Let’s surf the net a bit.

Oh…The web page (google) is anavailable.Check your wifi settings.

Okay…checking. Connecting….disconnected….connecting….disconnected…connecting….disconnected. OVER and OVER. RESET the whole thing and start again. Change channel in router. try different channels. OH! Connected!…disconnected…connected….

This is bringing back terrible memories I had with my Kogan Agora netbook and wireless!

Waveblazer demo on Kogan Agora 7″ Tablet

Turbofly 3D demo on Kogan Agora 7″ tablet

Raging Thunder 2 demo on Kogan Agora 7″ Tablet

The new Kogan Agora tablet and laptop

No longer a netbook (anything over 10″ is a laptop in my opinion), the new Agora laptop features a 11.6″ LED display, an Intel Celeron processor and a 4 cell battery.

The laptop comes in two models – the Agora and Agora Pro. The difference? The former has 1GB of RAM and a 250GB hard disk, and the latter doubles those specs – 2GB of RAM and a 500GB hard disk.

The new product in the Agora range is the Agora 7″ tablet. The 1GHz processor, 512MB memory and Android 2.3 (aka gingerbread) really makes me wish it had a 10″ display! The specs are good enough to warrant purchasing one except for that 7″ display.

A 7″ tablet is really just a big phone, and I already have a phone running Android! So come on Kogan – compete in the tablet market and release a 10″ tablet running Android 3.0 (aka honeycomb).

If any readers have a product from the new Agora range and wants to post some reviews, please leave a comment below and I’ll be in touch

Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG

Update: Please note this article is only applicable to 1st generation (10″) Kogan Agora netbook. If you have a 2nd generation (12″) Kogan Agora laptop you will need to purchase a “half” sized mini PCI-E card.

After several months of fighting my Kogan Agora netbook to connect to wifi networks, which included the netbook only connecting to my access point if I saved the AP’s configuration, I have finally found a fix to better the wifi performance.

Back cover removed, showing the network card (bottom left)

My frustration reached its peak when the netbook refused to connect to my new Netcomm NB9WMAXXN wireless router, so after a quick transaction on ebay I purchased an Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Mini PCI-E card to replace the Ralink wireless card that replaced the VIA card.

It came at a cost of $7.95 including postage, so it was a small gamble to take in the hope it would rid me of my connection woes.

Close up of the original VIA network card

And after a quick change over, I was quite happy to see the latest version of Ubuntu (11.04, which had up until now refused to connect to my wireless network) connect instantly when I logged in!

Hopefully this will see some better mileage obtained from my Kogan Agora netbook – at least until I can replace it with a 10″ tablet.

Yes – it has been a while between posts! My kogan netbook has been serving the purpose it was intended for, meaning I haven’t come across anything I have felt I need to share in this blog. Upgrading ubuntu along the way has been happy and cheery with no issues, so no need to blog…

But there have been three or four comments over the months regarding the touchpad not working with newer versions of ubuntu. Whilst ubuntu 9.10 came with grub 2 by default, upgrading from 9.04 (grub 1.5) to 9.10 and then up to 10.04 meant grub stayed at 1.5, so even though I am running 10.04, I am still on grub 1.5, and the “i8042_nomux” fix seems to still work.

When 9.10 was released, Tom provided this blog with a solution for making the kogan netbook’s touchpad work in 9.10. I had figured this would work for 10.04 too, so to be sure, I think its time to upgrade my kogan netbook to 10.04, just to make sure the touchpad still works.

Upgrading to grub 2 is straight forward using apt-get:

sudo apt-get install grub2

During the upgrade I was asked if i wanted to chainload grub 2 from my existing grub legacy setup. It was highly recommended, so I went with it. It also asked me if I wanted to keep the “i8042_nomux” parameter, which I also agreed to do – I want my touchpad!

