Linux wii usability with kubuntu live CD?

i've got a presentation to do for my speech class using a visual aid. i've decided to talk about the cool things linux can do, and make a slideshow using open office's presentation program. then i had a really cool idea: since my laptop will need to be by the projector hookup (digital projector) and it has bluetooth... could i use my wii mote to advance or retreat slides?

i think i'm going to go to best buy tomorrow and using the $70 in gift cards i've got saved up to get one of those tiny usb hard drives and install kubuntu on it. i'll check if my laptop boots from usb, is there a way i could force it to boot if the option isn't in BIOS? if i don't see any usb option in the boot order i'll prolly just get another laptop hard drive and switch them out for the presentation, but that would be a PITA.

how would i get my wiimote to connect to my laptop and advance and retreat slides? if it's possible i would like to shut down the laptop using the power button on the wiimote just to close with a bang.

i'll let you guys know how the presentation goes

 

Yes: http://forthewiin.org/

 

alright! i'm on my XP computer right now, does that have (extremely clear, i'm new) installation instructions?

 

Look here: http://abstrakraft.org/cwiid/
aswell, theres a fair few out, most require python and extra libs aswell

 

As for booting from a USB drive, If the bios doesn't offer that option dont worry, you can get a boot-cd that will let you boot from a USB drive much like the old 95 and 98 boot floppies that let you boot from cd. Just check out the sites of dristro's that run from a usb drive (like Damn Small Linux) and there they will have boot cd's. And here from the title on the thread I thought you wanted to run kubuntu on the wii. Now that would be sweet.

 

Some things to think about:

1. If the BIOS in your laptop does not support booting from USB-HDD you are pretty well stuffed. As tm36USA suggests, booting from CD may be a better bet. Booting from a USB flash drive is another option, but as there is no standard geometry for flash drives it can be a hit and miss affair (I had to alter the drive geometry of my 1GB Kingston Data Traveler before the BIOS would recognise it and boot my Puppy Linux 2.14 install).

2. If you're going to boot from a CD you need to give some thought as to how you're going to install the WMD kernel module, eg. how are you going to write the WMD kernel module onto the CD (CD-RW?), or are you going to use a different storage medium?

3. Does your laptop support Beryl? The Beryl project has just added 'the Wall' and it may look very impressive being manipulated with a Wiimote.

 

i just checked, and there is a whole gaggle of USB boot options, i set usb-hdd as #1

i also had a thumbdrive option, usb-cdrom, even usb-floppy! i'm thinking of toying around with damn small linux on my thumbdrive now for fun!

now the only worry i have is that kubuntu will be a hassle to set up for a second monitor (the projector). will it be tken in stride or will i need to mess with Xorg.conf?

 

Kubuntu will most likely support your secondary monitor from the box, or with minimum configuration, which will be most likely explained in a guide you'll find on the ubuntu fora...

 

Phew! Looks like you're set then!

As Glider pointed out you can get some help on the Ubuntu or Kubuntu forums. Xinerama is the option if you're using open source video drivers. The closed source/binary drivers from nVidia and ATi also have their own options (TwinView for nVidia, I don't know what the ATi one is called). There IS a difference in functionality between Xinerama and TwinView, but for what you're planning to do (cloning a screen) it's unlikely you'll encounter these differences.

 

i tried configuring a second monitor using the live CD but it wasn't being very helpful. it was a SHARP lcd monitor but i forgot to write down the P/N to check what driver i'd need.

i got a Western Digital WDXMS1200TN External Hard Drive and it's being a biatch to install kubuntu on, it keeps saying the installer can't write to the drive, then the installer freezes. right now i'm in windows and i'm using the WD utility to write 0's to the drive, hopefully a completely empty drive will be more cooperative