#linux

(with SSD drives and Linpus from the factory). You can install more packages from the newly generated menu: Settings / add/remove programs (finnish: Järjestelmä / Lisää tai poista ohjelmistoja)

Lots more configs, including Skype rpm that you can download and doubleclick to install: http://the.taoofmac.com/media/Acer/As...

Thunderbird to main menu:
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Thunderbird Email
GenericName=Email
Comment=Send and Receive Email
Exec=/usr/bin/thunderbird
Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/thunderbird.png
Path=/usr/bin
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupWMClass=Thunderbird-bin
X-Desktop-File-Install-Version=0.13
Categories=Email;Network;

The Thunderbird file edited in the previous post is located in /usr/share/applications/mozilla-thunderbird.desktop and the program was installed from the package manager in the right-click menu.

The editing was done with vim, basic commands:
sudo su -
cd /usr/share/applications
vim mozilla-thunderbird.desktop
i = insert mode
esc = back
: = action menu
wq = write and quit to the action menu.
killall xfdesktop2; xfdesktop2 & = restart desktop manager

Menu file for Putty:
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Putty
GenericName=SSH
Comment=Use SSH terminals
Exec=/usr/bin/putty
Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/putty.png
Path=/usr/bin
Terminal=false
Type=Application
X-Desktop-File-Install-Version=0.13
Categories=Terminal;Network;

Notes: Option 3G USB modem worked like a charm, just plug the thing in, enter SIM pin code and choose connect. Even easier than on windows side. Tried with one Aspire with Ubuntu as well, it was supposed to be as easy but for some reason the connection wasn't established. Firewall perhaps?

Skype installed with download & doubleclick fedora core 5 rpm. Note: 3G connection wasn't stable enough in the countryside to sustain a 14MB download without breakups (~12kB/s transfer at times).

skype.desktop:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Skype
Comment=Skype Internet Telephony
Exec=/usr/bin/skype
Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/skype.png
Terminal=0
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Categories=Network;Application;
Version=2.0

Games time. The ones pre-installed had typical restrictions - buy to be able to complete levels etc. Went to http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/ and Jets'n'guns demo runs just fine :)

Also went to system - add/remove programs - accessories - games and entertainment - optional packages. Found plenty of nice games there, of which e.g. Monkey Bubble has been entertaining girls too.

Freemind is a handy mind-mapping software, useful for conference notes, planning etc.

Installing the Fedora Core 8 version didn't go as smoothly as planned, since add/remove programs kept crashing when adding the repository.

However, by downloading and installing the RPM's manually from the repository, Freemind 0.8.1 was succesfully installed :)
http://eric.lavar.de/comp/linux/rpm/n...

First jgoodies-forms-1.0.5-2jpp.noarch.rpm then freemind-0.8.1-1.noarch.rpm

Have you tried installing ubuntu on that machine? Personally I'm allergic all Linux distros that use .rpm files :)

Had to fetch an icon for freemind, I used the wiki,png on the Freemind homepage: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/

freemind.desktop:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=FreeMind
Name[de]=FreeMind
Name[fr]=FreeMind
Comment=Mind Mapping Tool
Comment[de]=Mind Mapping Werkzeug
Comment[fr]=Outil de Mind Mapping
Exec=/usr/bin/freemind %F
Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/freemind.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Application;Office;
StartupNotify=true
MimeType=application/x-freemind
Version=1.0

@tepheikk; no, I saw an eeebuntu installed on a similar machine owned by Tuomas, Three reasons. 1) This is closer to "what you can buy" - etc, what you get from the shop. 2) eeebuntu boots slower than this Linpus that's optimized for SSD drive. 3) The other laptop couldn't use a 3G option USB modem, perhaps because of a firewall. This one went online straight away after entering the SIM pin code :)

I got 3G networking working via a bluetooth adapter. Had to install extra kernel modules that didn't come with the package and some additional software.

After the configuring, getting online in a train or bus is fairly simple:
su -
/etc/init.d/bluetooth start
sdptool search dun
cat /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf
gnome-ppp

Here's the thread for the installation:
http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/vi...

Here are the needed modules:
http://arcadia.anime.fi/~n/aspireone/...

And here's the bluetooth adapter I'm using (MyFoneKit NA-818):
http://www.verkkokauppa.com/popups/pr...

made a script for easier connecting to network via bluetooth and phone.

Link:
http://arcadia.anime.fi/~n/aspireone/...

Save to your Aspire One, make it executable with chmod 755 bt, modify your phone’s MAC address in (with e.g. vim bt) and run (like ./bt). It can also be double-clicked from the file explorer.

here's the code:

Installed VLC by adding appropriate repos, with these instructions:
http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/vi...

The desktop icons can be edited with the dca utility, in effect it modifies this file:
~/.config/xfce4/desktop/group-app.xml

and the added program descriptions are stored in:
/usr/share/applications
as progname.desktop files.

filezilla.desktop:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=FileZilla
Comment=FileZilla file transfers
Exec=/usr/bin/filezilla
Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/filezilla.png
Terminal=0
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Categories=Network;Application;
Version=3.0.1

After the VLC install, got the Fedora repository into use which gives all kinds of other useful stuff too.

So upgraded wine:
yum update wine

and ran the previously installed (windows-version) Spotify. Logged in, Wine downloaded the Gecko engine and IT WORKS! Lots of music for the road with a net connection :)

Learned that the Aspire One ZG5 laptop has a supported wireless adapter:
lspci
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros AR5006EG 802.11 b/g Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

Driver situation:
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/D...