Grub 2 was installed, and after a reboot all was still well with the touchpad. However, because I agreed to chainload grub 2, grub 1.5 is still installed on my Master Boot Record (MBR) – not grub 2. This can be easily rectified with the following command:

sudo upgrade-from-grub-legacy

During this grub upgrade, I was asked if I wanted to keep my locally modified version of /etc/default/grub, and figuring this was modified for the “i8042_nomux” parameter, I agreed. I then had to choose where to install grub too, and I chose /dev/sda.

After a quick reboot, using grub 2 to boot, my touchpad still worked. success!! I now know that under ubuntu 10.04 with grub2, the touchpad on the kogan netbook works.

Now to help the people who can’t get the touchpad working. Short of doing a fresh install with 10.04 on my machine to try and replicate the issue (I don’t have the time, sorry), I thought I would try and work out what makes the touchpad work under grub 2.

Based on Tom’s info, i checked out my grub config:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

And it looks like:

# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=3
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="i8042.nomux"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

I believe the important part is this line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="i8042.nomux"

So I decided to comment the line out by adding a “#” to the front, run “sudo update-grub” to update my grub config and rebooted. When ubuntu came back, my touchpad was fixed in the center of the screen – stuck and broken. Reversing what I had just done (remove the “#”, run “sudo update-grub”, reboot) and the touchpad was back in motion.

If your kogan agora’s touchpad is not working, I have the following advice to offer. Edit your grub config:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

and type the following line – I say type because if you copy and paste, the wrong quotes may be used:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="i8042.nomux"

If there any other occurences of i8042.nomux remove them (just i8042.nomux) and then update your grub config:

sudo update-grub

Now reboot, and fingers crossed your touchpad will dance with your finger. If this fails, please comment below with your specifics (i.e fresh ubuntu 10.04 install, upgraded from grub 1.5, upgraded from 9.10, etc) and I will try and help.

Ubuntu now uses grub 2 as the default boot loader, and this means a change in the instructions for making the kogan agora touchpad function under ubuntu.

After putting out a call for assistance on this, Tom has come through with the goods! In order to get the agora’s touchpad working with grub 2, follow these instructions

In a terminal:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Find the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash” and just after it add a new line and type in (make sure you type to avoid the wrong quote symbol copying and pasting) the following line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=”i8042.nomux”

and then update grub and reboot:

sudo update-grub

I have tested this myself and it works a treat. Thanks Tom!

References: http://agoranetbook.kayno.net/2009/08/02/touchpad-update-ensuring-i8042-nomux-is-not-removed-when-your-kernel-is-updated/comment-page-1/#comment-13165

sudo update-manager -d

This will kick off the update manager, and provide you with a single button to upgrade to version 9.10. After 30 minutes or so, you should be rebooting into a new kernel, and the new ubuntu.

The usual suspects that needed attention in the past (read: the touchpad and wireless networking) were both still working, and had obviously remained configured from the previous version.

Whilst I say “working”, the wireless adapter is connecting to my home wireless access point however the signal is still low and not picking up neighbouring APs.

There has been some improvements though. The physical wifi button is no longer a “glorified light switch“, as it was so well put by Andrew. Pressing the button results in the card shutting off.

The second welcome surprise is the return of “resume from suspend”. After changing the wifi card recently myself and others discovered the netbook would not resume from suspend. This now appears to have resolved itself.

The netbook remix interface is looking much fresher, as you can see in the screenshots attached below.

The only qualm I have so far with karmic and the netbook remix itself is that I cannot seem to locate the shutdown icon in the menus or interface. This may be because I upgraded from 9.04, but as it is beta I will wait and see, and use the physical netbook power button to bring up the shutdown options.

Another note to add – GRUB2 and EXT4, whilst being the new defaults in ubuntu 9.10, are not automatically upgraded:

ext4 by default

The new “ext4″ filesystem is used by default for new installations with Ubuntu 9.10 Beta; of course, other filesystems are still available via the manual partitioner. Existing filesystems will not be upgraded.

