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[teapot]

I really like XFCE, but the one drawback for me is the screen resolution. I have  bad eyesight, so reading and using XFCE at 1200x900 on the XO is almost out of the question. Does anybody know of a way to change the resolution?

I would be grateful if you helped me.

So far I don't have a way to force half-resolution mode for everything (though I agree that it will make a lot of sense to have it available). However I have already set default text size and scrollbar width to twice their normal size, so screen remains readable. You can increase text size further in "User Interface Preferences" and "Desktop Preferences" in Xfce settings, and separately for Firefox in its "Edit->Preferences->Content->Fonts & Colors, Advanced..." panel. This will not affect thickness of lines, so by default my configuration uses thick window borders that are clearly visible on all resolutions.

[mavrothal]

I have posted this in another thread ( http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=3063.msg24821#msg24821 ) but I guess here is the right place. So after some editing here it is.
It is simply a script with teapot's instructions that will automate the process. Will also format your SD card in a single ext3 partition.

Before you start make sure sfdisk is installed in your system. In the terminal type

Code:

ls /sbin

and look for sfdisk It should be there, but just in case...

So here is the process:
Some steps will be performed on another computer and not the XO.
On your other computer download the torrent with teapot’s hardy installation from http://mars.illtel.denver.co.us/~abelits/torrents/OLPCFiles-hardy-20080506.tar.bz2.torrent
Place the downloaded OLPCFiles-hardy-20080506.tar.bz2 file in a USB stick with a minimum 250MB capacity.
DO NOT change the name of the file
The name of the USB stick MUST be :    USB   only.
Rename it (in your Mac, Linux or Windows desktop) if your stick has a different name.
Put the USB stick in one of the USB ports of your XO and an SD card in the SD card slot of your XO. Nothing else should be connected to your XO.
Note If your SD card is FAT16 or FAT32 formated will appear in the Journal will not unmount with the script and the process will freeze, so un-mount it from the journal Just hover over it and select "Unmount" from the menu. Make sure that you do not unmount the USB stick that may also show in the Journal.

Option 1 for OS 703 and later or joyride-2xxx and later
Open this page in the Browse activity and copy the script given below.

Code:

#
# script to install Teapot's Ubuntu8
#
touch /etc/ohm/inhibit-suspend
/etc/init.d/haldaemon stop
umount /dev/mmcblk0
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4096 count=1
sfdisk /dev/mmcblk0 << EOF
0,,83,*
EOF
mke2fs -j -L OLPCRoot /dev/mmcblk0p1
mkdir /media/OLPCRoot
mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /media/OLPCRoot
cd /media/OLPCRoot
tar xvjf /media/USB/OLPCFiles-hardy-20080506.tar.bz2
cp -a /security .
cp -ia /boot/* boot/ </dev/null
cp -a /lib/modules/* lib/modules/
cp -a /lib/firmware/* lib/firmware/
cd /
umount /media/OLPCRoot
echo "All done!"
echo "Reboot your XO to start using Ubuntu"
echo "login with username:olpc password:olpcolpc"
exit 0

Open the Terminal activity and type

Code:

nano UbInstall.sh

in the empty file that opens paste the text that you copied from the Browse activity.
Press  <ctrl+x>
type:  y
Press: <enter>

Option 2 for earlier OS builds eg 650 to 659. (it can also be used in latter builds)
On your other computer open a text editor (not word processor) and copy the text of the script given above. Save the file in the same USB stick as “UbInstall.sh”. Make sure that no additional extension is added eg “.txt” . If it does is not terrible but needs a different command below. Transfer the stick to the XO open the terminal and type

Code:

ls /media/USB

note how what exactly is the name of your “UbInstall” file eg “.sh” or “.sh.txt”
depending on that, type:

Code:

cp /media/USB/UbInstall.sh . 

(do not miss the dot at the end of the line)
or

Code:

cp /media/USB/UbInstall.sh.txt ./UbInstall.sh

Common for both options 1 or 2.
Now type

Code:

chmod 775 UbInstall.sh

to make the UbInstall script executable
Then type

Code:

su
sh –v UbInstall.sh

OR for early (before 700) builds

Code:

su -
sh –v UbInstall.sh

If everything was ok your screen should start typing things for some time… walk away for 30 minutes or so.
Come back and reboot to Ubuntu using username: olpc password:olpcolpc

NOTE: The script has no fail-safes. If something is not done exactly as described will not work. Worse case scenario it may mess-up your SD card and you’ll need to reformat it.

