The webbook with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed has been available in-store for a few weeks now, but finally, in a very low-key way the Ubuntu models are creeping onto the Carphone Warehouse website. The home page still links to the last remaining XP models (they are not kidding when they say “while stocks last” they can’t have many of these ones left) however, if you look past the home page, in the Mobile Broadband section then scroll down past the XP version and look at the top 10 offers you will see the first two are for the webbook “with Linux system” on T-Mobile and 3 (leave the Orange one for a few days, that is still XP). Hardly a strong sell, but there it is. I am told there will be product images and they will even admit it is Ubuntu linux soon.
The T-Mobile deal looks excellent to me. Unlimited bandwidth (there is a fair use policy of 3GB per month, this does not mean they stop you at 3GB, it just means they reserve the right to throttle you down to a slower speed if you go beyond 3GB and if they can be bothered) and just 25 quid a month.
If you have been thinking about getting a mobile broadband dongle now is the time to get one along with a fantastic little laptop.
@Christopher,
well I can’t really claim it is supposed to be there! I suspect this has something to do with the fact that this is a shared memory graphics card and we are not using the best drivers for it at the moment. What you are seeing is whatever was left in the frame buffer from the last time that memory was used as it initialises. Flash installation is easy when you know how, some tips just here.
Hi Alan, Just upgraded to a Sony Ericsson 380i and got a free Webbook thrown in. My first time with Linux and seems great so far. Any tips on using my mobile as internet access, as the provided PC Suite software won’t run on Linux. The PC recognizes the USB for file downloads but not for dialup. (I’m sure this question will crop up a lot now they’re giving the Webbook’s away on upgrade deals..) Thanks
@Rachel,
um, thanks, thats very interesting. Did they by any chance tell you which other phones they were bundling with the webbook? I have a Sony Ericsson K750i which is a bit of an antique these days. It works as a camera and music player so I can manage the photos with Fspot and the music files with Rhythmbox. I guess it can act as a data carrier for a tethered computer, but we certainly have not done what you might call extensive testing on this subject! I will have a think about it.
A bit of tinkering reveals that my phone does present a serial port and acts as a modem so we should be able to get it to work without too much effort.
If you want to get your hands dirty this is what I did . . .
opened a terminal window (Applications-Accessories-Terminal)
looked at the devices the computer’s Hardware Abstration Layer could see by typing
lshal|less
searched through the list for hardware providing modem capabilities by typing
/modem
and found a couple of modems, one had serial.device set to /dev/ttyACM0 and one to /dev/ttyACM1. Generally the 3G dongles present one data port and one control port, so this is consistent with that.
I then wanted to talk to these ports so I installed an application called minicom
sudo apt-get install minicom
then ran minicom, starting on the settings page
minicom -s
went to the serial port setup, changed setting A to /dev/ttyACM0
return, return then go down to exit (which takes you out of the settings bit and into a conversation with /dev/ttyACM0
Now I am talking directly to the modem, which talks Hayes AT commands which the older geeks in the audience will recall from the modem days!
Type AT and press return
The modem responds with OK
Type ATDT 0800555555 and you have just dialled a number, replace 0800555555 with your home number if you want to hear it ring.
So there we have it, a working modem. Dialing a 3G network is a bit more involved, it has a special thing called an APN that you have to register with and there is all the SIM handling stuff to worry about, but fundamentally if there is a working modem port I am sure we can do something useful with it.
I recently picked up a Webbook from CPW and despite being a complete novice to Linux / Ubuntu I am thoroughly impressed. I have had no problems connecting to the internet either through the T-Mobile dongle or to my own Wifi network.
However I have a question with regards to T-Mobile hotspots. Has anybody managed to connect to one yet using the Webbook? The reason I ask is that without the web ‘n’ walk software, which doesn’t run on linux, you don’t seem to be able to text ‘OPEN’ to 9562 to obtain a username or password to gain access.
Any help would be appreciated.
@John, there will be SMS support in the webbook at some stage in the not too distant future. I need to do a bit of reading on this web’n'walk thing, this is the first I heard of it to be honest!
Kindly post me your xorg.cof for the web book please
Thanks
Hi, the xorg.conf is here but I am working on some articles on getting the VIA drivers working, watch out for that.
Hi Alan, re my comment regarding connecting to a t-mobile hotspot. I solved the problem by taking the sim card out of the usb modem and putting into an unlocked mobile once I received my login details i but the sim back into the modem. Now I can connect to t-mobile hotspots without any touble.
URGENT QUERY RE MOBILE BROADBAND MODEM HUAWEI E160G
Alan,
On 25 August (above) you wrote that you had tested the webbook extensively “with the modems it is sold with”, but without going into details.
