Leaving Linpus

I've abandoned linpus, or rather linpus abandoned me. I started getting strange errors about system libraries and other files.

I now use Ubuntu 8.10 on my AAO. It worked okay once I followed all instructions on the ubuntu wiki pages at
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne
and
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne110L
and recompiled ALSA with the latest version. Also I had to place the following in

/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

options snd-hda-intel model=acer-aspire

And I had to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to boost the resolution for my monitor. I ran the Screen Resolution applet from System > Preferences, then edited xorg with
sudo pico /etc/X11/xorg.conf and changed the
Subsection "Display"
Virtual 1024 768
End Subsection
line to
Subsection "Display"
Virtual 2048 2048
End Subsection

I think 2048 is the highest that the intel graphics chip will go, but I can't test out my theory :)

I'm not sure if the line in xorg.conf suggested by the ubuntu help pages is supposed to be

Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"

or

Option "AccelMethod" "exa"

in linux capitalisation tends to be a big deal, I need to find out.

I also had problems with the screen locking every time the AAO came out of standy. This was rectified by running gconf-editor from the command line and going to / > apps > gnome-power-manager > lock and unchecking all the boxes.

If all this fun isn't worth it for you, I highly recommend Fedora 10, which was recently released and tends to be more up to date than ubuntu. I installed it following the excellent instructions from fedoraproject.org/wiki/Acer_Aspire_One, but I had yum problems, probably due to the fact that I installed the preview version (I got it from computer services at college, they told me it was the release version).

Installing SSH

SSH is how Unix geeks connect via command line to other unix boxes. The AAO comes without SSH installed, making it one of the poorest distributions of linux ever. Install it as follows

sudo yum install openssh-clients open-ssh*

add

service sshd start

to your

/etc/rc.d/rc.local

file

Reboot and test it with

ssh 127.0.0.1

You should be asked to accept a key. Type "yes", and enter your password to login. Type "w" to see where you are logged in from.

Livestation

As a Bloomberg fanatic probably the best software ever is livestation - and it runs fine on the AAO. Here's how.

Download Linux version from livestation.com.

Where you see tab press tab and BASH should autocomplete the file name

Enter the folder where you download by default in terminal with 

cd /home/user/Downloads

chmod +x Livestation [tab]

sudo ./Livestation [tab]

Press q, y, enter, enter ... follow instructions. It's quite a good installer - a lot better than crappy RPMs.

You can try running it now with livestation & - but wait - a library error! Woe betide us!

Lets just copy libpcre.so.0 to  libpcre.so.3 

This procedure is probably nefarious, and will probably ruin your computer.

cd /lib/

sudo cp libpcre.so.0  libpcre.so.3

Open with livestation &

I wonder if it works for non-bloomberg channels. We may never know. Seems the AAO is a second rate notebook, but a first class television.

Things to install

Install

sudo yum install 

gnucash

gnumeric

abiword

thunar-archive-plugin

Get rid of Acer's retarded Desktop

The search bar is invoked by /usr/share/search-bar/start-search_bar.sh

The easiest way to get rid of it is to comment out each line of this script, so it doesn't do anything when run.

To get rid of the retarded big icons, DO NOT change the default session manager from xfdesktopnew to xfdesktop-xfce in xfce4-sessionrc. This breaks some functionality with linpus's retarded settings manager.

Instead, edit /usr/bin/xfdesktopnew as root (sudo) and change xfdesktop2 to xfdesktop.

Then edit /usr/bin/xfdesktop and change xfdesktopnew to xfdesktop-xfce.

Thanks to jorge.ulver.no

The Joy of Dependencies

Linux has a brain-dead way of handling new applications. They all need to be installed from "repositories" on the internet. Since linpus is basically Fedora 8, and Fedora recently changed the way it signs its packages out of sheer paranoia, you need to run a command to fix your dependencies. In addition, since the authors of linpus are at heart morons, you also need to fix the dogs dinner they made of their operating system.

Do everything here as soon as possible.

http://macles.blogspot.com/2008/08/dependency-problems-on-acer-aspire-one.html

Important sites

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/09/05/ten_aspire_one_tips/page4.html
http://macles.blogspot.com/
http://www.aspireoneuser.com/
http://the.taoofmac.com/media/Acer/Aspire%20One/AA1notes.html
http://www.eneris.com/technologies/blog5.shtml
http://jorge.ulver.no/2008/08/06/acer-aspire-one-tips-and-tricks/

http://aspireone.wikia.com/wiki/

Other Distributions

Many people switch from Linpus to a different Linux operating system, such as Mandrive 2009 or Ubuntu.

The only problem with these is that they aren't quite as fast to boot, sleep, resume or shutdown as Linpus. This severely undermines the AAOs core utility as a mobile "Netbook" device. 

For instance, Mandriva takes 90 seconds to boot on a AAO, and 30 seconds to resume from sleep.

Linpus takes about 20 seconds to boot, and 10 seconds to resume from sleep.

As a result, if you need mobility and speed, I recommend keeping Linpus as your AAOs main operating system, despite its problems, weaknesses and general crappiness.

Dvorak Layout

I'm used to a Dvorak keyboard layout, and find that the optimised pattern of typing that comes from the dvorak layout helps make life with the AAOs crappy keyboard a little more tolerable. However Acer includes no Dvorak layout option in their keyboard layout choosing utility. 

Linpus does support Dvorak, all you need to do is edit xorg.conf:

sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Find the line that reads approximately:

Option "XkbLayout" "Qwerty(US)"

and replace with

Option "XkbLayout" "dvorak"

Now remap your keys in the usual way, and you should now have a fully functional dvorak keyboard. 

However it is worth noting that the keys to the left of Enter(Return) on my UK keyboard are reduced size, and cannot be swapped properly. US keyboards have a different Enter(Return) button, so might have a different experience.

High Resolution

EDITED:
I have my Acer Aspire One driving a 1680x1050 20" flatscreen monitor right now. I'm sure the AAO can go much higher as well. It has a stock Intel graphics chip, but Acer seem to think it's really classy to limit you to 1024x600/768. To get high resolution working edit your xorg.conf file.

sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Find the section "Screen" near the bottom and replace 

Virtual 1024 768

With 

Virtual 2048 2048

and add "1680x1050" to the Modes line, just above it. Obviously eplace 1680 and 1050 with your monitors suggested horizontal and vertical resolution. 

Plug in the monitor and press F5 to use.

Update

Some people attempt to update their installation of linpus by the Software Updater tool from the xfce menu. This is a bad idea. The crappy fedora 8 derivative known as linpus has a good chance of getting ruined by doing this - you should only update by using the "Live Update" tool.

Configure Screensaver in Linpus

The AAO ships with a screen saver that shows crappy pictures of AAOs by default. This isn't an xfce4 screensaver, it's actually a gnome one. To edit it use the command

gnome-screensaver-preferences