After the install is completed, reboot and connect an ethernet cable. Open up your browser and download the eee-support scripts from here.
- Open terminal and navigate to where you downloaded the support script.
# tar xzf /(download-path)/eee-ubuntu-support_v0.7.tgz // this extracts the files
- Change directories and run the install script
# cd /(eee-support-files-directory-path)/
# sudo ./install.sh all // installs drivers, etc
# sudo ./tweak-gnome.sh // fixes fonts, icons, etc. - I wanted to decrease the write time so I edited fstab and added noatime to it.
# sudo gedit /etc/fstab
- For the changes in fstab to take effect, either reboot or run the following command.
# sudo mount -o remount /
At this point you should be good to go. We will make some additional tweaks and fill you in later.
19 comments so far
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Hi There,
I have my EEE working great with Mint thanks to your tutorial. I have only one problem, when booting up I have a box in top left corner which just sits and looks at me until I press Enter, then a 5 sec clock countdown timer after which selects the Kernel and goes on to boot up. Is there any way to get rid. I have installed twice now and both times the same. Hope to roll this out at school so would be great to sort out.
Thanks a million
John
John,
I had the same issue and have not yet resolved it. And to be honest, I have switched over to EeePCLinuxOS and prefer over every other distro I have tried. You can have a look here and let me know if this helps.
Hi Joe,
Advice on forum worked a treat.
I was also going to be looking at eeePCLinuxOS. I would be interested to know how easy to install and if everything works on the eee. The school I work in has 35 eee’s and I am sure that the pupils will soon realise, that in its basic state there is only one user and that user can change passwords etc.
Hi John,
The install for EeePCLinux was fairly easy. I did the full install, which at this time is not supported. They have done a really nice job of tweaking the distro to look really good on the eee. Everything worked right out of the box, if you will. It is really easy to install from a USB stick as well.
perfect guide! thx m8. i installed on my eee 900. Installed the ubuntu-script too. everything is fine. The only problem is that i have no sound.. =(
Helpful guide! But no sound to my asus eee 900. Even with the script installed. Any suggestion?
Kostas,
This appears to be a common problem on the 900 with Ubuntu. I don’t have a 900 to test with, but you could check out this link at http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=262410.
i did everything until step 8. when i turned the power on and pressed esc, i got a black screen with a prompt saying “Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key.” now i don’t know what i am supposed to do!
okay, so i’ve tried doing it again, but i realized how when i run the fixmint, it doesn’t recognize the flash drive letter when i type it in. please help!
Kate,
Are you putting the flash drive in before you run fixmint? I found a that what happens is that when you run fixmint, it registers all the current drive letters. If you put the flash drive in after running it, you need to edit the makeboot.bat file to include that drive letter. That should fix your problem.
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i like but when you have it all in one package specifically for eeepc let me know as i’m new to all of this. thanks.
Eric,
This was only for instructional purposes to assist with install Linux Mint on the Eee. I have never put any thought towards building a distro.
Good site I “Stumbledupon” it today and gave it a stumble for you.. looking forward to seeing what else you have..later
Kate,
I had the same problem.This is what u are going to do:1.Open the fixmint.bat in notepad and edit it.Edit the “(D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K)”
and put your drive letter instead of G.
2.Find this line:”if ‘%drive%’ == ‘G’ goto proceed”
and instead of G put your drive letter.
3.Find this line:”if ‘%drive%’ == ‘g’ goto proceed”
and put your drive letter instead of g.
Now open the fixmint.bat normally and it it will recognize your drive.Quite simple isnt it?:)
Joe,great tutorial!I installed linux mint and now I’m doing the last part.Thank you!I have one problem though.When I press shutdown on linux mint,it doesnt really shut down.I see the shutdown screen,then the screen goes black but the green light on the down rigt of my eee pc is lit.What do I have to do?
I read similar article also named ll Linux Mint on ASUS eeePc with USB | I Learned It Online, and it was completely different. Personally, I agree with you more, because this article makes a little bit more sense for me
John,
There is a similar problem with eeeXubuntu, you may want to try the solution for that which can be found at http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ubuntu:eeexubuntu:customization#removing_sound_during_shutdown. You will need to do sudo gedit instead of do mousepad. Let me know if that works for you.
John,
The only reason I didn’t mention changing the fixmint.bat file was because if someone isn’t comfortable editing the file, inserting the USB drive first is easier. But your method is easier if you already have the have the fixmint.bat file and are comfortable editing it.
usb boot easy way : unetbootin !