After much searching and talking to my friend Google, I found that the problem was caused by what is probably a bug with the way Webmin applies the updates. For some reason, the update process removed mod-apache2-lib-php5 so that it became disabled. If you enable the module, you will encounter the same error that I did. The way to fix this module is to reinstall it using aptitude install command such as outlined here

Next time, I will just fire up the shell and do it the old fashioned way.

So in a little over an hour you go from full charge to nothing just by using the laptop the way it was intended to be used. So despite its small size, the 2133 was never really designed to be too far away from a charger for too long. It is almost like having a car like a Honda Jazz with a petrol tank the size of a coffee cup. “Yes it is frugal, sir, but it will only go for a half a kilometre no matter how you drive it.”

Recently I discovered the wonderful Linux Mint 8 (Helena), while searching for a desktop linux distro to install as a virtual machine on my MacBook Pro. Despite all the misgivings that I have had in the past for the various Linux distros, I must say that they have been improving all the time. The last time I tried to install Linux on the 2133 was when Ubuntu 9.10 came out. What a disaster that was. Wifi did not want to work, then I went back to 9.04 but found that I could just not get my Vodafone Prepaid Mobile Broadband stick to work (K3520). In the end, out of frustration and spite I decided to whack XP back on and because I needed a little mobile word processor.

Linux Mint seems to run with a little bit of lag sometimes, but overall the experience has made my faith in Linux desktop distro strong again. Using Helena I could use my Vodafone Prepaid Broadband to connect to the net and wifi worked right out of the box.

If you need a decent desktop distro that looks half decent (who like brown anyway?) and works well out of the box for your 2133, then I can recommend Linux Mint 8 (Helena).

I suspect the new OS will be based on one of the pre-existing Linux distro (Ubuntu?) with the Google layer built on top to enable constant synchronising of data when online and caching mode when offline (ala Google Gears?). When it is released, hopefully it will free us all from having to worry what or which computer we are working on at any given time. To a certain extent, I have already implemented some of the ideas of cloud computing by using Google services to synchronise my calendar on my notebooks and phones. I guess the only other thing that I would like with the Google Chrome OS is cheaper data rates. This issue of data charges is what prevent a lot of people from utlising cloud-based services more often on their wireless devices (phones).

At the completion of my install of Jaunty Jackalope (Ubuntu 9.04) on my netbook, I found that Aptana just would not load. It would show the logo for a couple of seconds then it would just come up with an error. After scratching my head for a little while, I tried to look up an answer on Google and I found this thread on the Aptana user forum.

So basically, the issue is the version of xulrunner that Jaunty comes with. Currently it is version 1.9, while Aptana needs version 1.8. To fix this issue you need to download xulrunner 1.8 and unzip it to /usr/lib, so its path would be something like /usr/lib/xulrunner/. Then you create a script which looks like this:

#!/bin/sh
MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME=/usr/lib/xulrunner-1.8.1.3
if [ $LD_LIBRARY_PATH ]; then
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
else
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME
fi
export MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME LD_LIBRARY_PATH
~/aptana/AptanaStudio -vm /usr/lib/jvm/ia32-java-6-sun/jre/bin/java

Make the script executable and then on your panel add an application shortcut to point to this script file, mine is called “aptanastart”. Oh, and you need to have Java installed, since Aptana requires it.

The only issue that can be noted is with the wifi connection manager. It seems after a few hibernates that the connection is stuck at the “getting ip address…” stage. This can be quickly fixed with a reboot. Other than this issue, I have not found any major ones to mention. Sound works flawlessly, Bluetooth works normally and the webcam works with Cheese (I have not tested it to work with Skype or anything like that).

Recently, I also purchased the 6-cell battery for the Mini-note, which makes the notebook (or netbook, if you like) much more usable. Since I use this notebook mainly for writing text, coding and web browsing, I have found that having that extra amount of battery capacity makes the notebook a little easier to use. No longer staring at the battery icon every few minutes to see if I will have time to finish what I am doing. It puts the usability of this little notebook on par with my MacBook and my Dell Inspiron laptop. Using it with little power management and with wifi on seems to give around 3-3.5 hrs of uninterrupted use. What joy!

Had this notebook shipped with Jackalope instead of Windows Vista Basic (standard on all Mini-notes shipped in Australia), it would have been a winner from the start. A 6-cell battery, even though it adds a little to the price should have been standard on all models.

