What Matters 2 Me

This is a HOWTO on installing Kubuntu 8.10 and Windows XP as dual booting systems on an Asus Eee PC 1000.  As you probably know the Eee 1000 is advertised as a 40 GB SSD.  It is not.  It has both a (fast write) 8 GB SSD and a (slow write) 32 GB SSD.  I wanted my Linux Kubuntu on the fast drive, and M$ Windows as well as the /home directory and swap partition of Linux on the slower drive.  For my particular needs I believe what I’ve stitched together is the most simple and elegant.

This HOWTO assumes you have a basic understanding of Linux/Unix, and commands such as fdisk and mount.

The process can be divided up into 5 main parts:

1) Using a LiveCD Linux disk to set up all the partitions.

2) Installing Kubuntu

3) Copying the GRUB booter to a memory card / flashdrive

4) Installing M$ Windows XP

5) Copying linux.bin to C:\ and editing C:\boot.ini

and that should give a dual booting system.

OK, now for all of the details:

1) Use a LiveCD Linux disk to set up all the partitions.

Since the Eee 1000 does not have an optic drive, I use UNetbootin to convert the distribution’s LiveCD image file to a bootable USB flashdrive.  Get UNetbootin here [1] and the latest Kubuntu LiveCD image here [2].

Using your Kubuntu LiveCD flashdrive boot up Linux on the Eee 1000.  Using fdisk set up the partitions to your liking.  There’s an infinite number of ways of setting up the two systems, but like I said, I wanted Linux on the 8 GB drive and XP on the second.  If you put XP on the second drive then you need at least 1 cylinder on the first drive to put the booter.  Here’s the partitions I created:

Partition   Cylinders   Type (Hex code)     Blocks
sda1        1-980       Linux (83)         7871818
sda2        981-981     NTFS (7)              8032
sdb1        1-2438      NTFS (7)          19583203
sdb2        2439-3875   Linux (83)        11542702
sdb3        3876-3924   Linux swap (82)     393592

fdisk complained something about the sda drive when I exited, but it still worked.  This should work out to about an 8 GB Linux system with an 11.8 GB /home and 403 MB swap, and a 20.1 GB NTFS partition for Windows XP.

2) Install Kubuntu

Now hit the Install icon to start the installation!

On Step 4 use Manual disk setup, select the appropriate partitions, and set their mount points and file systems:

sda1:  /      (Ext3 journaling file system)
sdb2:  /home  (Ext3)
sdb3:  swap

On Step 6 select “Advanced…”, and set “Install boot loader” and specify the Device as /dev/sda1.  Hit the OK button to return to Step 6 and then the Install button.

When it’s done installing reboot into your fresh Kubuntu system!  Visit this excellent HOWTO [3] to install an Eee 1000-specific kernel to get all the drivers functioning (wireless, etc) – this step can be done after the dual boot installation is finished.  NOTE: wireless, bluetooth and a few other things are disabled by default in the BIOS.  Enable them in BIOS to have them recognized by the kernel.

3) Copy the GRUB booter to a memory card / flashdrive

Initially, after you’ve installed M$ Windows XP you can no longer boot into Linux.  This next step allows you to subsequently tell M$ Windows how to dual boot.

Stick a flashdrive or SD card preformatted to VFAT into the machine and mount it.  I just used the Kubuntu LiveCD flashdrive that I installed the system with.  Then run the following command:

dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/(usb-drive)/linux.bin bs=512 count=1

where, of course, “usb-drive” is where you’ve mounted the drive.

4) Install M$ Windows XP

I kludged an internal CD drive into a USB drive using a cheap SATA to USB converter – not pretty, but it worked.  Do whatever is necessary to get M$ Windows XP installed.  Here’s what’s important:

M$ Windows won’t boot from the second (32 GB) drive without an NTFS partition on the first (8 GB) drive.  During installation, tell it to use the 8 MB NTFS for the MBR and the 20 GB NTFS for the system.

