2nd Life on ASUS EEE

I'm new to my Asus eee PC and very new to Linux. I have read/followed the install the install readme file but cannot get SL to run on my eee. Has anyone got it to run yet? It will run (just) on my full sized laptop with is a very simlar spec but runs winXP. Any help?

eee are nice I seeing them with xp home on them here for about 450.00 us here 50,000 yen ..........I have seen one other person running eee here on Linux. And you see a fewothers coming soon.

Trying to talk my nephew into getting one for his uni degree but as good as it is for that I doubt it has enough grunt to make SL work.
900MHz cpu? I think 512 of ram, 4 (FOUR) Gb Solid state disk drive and a 7 inch screen @ 640x480 resolution are not a formula to run an intensive application like Second Life.
But it's perfect to take notes at lectures and it will take lots of knocks.

To answer the Q. No.

frankly speaking there is someone that is running one. he posted some time ago.

here is the proof

/263/42/227404/1.html

look closey its the same guy...........who knows

yes it runs... I have a 4G. Installed the GLX library, then I installed the linux SL on a 4 GB SDHC and it works, not fast as light but playable! Awesome...

Well that's good news. Even better.

Actually the Asus runs SL fairly well, although you need to tweak a couple of things.

It's late here now, I'll post full details n the morning, but in essesnce you should need only the packaged client from SL and an EeE to get onto SL.

It works adequately on a basic 701 machine with 512Mb RAM and 4Gb flash. Its acceptable with 1Gb, and if you feel brave enough to mod your kernel and add some overclocking it fairly spanks along with 2Gb RAM and fully clocked 900Mhz processor.

I have one outstanding issue to solve with the Intel graphics and some poor transparency handling, if anyone gets a moment that would be helpful, but it's no show stopper.

Oh, yes, this is an EeE running the native Xandros Linux install, not Ubuntu or an XP Hack (as some reports have used). Oh, I am posting this from the EeE too

I just about got it running on eeepc, although it is pretty slow. There are some nasty blocks of black colour on the inside of my avi's arms and behind her neck. These don't go away with the old bake textures trick. Any ideas?

Anyone who has got this working care to share what magic is required??

I have the basic 512/2GB model and would like to access SL more for quick IMs, adding to groups etc etc rather than any serious use.

When I try to install I get "Window creation error" and don't know what to tweak and prod next

Ta!

OK, as promised, the full process for getting the SecondLife client running on a standard (4G 701) EeE PC.

The process is straightforward, but there are a few steps you MUST get right in order to get things working properly. Don't worry if you're a complete Linux n00b, I'll take it a step at a time. Read things CAREFULLY, and then follow the process to the letter and all should be fine.

Feeling lucky ? Here we go then...

1. Modify the X-Server on the EeE for 24-bit colour.

The default X-Server on the EeE runs on 16-bit colour. The SecondLife client needs 32-bit (actually 24-bit) and will refuse to start unless it detects at least 24-bit support.

Open a terminal window (CTRL-ALT-T) and open the X-Server config file for editing using the vi editor:
/home/user> sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.old
/home/user> sudo kwrite /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Use the arrow keys to move down the file until you find the line containing "DefaultDepth 16" and then overtype the "16" with "24". Save the changes you have made and then exit the editor.


2. Download and Install the Linux SecondLife Client

Download the current Linux Client release software using Firefox directly onto the EeE PC (I save to a folder I created called /home/user/downloads). If you want to create such a folder, use the terminal window you opened in Step 1 (or open a new one) and at the prompt type the following command:
/home/user> mkdir downloads

Once you have downloaded the file you will need to extract it to a working directory. I prefer to run the client from an SD card (I use an 8Gb class 6 card I got from Ebay). SD cards are mounted under /media/MMC-SD/partition1 when installed so the following commands will extract the client onto the card for you.
/home/user> cd /media/MMC-SD/partition1
/media/MMC-SD/partition1> cp /home/user/downloads/SecondLife* ./
/media/MMC-SD/partition1> tar -xf SecondLife*

This should extract all the software files into a directory named by the release version (ie SecondLife_i686_1_18_5_3) on the SD card.

