Misc:EeePC
From CrossWire Bible Society
The Asus Eee PC is a small, light-weight, low power, low cost notebook utilizing a flash drive for storage and shipping with a variant of Xandros Linux installed by default. The flash storage ranges form 2 GB to 8 GB, though the original Eee PC 4G, is probably the most common configuration, with 4 GB of storage.
While the Eee PC comes with Xandros Linux installed, it is very easy to install other distributions of Linux (Ubuntu for example) or Windows XP. This tutorial covers installing Sword using a stock Eee PC with Xandros Linux installed.
Like other Linux desktop systems, the Eee PC can use one of three SWORD Project frontends:
- Bible Desktop
- GnomeSword
-
BibleTime(Certainly compatible, possibly not installable via packages in Xandros)
Each of the three has its merits, so which you choose to use is largely a matter of personal preference.
These instructions also assume that your Eee PC is connected to the internet (at least during the installation process).
Contents |
[edit] General setup
To install Sword on the Eee PC, you will want to update your system to the latest versions of the BIOS and software, and you may want to enable full desktop mode.
In order to install the latest BIOS, open the Add/Remove Software application in the Settings panel of the Easy interface (the one that the Eee PC starts with by default). Within the Settings panel of the Add/Remove Software application, you should find a BIOS update button. Click it and install the latest version of the firmware if a newer one is available.
To upgrade your software, you can either use the same Add/Remove Software application to upgrade each application individually or you can use the apt-get utility to install them all at once. To use apt-get, press Ctrl-Alt-T to open a terminal window and issue the following commands:
sudo bash # set yourself as the root user to perform administrative tasks apt-get update # update the available list of packages apt-get upgrade # upgrade all installed packages to the latest versions (answer yes to both prompts)
If you wish to install the full desktop interface, you should then issue the command, after which you can enter the full desktop interface by pressing the power button and clicking the Full Desktop icon on the far left.
apt-get install kicker ksmserver
After this is complete, you can close the terminal window and continue using the Eee PC or proceed to the installation of one of the Sword frontends.
[edit] Bible Desktop
Bible Desktop, based on the Java version of Sword, called JSword, is the easiest version of Sword to install on the Eee PC. However, because of the slow speed of the Eee PC and the interpreted nature of Java, Bible Desktop may run somewhat slowly and you may wish to try one of the other frontends.
To install Bible Desktop, simply proceed to the Bible Desktop download page (using Firefox on your Eee PC). Scroll down and click the icon beside "WebStart" in the Official Stable Release section. Follow the onscreen instructions and you will have completed the installation of Bible Desktop.
[edit] GnomeSword
In order to install GnomeSword on the Eee PC, you will need to add an additional package repository to the Eee's existing list. If you haven't already, enter a terminal (press Ctrl-Alt-T if you are in Easy mode) and switch to the root user:
sudo bash
Next, open your sources.list file in a text editor such as nano:
nano /etc/apt/sources.list
Now type or paste the following line at the end of the file:
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free
Then press Ctrl-X, y, and Enter to save the file (if you are using nano). No enter the following commands and agree to all of its prompts in order to install GnomeSword:
apt-get update apt-get install gnomesword
Finally, you should remove the new source from your sources.list because it can cause problems later on, so enter nano again and delete the line you added:
nano /etc/apt/sources.list
Then update your package list again:
apt-get update
Close your terminal window or type 'exit' to get out of root user mode. GnomeSword is now installed and you can find it in the menu in Full Desktop mode or run it from a command line.
[edit] BibleTime
While BibleTime should certainly be compatible with the Eee PC, attempts to install it via apt-get & the use of Xandros or Debian repositories have thus far failed.
[edit] The OSIS Bible Tool
In addition to installing a frontend and Bibles directly on the Eee PC, you can use CrossWire's online offering, the OSIS Bible Tool. Simply bookmark http://www.crosswire.org/study/ in Firefox and you can access our content any time that you are online.
You may also find that Firefox in fullscreen mode provides a better experience. Press F11 to enter fullscreen mode.
