Really cheap netbook

[tone007]

Being stuck with CE would be a bummer, but there is hope: http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/21211-7-wm8650-netbook-linux-port

Good link/coupon code combo, Iggy.

[tone007]

I really don't think there's any modern OS worse than CE (not that CE itself is modern, in my opinion,) unless it's set up for a particular embedded function, maybe as a microwave keypad or TV remote or something.  It doesn't belong on anything resembling a PC, and the first thing I did when this little Sylvania showed up was start fighting with Debian.  Took a bit, but now I'd call it usable.




At $39, it was worth playing with.

[tone007]

Details tone?
I could go for that OS.

As no one in that thread posted earlier decided to put all the good info together, I'll try:

1. Get an SD card (2GB minimum, I believe, I'm using a 4GB.)  The Debian install goes here and runs from here.

2. Download the large file from one of these mirrors: http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/21211-7-wm8650-netbook-linux-port/page__st__160

3. Make 2 partitions on the SD card (best to do this in Linux or something similar,) first partition FAT32 around 32MB or so, second partition ext2 utilizing the rest of the card, and then untar the fat32 and ext2 files from the above download to their respective partitions, fat32 contains about 2 files and the ext2 contains the entire Linux filesystem

4. Insert SD card into your Smartbook and power it up, it should start booting Debian.

5. Follow the xorg.conf fix here to get the internal keyboard working: http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/21211-7-wm8650-netbook-linux-port/page__view__findpost__p__301472 (can be done on-device using a USB keyboard)

6. Getting WiFi going is a little trickier, as I forget exactly where these files were located (something like /lib/modules/2.something) but you'll need to replace the rt3070sta.ko file with the rt3070sta_rt5370.ko in the same folder.  After rebooting, you should be able to enable WiFi using the WIFI ON option in one of the menus.

After all that, be advised that I've had mine fail to boot if it wasn't shut down correctly and the only way I found to fix it was to redo the whole SD card. The device doesn't seem to support text mode, so no full screen console, I was disappoint(ed.)

I should probably get it all running fresh and take an image of the whole SD card.