Atheros 5k can do pretty much all you want, but the default installed driver is ath_pci which doesn't support all the fancy stuff that ath5k would provide.
lsmod
ath_pci 68192 0

The default kernel also lacks iptables support which would be nice for e.g. tethered bluetooth internet connection sharing via wlan.

spotify.desktop:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Spotify
Comment=Spotify streaming music player via WINE
Exec=/usr/bin/wine /mnt/home/Files/Ohjelmatiedostot/Spotify/spotify.exe
Icon=/mnt/home/.local/share/icons/4385_spotify.0.xpm
Terminal=0
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Categories=Network;Application;
Version=0.3.23

Chromium wouldn't install on Linpus (Fedora based version too old), so installed Opera instead from their Fedora RPM.

Here's opera.desktop:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Opera
Comment=Internet Browser
Exec=/usr/bin/opera
Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/opera.xpm
Terminal=0
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Categories=Network;Application;
Version=10.10

as usual, the .desktop file goes to /usr/share/applications and the XFCE opening screen menus can be adjusted from /home/user/.config/xfce4/desktop/group-app.xml

Tweaked startup programs and added cpu monitor to tray.

Needed commands: xfce4-autostart-editor and xfce4-panel -a

Added a CPU temperature monitor to the tray. Nice instructions here:
http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/vi...

Seems idle running temp on this Atom is 48 deg celsius.

Added a network meter. Good way to tell if bluetooth tethering is working or if the phone needs to be restarted. Used same xfce4-panel -a to add Network Monitor to the tray, and configured the monitor while the panel modifier window was still open by rightclicking on the Net tray icon. Set monitored connection to ppp0 and it works by giving momentary measurement values.

Installed Firefox 3, while retaining Firefox 2 to provide the libraries for other Linpus programs like calendar. Instructions here:
http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/vi...

wget -N "http://download.mozilla.org/?product=...
sudo tar -jxf firefox-3.6.tar.bz2 --directory /opt
sudo chown user -R /opt/firefox
sudo ln -fs /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/* /opt/firefox/plugins

The new firefox can update itself just fine. Flash plugin is updated by adding the Adobe flash yum repository and running
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
sudo yum update flash-plugin

To speed up SSD usage, some tips can be found here:
http://www.overclock.net/hard-drives-...

I got Firefox 4 working on linpus with these instructions:
http://linuxforums.org.uk/netbooks/in...

The trick is to retrieve a missing library and unpack it into the /opt/firefox folder, getting rid of this error:
/opt/firefox/firefox-bin: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6: version 'GLIBCXX_3.4.9' not found (required by /opt/firefox/libxul.so)

Seriously considering switching to LUbuntu though.. There are instructions for doing that here:
http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/vi...

Finally decided to change the OS to a more recent and supported linux distro.

1) made backups of existing drives (clonezilla) and their relevant files ( tar -cvzf stuff.tar.gz /mnt/home ).

Made bootable USB sticks of various distros with the universal USB installer:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universa...

Tried the live version of LUbuntu 10.10. Boots fast, and resource friendly. The menu options were however too barren for my tastes, and the icons small to hit with a touchpad in shaky environments.

Tried Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.10. Turns out it's the first one to use Unity, and the version that i saw paused a lot (possibly due to swapping)

Tried Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04. Liked it, and installed to SSD + SD. /boot and /media/streaming partitions to SSD (both ext2), and / + swap to SD, / still being ext2. Reason to choose ext2 was to avoid any extra writes that come with journaling.

Boot troubles ensued with the SSD + SD setup. The kernel couldn't find the root drive because it wouldn't see the SD card's host adapter at boot time. Solution was to include the drivers to initrd with these instructions:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.ph...

In a nutshell, add these to /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
mmc_core
mmc_block
sdhci
sdhci-pci

Afterwards run sudo update-initramfs -u (needs a fair amount of memory, not machine-specific)

Then copy the resulting /boot/initrd... to your SSD drive's /boot partition. Remember to also change the initramfs modules on your root partition on the SD.

Added the relatime mount option to /etc/fstab on every ext2 filesystem, to reduce the amount of access time writes:
http://linux.koolsolutions.com/2009/0...

Tethering was fairly simple - just pair and "connect" the phone via bluetooth, and network manager does the rest.
http://blog.chewearn.com/2010/09/30/u...

Useful commands:
hcitool scan
sdptool browse 00:11:22:33:44:55 | grep -A 10 Dial-Up
gksudo gedit /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf
sudo rfcomm connect 0

Thanks to denham2010's excellent tip at this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.ph...

I managed to edit Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04 panel without switching to Gnome.

The file to edit is here:
/var/lib/gconf/une.mandatory/%gconf-tree.xml

First thing I did was add System Monitor to the panel, also known as OAFIID:GNOME_MultiLoadApplet

Fixed SD reader hotplugging on AspireOne and Ubuntu Netbook Remix with these instructions:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Asp...

Got the black screen of death on the Aspire One, powerbutton led lights up but nothing else happens on boot and the screen stays dark.

Solution is to reflash the Acer Aspire ZG5 BIOS with the help of a USB stick. Instructions here:
http://eric.chromick.com/aa1/aspire-o...

In short, extract the latest BIOS file to the FAT-formatted USB stick and rename it as ZG5IA32.FD

Then boot with the USB stick inserted, press and hold FN + ESC and press the power button to turn it on. Release the Fn & ESC keys. The LED in the power button will flash. Press the power button again once and wait.

The reflashing will take some minutes but afterwards AAO should boot normally again.

Useful find for IO monitoring:
sudo apt-get install iotop

And a useful tweak for Firefox on the Aspire One:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/intern...

in short:
about:config
network.prefetch-next

Transferred browser cache to RAM, which gave a nice speedup and less SSD writes:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.ph...

A guide on tweaking the filesystem for SSDs, provided that your SSD drive supports the TRIM command:

http://cptl.org/wp/index.php/2010/03/...