Could you please let me – and everyone else – know asap whether the Wader 3 G software on the (Ubuntu Linux) webbook will work easily (via Applications – Internet – Mobile Broadband connection) with the Huawei E160G, which is now 3’s standard contract modem, replacing the E169. (I chose 3 because it has the best coverage. T-Mobile and Orange are no good where I live.)
The E160G is not listed on the Wader website you linked to and I was told by someone from the Geek Squad that it won’t work with the webbook.
However, it is the one I was given when I bought my webbook a few days ago and when I tried to exchange it, as advised by the Geek Squad, I was told the E169 is being withdrawn because of ‘software issues’ and is no longer available from CPW. I was told that if the E160G does not work, I would have to return the whole package, including the webbook. But I don’t want to do that!
Any chance of you contributing a plug in for the E160G post haste? Has anyone else tested it?
Please help!! There must be many other people in my position and this is surely a big issue for CPW. CPW staff seem pretty clueless about the webbook, regrettably.
By the way, I haven’t had time to unbox my webbook yet, but am planning to do so in the next couple of days. I do not have home broadband. (I am posting this comment in my local library as I am off work today.) The webbook is my first computer. I have been trying to do my homework on it in advance to forestall potential problems….
@Alison, gosh. I did test the E160G, it works sometimes but is not totally reliable. Sometimes on connection it does not present the virtual serial ports that the computer uses to talk to it. I had no idea they were selling it with the webbook, and I had no idea that the E169 had been withdrawn. I will try to find out what is going on here.
@Alison, they are telling us that they don’t sell it with the E160G. I think we can get it supported and working reliably fairly soon, but right now it is not supported and I don’t know how you managed to get sold one with the webbook.
Hi,
I purchased the Webbook XP version from CPW with the Orange dongle. The Webbook connected ok, but after about five minutes, the Webbook crashes and just a black screen is displayed and nothing works to get it back. I took it back to CPW and got a replacement and this has the same issues. Can you please help???
@Charo, out of curiosity which USB port are you plugging the dongle into? left or right front or right back?
Hi, a friend got one of these from CPW and seemed to work if a little unstable including the graphics noise on ubuntu splash as described before. Wasnt long before she was presented with a blank screen, asking me to help, i tried the recovery mode followed by Fn-F7. F3 gives cmd terminal as expected but F7 goes back to blank screen.
Desktop seems to be running as for ass i can tell as i can hear desktop like noises, am i dealing a hardware issue here ie graphics card or has the driver gone awol? Im presuming hardware but i can see the ubuntu splash on boot up so im little confused. (ive tried oem-reinstall)
Any sugestions before i take it back for replacement?
Hi Alan,
It’s in the front left hand side port. I have tried all of the USB ports though and it still happens.
@Charo, I have seen similar with the left USB port, but not with the ones on the right. I checked the USB specifications and used a multimeter and some resistors to check that it is possible to draw 500mA and more from all the ports, it seems that the webbook is in spec. It is possible that the dongle is drawing too much power, but I need to do some better soldering to check that. Is it exactly the same behavior on the right hand ports or does it last longer?
Hi Alan,
I will check this and let you know. Thanks
Hi Alan,
I put the USB modem in the back right port and it has solved the problem!
Thank you so much!
Hi Alan,
Sorry, it’s the same. I was connected for about three hours this time though and then it went to a black screen. I changed the port again to front right and it happened again after 40 minutes of being connected. Now when I try to connect, the Orange USB modem is not found… Please help!!
Follow up re Huawei E160G sold with Ubuntu Linux webbook
Many thanks for your prompt replies to my query posted on 2 October, Alan. I have finally managed to get my local CPW store to provide me with an E169G modem, but not without a struggle. Fingers crossed!!
It may not be official CPW policy to sell the E160G with the Ubuntu Linux webbook, but it has apparently been sold with it in many stores around the country nevertheless. The 160G is now 3’s standard contract modem and it is supplied with the other laptops, so sales staff assumed that it would work with the webbook as well.
What shocked me was that CPW was more eager to offer me a refund for the Ubuntu Linux webbook than to provide me with an alternative modem.
It would seem that CPW has withdrawn the E169G as a prelude to withdrawing the webbook. Regrettably, it appears that CPW is already giving up on the Ubuntu Linux version of the webbook, having paid the price for failing to provide adequate DOCUMENTATION with it (etc). I was told that they are planning to promote the XP version (ugh!) in store in the near future.
I provided your colleague Alan Lord with further details of my salutary experience by email as I know that you will both do what you can to save the (genuine) webbook!!
By the way, I have used Microsoft Windows at work for years and I am fed up with the glitches, viruses, spyware etc that bedevil it. I don’t like Microsoft’s virtual monopology either. I am looking forward to exploring Ubuntu Linux. I just wish the webbook came with a decent user manual like my old word processor. Anyway, thanks for the blog!
