arexx

This method should work for any Ubuntu image. I installed Netbook Remix because I thought the larger interface features would suit the touchscreen. It's working out okay so far.

Working: Wireless (not WPA?), Screen, Touchscreen, Sound.

Not working: Video acceleration? See below for update regarding Xorg crashes.

1. Download an Ubuntu image from http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download


2. Make a USB stick using instructions for your operating system from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromImgFiles


3. Add a keyboard and mouse to use as an input device until the touchscreen is calibrated.


4. Insert the USB stick and turn the machine on - no changes were required to my BIOS settings out of the box.


5. Start Ubuntu in live mode.


6. You will have problems with the video card. Agree to start in Low Graphics Mode until you have a network connection and can install newer Intel drivers (we'll get to this later).


7. Install with defaults, or settings of your choosing.


8. Restart. Remove the USB disk when you're instructed to and press ENTER.


9. Add https://edge.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/x-updates/ to your sources, update and dist-upgrade to get the newest Intel graphics driver. Reboot your computer and you should be in native resolution. My ultimate thanks to Arsinio and Geir Ove Myhr for solving this one. You can read Arsinio's more detailed instructions here


10. Configure the touchscreen manually (The calibration tool doesn't get the x flip right). You can do this by editing the parameters in /etc/evtouch/config. I calibrated with the Ubuntu tool, and then reversed MINX and MAXX, set FLIPX to 1 and changed the X0-8 deltas to 0. You'll then need to restart evtouch and xorg, ie. in a terminal:
    

    sudo /etc/init.d/xserver-xorg-input-evtouch stop
    sudo /etc/init.d/xserver-xorg-input-evtouch start

    
    and then log out and log in again. My screenlimits according to the calibration tool are as follows:
    

         3490, 831      605, 826
         3535, 3258     561, 3250

    
    ... note that the X co-ordinate decreases from left to right. The X flip hack is working pretty well, except that it doesn't compensate for a certain amount of twist/non-linearity at the extremities. Five minutes with the compensation tool and a calculator would probably solve it. YMMV.

Ubuntu Netbook Remix is working out quite nicely, netbook-launcher is fun to use with touch. CellWriter provides an operable (but not particularly usable) on-screen keyboard for brief input.

Pics or it didn't happen:

---

Update 2009-09-03

The screen randomly stops responding. I'm able to SSH into the computer, so everything apart from the screen seems to be ticking along, but the image on the screen remains frozen until the machine is rebooted. Lines like this appear at the end of /var/log/Xorg.0.log:

(EE) intel(0): First SDVO output reported failure to sync

Some googling finds this bug report. I haven't played with the driver (which if you remember we installed out of a PPA earlier) but I did find this other similar bug report which suggests disabling DRI and acceleration. With these changes, the system appears stable so far. You can disable DRI and acceleration by adding the following two lines to your /etc/X11/Xorg.conf:

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Configured Video Device"

        # To try to prevent gfx hangs
        Option "NoDRI"
        Option "NoAccel"        

EndSection

So you're calling a function and a variable in the scope you're calling from is mysteriously changing value? There may be a really simple fix to save you from having nightmares about semantic closure scoped first-class dangling references and let you get on with your application instead.

Are you using this pattern to iterate over a list?

for (n in things) {

    var thing = things[n];

    // ...

}

Not so fast, glasshopper. You're doing it wrong. You just defined n as a global. If you're using n again in a loop in a function called from within your loop, it's going to hose all over the outer loop too. Do this...



... and maybe you'll stand a chance of sleeping at night. And by "you" I mean "I". And by "sleeping" I mean "not crying". And by "night" I mean "Joe Lanman, who explained what the hell was going on here".