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Thread: replace Express Gate with UNR on alternate power button

  1. #61
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Greece
    Beans
    4
    Distro
    Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope

    Re: replace Express Gate with UNR on alternate power button

    Hi Try_Again, and thanks for your efforts...

    The "Simple" Dell Reader does not need a dedicated partition. It simply installs in ANY partition, and "splash.idx" points to the folder of "CEFULL".

    I think they integrated check routines inside the bios loader to prevent hacking, because the same loader is used for 2 different setups:

    First is the free version you have, a totally crippled Splashtop.
    The second is a full Splashtop (with a separate kernel file and lots of *.sqx addons) which they sell for big bucks together with an msata module . You cannot install it without the module (at least without hacking the installer) or use it without the module.

    I thought the loader was standard but looks like it is custom made...

  2. #62
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Beans
    9

    Unhappy Re: replace Express Gate with UNR on alternate power button

    Quote Originally Posted by Nohajc View Post
    OK, I may have a solution for booting another distro with ASUS ExpressGate Cloud.
    But, as I haven't got any real ASUS box (at least not yet, I am planning to buy eee soon), I was testing the boot process only in VirtualBox (quite surprising that I could actually install ExpressGate from a Windows XP virtual machine - and it worked).

    After experimenting with menu.lst located in C:\ExpressGate I realized that this particular version of Grub is somewhat crippled to say the least. And it's probably on purpose. It seems that it lacks any support of ext file system completely.
    As soon as you try to change root to an ext partition it just gets stuck. However, it can start loading any kernel and initrd image present in the same (Windows) partition. That is until you try to set the root to a linux partition - in that case, you end up with kernel panic. In one word: this Grub is completely useless.

    To "boot up our way from this mess" we need a better bootloader. So, I figured why not use Grub4dos. To make it clear, I wasn't trying to replace current Grub (maybe it could be done, but I'm not that capable hacker). I chose a simpler way.

    This is what you should do:

    1. Download Grub4dos from sourceforge (http://sourceforge.net/projects/grub4dos/)

    2. Install your preferred linux distro (Ubuntu Natty in this example)
    When you'll be setting up bootloader, and this is important, you should probably install it to the partition (e.g. /dev/sda3) not to MBR (we don't want to compromise Asus' way of booting) Also, we must not delete Windows partition, of course.

    This is how the partition table could look like at the end:
    Code:
    /dev/sda1 [BOOT] NTFS - Windows loader
    /dev/sda2        NTFS - Windows root (C:\)
    /dev/sda3        ext4  - Ubuntu root (/)
    /dev/sda5        swap
    (and Ubuntu's Grub2 goes to /dev/sda3)

    3. Edit menu.lst and prepare Grub4dos
    The original C:\ExpressGate\menu.lst looks like this:
    Code:
    default saved
    timeout 0
    hiddenmenu
    
    title minik
      kernel /ExpressGate/vace ro no_win_installer=0 pci=nocrs i8042.reset quiet video=intelfb acpi_backlight=vendor acpi_display_output=vendor vaKBD=us VALANG=en_US fastreboot=no acpi_osi=Linux av_flag=1 rw_flag=1 debug_log=1 nwm=1
      initrd /ExpressGate/vace-id
    title Win_1 
      savedefault 0    
      rootnoverify (hd0,0)
      chainloader +1
    title Win_2
      savedefault 0
      rootnoverify (hd0,1)
      chainloader +1
    title Win_3
      savedefault 0
      rootnoverify (hd0,2)
      chainloader +1
    title Win_4
      savedefault 0
      rootnoverify (hd0,3)
      chainloader +1
    Now, we'll just edit the first entry:
    Code:
    ...
    title minik
      kernel /grub.exe
    title Win_1 
      savedefault 0    
    ...
    For this to work we'll need to copy grub.exe and grldr from grub4dos archive to C:\
    and then we create second menu.lst file also in C:\ (it will be used for accessing our ext partition and loading Grub2)

    It can look something like this:
    Code:
    timeout 0
    default 0
    hiddenmenu
    
    title Ubuntu 11.04
    root (hd0,2)
    kernel /boot/grub/core.img
    From Grub4dos you could of course load Ubuntu kernel directly but this way you won't have to change anything manually after a kernel update (just let Grub2 take care of it).

    4. Reboot the system and see what happens

    OK, now I just wait for you to try it and confirm whether it works.
    EDIT: Yes, it works just fine.

    Unfortunately, owners of the older versions of ExpressGate cannot use this method because it is based on Splashtop and I've no idea how it boots... but maybe someone will figure it out eventually.
    Yes it works for me also..... there is only one problem.
    when i start ubuntu or any os with express gate button.....
    the computer start with only nvidia GPU..... Of course I try to change the graphic card to intel but no use
    I have 1015PN netbook

    Any solution for this?

  3. #63
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Beans
    1

    Re: replace Express Gate with UNR on alternate power button

    @arunpatal
    Ur netbook uses optimus. There are some problems with ubuntu & optimus. Just google it and you will find a possibility to use your onboard graphics on Ubuntu too.

    @Nohajc
    Thx a lot! Was looking for this for a long time. I did a clean Windows install on my Asus N53SV so I first had to download and install EG again. I followed your guide and everything went well! After that both buttons led me to GRUB. Just fixed the MBR with a MBR tool and the normal powerbutton now boots Win7 directly. Set the GRUB Timeout to 0 and the left button boots Ubuntu immediately by using GRUB. Perfect solution, thank you!

  4. #64
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Beans
    10

    Re: replace Express Gate with UNR on alternate power button

    Quote Originally Posted by Try Again View Post
    I'm eager to get feedback!

