This is just a part of a group of short tutorials:
Asus Eee Pc X101ch Mint installation: Start With Linux Mint MATE
Asus Eee Pc X101ch sound: Get a well working speaker And microphone
Asus Eee Pc X101ch image: Get a not-so-bad video playback
Asus Eee Pc X101ch backlight: Get a precise brightness control
Asus Eee Pc X101ch special keys: Get those missing blue function keys
First, Choose The Right Linux Distribution: Linux Mint Mate
I got tired of using Windows 7 on my little Asus netbook, the Asus EeePC X101CH. This netbook is now much faster, functional and beautiful after i installed Linux Mint MATE on it. You have to choose the best Linux distribution for your small computer. There are four different Linux Mint distributions. For such a small computer, you need a lightweight one: XFCE or MATE. But i found some flaws on the XFCE. The most serious one is with the screen. The screen is off after resuming from suspend, so the computer is still working but you can't see anything! Also, it will not check if you have unsaved documents before you shutdown the machine. And there are other small flaws on the XFCE. If you really want to keep your XFCE, read this: How To Switch On Your Black Screen: Shortcut & Script. But i strongly recommend you avoid the XFCE and choose Linux Mint MATE instead (32-bit version). LM MATE is a fast, functional and beautiful system. I found just a few minor flaws on it and... i got it all corrected! They are listed here along with simple instructions on how to fix them.
Not convinced? I tried Lubuntu, Xubuntu and Linux Mint XFCE before finally choosing Linux Mint MATE. The latest one: 18.2. I installed it alongside my Windows 7 so i can go back to Windows if i need to. But i rarely do. If you want to install your Linux Mint system alongside Windows, you must have some free space on your hard drive so that option is available from your Linux Mint installer. "Free space" is a space with no partition at all. Typically, we get this by shrinking the (C:) partition. But it takes time. Are you using your Windows automated system backup? These backups are stored on (D:) partition. If you are not using it, you could delete this (D:) partition. Do this from a Windows session. You will instantly get 180 Gb of free space. Just make sure you have nothing important stored on that (D:) partition before you delete it. In all cases, backup all your precious documents before attempting anything. I mean, backup your documents on some external drive or USB key, not on that partition you are about to delete!
This Linux Mint MATE has a few little flaws, but less than the other systems. Most of those flaws are specific to your machine and its devices. The manufacturers are making drivers for their devices to operate in Windows, but not in the other systems. So there are people working hard on retro engineering to make those drivers for Linux. But they can't test everything on every machine. So we are going to "tune up" our machine all by ourselves.
First things first, you must read this easy, short tutorial on how to create a booting USB stick and install Linux Mint:
https://linuxmint-installation-guide.re ... en/latest/
There is no CD/DVD on this computer, so you will need that USB stick.
Get your system here: LinuxMint Download and select "Linux Mint 18.3 "Sylvia" - MATE (32-bit)".
The newer versions will be 64-bit only: it won't work on this netbook.
Speed up your file browser (Caja)
Initially, Caja had an intolerable latency. It took several seconds to react to any command. I do not know if you have this problem too. Perhaps it is due to an incompatibility between my chosen theme, a modified Mint-Y, and the extension "caja-folder-color -switcher". In any case, if your Caja is not perfectly responsive, do as I do: disable several unused extensions.
Go to
Edit> Preferences> Extensions
. Disable all extensions except:
- gksu
- Open terminal
- Engrampa
Do What Can'T Be Done
Your screen is very small and there are a few windows that won't fit. In that case, the bottom part of the window is hiding below the bottom of your screen. Just press the
Alt
key while dragging the window... By pressing Alt
and dragging, you can push the upper part of the window outside the screen so you can access the lower part.Note: At home or at the office, you can also plug a bigger screen, with a bigger resolution. This small integrated GPU (called "IGP") can actually control 2 screens simultaneously! I am currently enjoying a 1440 x 900 screen resolution. (2019-08-18)
Accented Letters In The Start Menu
Those using French, Spanish or any other language with special accented letters will find some errors in the start menu here on the bottom left corner. There are things like "À propos de moi" or "Économiseur d'écran" which do not appear in alphabetical order. They stand at the bottom of the menu list. That's because their names start with an accented letter. Remove that accent and the menu item will fall in the appropriate alphabetical order.
Right-click on any misplaced menu item, select
Edit properties
, then change the name from something like "Économiseur..." to "Economiseur..." and close. Repeat this for every misplaced menu item.Get A Decent Brightness For The Boot Splash Screen (Plymouth Theme)
...AND no error/warning messages ...AND also a soft, precise brightness control...
This is for the Linux Mint logo showing after the Grub menu, before the login screen. The boot sequence. The screen brightness is reduced to a minimum and you can hardly see anything at that time. That can be fixed.
- Open /etc/default/grub text file as administrator (right-click on it and select "Open as administrator")
- Find this line:
#GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
- Change it to:
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1024x768,800x600,640x480,auto
- While we are at it, find the line starting with this:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=
- After "quiet", type "loglevel=3". This must be separated from the other parameters by one space before and after; see example below. Adding this will get rid of 1 or 2 warning/error messages for which there is no solution. This message was there before but you could not see it because the screen was too dark.
- In this same
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=
line, at the END of it, but before the closing quote, type "acpi_backlight=none", preceded by one space. This will make your brightness control blue keys soft and precise. - Again, make sure there is one space separating each parameter in this line. Usually you end up with a line like this EXAMPLE:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet loglevel=3 splash acpi_backlight=none"
- Save this text file.
- Open your Terminal and run
sudo update-grub
Stay With Mint-X (until Linux Mint MATE 19.x)
You can choose from different Appearance themes in the Menu > Preferences. The Mint-Y is much more "zen" with it's bright, pure look. But, at the time of testing, it is not ready and has some bugs:
- No visual hint on default button (ex.: "Save" vs "Close without saving")
- Scrollbars-junction: it looks like the slider stops before reaching the end...
- Progressbar-osd has half-rounded corners.
- There is a weird and ugly 1/4 second flash around tooltips.
- IMPORTANT: In Caja file manager > View menu: Extra Pane ON and both Views in List mode: Select one file in the first List and then another file in the second List: the first selected file "disappeared!" (white text on white background!)
Avoid system errors ! (update from 2019/12/24)
There are system error messages about the ACPI on suspend or resume from suspend. I suggest you just avoid using suspend. Disable the Fn+F1 blue key [Zz] using Keyboard Shortcuts here:
Menu > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts
or type
Code: Select all
mate-keybinding-properties
Menu > Preferences > Power Management
or type
Code: Select all
mate-power-preferences
That was just the beginning. Take a look at my others Asus Eee PC X101CH tutorials listed on top of this page. There you will see how to fix the speaker, fix the microphone, get a good video playback, get a better brightness control, and get those missing blue function keys! Follow these quick and easy instructions and you will have a nice, well working computer.
Tested on Linux Mint MATE 18.2 & 18.3 with the latest kernel.
Linux Mint 18.x is based on Ubuntu 16.04.