Hi friends. I was browsing the web some 10 or so months ago looking for a new computer. I find this Asus Eee pc on Amazon and I'm all "Omg! look how small it is." So i cop one, it ships to my house, I turn it on and it's all different. So I do some research and learn a bit about this Linux deal. I'm not sure what distro I have, research says probably Xandros. Its CUI and I just found out about Ubuntu netbook remix. I would totally love to have a GUI distro. So here inlays my dilemma (finally, right?) I am very new to linux and am at a complete loss in the command terminal. I want to change distros to ubuntu netbook remix or maybe SLAX, but I have no idea how. I think maybe i need a bootable usb thumb drive. If so how do I create one (this netbook is my only pc so telling me how to do it in windows will not help me). And if this is not the correct way to do it what is?

Thanks in advance

James

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/
This is where my kids got linux mint onto a thumbdrive and installed it to their Dell mini 10v netbooks.You should be able to follow the instructions as my 10 year old son did.

Could I encourage you to use more descriptive thread titles please? By "more descriptive", I mean using titles that say something about the problem you're having - a title like "help please" says nothing about what you're trying to do and LQ is where Linux users come for help, so it's (usually) a given that threads contain problems that need solving!

Maybe I should get some 10 year olds to help me out. I see all sorts of stuff on how to create a device from windows...but I don't have a windows os...maybe I am missing something on the site?


And yeah I should have given a more descriptive title, I just posted in a bit of a hurry. I don't think I can change it now, but I will take your advice in the future.

Take a look at
http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download-netbook
You can create the usb on another computer if needed.
Since you are posting from the netbook, you should have a GUI, so I don't understand when you say it's only CLI

I think the replyer was confused since you mentioned windows in your first post.
Nevertheless....
Debian Live on Pendrive: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/usb-pen...tall-tutorial/
Mint on Pendrive: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/create-...-cd/#more-2647
EasyPeasy MOVE TO USB STICK: http://wiki.geteasypeasy.com/Get_Easy_Peasy

I am by no means a geek. I thought that CUI was where you had to install programs and stuff using the command terminal. I see now that it is obvious that it is Graphic. Basically what I want is to completely change to OS my my Eee pc 2g surf to something that i dont have to use the command terminal to install stuff. the fact that this is my only computer limits my ability to create the drive on another computer. Thanks for all the feedback though, I guess I am being a little difficult in my questioning.

Hello,

Have a look at unetbootin. It runs on both Windows and Linux. The site has very easy to follow step by step instructions for both OS so you should be able to set it up and get it to run. Using Unetbootin you can select from a list which distro you want to install onto a USB stick and next boot from that stick to install it on your computer.

Kind regards,

Eric

When I got fed up of the very basic interface on my ASUS eeepc, I installed "eeexubuntu" from the Live CD using an external (USB) CD drive.

Do you have access to another machine with CD burning software and a CD writer?

Do you have access to an external CD (or DVD) Drive?

If so, you can download the Live CD from: http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ubuntu:eeexubuntu:home

Burn the ISO file to a writable CD and follow the instructions in the wiki.

I don't believe the eeepc comes with any CD burning utilities so unfortunately you would need access to another machine for this.

EDIT:

Have you thought about contacting a Linux User Group in your area?

http://www.linux.org/groups/

They may be able to help with sourcing media and may even assist with the installation and configuration.

Indeed, Eee PCs do come with Xandros installed and a basic graphic interface called easy mode. You can switch it to be a full desktop and there are several guides like http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:getkde. However, it may be a bit confusing for the beginner. There are other distributions that are made specifically for the Eee netbooks and much better then Xandros. As already stated they can be installed from USB drive.

Almost any modern distro will have a package management system for installing SW---so you do not have to use a terminal for normal operations.

This said, you will be better off in the long run to learn the basics. One of the strengths of Linux is the control you have using a wide variety of tools---including commands in a terminal.

Unetbootin seems my best bet...it wont work for me though. The instructions say to go to properties and make executable which i did then run the program, which i did. A shell opens and some command lines run automatically.They are as follows:


Press <ENTER> to continue...
sudoHack = 1
sudo: /home/user/My: command not found

The top command line (press enter) executes without pressing enter. when it gets to "command not found" it stops. I waited a bit and tried pressing enter. That just closed out the shell.

I'm about to try and do this at the library on a windows machine. If it doesn't work there hopefully someone will know how to help. Again thanks for all the feedback.

Tried Unetbootin. Installed it changed it to executable and ran it. It opens and auto runs some command lines. They are as follows:

Press <ENTER> to continue...
sudoHack = 1
sudo: /home/user/My: command not found


The first commands executes without pressing enter. After the "command not found" line, the shell stops. If I push enter then, the shell closes.

I am about to go to the library and attempt this on a windows machine. If that doesn't work then hopefully someone here will know how to help. Again thanks for all the feedback.

Solved it. I used a pc at work went to www.geteasypeasy.com followed the instructions on a windows machine and everything worked like a charm. For anyone looking here in the future if you are using Xandros, Unetbootin will not work for it. Or not that I found. Thanks one last time for all the feed back on my first post.

Hello,

Great you got it working. Enjoy Linux

Kind regards,

Eric