BenOwner

Ben Nanonote Owner's Entry Point

This page is intended to serve as entry point for (new) owners of a Ben Nanonote.

It has been established by a new owner, who found that such a page was missing.

For the time being it will start to accumulate questions that I think such a page should answer. I hope other new users will contribute questions, and those in the know will take over and produce answers, links, and additional guidance. ;-)

Power state transitions

What does opening/closing the lid do, and under which circumstances?

How long do I need to press the power button to switch Ben on?

How long do I need to wait until I see any reaction to switching Ben on?

What is the proper way to switch Ben off?

(There is no shutdown command, and “init 0” seems to be doing nothing.)

Does it come with any suspend mechanism installed?

How unintended is it to have to use the power button to switch Ben off?

How long do I need to press the power button to switch Ben off?

How can I switch Ben off if it is in USB_BOOT_mode, with no usb_boot tools on the host side?

(I ended up taking the battery out.)

The “Please press Enter to activate this console” sometimes disappears. What kind of state is that?

Other

How do I get the wireless working?

There is no wireless device built in — it only greets you with “Wireless Freedom” since it is shipped with the embedded linux distribution OpenWrt installed, which has its origins as open firmware for wireless routers.

Is there a way to get Ben to appear as a USB mass storage device?

How do I add software?

See the Building Ben NanoNote software page.