Part 2? Yup. I noticed that if you searched for Fedora and 1015PED-MU17 my blog post on the subject was the first thing to come up. I thought it was time to make a post that would provide proper information for those making that search on goodle..

First off, the information in my other blog post is sort of valid. But this post may also help. It covers the physical install of Fedora 14 But that was more about installing stuff then drivers, and getting up and running.

Oh, one note. I dropped the netbook and it still works. It was more of a controlled drop, because I slipped on the ice. The case got a little scratched up (even through the backpack), and the frame popped out in a few places. I was sweating while I popped everything back together and powered it up. I don’t advise you randomly drop your netbook, but its comforting to know that if you do, it has a chance of surviving.

Getting the Operating Systems Working

Brief Note About Windows

You’ll need to download the wireless and bluetooth drivers from the asus website. Keep the bluetooth drivers handy. You’ll need them when you attempt to pair a bluetooth device.

Fedora

That’s why you’re here, right? For dualtriple booting, see the previously linked posts. I ALWAYS advise dual-booting as opposed to having a dedicated linux device because there are situations where you cannot just have a linux only device. Since the 1015PED-MU17 ships with Windows 7, it isn’t that much harder to dual boot the computer and have that extra protection against possible “Windows-Only” environments.

What Works

I’m happy to that the function buttons work “out of the box” so to speak. Bluetooth drivers work out of the box as well, except that the KBluetooth module cannot properly pair bluetooth devices to the computer. This a a KBluetooth issue, and not a Fedora or eeePC issue. Work around here. The “multitouch” feature that asus uses for a scroll bar also works out of the box. The Intel GMA 3150 video card works correctly, with no issues that I am aware of.

What Doesn’t

The wireless. Actually, it does work. But Fedora doesn’t ship with the proper drivers by default. Instructions to fix this are here. You won’t be able to put the wireless card into monitor mode with the broadcom-wl drivers. You might possibly achieve it with the open source wireless drivers, but I haven’t had the guts to try it yet.

Meh

The projected battery life is also not as good when running linux as opposed to windows. I have not timed the actual battery life however. Windows 7 project 10 hours, with both the wireless and the bluetooth radios turned on. Fedora projects a bit over 5 hours. There may be a work around to improve the life, but I haven’t bothered to find out.

Other Thoughts

Good

The 1015PED-MU17 is a decent netbook. ASUS support is 24/7 like they say. The battery removal system is pretty slick, and I like the hardware camara “shut off”. I can carry it in one hand.

Bad

The power cable works okay. I wish the plug for connecting the charger to the computer was heavier duty, which is why I label it as “bad”.

Ugly

My device had to be shipped back for a replacement “keyboard” to fix my power switch. I’ve had it back for about a week know and will keep the blog posted if the switch fails again. Asus should have payed to ship the device after finding out about the faulty keyboard, but I have not been offered any repayment.

In closing

The 1015PED-MU17 is another Asus eeePC offering. It’s perfectly capable of serving as a linux device and a serviceable netbook regardless of what OS you choose to run.