new linux eeepc user

[atrevida]

I need Help! that's why I'm here, but first let me tell you a little about myself.

I am 63, retired, but love computers and desire to know a lot more. I've been reading on the internet about linux for a few years and the relative security and open sharing of the software attracts me because I rarely buy anything on the internet or do any banking. So I decided to buy the linux eeepc to shop and bank (eventually!) and carry it wherever I go.

Well, I have it only a few weeks and just bought a mini external SONY DVD player/recorder to use with the ASUS. The ASUS eeepc came with 2 DVDs, one with software and one is a recovery disk. I called ASUS and they said all the external DVD players should work--they only had some problems with the lite-ons. But they don't really know too much about linux either.

So here I am and guess what? The Sony works with my windows laptop, but when I connect it to the ASUS eeepc nothing happens and then I can't eject the disk. I have to unplug it and only then will it eject when I press the button. But when I test the USB port the linux says it recognizes the Sony DVD.

So if no one has a suggestion in getting this DVD player to work,(because ASUS support was not helpful at all!) I'll give up and bring it back.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Dapper Dan]

Hi atrevida and welcome.

We have an eee pc and love it. We bought an HP USB external DVD drive and it works perfectly when playing DVDs. Are you opening DVDs with the Media Player? I ask because ours brings up a window when a DVD is inserted asking what program to open it with, none of them being the Media Player. If this is happening to you, close out that window, go to "Play" then open "Media Player" and click on the little disk icon second from left on the player. To close the DVD, choose "Open" then at the bottom of the menu, choose "close." That should unmount the DVD so you can use the button to open the DVD drive.

I'm watching "Northern Exposure" on ours right now. If this doesn't work with the Sony external DVD player, I'm not sure what the difference would be. If I took anything back, I'd take back the Sony player instead of the eee pc and get an HP DVD player.

Hope this helps...

Dapper

[Cool01]

Which model of the EeePC do you have?

Which BIOS are you using?

[atrevida]

Hi, I was also told by ASUS that they install Ubuntu on these machines. I didn't know because it doesn't tell you on the PC. The CPU is intel (R) mobile Processor, and uses Intel celeron. The software version is: Eee Pc 1.1.0.66 with 1 MB of ram.

I called SONY but they know nothing about Linux and it doesn't say on the box that they support it. ASUS more or less said I was on my own and I should go online.

I'll return the SONY DVD and hope I learn how to use Linux as time goes on. I'm really very limited in my technical knowledge of computers but anxious to learn linix, more of Windows and some day--MAC.

[Cool01]

I have an EeePC 701, so my experience is indirect, but I think I can tell you a few things:

First, Xandros (and Fedora Core 8, which is what this version of Xandros runs underneath it) is actually quite good and fairly well debugged. So going to Ubuntu is probably is not going to gain you anything.

Some people will tell you to use the "expert mode" under Xandros. I did, and in the end, I found it was not worth it. Your experience might be different. It depends on your goals.

Anyway, you have not mentioned software updating, so I will assume you have not done it yet. So that is what you should do first:

Turn on your EeePC, with Internet connected and select the "Settings" tab along the top of the screen (5th from the left).

Click on "Add/Remove Software" and wait for it to run. It will say "Checking for software updates . . ." Depending on how busy the update server is, this can take some time. Usually, I think it takes about 10 - 15 seconds, but on a very busy day (after a major update is released) it can take much longer. I have had it take in range of 5 - 10 minutes on very bad days, but that was only a couple of times.

When it is ready, select the "Settings" tab along the top. At the top of the list should be: "BIOS Updates:" with an "Open" button. Use the "Open" button and see if there is more than 1 BIOS available. If you are running the latest BIOS, then that is all that is important there. If not, then update your BIOS. using the "Install" button.

If you update your BIOS, then shut down your computer and re-start it, and go back into "Add/Remove Software" again, to continue looking for updates.

If not, then under the "Settings" tab will be an up triangle labeled "Back up to Settings Tab". Click on that triangle.

Now check the rest of the updates (if there are any) and see if there is anything that looks like it might affect your problem. If so, then update as you think might help.

If you need to restart your computer to make an update work, the program will tell you, but in my opinion, it never hurts to restart after an update, so I almost always restart my computer.

Anyway, if you have changed anything, then you can try your Sony DVD drive again.

About Sony:

Sony makes wonderful stuff, but they are not perfect -- nobody in this industry is. I use an HP drive on my EeePC, and I never had a problem with it. But someday, I might have a problem with an HP product too. It happens. . . .

[atrevida]

Thanks for the advice. I'll try it tomorrow and let you know what happens.

Atrevida

[lam@lff]

Hi and welcome to my favorite forum. I've had my epc 702 since last Feb and don't go anywhere without it.
I've found a lot of epc specific info at
EeeUser ASUS Eee PC Forum
and some "easy for newbie" how to's in
Welcome to EeeUser! [EeeUser Eee PC Wiki]

They're independent from Asus and all actually use the epc. If you haven't already found this I hope you like it and it helps.

[atrevida]

Thanks for the websites. According to the specific epc info I'm running Xandros and I thought I was using Ubuntu-now that's enlightening I brought back my Sony DVD player/recorder but haven't picked up another brand yet. First, I'm going to try to copy the two DVDs it came with onto a flash drive and see if I can save it on my epc. Maybe there's info on the DVDs that can help me.

Thanks again!