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The last couple of days I've been busy getting Linux running on the Archos 9. This is how far I got so far.

My Linux distribution of choice is Fedora so I used Fedora 11 i386 to try out Linux on the Archos 9.

What works out-of-the-box with the default installation (i.e. no external repos used):
Sound: Yes
Mouse: No
Touch screen: No
Wireless: No
Bluetooth: Yes
Display: Only 800x600 via vesa driver (slow)
Change screen brightness: ? (not tested)
Camera: Yes

What works after installing additional software:
Mouse: No
Touch screen: No
Display: 1024x600 with xorg-x11-drv-psb from rpmfusion
Change screen brightness: Yes
Wireless LAN: Yes, with kmod-wl drvier from rpmfusion

Touch screen trouble
The Archos 9 uses a touchscreen connected to a PS/2 port. There are Linux drivers available (see http://home.eeti.com.tw/)
unfortunately I could not get it working so far. The egalax X driver is loaded and the eGalaxTouch recognises it but no touch is being registered.

Mouse trouble
The mouse seems to be a PS/2 device as well but just does not work for me. Maybe it is just some basic xorg configuration but normally such devices should work out of the box.

So basically Linux works on the Archos 9 but without a working mouse or touch screen it is not usable. Any hints and tips are welcome !

No battery problems lucky 9 owner ??
Have people already compared in private ofcours their serial numbers ??
So this to determine if it is only for the low level numbers or not ?

Just I big warning...a very nasty thing happened... After I was done playing with Linux I booted back to Windows7. After logging in a message popped up saying some program wanted attention. When I allow it, a message box popped up with garbled text (probably meant to be Chinese/Korean or something) and a choice of, supposedly yes or no. I opted for the right button (probably no) and all was good. After the next boot the message appeared again, this time I chose 'yes' and was greeted with a shutdown screen. After shutdown I had an unbootable system! I managed to reinstall GRUB to the MBR and I can now boot Linux and Windows7 again

The program that was bothering was / is C:\Program Files\StarSoftComm\StarOS3.0\SoSSrv.exe. (it seems this is from an Chinese company)
Other Archos 9 owners, could you check if you have this installed as well?

So before installing other OSses better backup first! (gladly I did, although I did not have to use it)

Just a small update report. After much fiddling and exhaustive trying a found a couple of kernel parameters which give me a working PS2 mouse! The touch screen seems to be on the same port and works partially as well, only the directions are all wrong.

I'm glad I am finally making some headway. Linux on the Archos 9 is becoming usable....

I had that garbled error message come up on mine too before it went back. I tried upgrading windows 7 Starter to Home Premium and I can't remember if the error message popped up before or after I tried the upgrade (the upgrade failed and I didn't have time to try again before it went back to Archos). It definitely came up a couple of times and I think it did go loopy at one point. As you mentioned I just picked the other option the next time it popped up and worked fine.

take a photo!!

Sorry, I have disabled the service (SOSSrv) responsible for the garbled message.

How well does linux run compared to Windows 7 starter? Any faster (Boot,shutdown or applications)?

yes i'm interesting in this too =D

see
http://www.happyassassin.net/2009/08/10 ... z-support/
or
google for adam williamson + poulsbo
or
google pocketables + fedora

there is a special repository to get the Poulsbo / GMA500 video drivers on Fedora (and needed for each Linux distro)

You no longer have to use the special repo from Adam. Everything needed is available from rpmfusion. Fedora 12 is not supported (yet).

Anyone any idea on the kernel parameters needed to get the mouse working on this. I'm trying to get ubuntu running, but not having any luck with the touchscreen or mouse at the moment.

if someone could give me a pointer on where to look that would be useful. I have tried searching, but no luck so far.

I managed to get the touch screen responding. For information the kernel parameter that is required is i8042.noloop

Hopefully this will help someone get a bit further.

I'm still struggling to get the touchscreen to produce sensible results. For instance the mouse on the right is working perfectly, but the touchscreen seems to be in a relative mode, and has its axes switched over or something like that.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to configure it. It appears to ignore xorg.conf settings. I've also tried mucking about with the fdi file used by hal, but it makes no difference.

Minus the drivers issues, how is the general performance of Linux on the A9?

Did you try the drivers from http://home.eeti.com.tw/web20/eGalaxTou ... Driver.htm

I wasn't able to get the calibration to work well, but it was recognizing the driver.

Testing with Mandriva One 2010 (all works but the touchscreen) performance was ok, even good. 3D was flipping along and stuff...
The hard drive is a tad slow and the device is short on ram, so do go opening large openoffice documents

Also played with Ubuntu Lucid Alfa One (because of the great on-screen keyboard) but nothing works properly
Additionally the touchscreen drivers don't even install on the new X.Org

>>Testing with Mandriva One 2010 (all works but the touchscreen) performance was ok, even good. 3D was flipping along and stuff...

mouse buttons and optical trackpont works too?

in FC11-12,Ubuntu - no

I got the touchscreen working as a touchpad (relative motion) using the evtouch driver. Does anyone know how to get the touchscreen to switch to absolute mode? I suspect that there is some kind of conflict with the optical trackpoint, as when switching the rotation to get the touchscreen axes to match up, it switched the trackpoint direction too.

xinput shows that the touchscreen is recognized, and that it is in absolute mode, but it still behaves as though it were a touchpad. i.e. if you move your finger on the screen the cursor moves, but it doesn't matter where it is touched, just when you move your finger.

Its close, but not quite close enough to be useful.

For the record, I got this far in ubuntu karmic and mint 7.

I had to boot with a special kernel parameter to get the eeti drivers to work properly. Without it the driver said it recognized the device but could not really use it.

Could you post the kernel parameter here. It might solve my problem with the touchscreen, or at least help me get a bit closer.

Thanks.