Ubuntu PPA

An Ubuntu PPA is available that supports updating the Kernel from within a running system once the initial installation has been completed.
This is the choice for average users to pick as it makes the maintenance of the AC100 Linux installation become like any other.
Please follow the advice, including initial installation, on the PPAs page on launchpad at https://launchpad.net/~ac100/+archive/ppa
At the time of this writing, this type of installation seems to be most advanced in stability and comfort. (suggest site: replica rolex watches)

Ubuntu 10.10

The following HowTo is copy-pasted (and formatted) from http://ac100.gudinna.com/. You better read the README supplied there to get the most recent infromation: different machines use different partition numbers.

Update the bootloader

• Get the linux4tegra package from tegradeveloper.nvidia.com, so you have the nvflash utility
  
• Connect an USB to USB mini cable between your host PC and the AC100
• On your ac100 hold down ctrl and esc on boot; the device will go into flash mode
• Pull the tegra-2.6.29-arm2-ac100-boot.img from http://ac100.gudinna.com
• Make a backup of the existing partition 5 (recovery mode) of the AC100:
  sudo LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./nvflash -w --bl ../prebuilt/fastboot.bin --read 5 tegra_partition_5.bin --go
  
• Write the linux autodetection boot image to partition 5 on the device (do not reboot between these commands):
  sudo LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./nvflash -r --download 5 <path to downloaded tegra-autodetect-boot.img>
  Note: Apparently some people are having problems when backing up and writing the boot image right after another. In that case you have to reboot your AC100 between the two commands and use:
  sudo LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./nvflash -w --bl ../prebuilt/fastboot.bin --download 5 <path to downloaded tegra-2.6.29-arm2-ac100-boot.img>
  
• From now on, the recovery mode on your AC100 will scan for linux on the SD card slot and USB port if you enter the recovery mode (hold down Home during boot, press 1 if the recovery menu shows up).
  

Create a rootfs SD card

• Grab the tarball called tegra-rootfs.tgz from http://ac100.gudinna.com
• Prepare an SD card, it should be at least 4G big and formated as ext3 with a single partition
• Mount the SD card (e.g. to /mnt/sd) and uncompress the tarball to it (this needs to be done as root!)
  Example: sudo tar xzvf tegra-rootfs.tgz --numeric-owner -C /mnt/sd
  
• Do not forget to properly unmount the card afterwards

Instead of an SD card you can also use a USB-stick, the boot image will detect either.

Booting

• Plug the SD card into the SD slot of the AC100, hold down Home while pressing the power button
• Once the recovery menu shows up, press 1. Be patient until the welcome screen to configure the system comes up
• Enable the network if you want to use a different language on the device, the language packs will be installed during configuration
• Finish the Welcome screen and you will be dropped into your newly configured Ubuntu install

Known Issues

• There is currently no sound driver, so no sound will work on the ac100. However, phhusson's version has sound working (it's linked on gudinna, same installation procedure).
  
• If you have problems using your touchpad: the Welcome screen (oem-config) is usable via keyboard (apart from the timezone selection)
• Finish the setup by using the keyboard, then use the test-ec command (preinstalled) with values as described on the Peripheral Control (ec_odm) page
• To check the touchpad is working run the following in a terminal: sudo cat /dev/input/event1
  If it works you should see grabage in the terminal as you move your fingers on the touchpad
• On some devices the touchpad shows up as a different event device, so test others too. If this is the case, please adjust the touchpad entry in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

Related external resources

• Ubuntu for ARM
• Ubuntu Netbook Remix for ARM
• ARM/RootfsFromScratch
• Linux for Tegra (L4T)