[newbie]

This script makes everything quite easy, and having Ubuntu on my xo is just great! Congratulations everyone who worked on this, and thank you so much!

I have a question about it: In Sugar it is possible to use the gamepad for other applications like ebook-readers. Is there a way to do that in Ubuntu, too? I love using Comix in tablet mode and it would be great if I could do that with Ubuntu. Is there perhaps even a way to use the gamepad-buttons as a replacement-mouse to use Firefox in tablet mode?

Oh, and does anyone else have a problem with mplayer? I keep getting an error message:

AO: [pulse] Failed to connect to server: Connection refused

[mavrothal]

Oh, and does anyone else have a problem with mplayer? I keep getting an error message:

AO: [pulse] Failed to connect to server: Connection refused

What are you trying to do when you get this message? Check the previous page of this thread (p16) you may find something relevant.

In general in this tread you can find answers to most of your questions regarding Ubuntu Hardy. What I find handy is to click print at the bottom right of the page to get the whole thread flat and then just do a word search with your problem! You can even save it for off-line searches.

You may also want to check in this thread http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=3062.0

[newbie]

What I find handy is to click print at the bottom right of the page to get the whole thread flat and then just do a word search with your problem! You can even save it for off-line searches.

I can't even begin to describe how much easier you've just made my life. Thanks! No more wasted hours clicking through page after page after page after page....

[blend]

Hi everyone heres some notes on my install:

Amarok works after updating everything in Synaptic and trying to install almost every other mp3 player with scrobbling support.  Audacious's scrobbling plugin doesn't work, tried Included version and 1.4.5 with root privelages.

Full screen mplayer video needed updated video drivers and a text file edit somewhere.

If Installing from usb you have to down the tick key for LONG enough at boot.  If your too quick at "release key to continue" screen it won't be ready and it's not clear why.  This wasted a lot of my time, hope this helps someone

My 2 gig mp3 player/usb stick worked for everything, my 1 gig usb key didn't always.
Secure upgrade needed a windows xp usb key format, I never got it to work from Ubuntu with fdisk.  Hope this helps someone!

I can't access shared files over the network.  Thunar "open location" doesn't work.  Do I need to install network support or something?  I'm a bit noob!  Been using a locally hosted webpage instead

How can we search for files?  Does Thunar have a search option?  This terminal command:
sudo find / filenameyourlookingfor
doesnt ever seem to work for me.

[Morris]

thanks for all the hard work that has allowed a novice to install Xubuntu on OLPC.    

It works so well that 7 year old grandaughter wants to take it home and so I need to find a way of synchronising the version I use on my Mac with VMWare with the version she will have so as to backup and have a master copy. Using qemu-img and Q on Hardy I can get my Mac vmdk version to run in Q but cannot translate it to a raw image so I can then reload/update the version on now grandaughters OLPC.    ANY THOUGHTS gratefully received.

[mavrothal]

ANY THOUGHTS gratefully received.

May be this can help http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=3062.msg24431#msg24431

[strollin]

OK, I followed Teapot's instructions to load Ubuntu, however I can't boot the XO.  I used a USB stick for the install and I modified the etc/fstab and the boot/olpc.fth files to use /dev/sda1 instead of /dev/mmcblk0p1 and I used disk:\ instead of sd:\ in olpc.fth.  During boot I see this on the screen:

Boot device: /usb/disk:\boot\olpc.fth  Arguments:
<buffer@800000>:8: loglevel=3" ?
<buffer@800000>:12: Undefined word encountered

Here's the contents of my /boot/olpc.fth file:
\ Boot script
game-key-mask h# 80 and if
          " ro root=mtd0 rootfstype=jffs2 console=tty0 fbcon=font:SUN12x22" to boot-file
          " nand:\boot\vmlinuz" to boot-device
          " nand:\boot\olpcrd.img" to ramdisk
else
          " ro root=/dev/sda1 rootfstype=ext3 console=tty0 fbcon=font:SUN12x22
loglevel=3" to boot-file
          " disk:\boot\vmlinuz" to boot-device
          " disk:\boot\olprcrd.img" to ramdisk
          \ unfreeze
then
boot

The only line I changed in the fstab file was the first line whch now reads:
/dev/sda1                        / ext3 defaults,noatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1

Anybody got any idea why I get the error when booting?

