Do not buy BenQ U121 netbook (linux edition)

[narendra sisodiya]

Dear all,
Recently , I have purchased BenQ U121 netbook. I have BenQ U121
eco netbook comes with linpus linux version. but I have tested it well
that its wifi does not work at all with Ubuntu 9.10 and UNR . I have
tried full effort to install fedora 12 (using USB, using netboot, etc
) but It will not boot fedora atall. also speed is not promising.
(also tried ndiswrapper but nothing helped)

PS: Next time you go to purchase a linux netbook, just use a pen drive
and use Unetbootin to load Ubuntu 9.10 and then just boot and test all
thing at shop itself.
--
┌─────────────────────────┐
│ Narendra Sisodiya ( नरेन्द्र सिसोदिया )
│ Society for Knowledge Commons
│ Web : http://narendra.techfandu.org
└─────────────────────────┘

[Nalin Savara]

On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 2:53 PM, narendra sisodiya <narendra...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear all,
      Recently , I have purchased BenQ U121 netbook. I have BenQ U121
eco netbook comes with linpus linux version. but I have tested it well
that its wifi does not work at all with Ubuntu 9.10 and UNR . I have
tried full effort to install fedora 12 (using USB, using netboot, etc
) but It will not  boot fedora atall. also speed is not promising.
(also tried ndiswrapper but nothing helped)

PS: Next time you go to purchase a linux netbook, just use a pen drive
and use Unetbootin to load Ubuntu 9.10 and then just boot and test all
thing at shop itself.
--

Some questions from me:--

(1) Does Wifi work with Linpus(the linux version that came pre-installed) ?

(2) how much did this cost ?

>just use a pen drive
>and use Unetbootin to load Ubuntu 9.10 and then just boot and test all
t>hing at shop itself.

(3) How/where to find instructions for unetbootin and Ubuntu 9.10 ?

Just wondering...

(4) Also, if it works with manufacturer's linux-- then cant we ask them-- and get drivers etc ? From what I understand, you couldnt get wifi to work when booting into fedora and ubuntu... but did you try to get the drivers ?

(5) What about the idea to educate "BenQ"-- to put up this netbook's drivers ? Personally I think hardware makers that ship pre-installed linux are doing something good-- which needs to be encouraged-- even if it's quality will take some time to debug and make perfect.

Regards,

NS

[narendra sisodiya]

On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 2:58 PM, Nalin Savara <nsn...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 2:53 PM, narendra sisodiya
> <narendra...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Dear all,
>>       Recently , I have purchased BenQ U121 netbook. I have BenQ U121
>> eco netbook comes with linpus linux version. but I have tested it well
>> that its wifi does not work at all with Ubuntu 9.10 and UNR . I have
>> tried full effort to install fedora 12 (using USB, using netboot, etc
>> ) but It will not  boot fedora atall. also speed is not promising.
>> (also tried ndiswrapper but nothing helped)
>>
>> PS: Next time you go to purchase a linux netbook, just use a pen drive
>> and use Unetbootin to load Ubuntu 9.10 and then just boot and test all
>> thing at shop itself.
>> --
>
> Some questions from me:--
>
> (1) Does Wifi work with Linpus(the linux version that came pre-installed) ?

I have not tried. But I tried to connect using normal Ethernet cable
(RJ45 one), I was unable to connect normal Ethernet on limpus (tried
all sort of command line tricks , and config files , nothing worked
out,)

>
> (2) how much did this cost ?

20 K

>
>>just use a pen drive
>>and use Unetbootin to load Ubuntu 9.10 and then just boot and test all
> t>hing at shop itself.
>
> (3) How/where to find instructions for unetbootin and Ubuntu 9.10 ?

* Install Unetbootin
* click on iso, locate the ubuntu iso image and select your pen drive
/ usb drive. Click Ok.
* plug usb again to netboot and reboot it. Press F9 to select boot device.
* now you have Live GNU/Linux working over laptop/netboot

>
> Just wondering...
>
> (4) Also, if it works with manufacturer's linux-- then cant we ask them--
> and get drivers etc ? From what I understand, you couldnt get wifi to work
> when booting into fedora and ubuntu... but did you try to get the drivers ?

On their website, they just show window's driver. unable to locate
linux version. I have tried ndiswrapper and it gtk gui to load all
possible .inf files but nothing worked properly.

>
> (5) What about the idea to educate "BenQ"-- to put up this netbook's drivers
> ? Personally I think hardware makers that ship pre-installed linux are doing
> something good-- which needs to be encouraged-- even if it's quality will
> take some time to debug and make perfect.

I have tweeted and blogged about this. This is good enough to put
voice into their ear.

>
> Regards,
>
> NS
>
> --
> Do you have another question? Click here -
> http://groups.google.com/group/iitdlug/post
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Here is some note from review -
<copy-paste src="http://www.cnet.com.au/benq-joybook-lite-u121-eco-339298494.htm">
In the Linpus version's case the CD didn't even include network
drivers nor were Linux drivers provided on BenQ's site (BenQ claims
this is because the Linux distribution is aimed at developers). We
assume this means they're either expected to find their own, or blast
out Linpus and install their distro of choice. To this end, the XP
version was benchmarked.
</copy-paste>

[akshay khatri]

2009/12/25 narendra sisodiya <narendra...@gmail.com>

Hello Everyone

Well this question may seem to be out of context.

