Asus Eee PC 1005HA

The Asus Eee PC 1005HA is a laptop manufactured by Asus in 2009. It features an Intel Atom N280 with 1GB of RAM (upgradable to 2GB), a 160GB hard disk, and a Mobile Intel 945ME Express with 250MB of VRAM.

This article supplements the Gentoo Linux x86 Handbook with specific information regarding the Eee PC 1005HA.

Kernel configuration is based on the -3.0.6.

Choosing the right install medium
As the Eee PC 1005HA does not have a CD/DVD drive, the easiest way to install Gentoo is using a LiveUSB. Follow the instructions given in the Gentoo Linux LiveUSB HOWTO.

The ath9k module that ships with the gentoo-minimal disk image has not been compiled with PCI support, which means wireless networking is not available during install. As a Gentoo install is dependent on a network connection, either install over ethernet (atl1c driver is supported), use another distro to install (e.g. System Rescue CD), or recompile the ath9k module for a custom LiveUSB.

To boot from a LiveUSB press as the machine powers on, then select the appropriate device from the list presented. If Boot Booster is enabled (see later), first enter the BIOS configuration by pressing as the machine powers on, then exit without saving changes by pressing, then press  as described previously.

Partitioning
Follow the guidance on partitioning as given in the handbook, with the following exception to enable Boot Booster:

Boot Booster
The Asus Eee PC 1005HA features a technology called Boot Booster, which can reduce boot times by a few seconds by caching the results of the POST on the hard disk. When partitioning the internal hard disk, create a 16MB primary partition of type EFI (0xEF). The location on the disk is unimportant but the partition must be a primary one. The system does not boot using the EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface), but rather uses the partition type to identify which partition to read/write the cache.

The example fdisk output below shows a 100MB boot partition, a 16MB EFI partition (for Boot Booster) a 2GB swap partition and a ~147GB partition for the rest of the system.

Boot Booster must also be enabled in the BIOS configuration.

CPU
The CPU is an Intel Atom N280.

To update the processor microcode, install.

The microcode patch will be lost at each reboot, but the init script can reload it.

In this example, the microcode is updated from version 0x212 to 0x218.

Graphics
The GPU is a Mobile Intel 945ME Express. Follow the instructions in the Intel article.

Ethernet
The Ethernet card is an Atheros AR8132.

Wireless
The wireless card is an Atheros AR9285 (PCI-Express).

Sound
The sound card is a Realtek ALC269 (Intel ICH7 Family).

See also the ALSA guide.

Bluetooth
Bluetooth is provided by a Broadcom BT-253, connected using USB. Follow the instructions given in the Gentoo Linux Bluetooth Guide and the Bluetooth article.

TouchPad
The TouchPad is a Synaptics PS/2 TouchPad.

Enable two-finger scrolling in X:

Keyboard
Configuration for the keyboard in X (adjust as required):