Unfortunately, you’ll end up with a miniscule C:\ drive with several hidden files and then the main installation on D:\.  Nothing major, but it’s not a single drive and you’ll have to get used to installing everything to the D:\ drive.

5) Copy linux.bin to C:\ and edit C:\boot.ini

All of the information here I pulled from this great article [4] by Ed Park.

First, copy the linux.bin file from the USB drive to C:\.

Second, run notepad and edit C:\boot.ini.  Note that C:\boot.ini is a hidden system file, so it probably won’t show up in Windows Explorer.  To edit the file, try: Start->Run and enter: notepad C:\boot.ini.  Add the following line at the end: c:\linux.bin=”Linux”

To make C:\boot.ini writable, you can either :

For reference, here is a copy of Ed’s boot.ini file.

Finally, reboot again.  You should be able to pick either Linux or M$ Windows.  Selecting Linux will start GRUB.

I hope this HOWTO is as useful to others as the following websites were to me.  I’ll update it as necessary to make it more useful.  Ask any questions in the comments below.  I’m not an expert, but I’ll try to answer as possible.

References:

[1] UNetbootin – http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net

[2] Kubuntu LiveCD image – http://www.kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/download

[3] http://www.chrishorsnell.co.uk/2008/09/asus-eee-1000-perfect-install-with-ubuntu/

[4] http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/grub-w2k-HOWTO.html

1. Benjamin says:

   March 15, 2009 at 1:37 am

   After having longed for a couple of Windows programs, I also decided to install XP on my EEE PC 1000. I was a bit worried, because I heard that performance of the 32 GB SSD is poor. (But I stumbled over your howto afterwards, so it looks like it should be okay for every day use.) However, I hope that after turning of the virtual memory, it will work okay. Read is supposed to be the same on the 8 and the 32…

   I managed to install XP directly on the 32 GB hard drive without making a small partition for XP on the 8 GB one using WinSetupForUSB. The important point is, that you choose the right partition for boot.ini (which I could not do using multiboot). It looks fairly nice this way, three partitions, a 20 GB one for XP, the rest for home, and the 8GB disk for linux root (I decided not to have swap space…). I can decide directly through the BIOS (by pressing ESC), which hard drive I want to start from, so I don’t need to mess with the boot loader, even though that should be no problem.

   I am quite happy so far…
2. JamesD says:

   June 11, 2009 at 6:21 am

   Thanks for the useful info. It’s so interesting
3. Christine says:

   September 16, 2009 at 7:04 pm

   Thanks for this info – I’d like to ask a question that I hope doesn’t sound too foolish.

   Full disclosure: I am not savvy with computers, but have many helpful compsci friends.
   Summary of question: XP currently installed on 8G drive, running slower than molasses. Better deal to install/move to 32 and install Linux on the 8?

   Details of question: I bought the 1000 with the intention to dual-boot, but had no access to an optical drive to install XP. Brought it to my school’s IT dept. with an instruction to install XP on the 32G drive… the kid who worked on my computer couldn’t manage that, somehow, so he installed XP on the 8G. Immediate problems. The computer was slow, programs ran choppily… I uninstalled a lot of dreck and moved what programs I could to the D.

   Even so, I’ve spent the past 9 months constantly getting messages that my memory is critically low, under 200MB, yadda yadda. I still want to dual boot, but am beginning to wonder if putting linux on the 8 and XP on the 32 is the right way to go. Any advice?

   (To top all this off, the D began disappearing at startup, reappearing, problems Asus completely failed to repair when I sent the unit in for repairs earlier this summer. Worst customer service ever – I’m finally getting the thing back tomorrow!)
4. Jeff says:

   September 16, 2009 at 8:22 pm

   8 GBs is pretty small for an XP installation even if you are putting programs on the 32 GB drive. It’s always going to be complaining about space. I’ve still got the same setup as when I set this up some nine months ago, and XP is still running smoothly, if not quickly. So, yes, I still think the linux on the 8 and XP on the 32 is the best way to go.

   Note however, that I’m now a fan of Ubuntu over Kubuntu, as it feels more polished and smooth.