Connected at last! I have just plugged 3’s E169G modem into my little white webbook and it works like magic. I am typing this comment on my genuine Ubuntu Linux webbook now. It’s like a dream come true!
Sorry about ‘monopology’ above – it should read monopoly of course.
@Alison, great! glad the E169G works well for you. I have passed your comments on to CPW.
@Charo, well yesterday we had an Orange dongle connected to a webbook (right hand USB port) providing internet access for a stand at a tradeshow, it was on for about 8 hours and transfered 260MB of traffic without issue. I can help you upgrade to Ubuntu Linux to see if that helps, I am afraid I don’t know anything about Windows.
Hi i have recently bought the Webbook, but when i download a game it says something about html rendering being disabled and will not work, this happens with every game, so i cannot play games, can you please help asap, it would be much appreciated.
@leoni, I will indeed help if you give me some useful information, like what game are you trying to play? Where are you downloading it from? What is the precise text of any error message you get, please don’t paraphrase error messages, it doesn’t help. The flash games on the Cbeebies website work just fine and there are about 20 games pre-installed on the webbook so it is clearly not a problem with every game. Perhaps it is a flash based game and you don’t have flash installed yet?
It Says ‘HTML RENDERING IS CURRENTLY DISABLED’ i don’t no what this means i downloaded the game of AOL, so i don’t see why there would be a problem? i re-installed the flash non-free i think its called but i don’t Know what to do now?
I don’t know what it means either. I think AOL stands for America On Line, I think they are an ISP, not a game, and they used to send masses of free CDs out. Beyond that I know nothing about AOL. Post a link to whatever it is you are downloading please or describe exactly what I have to do to reproduce the problem.
I Just tried from http://www.iwin.com i have never had problems with this on my other laptop, but it is still sayin HTML rendering currently disabled, i don’t no how to put direct rendering on automatically i have browsed lots of sites and tryed different things but none works.
@Leoni, OK, not sure what that has to do with AOL, but it looks like that site has a lot of windows binary .exe file games. These are not native Linux applications so you are running them under emulation using Wine. A bit of googling with your error message reveals that installing wine-geko might help http://wiki.winehq.org/Gecko just going to a terminal and typing
wine iexploreshould do it. You could try contacting the Wine community, maybe add an entry in the apps database. I will have a go at downloading one of those games to a fresh webbook later, the bottom line is that they are not Linux applications so might not work. They wouldn’t work on a Mac either.well I tried opening a terminal and running
wine iexplore http://webbookblog.comthat downloaded gecko and after a while opened the blog in a window. I went to the iwin site and clicked on the Funky Python game http://www.iwin.com/games/funky-python. That seemed to download some kind of game framework which installed OK, then it downloaded 21MB of Funky Python game, then tried to get me to put in my credit card number. Stuff that. Did it get that far for you?I tried deleting my .wine directory and just running the application without doing the wine-gecko thing first. On starting the application it prompted me to install it, if I say yes the app works, if I say no then I get the HTML rendering currently disabled message, so I am pretty sure that is all you need to do, just let it install wine-gecko.
hi alan, im ahving a problem with my webbook on linux os. When i start up the little machine everything is all well. The ubuntu logo comes up with the loading bar but when the bar is full and supposed to ask for user name then password the screen goes black and thats it….nothing works apart from turning it off….pleasa help…
I JUS DID THE WINE IXPLORE THING AND THIS IS WHAT CAME UP
fixme:ole:CoInitializeSecurity (0×551640,-1,(nil),(nil),4,3,(nil),0,(nil)) – stub!
fixme:ntoskrnl:KeInitializeSpinLock 0×4577a4
wine: could not load L”C:\\windows\\system32\\ixplore.exe”: Module not found
WHAT DOES THAT MEEN?
Hello, My niece went to carphone wharehouse & bought a Linux Webbook, she then came to me as she was told at carphone wharehouse that she could do everyting a normal PC could do, But that was a lie as she had to go about figuring how to speak to her friend’s on Windows Messenger and was sold a Mac which I really do not know a thing about(I really don’t know how anybody like’s the software), I then rang the help line and was told I could swap hard drive’s with my laptop & install Windows, but they have diffent sockets?
All my neice want’s is window’s installed on the webbook!
I have tried interfacing both laptops through Ethernet & nothing obviously as I would need some kind of sofware?
I do have a USB external DVD drive how can I install Windows 2000 or XP as she is trying to get through College & she cant learn another operating system as well.
Please Anyone can you help?
@Paul,
the Linux Webbook has a lot more software on it than you get with Windows, if you want to connect to people on Windows Messenger you can go to applications-internet-Pidgin Internet Messenger and set up an MSN account connection. The hard drive is a standard 2.5 inch SATA drive, different operating systems don’t have different physical sockets! The external USB DVD drive should boot just fine, what exactly happens when you try and boot the Windows install CD from it? Apart from MSN what does your niece need from a computer at college?
