Linux for old asus eeepc 4g

danger_mouse_tm

Hi all,

I'm struggling to get some kind of linux onto an asus eeepc 4g. That 4g refers to the size of the internal hard drive. There's 512mb of ram onboard. Nothing ubuntu based is going to work on this because it appears that they want between 6-8gb of ram. I've tried going down the puppy route but when I come up off the usb stick and try to install it's asking for installation files. My limited knowledge of linux doesn't allow me to browse to them. I have, however put the precise pup onto a second stick and, i believed it installed then to the internal drive. However, when I boot up all i get is a GRUB prompt.
Basically what I want to be able to do with this machine is JUST have it as an internet radio - preferably spotify (which may involve flash for the web player!)

Any help would be much appreciated before I launch this thing into a bin and go buy a cheap tablet!
Thanks!

5uspect

Arch Linux or Damn Small Linux.

Stuxnet

Yup arch will run sweet, maybe just install a window manager instead of a full desktop, Spotify is available from the arch AUR !

Dont chuck it in the bin

eta: Try archbang, very light weight , gui installer, unlike its big brother, includes openbox window manager, http://sourceforge.net/projects/archbang/files/?source=navbar

x32 iso http://sourceforge.net/projects/archbang/files/archbang-rc-2014.06.03-i686.iso/download

minion35

I would try and install xubuntu, as it has a smaller installation base and doesn't need as much RAM in order to operate properly.

danger_mouse_tm

5uspect wrote: »

Arch Linux or Damn Small Linux.

damn small wouldn't see the wireless card. ARch wouldn't boot at all. Kept saying something about an invalid keyboard and reverting to a grub prompt.

danger_mouse_tm

minion35 wrote: »

I would try and install xubuntu, as it has a smaller installation base and doesn't need as much RAM in order to operate properly.

I have a feeling that xubuntu may want 6.8gb free hard drive space. I could be wrong..

danger_mouse_tm

Stuxnet wrote: »

Yup arch will run sweet, maybe just install a window manager instead of a full desktop, Spotify is available from the arch AUR !

Dont chuck it in the bin

eta: Try archbang, very light weight , gui installer, unlike its big brother, includes openbox window manager, http://sourceforge.net/projects/archbang/files/?source=navbar

x32 iso http://sourceforge.net/projects/archbang/files/archbang-rc-2014.06.03-i686.iso/download

im going to have a look at this archbang now...

5uspect

Another one to try:
http://peppermintos.com/2010/07/introducing-peppermint-ice/

danger_mouse_tm

5uspect wrote: »

Another one to try:
http://peppermintos.com/2010/07/introducing-peppermint-ice/

nice one. I have archbang coming down (ten minutes), I also managed to find a minimal iso for xubuntu. I think I want to skip it all and go for peppermint (which didn't come up on any searches I did over the last few days). Given the success I have had in recent years of the full on mint I am going to run that one next.

oscarBravo

I actually installed OpenELEC on my old EeePC, so it is living out its days as a networked media player (mostly for streaming radio).

danger_mouse_tm

oscarBravo wrote: »

I actually installed OpenELEC on my old EeePC, so it is living out its days as a networked media player (mostly for streaming radio).

I think I will try that tomorrow. Peppermint wants 8.6gb of free space.

danger_mouse_tm

oscarBravo wrote: »

I actually installed OpenELEC on my old EeePC, so it is living out its days as a networked media player (mostly for streaming radio).

I actually went ahead and installed peppermint (despite it wanting more disc space it still worked) and I'm using Guayadeque music player to stream internet radio. I had to some searching for plugins before I eventually got it working.

I have looked at OpenELEC and it does look really good. Is there an app on the install that will allow me to stream radio?

minion35

For OpenElec the two plugins that I have found too work the best in terms of streaming internet radio are:

ListenLiveEU or Shoutcast2

danger_mouse_tm

minion35 wrote: »

For OpenElec the two plugins that I have found too work the best in terms of streaming internet radio are:

ListenLiveEU or Shoutcast2

I might try running her straight off the stick rather than botch up the peppermint install on the internal drive and see how it goes. the OpenElec does look very good.

oscarBravo

I use ListenLiveEU. That said, Her Indoors mostly used it to listen to Absolute Classic Rock, and when they stopped streaming outside the UK it has fallen somewhat into disuse.

niallb

Openelec is great and I have it on an Asus 701 4G too.
Looking for a well known distro to strip down and barely run probably isn't your best solution.
Concentrate on what you want to do.
In the embedded world 512MB is loads of resources.