Having upgraded the BIOS last time around, this time installation was quite sane and smooth. It was so smooth that it happened while I was watching TV without a single glitch. When install was done, I rebooted and voila! The screen worked OK, there was no need for funny hacks or even VIA’s driver to install and Wifi and Bluetooth worked out of the box! When I plugged in my USB modem from Three networks (Huawei E220), it was recognised straight away.

When I was done entering my wifi configuration, I was online surfing the net with a fresh install of Ubuntu 9.04 on my HP mini-note 2133. I have not tested everything so far, but everything that I need from a basic notebook perspective was working quite well.

UPDATE

I have now had sometime to test the webcam and bluetooth and they are both working fine. Webcam works fine through Cheese, but I have not tested through Skype.

1. Update the BIOS
   The latest version of the BIOS is F.05F for the Mini-note that was released in Australia.‭ ‬You can download it from‭ ‬here.‭ ‬Instructions on how to update the BIOS can be found inside the zip package and you will need a USB flash drive to format and use as a boot device,‭ ‬which should automatically update your system’s BIOS.‭ ‬I found that once the BIOS has been updated,‭ ‬you can install Ubuntu in the normal way instead of having to rely on the‭ ‘‬xforcevesa‭’ ‬option when starting the installer.
2. Download the latest driver from VIA
   Download the latest‭ driver ‬ from VIA,‭ ‬make sure it is the one intended for Ubuntu‭ ‬8.10‭ (‬there are two drivers,‭ ‬one is marked as the‭ ‬2D driver and the other one is called gfx,‭ ‬the one with “2D” is the one I am using as I don’t care too much about Compiz and such‭)‬.‭ ‬This has to be done after installing Ubuntu‭ ‬8.10‭ ‬using the vesa driver‭ (‬very basic graphics functionality and it does not support external monitors‭) ‬such as shown in the‭ ‬ Ubuntu Wiki.
3. ‏Unzip the package from VIA and run the setup process by using the the file called‭ “‬v2dinstall‭”‬.‭ ‬This has to be done as root,‭ ‬so the command may look something like this:‭
   sudo‭ ‬./v2Dinstall‭ [‬will prompt you for your password‭‬].‭
   When the installer is done,‭ ‬edit your xorg.conf file so it will look somewhat like this:

   #‎ ‏xorg.conf‭ (‬X.Org X Window System server configuration file‭)
   ‬#‭
   ‬#‭ ‬This file was generated by reidy90,‭ ‬by copying correct settings from‭
   ‬#‭ ‬the xorg.conf that was provided with the SUSE hp‭ ‬2133.‭
   ‬#‭
   ‬#‭ ‬Edit this file with caution,‭ ‬and see the xorg.conf manual page.‭
   ‬#‭ (‬Type‭ “‬man xorg.conf‭” ‬at the shell prompt.‭)
   ‬#‭
   ‬#‭ ‬This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades‭ *‬only‭*
   ‬#‭ ‬if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg‭
   ‬#‭ ‬package.‭
   ‬#‭
   ‬#‭ ‬Note that some configuration settings that could be done previously‭
   ‬#‭ ‬in this file,‭ ‬now are automatically configured by the server and settings‭
   ‬#‭ ‬here are ignored.‭
   ‬#‭
   ‬#‭ ‬If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated‭
   ‬#‭ ‬again,‭ ‬run the following command:‭
   ‬#‭   ‬sudo dpkg-reconfigure‭ ‬-phigh xserver-xorg‭

   ‬Section‭ “‬Device‭”
   ‬BoardName‭    “‬Framebuffer Graphics‭”

   ‬#Change the line underneath to‭ “‬via‭” ‬after you have installed the driver‭ (‬step‭ ‬3‭)‬.‭
   ‬Driver‭       “‬vesa‭”
   ‬Identifier‭   “‬Device‭[‬0‭]”
   ‬Screen‭       ‬0‭
   ‬VendorName‭   “‬VIA Technology‭”
   ‬Option‭ “‬NoDDCValue‭”
   ‬Option‭ “‬ActiveDevice‭” “‬LCD,CRT‭”
   ‬Option‭ “‬PanelID‭”      “‬3‭”
   ‬Option‭  “‬DisplayHardwareLayout‭” “‬LCD‭”
   ‬Option‭  “‬ForceLCD‭”
   ‬#‭[<‬bool‭>]
   ‬Option‭  “‬VideoOnDevice‭” “‬LCD‭”
   ‬#‭  ‬Option‭ “‬LCDPort‭” “‬DVP0‭”
   ‬EndSection‭