Now a little Unix magic - we'll link the real folder on the SD card to a generic name. This allows us to install a newer client with minimal tweaking later, and in SecondLife land that's important !! In the terminal window, create the symbolic link to your newly extracted directory (substitute the name of the directory you extracted under the folder /media/MMC-SD/partitio1/ in the following command):
/media/MMC-SD/partition1> cd /home/user
/home/user> ln -s /media/MMC-SD/partition1/SecondLife_i686_1_18_5_3 SecondLife

Whilst we are linking new folders onto the SD card, we'll create the user settings directory on the SD card and link it from the location that the client will use to access them. Note that the folder is called .secondlife (dot-secondlife) which hides the folder from casual view.
/home/user> mkdir /media/MMC-SD/partition1/.secondlife
/home/user> ln -s /media/MMC-SD/partition1/.secondlife .secondlife

Now let's start up the newly installed client from the command line and check that we are on the right track. In the terminal window a simple command should get some results:
/home/user/SecondLife/secondlife &

This should get your basic client starting up and displaying the login screen that should be vaguely recognisable. Don't try to log on yet, close the client window and move to step 3.


3. Modify the Client Settings

Now you need some changes to the settings file to accommodate the unusually low screen resolution. This is necessary to make sure that you get the most from the client. Be aware that it doesn't fix EVERYTHING. Notably, the Estate settings pane is too big and doesn't auto-adjust to the screen size settings, but the main menus and common dialogs are mostly usable.

The easy way to do this is to make sure you have a copy of my modified basic settings file. You can download a copy of the file from here and save it into your downloads folder as before. Then extract the xml file to the correct folder from the terminal window using these commands:
/home/user> cd /home/user/.secondlife/user_settings
/home/user/.secondlife/user_settings> sudo rm settings.xml
/home/user/.secondlife/user_settings> tar -zxf /home/user/downloads/settings.tgz

This will fix the screen resolution settings and allow you to get logged in. Relaunch the client from the terminal window using the following command:
/home/user> /home/user/SecondLife/secondlife &

Now log on to SecondLife.


4. Finally

You can make a quick launch icon if you wish, or continue to launch the client from either a terminal window or the file manager. I need to make some new icons and I'll post the configuration for AsusLauncher in a day or so for people who are interested.

These instructions are created from memory and with reference to my own EeE, but I believe that they are correct. Please let me know of any issues you find with the instructions, but remember that I used a particular software build and things may change in the future. You'll have to engage a bit of brain I suspect.

I have experimented with the WINDLIGHT client but that is much too resource hungry for an EeE yet. Use the standard release client and you'll be fine.

For the record, I initially got this working on 512Mb RAM on a 4Gb 701 (using an SD card for storage). Now I am running 2Gb it flies, but it works in 512Mb and is most acceptable with 1Gb of RAM. If you're using a 2Gb flash machine, you'll certainly want to be using an SD card as described. You'll get away without on a 4Gb flash machine as long as you aren't installing lots of other things too.

I have yet to solve the transparency problems, but this is a minor annoyance really.

Enjoy

Miyamoto.

Thanks for that Miyamoto, will give it a go tomorrow!!!

the link to the modified settings file is broken. by the way what fps are you getting?

The link was fine, the file wasn't in the right folder. I've fixed that and tested now, all looks good. Sorry about that !

Once again, the settings are here.

I'll see whether I can edit my original post now too.


Miyamoto.

Hrmm... I've tried this twice and have gotten the same results each time.

During the extract process to the SD Card, each file that is extracted seems to kick back a message stating "Cannot utime: Operation not permitted"

However, when I look on the card, the files are all present and appear to have the same perms as my SL viewer on my Ubuntu box. The next few steps proceed as normal, creating the symbolic link and so on. However, when I enter the command to run the second life viewer, I receive an error message stating that permission is denied.

I know I must be missing something pretty obvious, but can someone help point it out?

Thanks!

Edit/update:

Ok, I ran through the steps again, this time installing to the eee itself and bypassing the SD card and it works. After some further research, I think I may have identified the cause of my troubles using the SD card, but I'll look into that a bit more tomorrow.

Brian,

One thing I didn't mention about my SD card is that I formatted mine as a native partition rather than leaving it as an MSDOS FAT device. This is because I know I'll never need to put it into a camera or try and read stuff from it on an ordinary PC. The problem with FAT volumes is that they don't support the same file permissions as Unix, so you'll not be able to set the executable modes properly.

If you want to use the card as a native device, here are the steps, but BE WARNED !! THIS WILL ERASE ALL THE DATA ON IT !! If you already have stuff you want to keep on the card, then I recommend that you move it temporarily to the main system drive area (/home/user) or a USB stick.

OK, here are the steps to make a working Linux native partition on your SD card:

1. Back up all your data!!

Move anything you want from your SD card (/media/MMC-SD/partition1) to a USB stick or part of the main flash disk.


