Eee PC
Hardware
For the current model we bought (1005HA) the hanrdware detected by Eeebuntu 3.0 (based on Ubuntu 9.04) is the following:
CPU: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz, 1600 MHz
Memory: 1 Gigabyte
Hard-drive: 160Gigabytes
Graphic Card: Intel Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller - Intel 945 GME
Ethernet card: Attansic Ethernet controller (Device 1062). This is actually a network card made by Atheros.
Wireless card: Atheros Wireless Network Adapter AR9285
Software
Currently the machine is configured with a dual-boot WinXP? (the one installed by default) and Eeebuntu 3.0 base, a modified version of Ubuntu 9.04 (kernel: 2.6.28-11).
Installation process
Download the Eeebuntu 3.0 base edition ISO image from here.
Download Unetbootin.
Create the bootable USB Key (you will need at least a 1Gigabyte USB key) following the procedure described in the eeebuntu wiki.
Before proceeding with the installation, go into the USB stick, create a drivers directory and add the ethernet card and wireless adapter drivers attached below. It will be convenient to have them handy once the system will be installed.
Go ahead with the installation process:
Turn off the computer
Insert the USB key and start the machine
Press ESC when the asus splash screen shows up
Choose the USB drive as boot drive
Choose [Default] from the list
EEEbuntu will start in live mode
Double click "Install" on the Desktop
Go through all the installation steps (if you wish to have a dual boot system be careful when choosing the partitions layout)
Reboot at the end of the installation procedure, leaving the USB stick connected.
Setting up the drivers
There is no connectivity, so what we are going to do is having the wireless network working first. Then we can download everything is required to install the ethernet card drivers.
Go in the drivers directory in the USB stick, and copy the deb package linux-backports-modules-2.6.28-11-generic_2.6.28-11.12_i386.deb to the Desktop
Either install it with right-click->Open with "GDebi Package Installer" or from the command line with sudo dpkg -i linux-backports-modules-2.6.28-11-generic_2.6.28-11.12_i386.deb.
Reboot. When the machine is restarted the Network Manager should see the available wireless networks. Connect to one of those inserting the necessary parameters. The connection may take a while.
Go in the drivers directory in the USB stick, and copy the EthernetCard? -Driver.tar.gz to the desktop. From the command line do the following:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
cd ~/Desktop
tar xvzf EthernetCard-Driver.tar.gz
cd EthernetCard? -Driver/src
make
sudo make install
sudo insmod atl1e.ko
At this point a popup message should appear, notifying that the Ethernet Card has been enabled.
Note that if a system update will be performed, the kernel will be updated as well, which means you will have to start over with "Setting up the driver" making sure you download manually the correct linux-backport-modules for your kernel. Note also that probably the update system will install a 2.6.28 kernel and a 2.6.29-netbook kernel. If you attempt to use the 2.6.29 the wired won't work, the drivers have not been yet released for such kernel.