Find the manufacturer and version of your motherboard with this command:

sudo dmidecode | grep "Base Board" -A 13

Example output:

Base Board Information
        Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
        Product Name: Maximus Formula
        Version: Rev 1.xx
        Serial Number: XXXXXXXXXXX
        Asset Tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
        Features:
                Board is a hosting board
                Board is replaceable
        Location In Chassis: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
        Chassis Handle: 0x0003
        Type: Motherboard
        Contained Object Handles: 0

General instructions to rebuild a Fedora source rpm.

Note: This example uses the vlc source rpm, but it doesn’t work on my Fedora 8 system because there are problems installing dependencies, but the general commands should work on other packages

1. Install build tools

   su -c 'yum install yum-utils rpmdevtools'

2. Download source package. Either use yumdownloader to download from an existing repository:

   yumdownloader --source vlc

   or download directly from a server

   wget -nd ftp://ftp.pbone.net/mirror/rpm.livna.org/fedora/development/SRPMS/\
   vlc-0.9.0-0.5.20080802git.lvn10.src.rpm

3. Install the source package. This will unpack the source into your /$HOME/rpmbuild directory.

   rpm -Uvh vlc-0.8.6i-1.lvn8.src.rpm

4. Install build dependencies for the source package

   su -c 'yum-builddep vlc-0.8.6i-1.lvn8.src.rpm'

5. Edit the spec file

   cd ~/rpmbuild/SPECS
   vim vlc.spec

6. Add the new source package

   cd ../SOURCES
   wget -nd http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/vlc/0.9.2/vlc-0.9.2.tar.bz2

7. Build the rpm

   cd ../SPECS
   rpmbuild -bb vlc.spec

8. Install the rpm

   cd ../RPMS/x86_64
   rpm -Uvh vlc-0.9.2.fc8.x86_64.rpm

References:
Building a kernel from the src rpm
Fedora rpm guide

So it’s possible to run the Google Chrome browser using Wine (latest dev version 1.1.4), though it’s kinda slow, and won’t do any https sites.

Ubuntu thread w/ instructions (These didn’t work for me on Fedora 8)

Wine App DB page w/instructions (These worked for me on Fedora 8)

Update 11-04-2008: The release version of Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid should work out of the box, so you don’t need to do any of this. However, only the stylus works. If linuxwacom comes out with an update to use the eraser and tablet buttons, you might need to manually install the linuxwacom driver, but right now, enjoy the “it just works” philosophy. :)

Ubuntu 8.10 “Intrepid Ibis” will use Xorg 7.4’s input hotplugging, allowing auto-detection of input devices (e.g. keyboards, mice, tablets) during an X session. (Previously, input devices were only detected at the startup of an X session.)

Note that there are still a number of bugs with hotplugging:

• you must install the latest linuxwacom driver to get correct clicking
• hotplugging will only recognize the stylus events (so no eraser or express buttons)
• unplugging the tablet causes X to crash. Edit 9-20-08: There is a line in the linuxwacom source you need to edit to fix this (see step 4 of Manual Installation below). [linuxwacom post] Edit 11-04-08: Intrepid updated the linuxwacom driver that ships with Intrepid, so you don’t need to install the updated linuxwacom driver.

Installing LinuxWacom driver in Intrepid
(based off the Hardy linuxwacom install thread, here. Tested on Intrepid alpha 6 LiveCD)

Easy Method:

1. Download my install_linuxwacom script
2. Run the script

   chmod +x install_linuxwacom
   ./install_linuxwacom

3. Enjoy!

Manual Installation Steps:

1. Install required packages

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential x11proto-core-dev libxau-dev libxdmcp-dev x11proto-input-dev x11proto-kb-dev xtrans-dev libx11-dev x11proto-xext-dev libxext-dev libxi-dev linux-libc-dev libc6-dev libncurses5-dev xserver-xorg-dev tk-dev tcl-dev -y

2. Download latest linuxwacom-dev package from linuxwacom (0.8.1-4 as of this writing)

   wget -nd http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/linuxwacom/
   linuxwacom-0.8.1-4.tar.bz2

3. Extract the source

   tar xjvf linuxwacom-0.8.1-4.tar.bz2
   cd linuxwacom-0.8.1-4

4. To fix the X crashing when unplugging the tablet, edit line 381 of src/xdrv/wcmConfig.c replacing WCM_UNINIT_CALLED with WCM_XORG_XSERVER_1_4

   sed -i -e '381s/WCM_UNINIT_CALLED/WCM_XORG_XSERVER_1_4/' src/xdrv/wcmConfig.c

5. Compile the driver

   ./configure --enable-wacom
   make
   sudo make install

6. (Optional) You can test the kernel module before installing it. Plug in your tablet and see if it works correctly after executing these commands.

   sudo rmmod wacom
   sudo insmod src/2.6.26/wacom.ko

   If it doesn’t work, you can reload the original driver. (Or just reboot your computer)

   sudo rmmod wacom
   sudo modprobe wacom

7. Install the kernel module (and backup the original). (Note: The 2.6.26 module works with Intrepid’s 2.6.27 kernel)

   cp /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/input/tablet/wacom.ko wacom.ko.$(uname -r)
   sudo cp src/2.6.26/wacom.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/input/tablet/wacom.ko

8. Reload the kernel module with the new version

   sudo rmmod wacom
   sudo modprobe wacom

9. Enjoy!

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# install deb build tools

sudo apt-get install build-essential fakeroot dpkg-dev devscripts

# download the source code

apt-get source package

# install other packages needed to build

sudo apt-get build-dep package
cd package

# update the version in the changelog

dch -i

# make any changes to the source
# e.g. vim debian/rules

# then build the new package

dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -uc -b

#install the package

cd ..
sudo dpkg -i package.deb