Update:  I used nano to edit the files.  Apparently, nano inserts a new-line charater or something when it encounters a long line such as where the line in the olpc.fth file wraps  and continues on the next line as: loglevel=3".  I used vi to edit the file and deleted the new-line character, saved the file and all is well now.  I am booted into Hardy now.  Thanks!

[mavrothal]

Edit Oct20 It would appear that the below described process DOES NOT work under os767. The files are installed but the boot fails with a bunch of ext3 fs errors. See also http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=2240.msg26360#msg26360 and  http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=2240.msg26383#msg26383.
It was confirmed by Teapot the Ubuntu will not run from a USB stick if installed under 767 http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=2240.msg26419#msg26419. So be advised and help debug
Thanks to Rao for noticing this

Edit 2 Nov. 6 Now there is a fix for the above problem that can be found here http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=3942.msg26764#msg26764 for Build 767, or here for manual fixing of any other Sugar Build http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=3942.msg26766#msg26766
Apply the fix while still booted in sugar and after you finish the installation of Ubuntu into the USB stick.


“After further review” (see discussion in this thread from this point on http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=3063.msg25017#msg25017)  I thought that scripting the installation for a USB stick may be feasible.
Though grate care should be given in the instructions.
So here is the process:
On another computer and not the XO download the torrent with teapot’s hardy installation from http://mars.illtel.denver.co.us/~abelits/torrents/OLPCFiles-hardy-20080506.tar.bz2.torrent
Insert a minimum 500MB usb stick in this computer and rename the stick to: USB (3 letters only capital “u”, capital “s”, capital “b”).
This is VITAL for the process.
Transfer downloaded OLPCFiles-hardy-20080506.tar.bz2 file in the “USB”-named stick.  DO NOT change the name of the file.
Open a text editor (not word processor) and generate 3 text files by copy/pasting the text given below and save them in the “USB”-named stick.

File 1 named:  InstallTOusb.txt (this is the actual script)

Code:

#
# script to install Teapot's Ubuntu8 in a USB stick
#
touch /etc/ohm/inhibit-suspend
/etc/init.d/haldaemon stop
umount /dev/sda1
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=4096 count=1
sfdisk /dev/sda << EOF
0,,83,*
EOF
mke2fs -j -L OLPCRoot /dev/sda1
mkdir /media/OLPCRoot
mount /dev/sda1 /media/OLPCRoot
cd /media/OLPCRoot
tar xvjf /media/USB/OLPCFiles-hardy-20080506.tar.bz2
cp -a /security .
cp -ia /boot/* boot/ </dev/null
cp -a /lib/modules/* lib/modules/
cp -a /lib/firmware/* lib/firmware/
cp /media/USB/fstab.usb.txt etc/fstab
cp /media/USB/olpc.fth.usb.txt boot/olpc.fth
cd /
umount /media/OLPCRoot
echo "All done!"
echo "Reboot your XO to start using Ubuntu"
echo "login with username:olpc password:olpcolpc"
exit 0

File 2 named: olpc.fth.usb.txt
(so your XO will boot from the USB stick)

Code:

\ Boot script
\
\ overclock first
\
7de009e
5dd
4c000014
wrmsr
\
\ end of overclock
\
\ boot option
\
game-key-mask h# 80 and if
    " ro root=mtd0 rootfstype=jffs2 console=tty0 fbcon=font:SUN12x22" to boot-file
    " nand:\boot\vmlinuz" to boot-device
    " nand:\boot\olpcrd.img" to ramdisk
else
    " ro root=/dev/sda1 rootfstype=ext3 console=tty0 fbcon=font:SUN12x22 loglevel=3" to boot-file
    " disk:\boot\vmlinuz" to boot-device
    " disk:\boot\olpcrd.img" to ramdisk
    \ unfreeze
then
boot

NOTE this file will also overclock your XO to 500MHz CPU /200MHz RAM. If you do not like that delete from the text the first 4 lines that do not start with “\”

File 3 named: fstab.usb.txt (so your XO will look for Ubuntu in the USB stick)

Code:

/dev/sda1          / ext3 defaults,noatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
none /ofw  promfs defaults 0 0

/dev/mtdblock0 /media/olpcmtd0 jffs2 defaults   0 0
devpts                  /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620    0 0
tmpfs                   /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults,size=15% 0 0
proc                    /proc                   proc    defaults          0 0
sysfs                   /sys                    sysfs   defaults          0 0

You are done with the other computer now go to your XO.

