Kuki Linux: ubuntu tailored for the AAO

Kuki Linux is a lightweight Ubuntu-based Linux distribution founded by João Ferro (leak), built to be a replacement for the Linpus Lite distribution on the Acer Aspire One.

João’s goal for Kuki Linux are :

Out of the box working system

Fast boot and low usage on SSD / HDD

Light and fully working programs for most common daily tasks.

Kuki Linux is built by a small team of developers: João Ferro (leak) , Stuart Cole (SlCKBOY) and Frank Claycomb (Syco54645). It uses the Openbox + Lxde window manager combination and features lightweight software and all patches and fixes to allow the Acer Aspire One to work as well as possible.

It is supported by a great bunch of people in the IRC room #kukilinux on irc.freenode.net.

Our support team is led by Steven McDougall (haggisbasheruk) and Joseph Braddock (vw72).

And of course our webmaster Ryan the person with the patience to make and maintain this website.

for more info, forum and downloads: http://kuki.me
I myself am a happy user of Kuki Pre Release 1.6

 

Just installed this, and it works really well.

Wirelss worked out of the box, as did both card readers. Suspend works nicely, including with a card in either reader.

Minor things: Wireless LED not working (but that's very easy to fix), and a couple of panel icons don't work (they point to /home/joe. - again,easily fixed).

Nice one guys!

 

@MrTall

Did your right hand card reader work if you boot without a card in it? Have you tested kuki with an HSDPA modem like the Huawei E220/E172? These are the only things I currently cannot get to work but I am only using sickboy's kernel, not all of kuki.

 

Yes, both card readers work, even without a card in at boot.

I haven't tried a modem though.

 

mine is the early model A110L. I downloaded and installed Kuki 1.6. Both
card readers worked ok with the stock 2.6.28.3 kernel. I used ext2 per the
advice.

I then installed sickboy's 2.6.29.1-20090414 kernel; with that, the right hand card
reader would not work. Same complaint as before.

On the 110L, Kuki 1.6 with the .29 kernel boots about one or two seconds
slower than Ubuntu 9.04beta with the sickboy 0414 kernel.

 

I think this project with the release of Jaunty UNR will not have great success... just my opinion

 

While I agree that the long term success of any distro tied to one machine will always be doubtful, Jaunty doesn't support the hardware yet, so there will continue to be a need for a tailored distro until at least 9.10.

 

wireless led does work, it blinks on traffic. but the driver does not allow to let it work in the same way as on linpus (the kuki team is working on that).
As for the pannel icons, it's a mistake from Joe ( didn't guess that did ya^^) just right click, then properties and it fixes itself. (ff, pidgin and help icon)

both cardreaders should work with custom kernel. As for the Huawei, it only works with the generic kernel. The kuki team strips the kernel down as much as possible. To create a fast system. They overlooked some kind of USB driver. This problem is known, and they are trying resolve it.

the 2.6.29.1 kernel is a testing kernel, not even released on aspireonekernel.com, both cardreaders should work again if you use the 2.6.28.8-custom kernel. (included in /usr/local/kuki )

The UNR will have a longer boot time, the system will not perform as well as with the custom kernel and not all AAO hardware is supported. Also, kuki has a community consisting of AAO users, it's much easier to track down hardware related bugs if the only used system is the AAO. And, ..., everybody likes kuki's

and keep in mind, it's not yet a finished product. It's a pre release.

 

The wireless LED doesn't blink at all, not even with traffic.

I can live without it - but if there's anything I can look at to help you figure out what it is, just let me know.

 

Wouldn't the same be true for any of the netbook distros? Jaunty UNR and EasyPeasy look very similar. I think Kuki is for those users who want a streamlined OS without the weight of gnome or the netbook remix interface.

 

Jaunty UNR doesn't work out of the box. Kuki does (and so does Linux4one and many others).

 

got a slight issue with the custom kernel. Touchscreen module has been taken out. usbtouchscreen.ko i think. I tried recompiling the kernel with one from kernel.org but errored . Ideas?

 

nevermind took the config from sickboys site and recompiled with ts driver included.

 

Bug reports in the Kuki forums tell something else. Jaunty works OOTB for me too for example, but maybe not for you and others. It all depends on the model, eh.

I myself can't wait to try Kuki, but it seems there are too many bugs at this stage so I'll patiently wait until a more mature, final release is available.

 

Actually all of the bugs listed for the current pre release are ubuntu specific bugs, not kuki specific ones, so you should have the same bugs regardless of Kuki or ubuntu. That's one of the reasons Ubuntu UNR is being delayed a week.

 

Oops, my bad, Joeb. I was talking about the Jaunty desktop release and didn't realize there were any hardware specific issues and differences between that and UNR? Sorry about the misunderstanding. I for one am looking forward to Kuki (I have a sweet tooth) so no bad words from here. Was just trying to point out that ones mileage may vary from another's.

 

Sooner or later I'd like to try Kuki. Can anyone reassure me that the AAO's fan works OK with Kuki OOB please? Bugs are one thing, but a fried processor is end of game.
Just out of interest, does anyone know if the Ubuntu people incorporated any Sickboy expertise in Jaunty?

 

According to vw72 at kuki.me there will be no fan script included in the upcoming release. If that's what you meant.

What expertise are you referring to if you don't mind me asking? Are you talking about the kuki (aka sickboy) kernel? Ubuntu is meant to cover a lot of different brands and models so its kernels will probably never be as stripped down as kernels made for a sole distro in mind. That's for example why projects like Kuki and linux4one are great for AAO users whilst EeeUbuntu and EasyPeasy are great for Asus users. Also, the Kuki kernel doesn't work on all Acer Aspire Ones. At least not on my D150 N280 (I'm getting an initramfs prompt when trying to boot up). So in that respect I'm very pleased Ubuntu still comes with the stock kernel.

 

tempted to give kuki a try.

as it's not yet a final release, will a reinstall be needed or just an update when it's released?

 

You concerns are unfounded. The only issues with any linux and the fan on the AA1 is that it runs TOO much. It will run at full speed, all the time.

My kernel includes acerdhf, a kernel module for managing the fan. As long as you dont put silly values in this youll be fine. Besides this, most modern systems shutdown before they overheat to the point of damaging something anyway.