I wanted to ask which laptop to buy ? I wanted good performance and a good battery life. Infact need it work for  we all do. Programming, College work and it will run for atleast 10 hrs a day( as per my current requirements). You all may be having experience with various range of laptops.

Please help me out and share your experiences for my first one. Preferably in 35-40k range. 

Would dell inspiron 14 would be a good option ?

Pre-installed Windows is not a problem for me because I am going to reformat it and install linux anyways. 

 

Thank you 

[Alok Singh Mahor]

On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 2:58 PM, Nalin Savara <nsn...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 2:53 PM, narendra sisodiya <narendra...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear all,
      Recently , I have purchased BenQ U121 netbook. I have BenQ U121
eco netbook comes with linpus linux version. but I have tested it well
that its wifi does not work at all with Ubuntu 9.10 and UNR . I have
tried full effort to install fedora 12 (using USB, using netboot, etc
) but It will not  boot fedora atall. also speed is not promising.
(also tried ndiswrapper but nothing helped)

PS: Next time you go to purchase a linux netbook, just use a pen drive
and use Unetbootin to load Ubuntu 9.10 and then just boot and test all
thing at shop itself.
--

Some questions from me:--

(1) Does Wifi work with Linpus(the linux version that came pre-installed) ?

Harsh Pradhan purchased a netbook with linpus linux preinstalled, on that wifi was working fine.but the ethernet was not working in the hostel. and it was working fine in his department(DMS)

--
Alok Singh Mahor
CSE, IIT Delhi
www.alokmahor.tk

Join the next generation of computing, Open Source, and Linux/GNU!

[Akarsh Simha]

On Sat, Dec 26, 2009 at 03:53:55AM +0530, Alok Singh Mahor wrote:

> On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 2:58 PM, Nalin Savara <[1]nsn...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 2:53 PM, narendra sisodiya
> <[2]narendra...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear all,
> Recently , I have purchased BenQ U121 netbook. I have BenQ U121
> eco netbook comes with linpus linux version. but I have tested it well
> that its wifi does not work at all with Ubuntu 9.10 and UNR . I have
> tried full effort to install fedora 12 (using USB, using netboot, etc
> ) but It will not boot fedora atall. also speed is not promising.
> (also tried ndiswrapper but nothing helped)

It's very unlikely that NDISwrapper should fail. In case the card is
from Broadcomm, there are proprietary drivers available on the
Broadcom site, which you could try. They work fine for me (I run
Debian on a Dell Inspiron n-Series)

Regards
Akarsh

[narendra sisodiya]

> --
> Do you have another question? Click here - http://groups.google.com/group/iitdlug/post
> Read archive - http://www.mail-archive.com/iit...@googlegroups.com/
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Finally my wifi is working !
http://lug-iitd.posterous.com/how-to-make-benq-u121-wireless-working-on-kar

[Akarsh Simha]

> Finally my wifi is working !
> http://lug-iitd.posterous.com/how-to-make-benq-u121-wireless-working-on-kar

Is just that enough? Don't you need to do something more? (eg: Install
ndiswrapper, or whatever)?

Regards
Akarsh

[narendra sisodiya]

Yup, this is just good enough.

Problem : kernel was picking up wrong drivers "rt2800usb" etc
Solution : just blacklist those unwanted drivers and this will help in
loading right driver. Even in the right driver is unable to load. just
use
$ modprobe drivername
to load the right driver.

PS: one thing is like GNU/Linux is give some problems (sometimes)
which actually make you learn many things. :)

> --
> Do you have another question? Click here -
> http://groups.google.com/group/iitdlug/post
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> LUG@IITD community mailing list -- http://groups.google.com/group/iitdlug

[satyaakam goswami]

On Sun, Dec 27, 2009 at 12:53 AM, narendra sisodiya <narendra...@gmail.com> wrote:

Yup, this is just good enough.

Problem : kernel was picking up wrong drivers "rt2800usb" etc
Solution : just blacklist those unwanted drivers and this will help in
loading right driver. Even in the right driver is unable to load. just
use
$ modprobe drivername
to load the right driver.

PS: one thing is like GNU/Linux is give some problems (sometimes)
which actually make you learn many things. :)

ok as you know i bought this same piece of Hardware and here are my experiences so far   http://satyaakam.net/?p=178

i did not do much in Karmic

$sudo su -

#modprobe rt3070sta

enabled the network by pressing function key and F10

-Satya

[narendra sisodiya]

--
LUG@IITD - http://tinyurl.com/ycueutm

Thanks, http://lug-iitd.org/Ubuntu_9.10_%28Karmic_Koala%29_on_a_BenQ_Joybook_Lite_U121_Eco