Contents

Guide to Ubuntu 9.04 on the Acer Aspire One model AOD250

*There are currently 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 on those pages, but some of the relevant information has copied here.

*Ubuntu Netbook Remix(UNR) is an 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 personal testing was very limited when writing this.

*The internal microphone requires ALSA to be downloaded and installed.

*The internal wired network card doesn't work out of the box and requires drivers to be downloaded and installed (in 10.04 works out of the box - no need to install anything)

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

*The wireless network switch and indicator light doesn't work. (in 10.04 works out of the box)

*Card reader was tested through several suspend and resume cycles and appears to function properly.

*Everything else works out of the box.

*This page is meant to be a complete guide for a complete beginner. The guide was written(August 24 2009) as an actual install was being performed so results should be repeatable. Notes are added any place something was not tested during writing.

Other models of the Aspire One this guide may apply to

There is a good possibility this guide will work on the A150 and D150 models also. Please up date this page or use the contact at the bottom of the page if you test them

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 an 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

*Continue at "booting the install media"

To set up a USB stick

You have a couple of 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 the 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

• 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.

Booting the Live CD

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

*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 during the next step.

Running the actual install to the harddrive

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

*Under System => Administration select "Install"

*Select your language, click "next".

*Select your timezone, click "forward"

*Select your keyboard, click "forward".

Partitioning your harddrive

This is where you decide how much space on your harddrive to take from Windows XP and make available to Ubuntu. There are 3 options available.

1. "Install them side by side" is probably the option you want. It sets up Ubuntu so you can run Ubuntu and Windows by selecting either when turning the computer on. At the bottom is a slider that allows you to select how much disk space you want removed from Windows and set up for Ubuntu.
2. "Use entire disk" this option will remove Windows and use the entire disk for Ubuntu. Do not use this unless you are willing to loose Windows and all data on the computer.
3. "Specify partition manually" Use this only if you know what you are doing, it is beyond the scope of this page.

*After you make your selection, click "forward".

*At the warning message, click next.

Finishing up the install

Wait for the drive to be prepared. Time varies depending on options.

*Fill in the page with your information, click "forward"

*Click install.

This process takes around 13 minutes.

*At the prompt, click "continue testing"

*Shut-down computer and remove USB device.

Ubuntu is now installed.

Setting up software

A few things you'll want to do before you are ready to go.

Applying updates

While Ubuntu will automatically inform you of available updates, it should be done soon. To run the updater manually.

*Under System => Administration select "Update Manager"

*Click "Check"

*Click "Install Updates"

Installing commonly needed software

A few things you might need to install for everyday use. To drivers and other software

**Under system => Administration select "Synaptic Package Manager"

*In the Quick Search box enter the name of package.

*Click on the package and select "Mark for installation"

*If prompted to that other package need marked also, click "Mark"

*After marking all desired packages, Click "Apply"

*When prompted with action summary, click "Apply

*After completion, click "Close"

Java and Java Plug-in

The Java plug-in package is:

sun-java6-plugin

Flash Player Plug-in

The Flashplayer package is:

flashplugin-nonfree

Getting the rest of the hardware to work

Install Webcam

The driver package is:

luvcview

Enabling wired network

Ethernet card also doesn't work out of the box for D250

Updating the Linux kernel

Updating the kernel version to 28.16 has been reported to fix the ethernet issue. To update the kernel, you will have to use the update manager from a wireless connection. Alternatively, if you do not have access to a wireless network, you may also download the kernel .deb files using another computer and then use the dpkg --install command to update them in the D250. But the following method to restore ethernet is simpler in that case.

Installing wired network drivers

Download AR81Family-linux-v1.0.0.10.tar.gz from http://partner.atheros.com/Drivers.aspx and install it manually.

This assumes it is downloaded to a directory /home/user/atheros where user is your login name.

*Under Applications => Accessories click "Terminal"

*Type the following lines in the terminal.

cd /home/user/atheros

gunzip AR81Family-linux-v1.0.0.10.tar.gz

Ignore gzip warnings about "trailing garbage" and continue with the following lines.

tar xvf AR81Family-linux-v1.0.0.10.tar

cd src/

make

sudo make install

sudo modprobe atl1e

*Close terminal window.

Your network card should now work and appear in the box when clicking the network icon.

Fixing the microphone

Microphone doesn't work out of the box. Two options exist. The first was confirmed to work on some versinos of the D250, The second option downloads and installs alsa-driver-1.0.20. This worked even after a few suspend and resume cycles.

Option One - Attempt to enable the microphone

*Under Applications => Accessories click "Terminal"

*Type the following lines in the terminal.

cd /etc/modprobe.d

ls alsa-base.conf; echo $?

* if the output is the file name and '0', the file exists. back-up the file prior to modifying it.

sudo cp alsa-base.conf .alsa-base.conf.bkup

* if the file exists execute the following command to add the line to fix the microphone.

sudo bash -c "echo 'options snd-hda-intel model=acer-aspire position_fix=1' >> alsa-base.conf"

* reboot

* test the microphone.

* if the test fails, restore the file you modified with the backup, proceed with option two.

Option Two - Update/install alsa-driver

*Under Applications => Accessories click "Terminal"

*Type the following lines in the terminal.

wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/driver/alsa-driver-1.0.20.tar.bz2

This downloads the package.

tar xjvf alsa-driver-1.0.20.tar.bz2

Decompress and expands the package.

cd alsa-driver-1.0.20

Changes to the directory(folder) of the package.

sudo apt-get install build-essential module-assistant

This prepares Ubuntu to build the package.

sudo m-a update

More preparations.

sudo m-a prepare.

Still more preparations.

./configure --with-cards=all

This prepares the package for building.

make

Then builds it.

sudo make install

And installs it.

*Reboot.

*Click on the volume control(speaker icon).

*Click the "Volume Control" button in the menu that pops up.

*Under the options tab be sure that "Input source" is set to "mic" and not "front mic"

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 while 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.

Checking the volume settings

Maximum volume was too low after install. To check the mixer settings:

*Click on the volume control(speaker icon).

*Click the "Volume Control" button in the menu that pops up.

*Make sure that both "PCM" and "Front" are set to maximum.

*Click "Close"

Disable password requirement after Suspend or Hibernate

By default every time the computer wakes up you must enter your password. To change that:

*Under Applications => Accessories click "Terminal"

*Enter

gconf-editor

A window will pop up.

* Navigate to "/apps/gnome-power-manager/lock/"

*Uncheck hibernate and/or suspend

*Close window

Add CPU frequency monitor and control to the panel

This will show the CPU frequency and allow you to easily change its mode.

*Right click on the panel and select "add to panel"

*Select "CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor" and click add.

Now you can see the processor speed and control it. Either by left clicking the icon and setting the speed or selecting a mode.

Other links

Testpage for the AspireOneAOD250

All models of the Aspire One

This was written for an older release (9.04) most of it works with the new release.

CategoryHardware