How to install LMDE 64 bits on an Asus UL30A Laptop

[filozofio]

It is LMDE 201403. Most of the hardware seems to work properly. But some adjustments had to be done:

1. HIBERNATION

Hibernation was not working properly by default. You have to make sure which is the UUID number of your swap file with this command:

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sudo blkid

I obteined this line for swap:

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/dev/sda2: UUID="7ecfe8a6-d065-4ea1-9d76-c9c925de9049" TYPE="swap" 

So the my swap UUID number is: 7ecfe8a6-d065-4ea1-9d76-c9c925de9049
The next is to make sure that this number is also written in the file /etc/fstab
You can find out and change it with the command:

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sudo gedit /etc/fstab

In my case this number was ok. But there is another file that has to be checked: /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume
In my case, that file did not even exist. I had to create it with the command:

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sudo gedit /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume

And I wrote my UUID swap number in it:

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resume=UUID=7ecfe8a6-d065-4ea1-9d76-c9c925de9049

Of course, this is my number, you have to write yours, given by the blkid command

After that, I had to run this command:

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sudo update-initramfs -u

After that, hibernation works properly.

2. FN-F9 KEYS

This combination of keys should activate - deactivate the touchpad. They were not working.

First, you have to install the acpi-support package, if not installed:

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sudo apt-get install acpi-support

Second, you have to modify the /etc/acpi/events/asus-touchpad file

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sudo gedit /etc/acpi/events/asus-touchpad

There you have to write the line:

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event=hotkey ATK0100:00 0000006b

instead of

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event=hotkey (ATKD|HOTK) (0000006[ab]|00000037)

I just left the old line doing:

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# event=hotkey (ATKD|HOTK) (0000006[ab]|00000037) 
event=hotkey ATK0100:00 0000006b

Finally, you have to write a new /etc/acpi/asus-touchpad.sh file
I first did:

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sudo cp /etc/acpi/asus-touchpad.sh /etc/acpi/asus-touchpad-old.sh

to keep the old file. Then I opened the first file with

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sudo gedit /etc/acpi/asus-touchpad.sh

I delated all its contents (that is why i did a security copy), and wrote in it:

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#!/bin/sh 
[ -f /usr/share/acpi-support/state-funcs ] || exit 0 

. /usr/share/acpi-support/power-funcs 

# if this is the right behavior, then this should be moved out of acpi-support 
# to hal (or whatever is replacing hal for such events) 
getXconsole 

XINPUT="ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad" 

# get the current state of the touchpad 
tpstate=`xinput list-props "$XINPUT" | grep "Device Enabled" | cut -d: -f2` 

# if getting the status failed, exit 
test -z $tpstate && exit 1 

if [ $tpstate -eq 0 ]; then 
   xinput set-int-prop "$XINPUT" "Device Enabled" 8 1 
else 
   xinput set-int-prop "$XINPUT" "Device Enabled" 8 0 
fi 

I restarted the computer, and the Fn-F9 keys are working perfectly!!

3. INVERTED CAMERA IN SKYPE

The camera appears inverted with skype, not with other programs.

I installed skype doing, first:

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sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386

To use the i386 architecture. I also make sure of having this library installed:

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sudo apt-get install libv4l-0

I downloaded the .deb package from the skype website and installed it (right click it and use gdebi)-

The I run the program with this command:

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sh -c 'LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype'

Then the camera is allright. This command can be put in the menus and also used to load skype at startup.

4. WINE

I had a problem with the default version of wine which comes with my version of LMDE (wine 1.4.1-4). Although the Windows fonts where properly installed, wine did not find them. The problem was solved by installing a new version of wine (1.6.2) in Playonlinux.

It is done easily in Playonlinux going to Configure and then adding a version of wine.

You can see the discussion here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 0&t=168612

Now the windows programs find the windows fonts.

5. CPU FREQUENCY APPLET

I am using Cinnamon. For Cinnamon there is a CPU Frequency applet that you can install in the panel (more information here: http://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/applets/view/70 )

It is very useful in a computer like the Asus UL30A, which has a long battery life. With this applet, you can change the CPU use and save battery. The problem is that I was asked each time to introduce (2 times!) my password, when I wanted to change the CPU frequency. The solution is:

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sudo gedit /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.gnome.cpufreqselector.policy

There you have to look for the line saying:

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<allow_active>auth_admin_keep</allow_active>

And instead of that, write:

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<allow_active>yes</allow_active>

After saving, you won't be asked for the password again.

6. CINNAMON PANEL PROBLEMS

The panel in cinnamon tends to disappear suddenly, specially after suspend. To make it appear again you can type Alt-F2 and type:

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cinnamon --replace

It could be useful to introduce this command among the applications at startup, using the system configuration.

7. GOOGLE EARTH

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sudo apt-get install googleearth-package

The package is in the repositories.

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make-googleearth-package

This created a package named "googleearth_6.0.3.2197+1.1.0-1_amd64.deb" in my home directory.

I tried to install it with GDebi, but it said that I had broken packages. Then I run:

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sudo apt-get update -f

to repair all broken packages.

After that, Google Earth was installed and working properly.

8. ADOBE ACROBAT

Adobe Acrobat Reader (acroread) is not in the repositories, but it can be installed with no problems:

I downloaded the .deb package from the Adobe webpage: http://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

Then I installed the adobe .deb package with Gdebi.

Gdebi seems to crash during instalation, probably because it has to install many libraries. But with two attempts it worked.

I recommend to add a %f to the menu, after acroread

Now I have acroread in my system

9. SPOTIFY

With LMDE 2014 64 bits all worked perfectly.

I opened the to the additional sources list:

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sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list

and wrote in it:

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deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free 

to add the repository. Then saved it.

Then I added the public key:

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sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 94558F59 

Then update:

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sudo apt-get update

And then install:

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sudo apt-get install spotify-client

It works very well.

10. SAMBA

Other computers in the local network, (all with different versions of Linux), using samba, could access my shared folders. But I was not able to access other computers.

What I did was to edit the default samba configuration file:

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sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf

Inside this file, I moved the command:

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usershare allow guests = yes

from the [Misc] section to the [global] section of the smb.conf file

And then I added the command:

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name resolve order = bcast host lmhosts wins

after the previous command.

Here you can see how my smb.conf looks like: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 5&t=169240

And now I can access other Linux computers, and other computer can access my shared files.

11. THUNDERBIRD UPDATES

To disable thunderbird asking for an update on its own, and just wait for the official LMDE update, you can do this:

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sudo gedit /opt/thunderbird/defaults/pref/channel-prefs.js

and write "default" instead of "release".