I recently purchased an Eee PC 4G (the model with a 7" display and 4GB of memory) on the cheap. My intent was to look at it for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, I viewing it as a tool to help me in my study. In this guise, I'd use it for accessing the Bible (I'm studying theology) and for note taking. This means that I'd need to be able to install some extra software (there are several open source Bible study applications around that use public domain translations of the Bible) and type on it.

Secondly, I plan to use it for occasional web surfing and email access.. That's where the WiFi connection and, hopefully, 3G and Bluetooth support would be handy.

Thirdly, I attend a lot of meetings in my day job and I prefer to not carry printed papers to meetings. My preference is to take PDF or other documents with me as they're easy to annotate on the fly and my comments are kept with the original documents.

Finally, the built-in sound recording software was appealing as I could use it while interviewing folks and while at meetings and conferences.

After a couple of days of use I was totally frustrated - enough to use my soapbox at Hydrapinion for a rant titled "Eee PC proves why Linux blows". You see, installing extra applications to the Eee PC is a pain and, if you manage to install one, getting it to appear on the Eee's Easy Menu is something of a black art. Yeah, I know I can look to installing another operating system (there are several Linux distros focussed on the Eee PC and there are ways to install Mac OS X (don't bother, I did it and it was 20 minute experiment that on the 7: screen wasn't worth the effort) or Windows XP (you'll need a legitimate copy of XP SP2 for it work) but why should I have to do that to do, what on the face of things, looks to be a reasonably simple task.

Here's what I learned. Some of this will be dead obvious to those experienced in the use of Linux but given that the Eee PC isn't pitched specifically at Linux users but at consumer electronics customers after a low-cost computer, I think they're worth noting. Also, none of this stuff is my own work. I'll credit, where I can find them, the original sources of what I learned.

Starting the Terminal

Like it or not, getting the most out of Linux requires some access to the Terminal (Windows users would call this a DOS box or Command Prompt). The Eee PC's Easy Menu doesn't have a shortcut for launching the Terminal so you'll need to remember a keyboard shortcut.

To launch the Terminal press Ctrl+Alt+T

Enabling Desktop Mode

The Easy Mode, with it's large icons is great for quickly finding and launching applications. However, many would prefer a more usual desktop system. That's why you might like to enable the Full Desktop mode.

To enable Full Desktop mode

1 - Start a Terminal
2 - Enter the following commands

sudo bash
apt-get update
apt-get install ksmserver kicker

Note: When you run something commencing with "sudo", you're running it with full system access. Whatever you run as "sudo" will have access to the entire system. That means, if you don't know what you're doing, you can accidentally mess your system up quite badly.

Exit the Terminal (just type "exit") and then restart your Eee PC.

Now, when you press the power button, you'll have a button to run the Full Desktop, in addition to usual Stand By, Restart and Shut Down options.

As the Eee PC runs a version of the Linux distribution called Xandros that has a very strong resemblance to Windows XP. For many people, Full Desktop might be a more familiar experience and a preferred way of working. You can boot to the Full Desktop automatically by enabling it as a permanent option by going to Settings -> Personalisation and checking the Full Desktop option.

Source: My main source for this information was Eeeuser.org

Installing Applications

For Eee PC users, installing new applications is one of the confusing things they have to do. What makes it worse is that Easy Mode, even after a successful installation, doesn't provide easy access to the installed application.

In order to understand application installation I think a very short history lesson is in order. If you're a Windows or Mac user, you know that, even though new versions are released regularly, that the operating system is evolving in a single direction. Linux is different. Even though, many, many moons ago there was a single Linux, it's evolved so that there are several different types of Linux. Each type of Linux is called a distribution. Each different distribution has its own unique features.

What you need to know is that just because something works on one distribution Linux it doesn't necessarily mean that it'll work on all or any of the others. Now, the Eee PC runs a version of Xandros that's been customised for the Eee PC. Xandros is a Linux distribution that sprouted from Debian so what you find is that applications written for Xandros and Debian can usually work on the Eee PC.