Vortexbox is a dedicated network media audio system which would handle 512MB RAM, but wouldn't like the disk restrictions.

OpenWRT is designed for routers, but has loads of addon packages and a web based admin interface. It's been used as the basis for several internet radio setups as well as networked satellite tv receivers.

You can also install shairport on vortexbox or openwrt which allows you use the asus as an airport express and stream music from an iphone/ipod/ipad.

As a sideways step, you could install android-x86 on the Asus and just install the spotify app you're used to having. I installed some earlier versions in the same machine, and the best one was around 4.0 which had a built in ARM emulator so could run more apps than more recent ones.

If your linux experience is limited, I'd start with openelec out of all of these,
and look at the several spotify plugins such as spotlight and spotimc that are available for xbmc on it.

This would be the easiest one to remote control as you could do it via web interface or a phone app (yatse is the best on android).
You can plug it in to the PC port on a telly if you have one as a bonus, though you might find it stutters on decent resolution video (unlike the Raspberry Pi!) Having it plugged in might make it easier to configure though.

danger_mouse_tm

Good reading there guys. I eventually got openelec installed and running exceptionally well on it. I was able to install two music plugins: Shoutcast and Rdio. I'm looking around now for a good enough radio station that I can shove this thing into my friend's coffee shop on the WiFi and not have to worry about news in Lithuanian every hour. (M1-radio from Vilnius is very good!) I'm going to see if I can get a spotify plugin going as that is what some of the restaurants are using for their in house music.
Thanks for all the help.

same ol sh1te

Might dig out mine from the junk room. I did have CrunchBang linux with OpenBox, ran lovely and smooth
http://crunchbang.org/

niallb

danger_mouse_tm wrote: »

... I can shove this thing into my friend's coffee shop on the WiFi...

Watch yourselves with IMRO for public performance.

Take a look at Jamendo for a service streaming radio stations from an URL that will cover you from €50 a year depending on the size of your public place.
They'll give you a cert you can print out and hand to IMRO when they come looking for money - and they will.

Some great music on jamendo anyway, so worth a visit, and available through jambmc and other plugins on openelec.

Josey Wales

I didn't think anyone was still using the old Eee PC. I keep mine in the work and use it everyday.

I'm running Peppermint OS on it at the moment and it does the job just fine.

Kinet1c

I used to run Crunchbang on my eeepc 1000. Nowadays it's used as a backup but still fine for browsing (a few tabs) or cli work. I'm running fedora 20 with LXDE as the DE. Runs fine and everything worked out of the box iirc.

POE101

Wish I had seen this when it was current!

I would have suggested adding an 8Gb or bigger USB stick, changing the boot order to boot from the stick and you could run what ever you wanted (within the little mite's speed limitations).

Must dig mine out of its cobwebs and set it up for internet radio, coupled with VLC Media Player and a Creative Labs Soundworks Clock Radio the sound is pretty awesome. For anyone else who comes across this thread and is interested in internet radio here's a great resource http://www.listenlive.eu/index.html

niallb

The 701 could boot from SD card too, so as long as you picked something that didn't read write too much, you could have 64GB inside without anything sticking out.

POE101

niallb wrote: »

The 701 could boot from SD card too, so as long as you picked something that didn't read write too much, you could have 64GB inside without anything sticking out.

Absolutely that would be the way to go niallb! and only need to buy a card that runs at the max speed supported by the Eeepc's controller (don't know off hand what that is) which would help keep the price down. I don't think 'read write too much' would be any more of a problem than using the Eeepc's own internal memory as it's all solid state anyway?

I can't remember if my Eeepc had an sd card slot or what version it is and still have not dug it out, (put away about 18 months ago - replaced by an Asus Transformer tablet) but it's time to resurrect it! The beauty of Linux is that it can keep these things useful for hugely extended periods. Anyone who knows me knows the name Ubuntu and what Linux is. (They probably think I'm sad :-) but its their loss!

Worztron

Try 4MLinux. It's very light on resources. http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=4mlinux