Linux on 7" mini netbook ARM-VT8500 ?

[Fallingwater]

But, has nobody managed to install Linux here?

How about Android?

[Joe of loath]

I have Debian on mine However, I broke it trying to install Android, so now it's headless.

[SoSammy]

... Go to the place on devio.us... www.bento-linux.org (or the #easypc IRC channel on FreeNode) is the stablest place you're going to get when you want a link to the forums (in case they move again, hehe).

Sigh. I dutifully saved a link to that site and waited to get my hands on one of these machines. I have one now, and the site appears to be gone. If the info and images from bento-linux.org are mirrored somewhere, I would greatly appreciate a link. Googleing finds some things on download sites, but I don't know what they are out of the excellent context provided on the bento-linux.org site. TIA, SoSammy

--UpDate--
Ok, found a good instructions here:
http://blogold.chinaunix.net/u3/1109...php?id=2367230

... which references files here:
http://bur.st/%7Eabrasive/wm8505_linux/1.0/

... and if that source vanishes, the files are also here:
http://projectgus.com/files/abrasive...505_linux/1.0/

There are some very basic instructions in abrasive's files too.

[Fallingwater]

I have Debian on mine

Fantastic. How did you load it on your computer? Did you follow a guide, and if so, which one?
Thanks

[Joe of loath]

I followed a guide, it was on bento-linux.org...

I could mess about with my install if you want, get it as close to vanilla as possible and clonezilla + upload it to my server for you?

[X-Windows]

Jumping on board here, got one of these cheep netbooks running Debian and IceWM right now. After some searching around there appear to be two types of these, models with NAND and models that use USB. I spent about 4 days trying to get past the "Loading filesystem" freeze during normal Debian installation. Eventually found a great site here that shows how to install Debian on one of these "no NAND" devices. Basically install android and use its boot loader to launch Debian.

I've made a few posts as "Don" in the comments there, i couldn't get my device to connect to any secured wifi ap's. Posted my wpa_supplicant.conf file for anyone else with this problem (works for unsecured networks).

Everything is working (albeit a little slow), except the sound. I can get sound out of the android install but not under debian, lspci shows no sound card. Does anyone know if it is possible to use whatever driver android uses and install that to debian? Would be very much appreciated.

[Joe of loath]

Can you boot from SD just by extracting the fatpart and extpart to a fat32 and ext2 partition on the SD, respectively? That's how I did it, then installed X and fluxbox on top of that. Was just about usable with netsurf as the browser

[Fallingwater]

I followed a guide, it was on bento-linux.org...

I could mess about with my install if you want, get it as close to vanilla as possible and clonezilla + upload it to my server for you?

Wow, thanks, but I don't yet have one of these... I'm thinking of getting one because I love cheap Linux-running devices, but I'm still trying to figure out what netbook can run what OS...

X-Windows: by USB you mean their internal memory is in fact a USB mass storage device? While the NAND netbooks just have a normal flash memory drive?

[Joe of loath]

No need for me to mes around with mine, looks like someone mirrored the files http://projectgus.com/files/abrasive...505_linux/1.0/

[X-Windows]

Can you boot from SD just by extracting the fatpart and extpart to a fat32 and ext2 partition on the SD, respectively? That's how I did it, then installed X and fluxbox on top of that. Was just about usable with netsurf as the browser

With mine, every time I tried to use a double partition SD card it would fail to see the ext partition. The only way I could get it to work was by installing from a single fat32 partition.

FallingWaters: Yes, I believe that is how these devices are made, I couldn't see a usb card when I took mine apart (granted I wasn't looking for it at the time), but if your model has trouble installing any of the debians, try the method gyppe used in my above link. I believe as soon as you get to a useable root terminal you can install whatever you want (although I have no experience with this).

Also, if you are looking for something more supported, I would defiantly go with an eePC. Better hardware support and a good bit speedier than these 7" netbooks (which are about as powerfull as a smartphone).

Joe of Loath: does the sound work on your netbook? Do you know what the sound card is or how to install drivers for it?