GRUB 2 by default

GRUB 2 is the default boot loader for new installations with Ubuntu 9.10 Beta, replacing the previous GRUB “Legacy” boot loader. Existing systems will not be upgraded to GRUB 2 at this time, as automatically reinstalling the boot loader is an inherently risky operation.

A comment in a previous blog entry on this site asks how to configure the touchpad in GRUB2. I am yet to investigate this, however is anyone has any info, please post below.

References

• http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/karmic/beta

The difference between the two is still $40, and spending the extra on the pro is still money well spent if you are considering buying a kogan netbook.

You may wish to review some of the comments on this site regarding the wireless network capabilities of the agora netbook, however at $439, the kogan agora is a now a very cheap netbook.

• http://www.kogan.com.au/shop/category/netbooks/

A support representative emailed me back rather promptly (6 minutes later!) and acknowledged the under-performance of the VIA wifi card. They also offered to send me a replacement card, which is now being used in the agora netbooks.

I quickly took up the offer, and a week later, the new Ralink wifi card arrived in my mailbox (see the picture gallery below).

Change over of the card was very easy – power down, remove battery, remove single screw for the back panel and slide open the panel. Next I used small pliers to carefully lift off the two antenna connectors, and then after removing the single screw holding the card down I was able to pull it out. Installation of the new card was the reverse of the removal of the old.

Upon rebooting I was delighted to see the new wifi card worked out of the box – no driver installation required (unlike the VIA card). It also connected to my wireless network at home, just like the old card had.

I then checked to see what networks were available – knowing after a quick check of another laptop that three networks were in range. Unfortunately, there was still only my network available.

The next day I tried to connect to the wireless network at my workplace. Again I had the same issues that I had faced with the old card. The netbook associates with the wireless access point, but cannot obtain a DHCP lease.

I am now pretty much convinced that this is a issue with ubuntu, and dhclient. More investigation is required though – I will keep you posted.

I do recommend that anyone who has an early kogan agora or agora pro netbook with the VIA wifi card to email kogan with your original order number, and request a replacement wifi card. I was offered the option to have the card mailed to me, or to send in my netbook to have the new card installed.

With the new wifi card, you do not have to worry about drivers in ubuntu, and also the card apparently performs better than the VIA card, so it is worth the email!

• kogan support email – support@kogan.com.au

agora touchpad

If you followed the post on this site where I explained how to enable the touchpad on your kogan agora netbook (http://agoranetbook.kayno.net/2009/04/25/oh-my-touchpad-doesnt-work/), you (as well as Josh) have probably found that every time the linux kernel is updated, your touchpad stops working until you add the i8042.nomux option back to your grub menu.lst file.

I have however found a way to solve this, and have just updated my netbook with Ubuntu Netbook Remix to the latest kernel (2.6.28-14) without losing my touchpad. Here is what you need to do:

In your terminal:

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

First, remove all instances of i8042.nomux that you have previously added. Now you need to find the line where the kernel options are set – “# kopt=…”. Mine looked something like this:

# kopt=root=UUID=4f3de232-2543-4359-43e2-a2ea36ef4043 ro

And add i8042.nomux to the end of line:

# kopt=root=UUID=4f3de232-2543-4359-43e2-a2ea36ef4043 ro i8042.nomux

Whilst it might be tempting to remove the # from the beginning of the line, don’t – it clearly states in menu.lst: “DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs”.

Save and close menu.lst, and finally you need to run the update-grub command. This will take the kernel options (including i8042.nomux) and add them to all the kernel boot lines:

sudo update-grub
Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Searching for default file ... found: /boot/grub/default
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-14-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-13-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic
Found kernel: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done

If you check /boot/grub/menu.lst now, you will see that i8042.nomux is back as a boot option for each kernel, however it still remains as a default kernel option (on the “# kopt” line). As it is a default kernel option, every time you update your kernel, the option will be added to the boot options for the new kernel.

Now your touchpad should always respond to your finger tips – even after a kernel update!