IT Help Center

ASUS Eee PC Support Page:

The Linux Eee PC (see Support Notes) is not officially supported by the IT Help Center, but these instructions were written by a IT Help Center Student Consultant and are expected to be helpful. They are not maintained regularly and could become out of date.

This page is written for the default Xandros Linux install, but the same commands should work for any flavor of Linux.

Contents

VPN Install

  1. In order to download the VPNC client initially, you will need to be directly connected to the Internet (for example, using Ethernet in your residence). (You will not be able to access the BU wireless network until you have completed the steps on this page.)
  2. Once connected, at any of the screens, press Ctrl+Alt+T. This will bring up the terminal.
  3. Type sudo apt-get update. Then, sudo apt-get install vpnc.
    • This will go ahead and install the vpn client. It might ask if you want to install vpnc, if so type Y.
    • If it says that it is unable to find the vpnc client, please see the Changing Sources List
  4. Vpnc is now installed. To test if it works, at the terminal type sudo vpnc
    • The Prompts are as follows:
      • Enter IPSec gateway address: vpn-oncampus.bu.edu
      • Enter IPSec ID for vpn-oncampus.bu.edu: BostonU
      • Enter IPSec secret for BostonU@vpn-oncampus.bu.edu: BostonU
      • Enter username for vpn-oncampus.bu.edu: The Users Kerberos username
      • Enter password for username@vpn-oncampus.bu.edu: The Users Kerberos password
    • If it started successfully, it will say VPNC started in background (pid: ****) ...
  5. Next, edit the default config file to have our information.
    1. First we need to copy the default config file and we'll name it BU. Type sudo cp /etc/vpnc/example.conf /etc/vpnc/BU.conf
    2. Then, we need to edit our newly created file with our information. Type sudo vim /etc/vpnc/BU.conf or sudo gedit /etc/vpnc/BU.conf depending on which you're comfortable with. If you don't know either, use vim and then see below.
    3. Change the default values to ours, provided below for convience.
      • IPSec gateway vpn-oncampus.bu.edu
      • IPSec ID BostonU
      • IPsec secret BostonU
      • Xauth username Kerberos Username
    4. This will now only prompt the user for their password.
      • Quick Vim Tutorial: To edit the information, use the arrow keys to place the curser ontop of the last number in the default ip address and press the a key. Now, freely edit the text. When you're done, press Esc and then Shift+: and lastly wq and enter.
  6. Lastly, to start vpnc with our configured information, type sudo vpnc BU

Note: There is no real reason to have to disconnect the vpn, but if you want to use sudo vpnc-disconnect

Changing Sources List

Sometimes vpnc is not in the default repositories and therefore you will have to add one.

  1. At the terminal type sudo vim /etc/apt/sources.list
  2. Add deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main non-free by hitting i and moving the arrow keys to after the last repository and typing it there.
  3. When done, press Esc, Shift+: and finally wq.
  4. Now start the VPN Install again.

Commenting a repository out:

If you wish to not pull from repositories then simply add an # in front of them and apt-get will not pull anything from them.

Problems

The EeePc doesn't support 802.1x out of the box. Use VPN.

estoring Factory Settings

Thankfully, in Xandros it's very simple and should take less than a minute.

  1. On reboot tap F9
  2. Select Factory Restore
  3. Agree with all the prompts and enter yes when necessary
  4. Press enter to reboot.
  5. When it starts up it will ask you for a username and password, which will be the login account. After this, the EEE has now been restored to its factory setting.

Support Notes

  • We don't officially support the Eee PC because it runs Linux.
  • If the you bought the Eee PC running XP then we support it. The only problem I've had installing the cisco vpn client on the 701 (or rather, with a 800x480 screen resolution) is that the vpn client seems to need at least a 800x600 resolution to install. There are programs out there that can change the resolution, but the IT Help Center is not responsible for installing any of these.
  • If you have an Nlited (or any type of XP that is not OEM) then we don't support it. The process of slimming it down to fit on the Eee PC is a little involved, so there are many places where people can go wrong.

External Links

Written by Sean Byrnes, Summer 2008