1. Get the Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) Alternate install ISO and burn it to a CD

2. Hookup temporarly a CD-ROM drive to the Via board either via USB or IDE. Do not plugin your USB key just yet. Boot from the CD-ROM and wait until you reach the Ubuntu setup screen to plugin the key.

3. Perform a Command Line install.

4. Mostly, follow the instructions on screen. The only part which requires special attention is the disk partionning. You'll want to manually edit the partions. Create one EXT2 partition for /, and make the bootable flag on. In the disk options, check noatime. This reduce disk access and improve your flash drive's life by disabling keeping track of files last acess time. For the same reason, do not create a swap partition.

---

By now, if you try to boot using your USB key, you should have a working command line Linux install. Next, we'll configure the machine for our AudioPint system.

1. First of all, remove references to the Ubuntu CD-ROM for your repository list. Add the universe and multiverse repos. Lots of information on the specifics of how to do this is available from the Ubuntu wiki:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

2. Install ssh: this will enable remote access to your box from another computer and will come in very handy.

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

3. Mount temporary folders in ram: we'll mount some folders in /var and /tmp in a ram disk to reduce the number of disk writes to the usb key. Open fstab:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

then add the following lines:

<pre><code>
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs defaults 0 0 
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs defaults 0 0 
tmpfs /var/log tmpfs defaults 0 0 
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0
</code></pre>

3. Disable the system beep (this is good for sanity)

Add this line to =~/.bash_profile=:

echo -e “\\33[10;0]\\33[11;0]”

Alternatively, you can reduce the beep to a mere click:

echo -e “\\33[10;1000]\\33[11;5]”

4. Install X. Even though the AudioPint vision is of a plug and play system which you can use as a piece of audio gear, it's going to be nice to be able to access the box via VNC to edit PD patches directly and is worth the extra 150mb or so..

First, install the core xorg packages:

sudo apt-get install xorg xserver-xorg

The VIA motherboard we are using has a Unichrome Pro graphics chipset which requires the Openchrome drivers to get proper 2D acceleration. (We won't worry about 3D acceleration, although it can be made to work).

Follow the instructions from the Ubuntu Wiki to install the driver.

5. Get a Windows Manager.

X on its own won't do you much good. You'll need at the very least a windows manager and a terminal emulator. We picked FluxBox because it's lightweight, fast and not too ugly. We are using the xfce4-terminal as our terminal emulator because it has nice configuration options, but you can stick to xterm if you prefer. There are lots of options available, see this page for some ideas.

sudo apt-get install menu fluxbox xfce4-terminal

Create =~/.xinitrc= wit the following line:

exec fluxbox

You should be able to start X by typing 'startx'.

6. Install a VNC server

This part will install vnc4server and configure it so that it controls the native X server (:0)

Follow the instruction in this post.

Once this is done, you'll need to copy the passwd file from your home directory in order for this to work:

<pre><code>
cd /root
sudo mkdir .vnc
sudo cp ~/.vnc/passwd
</code></pre>

Restart X. You should be able to login remotely to the machine and control the desktop using a VNC client.

7. Enable autologin

This automatically log you in everytime you turn on the Audiopint. First, grab the build essentials. (This will come in handy for later as well)

sudo apt-get install build-essential gcc-3.4

Create this small program in a file called =autologin.c=:

<pre><code>
int main() {
  execlp("login","login","-f","audiopint",0);
}
</code></pre>

Compile it and copy it to =/usr/local/sbin=:

<pre><code>
gcc-3.4 -o autologin autologin.c
sudo cp autologin /usr/local/sbin
</code></pre>

Finally, modify the startup even chain to run the autologin program:

sudo nano /etc/events.d/tty1

Make the file look like this (only change is on the =respawn= line):

<pre><code>
# tty1 - getty
#
# This service maintains a getty on tty1 from the point the system is
# started until it is shut down again.

start on runlevel-2
start on runlevel-3
start on runlevel-4
start on runlevel-5

stop on shutdown

respawn /sbin/getty -n -l /usr/local/sbin/autologin 38400 tty1
</code></pre>

A good idea is also to get X to start automagically, so that the VNC server is active by default. Put in your =~/.bash_profile=:

<pre><code>
if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ] && [ $(tty) == /dev/tty1 ]; then
startx
fi
</code></pre>

8. Install dbus.

sudo apt-get install dbus

9. Fix the fonts. Edgy has some font problems which will cause PD and other apps to look funny later on, so we'll fix this now.

<pre><code>
sudo apt-get install xfs x-ttcidfont-conf ttf-bitstream-vera
cd /var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType
sudo cp fonts.scale fonts.dir
</code></pre>

Restart X. Doing =xlsfonts | grep -i vera= should show the bitstream vera fonts. If not, check the FontPath options in your =/etc/X11/xorg.conf= file

10. Install ivman to enable automounting of disks that you might want to plug in, such as a second usb key to transfer data, etc..

sudo apt-get install ivman

---

Just a skeleton now. details coming up

1. Installing PureData

sudo apt-get install puredata

2. Installing Jack

sudo apt-get install jackd qjackctl

3. Installing LADSPA plugins and setting up the paths