HOWTO: Ubuntu Linux on T101MT

I wrote a HOWTO for getting Linux working on the T91MT a couple months back and as I mentioned here I ended up changing to the slightly larger T101MT. Since Unix based operating systems are the only thing I have running on my hardware it was only natural I would install Ubuntu on my new tablet. The following is what I did to gain full functionality of the tablet under Ubuntu (And Linux Mint and Zorin).

Enlightenment runs great on tablets, check out a video of Bodhi Linux running on the T101MT here.

#0 Download System Updates
Make sure your system is up to date by running

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

#1 Setting Up the Touch Screen

By default when you press on the touch screen your mouse cursor will jump to the upper left hand corner of your screen. We need to do a couple of things to get this working properly.

wget http://www.philmerk.de/dwl/deb/eeepc-t101mt-calibrator-0.0.2-2-i386.deb
wget http://philmerk.de/dwl/deb/egalax-multitouch-driver-common.deb
sudo dpkg -i eeepc-t101mt*.deb
sudo dpkg -i egalax-multitouch*.deb

Next, we need to install the kernel drivers for the touch screen. To do this you need to first identify which kernel revision is installed on your system. To do this run

uname -r

in terminal.

If you are running the 2.6.32-21 kernel, download and install this file.

If you are running the 2.6.32-22 kernel, download and install this file.

If you are running the 2.6.32-23 kernel, download and install this file.

If you are running the 2.6.32-24 kernel, download and install this file.

If you are running the 2.6.32-25 kernel, download and install this file.

After you have installed all three of these packages reboot your netbook. When it finishes booting back up go to System->Administration->Calibrate Touch Screen and go through the configuration. You should now have a working touch screen.

#2 Making Function Keys Function

Some of the function keys do not work OOTB. To fix this run

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

in terminal. In the file this opens look for the line that starts with "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT" and replace the entire line with the following

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor"

Upon the next reboot your function keys should start working.

#3 Fixing the Camera

On some T101MTs (my own included) the camera displays an upside image when used. To resolve this run the following in terminal

sudo apt-get install build-essential
cd ~/Downloads
wget http://people.fedoraproject.org/~jwrdegoede/v4l-utils-0.7.92-test.tar.gz
tar xvfz v4l-utils-0.7.92-test.tar.gz
cd v4l-utils-0.7.92-test
make PREFIX=/usr
sudo make install PREFIX=/usr

And your orientation should now be correct. Also note if you are trying to use use your webcam with Skype, by default Skype uses it's own version of this file. To correct this load Skype with the following command

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

#4 Fix the Microphone

If your microphone does not work OOTB run the following

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol && pavucontrol

Then go to input settings and uncheck the three boxes present (speaker, shield, and check) and select either "Front Left" or "Front Right" and drag it to 0%. Your microphone should now be working (check your sound preferences to confirm this).

#5 Multi Touch Gestures

To enable some basic multi touch gestures in some applications (pinch to zoom and two finger scroll) download this file and then run the following in terminal

cd ~/Downloads

tar xvfz twofing-0.0.6b.tar.gz

sudo apt-get install build-essential libx11-dev libxtst-dev libxi-dev

cd twofing-0.0.6b

make

sudo make install

Now go to System->Preferences->Startup Applications and select "add". Call your entry whatever you would like, but under command put

twofing --wait

Restart your computer and you should now have multi-touch enabled for your applications that support it (anything with scrolling and zoom in/out).

I think I covered just about everything you need to do to have a fully functioning T101MT under Ubuntu (If I missed anything let me know). Also - I did not come up with this process on my own. Credit goes to many hard working people on the Ubuntu Forums who packaged this all together. What I have posted here is more a condensed version of a 20+ page thread so you can get your system working with a bit less reading :)

Have any questions feel free to drop a comment below and I will do my best to lend a hand.

~Jeff Hoogland