FIRST connect an at least 1GB USB stick (preferably 2GB. 1GB will leave very little space after Ubuntu installation) to your XO.
It is VITAL that you put the stick that will take the Ubuntu FIRST. If you put the “USB”-named stick first nothing is going to work
SECOND connect the “USB”-named stick to your XO.
Open a terminal and type df
In the list that opens the stick that will take Ubuntu should be mounted on /dev/sda1 and the “USB”-named stick on /dev/sdb1 . If not STOP, remove the sticks and place them in the correct order. If in the correct order, type:

Code:

ls /media/USB

notice the names of the files in the “USB”-named stick should be:
OLPCFiles-hardy-20080506.tar.bz2
InstallTOusb.txt
fstab.usb.txt
olpc.fth.usb.txt
If not stop and rename then with the mv command eg:

Code:

mv /media/USB/fstab.wrong.name /media/USB/fstab.usb.txt

Then go to Journal and unmount  from the journal the stick that is going to take the Ubundu. NOT the “USB”-named stick. The Ubuntu stick should be the left-most of the two and should be mounted, if is formatted in FAT16 or FAT32 as they usually are. If is not showing in the journal but shows after df the script should take care of it.

Then back to terminal and type:

Code:

cp /media/USB/InstallTOusb.txt ./UbInstall.sh
chmod 755 UbInstall.sh

(do not miss the dot before the /)

Then type

Code:

su
sh –v UbInstall.sh

OR for early (before 700) builds

Code:

su -
sh –v UbInstall.sh

Note It is recommended however, before you install Ubuntu to update to a newer Sugar OS/build so the newer version of the kernel will be used and improve Ubuntu performance.
Also you could open this page in your XO and copy/paste the commands in the terminal avoiding typing errors that could mess-up the process.
You could even create the files directly in the XO with nano and copy/paste

If everything was ok your screen should start typing things for some time… walk away for 30 minutes or so.
Come back REMOVE your “USB”-named stick from the XO (leave the Ubuntu stick on... ) and reboot to Ubuntu using username: olpc password:olpcolpc

Thanks to MartijnR and teapot for the comments.

Edited for typos and clarity

[mavrothal]

Boot device: /usb/disk:\boot\olpc.fth  Arguments:
<buffer@800000>:8: loglevel=3" ?
<buffer@800000>:12: Undefined word encountered

Here's the contents of my /boot/olpc.fth file:
\ Boot script
game-key-mask h# 80 and if

When I had the same problem was because was not a space between the  \ and the next word, eg was \Bootscript instead of \ Bootscript
I always use nano to edit files.

[sola]

I have just read that OLPC developers pushed a lot of code upstream into the Linux kernel and a lot of features now work out of the box with the new kernel.

This should make it much easier for a kernel-savvy person like Teapot to include a new suspend-capable kernel into Hardpot.

[MartijnR]

Mavrothal, I tried the script, but it failed on me. Main problem is the partioning of the stick. Applied the commands manually, that worked.

After the installation I keep running into problems. It seems I can't get root privileges when working with graphical applications, like Moocapiean pointed out in the first message of this thread. But I can't get it resolved with his solution or with Ritibelle's solution.

Who can help?

[Eddie Owens]

I think that you are right, it is a permissions issue.  The graphical applications that you are opening, you are opening as user "olpc", and most likely "olpc" does not have privileges to perform those particular actions on those particular files.

So you basically have 2 choices: (1)change the file permissions, or in some cases you can (2) open the application as root.

For furthur information see messages #200 and #201 in this current thread (topic=2240).

[mavrothal]

Main problem is the partioning of the stick. Applied the commands manually, that worked.

That is strange. Specially if you just typed exactly the same sfdisk commands. I'm assuming you run the script as a su, correct?

After the installation I keep running into problems. It seems I can't get root privileges when working with graphical applications,

I should admit that I just run the script loged into Ubuntu and then just hit the road.... I'll be back after the 10th so if is not resolved be then I'll see what I can do. I can not see why the permissions should be different in the stick and in the card, unless there is something in teapot's original installation. If it, is would be really hard for me to troubleshoot.