   ‬Section‭ “‬Monitor‭”
   ‬DisplaySize‭  ‬250‭ ‬150‭
   ‬HorizSync‭    ‬28-500‭
   ‬Identifier‭   “‬Monitor‭[‬0‭]”
   ‬ModelName‭    “‬VIEWSONIC VA912-4SERIES‭”
   ‬Option‭       “‬DPMS‭”
   ‬VendorName‭   “‬VSC‭”
   ‬VertRefresh‭  ‬43-60‭
   ‬UseModes‭     “‬Modes‭[‬0‭]”
   ‬EndSection‭

   ‬Section‭ “‬Modes‭”
   ‬Identifier‭   “‬Modes‭[‬0‭]”
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬1280×800‭” ‬120.33‭ ‬1280‭ ‬1368‭ ‬1504‭ ‬1728‭ ‬800‭ ‬801‭ ‬804‭ ‬839‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬1280×800‭” ‬118.88‭ ‬1280‭ ‬1368‭ ‬1504‭ ‬1728‭ ‬800‭ ‬801‭ ‬804‭ ‬839‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬1280×800‭” ‬116.21‭ ‬1280‭ ‬1360‭ ‬1496‭ ‬1712‭ ‬800‭ ‬801‭ ‬804‭ ‬838‭
   ‬#‭  ‬Modeline‭     “‬1280×768‭” ‬114.53‭ ‬1280‭ ‬1360‭ ‬1496‭ ‬1712‭ ‬768‭ ‬769‭ ‬772‭ ‬806‭
   ‬#‭  ‬Modeline‭     “‬1280×768‭” ‬113.01‭ ‬1280‭ ‬1360‭ ‬1496‭ ‬1712‭ ‬768‭ ‬769‭ ‬772‭ ‬805‭
   ‬#‭  ‬Modeline‭     “‬1280×768‭” ‬111.63‭ ‬1280‭ ‬1360‭ ‬1496‭ ‬1712‭ ‬768‭ ‬769‭ ‬772‭ ‬805‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬1280×768‭” ‬80.14‭  ‬1280‭ ‬1344‭ ‬1480‭ ‬1680‭  ‬768‭ ‬769‭ ‬772‭ ‬795‭  ‬-HSync‭ ‬+Vsync‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬1024×768‭” ‬92.05‭ ‬1024‭ ‬1088‭ ‬1200‭ ‬1376‭ ‬768‭ ‬769‭ ‬772‭ ‬806‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬1024×768‭” ‬90.83‭ ‬1024‭ ‬1088‭ ‬1200‭ ‬1376‭ ‬768‭ ‬769‭ ‬772‭ ‬805‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬1024×768‭” ‬89.72‭ ‬1024‭ ‬1088‭ ‬1200‭ ‬1376‭ ‬768‭ ‬769‭ ‬772‭ ‬805‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬1280×600‭” ‬88.68‭ ‬1280‭ ‬1352‭ ‬1488‭ ‬1696‭ ‬600‭ ‬601‭ ‬604‭ ‬630‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬1280×600‭” ‬87.48‭ ‬1280‭ ‬1352‭ ‬1488‭ ‬1696‭ ‬600‭ ‬601‭ ‬604‭ ‬629‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬1280×600‭” ‬85.59‭ ‬1280‭ ‬1344‭ ‬1480‭ ‬1680‭ ‬600‭ ‬601‭ ‬604‭ ‬629‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬1024×600‭” ‬71.11‭ ‬1024‭ ‬1080‭ ‬1192‭ ‬1360‭ ‬600‭ ‬601‭ ‬604‭ ‬630‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬1024×600‭” ‬69.32‭ ‬1024‭ ‬1080‭ ‬1184‭ ‬1344‭ ‬600‭ ‬601‭ ‬604‭ ‬629‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬1024×600‭” ‬68.48‭ ‬1024‭ ‬1080‭ ‬1184‭ ‬1344‭ ‬600‭ ‬601‭ ‬604‭ ‬629‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬800×600‭” ‬55.22‭ ‬800‭ ‬840‭ ‬928‭ ‬1056‭ ‬600‭ ‬601‭ ‬604‭ ‬630‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬800×600‭” ‬54.47‭ ‬800‭ ‬840‭ ‬928‭ ‬1056‭ ‬600‭ ‬601‭ ‬604‭ ‬629‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬800×600‭” ‬53.80‭ ‬800‭ ‬840‭ ‬928‭ ‬1056‭ ‬600‭ ‬601‭ ‬604‭ ‬629‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬768×576‭” ‬50.62‭ ‬768‭ ‬808‭ ‬888‭ ‬1008‭ ‬576‭ ‬577‭ ‬580‭ ‬605‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬768×576‭” ‬49.92‭ ‬768‭ ‬808‭ ‬888‭ ‬1008‭ ‬576‭ ‬577‭ ‬580‭ ‬604‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬768×576‭” ‬49.32‭ ‬768‭ ‬808‭ ‬888‭ ‬1008‭ ‬576‭ ‬577‭ ‬580‭ ‬604‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬640×480‭” ‬34.80‭ ‬640‭ ‬672‭ ‬736‭ ‬832‭ ‬480‭ ‬481‭ ‬484‭ ‬504‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬640×480‭” ‬34.38‭ ‬640‭ ‬672‭ ‬736‭ ‬832‭ ‬480‭ ‬481‭ ‬484‭ ‬504‭
   ‬Modeline‭      “‬640×480‭” ‬33.90‭ ‬640‭ ‬672‭ ‬736‭ ‬832‭ ‬480‭ ‬481‭ ‬484‭ ‬503‭
   ‬EndSection‭