    I've made a new tarball, it's mainly a code clean-up, but copy operations should be a little faster : stboot-0.1.1.tar.gz

    With a lightweight installation (including readahead and systemd) and a 5400rpm HDD, I manage to get from POST to Chromium in about 30 seconds, POST and GRUB4DOS taking about 7 seconds before loading the kernel, so there's still much room for improvement. I'm now looking for a lighter alternative to GRUB4DOS. SYSLINUX would get my preference, but even more stripped-down bootloaders exist.
    Hey Try Again,

    Thanks for the great work! Been wanting to do something like this with my EG button since the day I bought my ASUS Pro23A some 3 years back!

    I'll be doing up a dual boot Windows 7 & Ubuntu 12.04.1 environment as a weekend project soon and was hoping to pick your brain on this as I'm not 100% sure I understand the README correctly (plus my previous attempts at meddling with GRUB usually ended badly).

    1. Wipe drive & create a partition for Windows 7
    2. Install Windows 7
    3. Copy everything in 'root-example' over to C:
    4. Create partitions and install Ubuntu 12.04.1 (Any special instructions about GRUB configuration, etc?)
    5. Update menu.lst


    Currently, I'm unsure about 4 & 5 but 5 can be easily answered with a Google search. Could you please elaborate more on how to do 4? Thanks!

    Cheers,
    James

  5. #65
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Beans
    8

    Re: replace Express Gate with UNR on alternate power button

    Quote Originally Posted by beefcakefu View Post
    Currently, I'm unsure about 4 & 5 but 5 can be easily answered with a Google search. Could you please elaborate more on how to do 4? Thanks!
    Beginning with 4, you have two possibilities depending on the version of stboot:
    - with stboot 0.1.1, once you installed Ubuntu, just edit your menu.lst from GRUB4DOS (but it's quite slow compared with the second method)
    - stboot 0.2 includes a simple bootloader which chainloads the first active partition, so you can install Ubuntu on a partition you made active and install GRUB2 on this partition boot sector. For example, if you install Ubuntu on /dev/sda2, install GRUB2 on /dev/sda2 and not /dev/sda, as it's usually done

    There are more possibilities, but these are the simplest.

  6. #66
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Beans
    10

    Re: replace Express Gate with UNR on alternate power button

    Quote Originally Posted by Try Again View Post
    - stboot 0.2 includes a simple bootloader which chainloads the first active partition, so you can install Ubuntu on a partition you made active and install GRUB2 on this partition boot sector. For example, if you install Ubuntu on /dev/sda2, install GRUB2 on /dev/sda2 and not /dev/sda, as it's usually done
    Hey Try Again,

    I'm still fumbling with stboot 0.2, your assistance is much appreciated! Here's what I did:

    Installed Windows 7, which created 2 partitions sda1 & sda2. Taking care to choose 'Something else' from the Ubuntu Installation Type selection, I created 3 new partitions:
    • /dev/sda3 ext4 / (Primary Partition)
    • /dev/sda5 ext4 /home (Logical Partition)
    • /dev/sda6 swap (Logical Partition)

    Next I set /dev/sda3 as 'Device for boot loader installation' and let the Ubuntu installer run to completion. Upon restart, the system booted into Windows 7 and I saw no apparent way to access the new Ubuntu installation.

    At this point, I downloaded stboot-0.2.tar.gz and copied the contents of 'root-example' to C:. Next I tried to EG with the example setting and got 'Chainloading from partition...' before Windows appeared to be loading, then a spontaneous reboot and then a Windows Error Recovery prompt.

    Next I tried booting from the Ubuntu CD and did "dd if=/dev/sda3 of=1st_sect.bin bs=512 count=1", overwrote bootsect.bin with 1st_sect.bin and installed yasm but when I tried to "yasm -o CEFULL stboot.S", it complained about a missing stboot.S.

    I guess the few things I have doubt about are:
    1. Was I supposed to make sda3 active during Ubuntu installation, a step I perhaps missed?
    2. Does running dd from the live CD work? I've uploaded my '1st_sect.bin' here if you wouldn't mind taking a look, in case this method doesn't work.
    3. I obtained my copy of 'stboot-0.2.tar.gz' from 'trya.alwaysdata.net/stboot/'. Is this the correct copy or is it missing stboot.S?
    4. Was there a step I missed that compiles the .asm files into stboot.S?

    I've I feel I'm getting really close and thanks again for all you've done!

    Cheers,
    James

  7. #67
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Beans
    8

    Re: replace Express Gate with UNR on alternate power button

    Quote Originally Posted by beefcakefu View Post
    [*]Was there a step I missed that compiles the .asm files into stboot.S?
    You're almost there, but it's all my fault, because I forgot to update the README when I renamed the source files from *.S to *.asm. You should read stboot.asm when it mentions stboot.S.

    The README is the SVN repo is the correct one: http://stboot.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/README

    EDIT: stboot 0.2.1 is up in order to avoid any confusion.
    Last edited by Try Again; October 26th, 2012 at 11:46 AM.

  8. #68
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Beans
    10

    Re: replace Express Gate with UNR on alternate power button

    Quote Originally Posted by Try Again View Post
    You're almost there, but it's all my fault, because I forgot to update the README when I renamed the source files from *.S to *.asm. You should read stboot.asm when it mentions stboot.S.

    The README is the SVN repo is the correct one: http://stboot.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/README

    EDIT: stboot 0.2.1 is up in order to avoid any confusion.
    You, sir, are a prince among men! It's working for me now and I can't tell you how much I LOVE it! Thank you so much!

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