Subject: Re: NetBSD on Asus's EeePC
To: Quentin Garnier <cube@cubidou.net>
From: Chris Wareham <chriswareham@chriswareham.demon.co.uk>
List: port-i386
Date: 12/16/2007 22:15:59
Quentin Garnier said on 19/11/07 09:05:
> Hi all,
> 
> For those wondering about the Eee [1], I've been playing with the one I've
> bought on Thursday, and here is the status of using NetBSD on it.
> 
> The things that don't work out of the box in -current are the Ethernet
> interface and the wireless interface.  That's a bummer.  I haven't tried
> X yet, though, but I expect X.org and the Intel driver to work somewhat
> well.  (Maybe I'm a fool.)
> 
> I had ACPI-related trouble with NetBSD 4.0 RC2, which means it migt very
> well be fixed in 4.0 RC4.  Now that I have networking on it, I'll be
> able to test kernels more easily.
> 
> I also have trouble with apm@acpi.  I'll check in a fix/workaround for
> that which consists in delaying its enumeration of sensors to a later
> time (when interrupts are enabled).  My (now two) Asus laptops have
> trouble with apm poking at envsys stuff before interrupts are enabled,
> and I know of some other people having trouble with it.
> 
> As for the Ethernet device, I now have a working driver.  It's not
> complete yet and needs some clean up, but the real trouble is that the
> only documentation I had was a Linux GPL driver.  I'll try to reach
> Atheros about it, but in the meantime I won't publish it.
> 
> David Young told me that an update of net80211 and ath(4) from FreeBSD
> should allow the wireless device to be used.  If anyone wishes to work
> on it, please be my guest.  I will probably have a try at it, but I was
> lucky enough to have this week-end almost completely free, that might
> not reproduce before long.
> 
> That pretty much sums it up.  All in all, the Eee is a nice device.
> 
> [1] http://eeepc.asus.com/
> 

Hi Quentin,

I've just managed to get hold of an Eee and have been trying to get
NetBSD -current installed, but without any success. I used the snapshot
of -current from here:

ftp://ftp.fr.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD-daily/HEAD/200712150002Z

And followed the instructions for creating a bootable USB memory stick
found here:

http://wiki.netbsd.se/index.php/How_to_install_NetBSD_from_an_USB_Memory_Stick

However, after setting the BIOS on the Eee to boot from the memory
stick, it boots straight into the Xandros Linux installation. In the
meantime I'll try NetBSD 4.0 RC5, but are there any steps (such as
further settings in the BIOS) that are required to get the installation
going?

Regards,

Chris