Contents

This page is under construction

Guide to Ubuntu 9.04 on the Acer Aspire One model AOD250

*There are currently a pages AspireOne and AspireOneDiscussion for the Aspire one, but neither are targeted to this model or Ubuntu version. I didn't experience many of the problems one those pages, but some of the relevant information has copied here.

*Ubuntu Netbook Remix(UNR) is a alternate desktop for netbooks. It can be installed primarily or the system switched back and between UNR and standard desktop. It does work on the AOD250, but testing is limited at this point.

*There are issues with the internal microphone. It takes some effort to get it working.

*The internal wired network card doesn't work out of the box and requires drivers to be downloaded and installed(as of August 24, 2009)

*Fn-Hotkeys seem ok. (brightness adjustable but visual feedback not 100% correct - some delays)

*The wireless network switch and indicator light doesn't work.

*Everything else works out of the box.

Installing Ubuntu

Setting up the installation media

Since the AOD250 lacks a internal cdrom drive, you will need to install using a USB stick or have a USB cdrom drive.

If you have a external USB cdrom drive

*You will need to download the Live Desktop CD from here and burn the image to a cdrom.

Or

*CDs can be ordered for free(long wait) from Shipit(Choose Desktop) or boughten quicker from UbuntuDistributors

NOTE The Ubuntu Netbook Remix(UNR) is an add-on that can be also installed later and is not necessary.

*Continue at "booting the install media"

To set up a USB stick

You have a couple options.

Make a USB stick on a PC with a CD burner

• Follow the above "If you have a external USB cdrom drive" section.
• Boot the PC with a CD.

• Under system => Administration select "USB Startup disk Creator"

• Under "source" select your CDrom drive containing the Ubuntu CD
• Under "USB disk to use" select the USB stick. WARNING This will destroy all contents of the USB stick
• Click Install
• Continue at "booting the install media"

Make a USB stick without a CD

1. You have 2 options again.

   1. Ubuntu Standard Desktop: Go here and follow instructions on page.

   2. Ubuntu Netbook remix(UNR): Go here and follow instructions on page.

• Continue at "booting the install media"

Booting the install media

You computer might not be set by default to boot from USB devices. Here are the steps to correct that.

*Insert USB cdrom or stick.

*Hold F2 down while turning on the computer.

*Right arrow over to the boot menu and press enter.

*Cursor down to USB HDD or USB CDROM depending on if you're using a cdrom or USB stick.

*Press F6 until your selection is at the top of the list.

*Press F10

*Select yes at the prompt and press enter.

*Computer should reboot to the USB device.

Installing Ubuntu

The Live CD is quite straight forward and self explanatory. Since this is intended to be a guide for complete beginers, it will be explained step by step. Self explanatory steps are included for continuity.

Booting the Live CD

*Select your language, press enter.

*Select "Try Ubuntu without changing your computer", press enter

*Wait for system to load.

*To connect to the internet through wireless: Left click the network icon(four vertical bars to the left of the speaker icon) and you should see you network listed, click it should connect.

At this point you can use the live system. Some things like Flashplayer and Java are not installed yet so some websites won't work properly, but you can still surf the net while installing Ubuntu to your hard drive in the next step.

Running the install

The installer is quite straight forward and self explanatory. Since this is intended to be a guide for complete beginers, it will be explained step by step. Self explanatory steps are included for continuity. *

Getting the rest of the hardware to work

Install Webcam

Webcam working with cheese (slow video), cameramonitor, luvcview and Skype (but X server crashes if Dual Head)

Install Wired Network Driver

Ethernet card also doesn't work out of the box for D250. Download AR813X-linux-v1.0.0.8.tar.gz from http://partner.atheros.com/Drivers.aspx and install it manually. Ignore gzip warnings about "trailing garbage".

Fixing the microphone

Microphone doesn't work out of the box. Download alsa-driver-1.0.20 from www.alsa-project.org and compile it with ./configure --with-cards=all (initially microphone in the mixer is muted!) In mixer settings input source should be set to "Mic" (default), not "Front Mic". Still sound subsystem doesn't survive suspend-resume.

xxx

system tweaks

Changing the screen font

*Under System => Preferences select "Appearance"

*Change the font sizes under the "Fonts" tab.

Shutting off windows animations for better performance

*Under System => Preferences select "Appearance" *Select "None" under the "Visual Effects" tab.

Touchpad Tweaks

The AAO touchpad is quite easy to bump whilst typing. The best fix is to disable all scroll and tap commands for 1 second after each keystroke.

Go to System => Preferences and select "Startup Applications". Click the add button and add an entry:

Name: Syndaemon
Command: syndaemon -d -t -i 1
Comment: Disable trackpad while typing

The '1' can be changed to any decimal number, and defines the amount of time to lock the trackpad after each keystroke. See the Syndaemon man page for full details.

=Other sources=

Testpage for the AspireOneAOD250

AspireOne

AspireOneDiscussion

This page is targeted for beginners, if something doesn't work or isn't clear email me AOD250ubuntu@yahoo.com