[Arm-netbook] Mysteries of Lemote Yeeloong MIPS netbook

[freebirds at fastmail.fm]

On Sat, Oct 20, 2012, at 08:58 PM, luke.leighton wrote:

 much as i hate to say this, many of the questions you're asking aren't
entirely appropriate for the target audience here: basic linux sysadmin
analysis for example.

I apologize. It was not my intention to ask basic questions, including
basic linux sysadmin questions. If there were a MIPS forum, I would
have posted my thread there. I appreciate the patience and advice and
will follow through.
I chose the Yeeloong because MIPS does not have hardware assisted
virtualization and because linux is preinstalled. I had not planned to
upgrade the OS. I wrongly assumed Yeeloong would be fully functional
out of the box and that the box being open hardware could be fully and
easily opened.
Today, an employee at my local hardware store tried to unscrew the
screws with their allen wrenches. He stated the screws were not hex
screws. They are star screws. The hardware store's smallest star
screwdriver was too large. I will ask larger hardware stores if they
sell small star screwdrivers. Star screws are rarely used in the United
States which could explain why the three people, including a computer
repair shop, who tried to unscrew my Yeeloong failed to recognize the
screws as star screws. Or are they really star screws? Perhaps an
unique screw from China with no available screwdriver in the USA? Open
hardware should not require very hard to find screwdrivers.
One of the very few articles on Yeeloong instructed to press function
key and F5 to turn on wifi. This worked. Lemote should have either had
the wifi turned on my default or provide written instructions.
anheng.com
Connected to the internet, Synaptic Package Manager could not uninstall
ssh, rsync, samba, remote desktop, etc. Nor could Synaptic Package
Manager add any packages. Error message: cannot connect to server. So
this is what anheng.com meant by the OS being too old.
Lemote discontinued support of its preinstalled OS by discontinuing its
server. Lemote lacks honesty as it continues to sell Yeeloong and
Fuloong.
Though Synaptic Package Manager does not require root access, the
terminal does. The terminal won't chmod -x /etc/init.d/ssh nor fdisk to
format my flashdrive to ext2 which is required for installation of a
new OS. Unfortunately, no gparted preinstalled. I cannot get root
access. I think my computer has been rooted.
I am still alarmed that my files could be rsynced via a ssh OpenBSD
server. Yes, most linux distributions have ssh and remote desktop
preinstalled. Yet, they do not have them preconfigured and ready to
act.
I would love to give the feedback that I took your advice and installed
a new OS. I can't. I am capable to researching which distributions have
new releases, find the tutorial and find the download page. Following
the tutorial, no. MIPS is far more complicated than ARM. See Debian
Wheezy's tutorial at
http://wiki.debian.org/DebianYeeloong/HowTo/Install including Roman's
tutorial at http://romanrm.ru/en/loongson/debian.
GNewSense initially was based on Ubuntu. GNewSense switched to being
based on Debian because Debian supports MIPS. GNewSense tutorial on
installing their September 2012 release is just as complicated and
perhaps more so. See http://www.gnewsense.org/Projects/GNewSenseToMIPS
I did not expect that MIPS requires knowing command line. Up to now, I
have been getting along with graphical packages installed on my
netbooks and graphical packages in live CDs.
I posted an ad in computer gigs in craigslist.org for help upgrading
debian on Yeeloong. Only two replies.
In the last several years, I have tried to hire computer security
experts and rarely finding that, even just plain geeks who know linux
to help me. I have posted numerous ads in computer gigs on
craigslist.org in the large cities I have lived this year: New York
City, Washington, DC, Baltimore and New Brunswick, New Jersey. While I
would not expect much of a response from towns, I did expect a good
response from large cities. Instead, the responses were few and
approximately one third of the responses were from other states. Yes, I
hired several out of town respondents. That did not work. I would go
into details but this is lengthy as it is. Linux is not popular in the
United States.
Derek recommended IRC which is one more thing for me to learn how to
use.
I will speak for the American masses. This is in reference to earlier
threads on the "masses." Americans prefer status toys: large SUVs
(previously large trucks), ipads, etc. Regardless of their impact on
the environment.  The cost savings that a EOMA would bring is trivial.
The EO needs different marketing. Advertise that the upgrade of the cpu
includes an upgrade of the OS. For example, I would have preferred to
pay the manufacturer $100 more for the Yeelong if it had an upgraded OS
with a functional server capable of working with Synaptic Package
Manager than to try to find a competent debian geek and pay him unknown
amount of hours to teach me how to upgrade.
Though linux is less complicated to install on ARM than MIPS, it is
still complicated. Americans do not want to think, hack and tinker.
They want to have fun. They want everything working out of the box.
Would an simultaneous upgrade of cpu and OS satify Americans. No. Too
much competition. Americans are ignorant of the advantages of linux and
ignorant of the privacy invasions by Google, Apple and Microsoft.
Except for a few Americans, mostly baby boomers, who remember privacy
being an  priviledge granted by our constitution. They respect privacy
and are willing to pay more for it. Americans who read prisonplanet.com
and infowars.com. If articles on how to have real privacy by buying a
laptop or tablet with EOMA and linux were linked to these websites.
there would be an interest.
A niche market that Lemote failed in. Yet, the EOMA may have a chance
if it has a processor that is truly open hardware and Americans willing
to promote it.

I will honor Luke's wishes and refrain from posting. Feel free to email
me.


,

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