Arduino IDE on an EEEPC 701 Netbook

February 29, 2012 (PROJECTS & CONCEPTS) The Arduino is a simple-to-use microcontroller, which is essentially a programmable controller used to operate electronic projects. By measuring and regulating inputs and outputs, the Arduino can control lighting, motors, sound, and just about anything else electronic you can properly hook up to it. To give the Arduino instructions, you must write a program in the Arduino "Integrated Development Environment" (IDE) and upload it to the controller. This is generally done from your desktop or notebook computer.

An Asus EEEPC 701. This was the original model that started the netbook craze. Since then, Asus has come out with a whole line of EEEPC's including tablets and desktop versions. The 701 is still a convenient way to bring reading with you, browse the Internet, and now, with Ubuntu's Netbook 10.10 operating system, work on Arduino projects.

Luckily, even if you are a beginner in programming and you are unsure of what you are looking at - a lot of code is already freely available online to use with projects, and many times instructions are given as to how to tweak it to give different results. You need to have the IDE on your computer to work out the code and upload it to the Arduino - usually by a USB cable. If you are using Windows, you can simply download the IDE software, install it like a normal program and have it running in minutes.

If you have Linux, on the other hand, it can be a great deal more difficult - especially if you are like me and know very little about this open source operating system (OS). However, I have an Asus EEEPC netbook, a 701 model - the first model they came out with several years ago - and it came by default with Linux Xandros. I had long since replaced it with EEEbuntu (another Linux distribution) and it has worked flawlessly for years. But now I wanted another machine to run Arduino from, and since my main computers are generally rendering 3D around the clock on a very cluttered desk, I thought it would be handy to have my small EEEPC as a Arduino console to bring with me where I was working.

Installing Arduino on EEEbuntu is probably possible if you are an expert in Linux and using its terminal function. If you are a causal user, it is not. I then embarked on a three day odyssey searching for any OS that could both run Arduino's IDE and be installed on my EEEPC 701. I tried searching for different Linux Ubuntu distributions, both old and new, I even managed to get Andriod running for a day, but was rife with problems. I finally ended up with Ubuntu's Netbook version 10.10. I followed the instructions found on this beginner's guide on how to install the Arduino IDE on Ubuntu, and it finally worked.

The steps I took are as follows:

1. Download the utility Unetbootin on your computer (a Windows PC in my case). This allows you to download .iso files and put them on a blank USB thumbdrive. This USB drive can then be used to boot from on your EEEPC and install the OS of your choice - in my case, Unbutu 10.10 Netbook (download here: ubuntu-10.10-netbook-i386.iso) 

2. In Unetbootin, select Diskimage, keep it as ISO, and browse to your download folder and find the .iso file you just downloaded. Ensure that you have the correct drive for your USB selected because this process will erase any data you may have on another device or drive. When you are doing this sort of work - it is best to disconnect everything else just to be on the safe side. After clicking "OK" it will place the .iso image on your thumbdrive and when it is finished you simply close it (don't "reboot"), remove the drive and connect it to your EEEPC.

If you successfully hit your Esc key during your EEEPC's boot up, you should see this screen. If you have your USB thumbdrive with the Ubuntu .iso on it, it should show up as an option, usually the second one down. Pick it and hit enter.

3. Turn on your EEEPC and hit the Esc key at start up - a blue screen with boot options comes up (you might have to hit Esc several times until it comes up). You want to make sure you select your USB drive as the boot up device. If it works successfully, you will begin the self-guided process of installing Ubuntu. If a white line is blinking, you may have to shut it down, reformat your thumb drive, reinstall the .iso image, and start over (this happened to me many times when installing different OS' during the last 3 days).

4. Once you have Ubuntu up and running on your EEEPC, follow this fool-proof guide on installing Arduino's IDE. It worked for me the first time - and I am extremely inexperienced in all things Linux and not a computer expert by any stretch of the imagination.

My EEEPC running Ubuntu Netbook 10.10 with Arduino's IDE successfully running. The project to the left is the Sparkfun kit, circuit 14, the code for which can be found here. I was able to load a "fade" code example that is included with the IDE - and without changing anything to the circuit, the LED pulses on and off.

I was then able to upload to my Arduino successfully my programs and it worked flawlessly. If you try this and run into any problems contact us here at HackerSpaceTH at Gmail dot com. We will be glad to help, as I can personally attest, it can be very frustrating - but just remember, we hack not because it is easy, but precisely because it is satisfyingly challenging.