   ‬Section‭ “‬Screen‭”
   ‬SubSection‭ “‬Display‭”
   ‬Modes‭      “‬1280×768‭”
   ‬EndSubSection‭
   ‬Device‭       “‬Device‭[‬0‭]”
   ‬Identifier‭   “‬Screen‭[‬0‭]”
   ‬Monitor‭      “‬Monitor‭[‬0‭]”
   ‬EndSection

4. Under the driver option,‭ ‬you need to change the driver from‭ “‬vesa‭” ‬to‭ “‬via‭”‬.
5. Reboot the machine and you should end up with a netbook running Ubuntu‭ ‬8.10‭ ‬utilising the newest‭ ‬2D driver form VIA.

I have not actually used the gfx unified driver provided by VIA,‭ ‬because I personally I do not care about or need the compiz desktop effects on a netbook as tiny as the HP‭ ‬2133‭ ‬Mini-note.‭ ‬I just want a netbook that I can write reports on.‭ ‬It just needs to have basic media capabilities such as playing video or audio files,‭ ‬without any major problems.‭

Good luck.

Right after I had had enough of Knoppix in a PMI (poor man’s install) configuration, I decided to look for something better. While Knoppix was a great beginning and an eye-opener to what could be achieved in a well-configured Linux laptop, it was not enough. It did not allow for software install (well, without a lot of difficulties anyway) and everything I worked on had to be saved onto an external USB drive.

There was no way I was going back to Mandrake 10.0 with its desktop oriented architecture. Even though Mandrake, could be configured to run well on a notebook, but it simply could not match what Windows had to offer in terms of efficiency. As common with a lot of Linux distros at the time, neither Mandrake or Knoppix really offered much in terms of power management for the notebook users. I found that with a fully charged battery (which I could get 3hrs + with on Windows XP SP2), I would be lucky to get around 1.5-2.0hrs on Linux.

Right about this time, I am not sure how, I stumbled upon Ubuntu. I think it might have been getting a little bit of coverage at that time and I somehow thought it was the possible cure to my problems with Linux. I think the first version of Ubuntu that I installed was version 5.10. Like when I installed Knoppix, Ubuntu was an eye and mind opener. I simply thought it was brilliant.

It had a great set of software and for the first time ever, I had installed a Linux distro that could almost recognise all the features of my notebook. It also auto-mounted any drives that I could plug in, including USB Flash drives and my external USB hard drives. It recognised my wireless cards, sound cards, the selectable CPU speed feature of the BIOS and just about everything else I had on the notebook. The only things that did not get recognised was the SD card slot (ENE?). This was simply great.

