Revision 25 as of 2008-11-29 22:10:14

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Install Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex 8.10 on the Samsung NC10

DOCUMENTATION UNDER CONSTRUCTION...

Fully functional 'out of the box':

  • Video (with desktop effects)
  • Wired networking
  • USB
  • Webcam
  • Suspend / resume

Fully functional after driver updates:

  • Wireless networking
  • Audio (internal speakers now turn off when headphones are in use)
  • Internal mic

Not functional:

  • Fn Brightness keys (workaround available)
  • Multi-touch

Installation

Prerequisites:

Before you begin you will need the following:

Creating USB startup disk:

Method 1: (From an Ubuntu Intrepid computer, or computer running Ubuntu Intrepid Live CD) UBUNTU USB TOOL

Go to System -> Administration and select Create a USB startup disk. Select the Ubuntu image and the USB device, then press the Make startup disk button at the bottom of the window.

(Either of the options at the bottom of the window, regarding saving documents and settings, will work with this method, so pick your preference.)

After it is finished, install from the USB startup disk

Method 2: (From any Windows or Linux Computer) UNETBOOTIN

Download Unetbootin to your computer and plug in your USB drive. Follow the instructions at the UNetbootin website to create a USB startup disk.

When the startup disk is ready, install from the USB startup disk

Installing to NC10 from the USB startup disk:

Plug in your USB startup disk, then reboot the computer. You may need to change your NC10's boot settings so that it will boot from a plugged-in USB disk; to check, press F2 when the Netbook is first turning on to enter BIOS setup.

When you have verified this, save changes and exit BIOS setup.

The computer should then boot from the USB startup disk, offering you an Ubuntu menu. Select Install Ubuntu to begin installation.

Wireless Networking - Atheros

The wireless hardware is detected, but a non-functional driver is loaded when Ubuntu is installed. Installing the latest Madwifi driver resolves this problem.

First, disable the installed driver from System->Administration->Hardware driver by clicking Deactivate on the bottom of the window.

Next, blacklist the bad driver by adding it to your kernel blacklist. Open a terminal and enter 

sudo echo "blacklist ath_pci" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
sudo echo "blacklist ath_hal" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

Finally, install the Madwifi driver: 

sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-intrepid

After rebooting the driver should load and wireless networks should be listed in the Network Manager Applet.

Audio - Alsa Driver

The Alsa audio driver needs to be recompiled since the on-board chipset is a Realtek ID 272 which is not fully supported by Ubuntu 8.10.

When compiling the driver from source the package build-essential is needed. In terminal type: 

sudo apt-get install build-essential

The last Alsa Driver source can be downloaded at here (tested on v. 1.0.18a) Extract it on Desktop and in terminal type: 

cd Desktop/alsa-driver-*
./configure --with-cards=hda-intel --with-oss=yes --with-sequencer=yes
make
sudo make install

Set the volume levels in alsamixer - In terminal type: 

alsamixer

Restart the computer. The internal speakers will be disabled when you plug-in a headphone's jack.

Internal Microphone

For the internal microphone there is another workaround that needs testing. The internal microphone works but problems with plugging in headphones reoccur. Report your experiences on the discussion page.

Fn Brightness Keys - Workaround

Currently it is impossible to map the FN keys. Therefore, two utilities for mapping alternative keys are needed so that screen brightness can be adjusted. From terminal: 

sudo apt-get install xbacklight

Download Ubuntu Tweak from here and install it. Now open Ubuntu tweak (Application -> System tools) go to the appropriate section (Personal -> Shortcut) and set the combination that you want for example

Ctrl+UP with: 

xbacklight -inc 10

and Ctrl+DOWN 

xbacklight -dec 10

To increase and decrease the screen's brightness

External Links

* http://nc10ubuntu.wordpress.com/ - A blog that considers ways of improving the use of Ubuntu on the Samsung NC10
* http://www.netbooknews.it/ubuntu-su-nc10-parte-seconda/ - Italian blog for all netbook-related news and tricks. (Thanks for Audio and wireless tricks)
* Dedicated unofficial blog