Well said Alan!
Why do people insist on Windows?
Christ, I’ve got pidgin currently handling 2 MSN accounts, and 2 google talk accounts simultaneously. I’ve also installed Skype (and added you, thanks to update_wb.sh).
I’m typing from within Firefox, the best browser ever produced IMO. I also went and installed Thunderbird and Sunbird (because I’m used to them). Guess what – I didn’t go and google for them, download them, install them, and restart the laptop – I double clicked them all in Synaptic, clicked apply, and started using them immediately. Bliss!
Regards,
Matt Dinnery,
Webmaster,
Medical Admissions – Getting you in…
http://www.medicaladmissions.co.uk
Hi Alan,
Thanks. Will I still be able to download software with the Linux version, ie itunes etc? Thanks
@Charo, there isn’t a Linux version of iTunes (and at our most busy pre-launch moment I had to write a big long management report explaining the “I tunes” issue as they called it). iTunes can in fact be made to run on the webbook under WINE or Crossover however it is still a proprietary bit of software delivering music wrapped up in nasty DRM the webbook includes Rhythmbox which gives access to two online music stores containing stacks of DRM-free music.
I’ve just recommended the Webbook to a friend and have discovered that CPW doesn’t offer it anymore. What a shame! Expansys have it for £259 (Linux) £279 (Windows). Anyone know of anywhere selling it for nearer the original, CPW, price (Linux, I mean)? Thanks -H
I also believe that Carphone Warehouse has (at least temporarily) dropped the Webbook.My local Carphone Warehouse no longer seems to offer it and it does not appear on the CW website. It appears to be replaced by the Asus EeePC 701. This might only be a temporary situation as I assume that the ASUS is now a very cheap option as interest in it must now have fallen off sharply.
Hi All
Popped into the CPW in Wolverhampton, and can confirm that they have the webbook in stock, however, they only have the XP version, not Linux. So disappointed, why force an outdated, outmoded operating system (XP was originally due to be officially dropped by MS earlier this year), that runs poorer, is more susceptible to virii, spyware etc, comes with far fewer applications by default, when they were selling an already stable, modern and versatile operating system.
oh hum, rant over
Cheers
Hello can you help me please
How do I restore the webbook to a factory default Ubuntu install? After down loading updates and tinkering away, I’ve managed to break audio.
I’ve followed numerous tutorials, but i’ve come to the conclusion that the best way to sort it is to restore to factory default.
I had a look on the elonex website, but they only seemed to have support for XP.
Any help will be greatly appreciated
Caroline
Hi Caroline,
if you have a USB CD rom drive then you could follow the keystroke guide to configuring the webbook http://webbookblog.com/keystroke-guide-to-a-factory-reinstall/ or you could go for the Intrepid restore image http://webbookblog.com/intrepid-on-a-stick/ If you call Elonex support and give them a good sob story about your poorly webbook they will send you out a USB wristvault with the Hardy Heron recovery on it.
Alan.
Ditto for Newcastle.
I wasn’t happy! Not to mention, why waste money on XP? Linux is nice, free, open source. To use a quote from one of my tutors, “That’s good, I like that!”
Kindly post me your xorg.conf for the elonex web book please (Ubuntu 8.04)
best
dave
um, don’t have an 8.04 one to hand right now, if you just edit the one you have and make sure that in the subsection display, depth 24 the first mode is “1024×600″ that should do the trick.
Hi Alan
I have been trying to down load the drivers for windows but every time I try to install them I keep getting a message that they are corrupt???
And often they won’t down load.
I am doing this on my desk top pc.
Hi
I’ve been reading the posts here hoping to find an answer to my problem, but with no luck, so thought i’d post and hope someone can help.
My partner purchased a webbook from cpw along with the 3 mobile dongle, which is the E169G. It did work for a period and then for no reason we can find stopped working. Me being a little more technically minded have been trying to get to the bottom of the problem, unfortunately i’ve never used Linux before so its a bit slow going.
The problem i have is the usb at first was using warber (may of misspelled, memory aint great) and it would connect and everything looked fine, but then we couldnt browse net. In the process of trying to get it working i discovered wine, which brought up a 3 mobile connect screen, but wasnt allowing me to click connect, and there didnt seem to be any settings or any way of me putting any settings etc in.
3 mobile and cpw have not been any help so if someone can help i’d appreciate it. I hope that lot makes some sense.
well don’t use wine, that isn’t going to work. Wader is the connection manager that came with the webbook, however with the latest versions of Ubuntu the default Ubuntu network manager will handle the dongles. I would suggest waiting a few weeks until Ubuntu Karmic is released, I will do another article thern showing how to reinstall Ubuntu and get it working with the dongles. Otherwise browse about here, some of the other articles might help.