While everything was great, Ubuntu still seemed to have a problem with some of the power-saving features of my notebook. I partly blame this on Toshiba for making a notebook that featured proprietary hooks (DMI) for the BIOS features through which software could be used to set the level of screen brightness and other features that can normally be accessed through the function keys, as well as things such as the cooling fan.

When Ubuntu reached version 7.10 (Gutsy) I decided that it was now time to dump Windows altogether and just use Linux for my day to day computing (at least on this notebook). This proved to be quite a challenge, especially when it came to power management. Even though Linux support for notebooks had matured by this stage (Dell was offering ubuntu pre-installed on some models), there were still issues caused by the lack of transparency from the hardware vendors which prevented Linux drivers from being able to work properly with some.

To make the function buttons work (at least F7 and the screen dimming keys) I had to install the omnibook kernel module which could access the DMI interface of the BIOS to dim the LCD and to control the fan, wireless switch, etc. This was not a straight forward process. As is common with Linux distros, I had to trawl through numerous forums, blogs and other articles online to discover more information about this problem. Even though in the end I managed to install it, the official stable version of the omnibook module just would not compile on Gutsy.

To get the omnibook kernel module to work in Gutsy, first I had to switch to the Generic Kernel instead of the standard Ubuntu i386 kernel. As well as having to switch kernels, one also needs to install the kernel source (linux-source in Synaptics). With those two things done, I was then able to compile the omnibook module but there was one other catch. To get omnibook to compile on Gutsy you also had to grab the latest nightly build from CVS. To discover all this information, I had to trawl Google and the forums nightly for almost four weeks (Ok, I had to also work in between searches).

While the overall experience on Gutsy was quite pleasant and straightforward, to make a complete install that took advantage of the power management features of my notebook I had to really get my hands dirty with compiling source codes, etc. This might be fine for someone with a little bit of technical aptitude such as myself, but for a lot of other computer users out there, this could be a problem. I hope this article will help those people that have come across the same problem.

On the subject of power management on notebooks, I should also mention an excellent little tool called PowerTop. I was able to bump up my battery life from just under 3 hrs with one battery to about 6.5 hrs with two batteries, screen dimmed and powertop helping me optimise processes running on the system to minimise the power footprint of the system.

My advice is, if you are buying a new notebook and wanted to have Linux installed as your default OS, make sure you purchase it from a vendor such as Dell who will send you a completely pre-configured system from the factory.

My third notebook is the first portable machine that I bought around 4 years ago which died at the end of 2006 and then was resurrected about 12 months ago, thanks to some kind soul who sold me a brand new replacement motherboard on Ebay. By the way, the cost of the motherboard was around one fifth what Toshiba quoted for replacing it. After spending three hours pulling the machine apart with photographic evidence so I can retrace my steps and then putting it back together slowly over three days (we all have to go to work, huh?), I ended up with an almost brand new notebook (except for a few creaky plastic panels and a spare screw).

While on Ebay I also purchased some accessories for my old Toshiba, including a second battery for the multi-bay, a dock, an intel wifi mini-pci card (ipw2100) and a higher capacity main battery. Considering the notebook was quite old by then, everything was reasonably cheap. I got everything for under $200 and got a second charger thrown in with the dock (thanks, buddy!).

What the whole process created for me was not just a notebook but also a project to get my dream Linux notebook. Ever since I stopped having a desktop machine in 2004, I have always wanted to have a notebook that can run Linux properly or rather to have a Linux OS that can run a notebook properly. While it was not entirely impossible, it was difficult.

Most distros at that time seemed to be focused on the desktop machine. I vividly remember installing Mandrake 10 on a notebook only to discover that by default the PCMCIA module was always disabled. This was not to mention things such as wifi cards, etc. Did I mention that when you plug an external drive into the machine you have to manually mount it?

After the sore disappointment with Mandrake (which was great as the basis of my server) I discovered Knoppix. It was truly eye-opening to discover an OS (live CD as well) that would automatically recognise the many important pieces of hardware that a notebook has, including wifi and the PCMCIA slots as well as beautifully auto-mounting any drive that I plugged in.

For a while I was running a Poor Man’s Install of Knoppix, which was basically a live cd that was stored on the Hard Drive as a bootable iso image. While it was great for doing things online and for experimental hacking, it did not allow much in the way of software installation. So if you’re missing a kernel module or you want to try a driver for some new piece of hardware, then too bad.

To be continued

Read part 2 of this article