2. Change the partition table on the SD card

Open a terminal window on the EeE PC (CTRL-ALT-T) and at the system prompt unmout the existing volume and then start the fdisk program as superuser:
/home/user> sudo umount /media/MMC-SD/partition1
/home/user> sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

It's important that you point fdisk at the correct device. The SD card is known as /dev/sdb, DO NOT GET THIS WRONG !! If you do, you'll be looking on the Asus site for reinstallation instructions !

Check that you have the right device by using the "print" command. At the prompt type "p":
Command (m for help): p

You should get a response similar to this:

Disk /dev/sdb: 8260 MB, 8260681728 bytes
78 heads, 33 sectors/track, 6268 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2574 * 512 = 1317888 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 6268 8066899+ b W95 FAT32

Now change the filesystem completely. We'll remove the old partition and create a completely new one. This avoids any nastiness in BIOS detection of the disk geometry (although strictly that shouldn't matter on a flash disk device, it's still cleaner):
Command (m for help): d
Selected partition 1

Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
<at this point type 'p'>
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-6268, default 1): <Press RETURN and accept the default>
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-6268, default 626: <Press RETURN>
Using default value 6268

Command (m for help):

The exact numbers in these screens will be determined by the size of your SD card. The default partition type is correctly set to type 83 (Linux) by default so just save the changes you have made now:
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
/home/user>

At this point you need to remove the SD card from the EeE PC to be sure that the card is properly re-read before we format it.


3. Format the new Partition.

Insert the SD card back into the EeE PC and cancel the pop-up for the File Explorer. Using the terminal window, dismount the SD card partition again and then run the format utility.
/home/user> sudo umount /dev/sdb1
/home/user> sudo mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sdb1

The mkfs utiltity will output a lot of data as it runs, this is normal. The process takes about 40 seconds for an 8GB Class 6 card, so don't panic if it seems to hang briefly during the format cycle.

Once the format is complete, and you have a "/home/user>" prompt back, remove the card from the EeE PC again. Then re-insert the card and this time accept the pop-up for the File Manager.


4. Set some basic Partition Permissions.

Now the card has a native Linux partition, if you select the /media/MMC-SD folder and you should see the new partition1 subfolder with proper Unix-style permissions and ownerships. Since the disk was formatted using "sudo", the partition is owned by the root user and group. We need to allow other users to have access to that partition:
/home/user> sudo chmod 777 /media/MMC-SD/partition1

Now create a User folder for storing your own (non-system) stuff (such as your email, Skype and SecondLife user folders):
/home/user> mkdir /media/MMC-SD/User


That's it ! Another marathon "HOWTO" but it may help some of you. Performance should be better using a native partition type, and security and permissions will be correct and allow you to use it for executable files.

Miyamoto.

As everyone probably knows the eee discussion is all over the place in Linux forii, I got to wondering though, for the folks with the eee that still might see this, did you try to run SD in Crossover?

Can people post screen photos of how SL looks on EEE and their FPS basic?
I looking into buying one of these for testing.

Thank you

Usagi

I can say that I get between 1-4 FPS on the Intel 915 graphics chipset.

OUCH !

I've been running it quite sucessfully on my Eee from an external USB drive, but I find that after about half an hour the sim ping rating shoots up and it becomes very slow to respond. Any ideas on how to solve this?

I find that it runs on about 0.5-1 fps with default settings, but i can get up to a usable 4-5 by dropping draw distance down to about 15, disabling dynamic textures (and flexible prims cos my skirt is flexi and at low framerates they're painful to watch) and disabling avatars.

I really need to get round to upping my ram to 1GB

I'm getting a windows creation error.
Error is: SDL: Couldn't find matching GLX visual

I'm on a 4G trying to run SecondLife_i686_1_19_0_5 from the base Eee OS. The only thing I've changed on it is upgrading my Skype to the most recent version - everything else is out of the box.

Suggestions? smile

By default the Xandros-based system on the Eee doesn't do 3D accelerated rendering. You need to hack a bit into it to get it turned on. Eeeuser.com has details.

Are you talking about this thread?

http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=14280

I followed it to the letter, and that's when I got that result. Or is there somewhere else I'm missing? Threadlink, pretty please?

Check their wiki, however I found better result replacing it with the eeeXubuntu distro and going there. Ether way, 1-3 fps (blame the GPU).

OK... I hate to be an idiot, but I'm a total linux newbie trying to learn. The hard part about learning Linux is that all the experienced people assume you know where to look for things. That's why I asked for a link.

So, pretty please, what do I **look for** on their wiki? I tried searching on 3d, no go. I tried looking for graphics, list is too long. Help? I'm not a total idiot, just inexperienced.