I've had some success installing Debian applications

My operating system history starts at DOS 5 and Windows 3.0 and goes through all the flavours of Windows (except Windows ME thankfully). Also, I've been a Mac user for about five yearts so drag and drop installation is second nature. Essentially, that means that i'm used to running an installation package and having access to the installed application a few minutes later.

Linux is different as there are many ways to install applications. Firstly, you can download source code and compile it yourself. I have never done this and never expect to in my life. I won't be discussing this at all.

Secondly, you can run an application called Synaptic by going to the Terminal and entering the following.

sudo synaptic

This runs a program called Synaptic that makes program installation reasonably simple. Synaptic has a list of known program sources, called repositories, that are interrogated each time Synaptic is executed. This method works most of the time but is dependent on having enough "good" repositories in your list. There's a good article on how to do this over at eeeuser.com on how to do this along with a list of decent repositories.

If you're a Terminal or command line fan you can use the apt-get and install commands to install software. I'm not into the command line lifestyle so I'll point you to some clear instructions. Pop over to this page and scroll all the way to the bottom where the apt-get command is explained as well as how to use the command line to find software and to delete installed software.

My preferred method is to simply use Google. Search for the application type and find an installation that's distributed as a .deb file. For example, I installed the Opera web browser by visiting http://www.opera.com/download, choosing Xandros as my distribution and downloading Opera for Xandros 1.0 and 1.1 (the other version doesn't work on the Eee PC (or didn't for me).

By default, files download to the My Documents folder (you can launch the File Manager application from the Work tab of the Easy Menu - just in case you hadn't found that yet). Right click the downloaded .deb file and choose Install DEB file... from the menu. Then just follow the prompts and it's done

Running Applications

Having installed an application you'll want to actually use it. If you go to Full Desktop mode, you'll find you application under the Launch menu and looking through the Applications list. That's great if you're using the Full Desktop. If you're in Easy Mode it's a little trickier.

Open the File Manager. Go to the View menu and enable the "Show All File Systems" option. Expand the "All File Systems" branch of the file tree and then browse to "/usr/share/applications"

Note: file and folder names in Linux are case sensitive. That means that "usr" is different to "Usr".

From there, you can look through the list of installed programs to find your new applications.

Adding Applications to the Easy Mode Menu

The contents of the Easy Mode menu are managed, in typical Linux style, through a text file. This file is made up of structured content in an XML format. There's a tutorial on how to modify this using the Terminal and a text editor if you're so inclined. I'm not so I poked around, looking for a graphical tool that did this.

Go to the 3epc User Portal and download Launcher Tools. Install it (it comes in DEB package so you know how to do this) and a new icon, called "Launch Tools" appears on the Settings tab of the Easy Mode menu.

To add a new icon to the Easy Mode menu, launch the SimpleUI Editor. Choose the tab you wish to add your icon to (or add a new tab using the "Tab Management" option) and then right-click on some blank space to add a new program.

Given your new icon a name and then, in the "Command" section type the full path to the program you wish to launch from your new icon. For example, the path to Opera (on my system) is

/usr/share/applications/opera.desktop

Remember, this is case sensitive.

As you're entering it, text saying "Invalid Command" will appear below the command box. When you've entered a valid path, the text will automatically change to "Valid Command!" and be coloured green.

Creating your own custom icons is easy enough. There are excellent instructions and templates over at eeeuser.com. You can then use your own icons on the Easy Mode menu.

In closing...

One of the things I've learned over the last few days is that there's plenty of good information on using the Eee PC. However, most of it assumes some level of Linux knowledge. I've approached this form the point of view of the complete Linux newbie who's bought a consumer electronics device and wants to get a little more from it. Hence, I've not sought to do anything more technical than install some applications and add some icons so I can easily access the apps.

Incidentally, I've made considerable effort to not use anyone else's intellectual property in writing this post. Where an idea came from somewhere else I believe that I've credited it and provided some link love.

 Customising Eee PC • Eee PC • Eee PC Beginner • Linux