I was unable to get my VuegoScan Brisa 620u scanner working in Ubuntu Jaunty. There was an error similar to the following:

Failed to open device `snapscan:libusb:006:003': Invalid argument.

Interestingly, if I dual booted into Windows with the scanner on and then booted into Ubuntu the scanner worked. Apparently, a firmware blob is loaded into the scanner.

Fortunately I still had a 1999 CD for the scanner with all the drivers on it. So it was a matter of changing a line in snapscan.conf and putting a binary file into a particular path.

Here are the details:

1) Open nautilus with root powers (NB very dangerous – think before you act!). Apologies to my CLI-loving friends ;-).

gksu nautilus

2) navigate to /etc/sane.d/snapscan.conf

3) Double click snapscan.conf and edit 5th line:

firmware /usr/share/sane/snapscan/U96V120.BIN

4) navigate to /usr/share/sane/ and make sure there is a folder called snapscan

5) Copy U96V120.BIN from the /media/cdrom/DRIVERS folder into /usr/share/sane/snapscan

6) Close nautilus (remember, it is opened with root powers and could be dangerous to your system’s well being).

7) Open Xsane (Applications > Graphics > Xsane Image scanning program) and start scanning

NB I was lucky that I guessed the correct BIN file on my first attempt.

To get a modem working on my Grandparent’s Ubuntu Intrepid machine I needed to use wvdial. I can’t remember the exact sequence but perhaps start by editing “/etc/wvdial.conf” while logged in as root.

sudo gedit "/etc/wvdial.conf"

Supply the phone number to the ISP, the user name, and the password.

I also found my Grandparent’s modem was on /dev/tty0 not /dev/tty1. You could hear it on one and not the other which was a pretty simple test.

OK – now you can make a connection using the simple command:

sudo wvdial

NB if you have trouble connecting, disconnect all phones except for the modem and try again. The explanation is complex and may vary by country but it is worth a shot if the login works and the connection mysteriously disconnects (e.g. Exit code 16).

Now get a GUI for connecting and disconnecting.

sudo apt-get install gnome-ppp

Then, manually set the correct permissions:

sudo chown root:dip /usr/sbin/pppd
sudo chmod 4754 /usr/sbin/pppd
sudo chmod 777 /etc/ppp/pap-secrets
sudo chmod 777 /etc/ppp/peers

(http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6296683&postcount=4)

I found I needed to make /usr/bin/pppd executable for everything to work. Some people have suggested you need to re-log in to make it work or even reboot but I am not sure if that is necessary.

Anyway, add the Gnome ppp dialer to the panel and everything is simple enough for anyone to use.

Overall, installing eeeBuntu Remix (Intrepid) onto an eeePC netbook went well enough but there were a few rough patches. The download went smoothly, I installed the create usb startup disk program from the standard repositories, and selected the iso file just downloaded. But … I had to install lilo and use it to repair the usb MBR before it would work.

sudo apt-get install lilo
(NB do not configure to use unless you actually want to replace GRUB)

lilo -M /dev/sdx
(replacing x with the letter of your flash device) sdb in my case
(See http://www.pendrivelinux.com/usb-ubuntu-710-gutsy-gibbon-install/.

Plus the USB drive was detected sometimes and not others by the eeePC. [Later note – this may be relevant: “[On] my EEE PC 1000 the only bootable USB port is the one on the left side, the two on the right would not boot the USB at all.” (Full Circle 23 – http://fullcirclemagazine.org/issue-23/)]

Anyway, press Esc repeatedly at bootup to get access to the USB drive and boot into it.

Partitioning was interesting as there seemed to be half the harddrive set aside (for recovery, I think). I formatted that as linux swap. I’ll resize it later. The default seems to be shrinking XP (good) and using the second (of 3) partitions for eeeBuntu. I formatted that as ext3.

[Note from later ;)] install ntfsprogs to enable resizing ntfs partition etc.
sudo apt-get install ntfsprogs. I resized the windows partition drastically down from within eeebuntu and later used a live usb of gparted to resize and move the eeebuntu partition. The most recent versions of gparted live did not work but I succeeded with 0.3.7-7. NB this only worked in video safe mode (VGA).

To run all the upgrades you need to get the repositories working (now that GPG keys are required, which seems to be a recent development – http://forum.eeebuntu.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1701&p=6559).

If it is not you might get an error like:

W: A error occurred during the signature verification. The repository is not updated and the previous index files will be used.GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net intrepid Release: The following signatures couldn’t be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 3F2A5EE4B796B6FE

W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/netbook-remix-team/ubuntu/dists/intrepid/Release

Fortunately, the following worked for me:

sudo apt-key adv –recv-keys –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 3F2A5EE4B796B6FE
(http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/28587/).

The following may be useful as well: http://www.archive.org/download/LaunchpadAddingAPpasKeyToYourUbuntuSystem/launchpad-adding-key-for-signed-ppa.ogv

Before that I had to uninstall the flash nonfree package and reinstall it. But youtube is working perfectly now.

I also changed the icons under appearance to Gnome so that Thunderbird would have the correct icon.

The final thing was to get Skype installed. This required Medibuntu as per http://forum.eeebuntu.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&p=6542 and then a change to the Skype sound setup as per http://www.eeebuntu.org/release.html

BTW this entry was written and posted from the eeePC. The only real bad news is that it isn’t mine and I have to return it soon :-(.