Acer's Aspire One: the appliance of Linux
Posted on 11/24/2008 12:42:37 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Episode One Thanks to their design as appliances, you can get down to useful work straight away with any of the new breed of Linux-based netbooks. But sooner or later, a fair few folk come up against the unfamiliarity of Linux. And, like the legendary tribe of pygmies, you may find yourself jumping up and down in the head-high long grass shouting out the incantation that gave the tribe its name: "We're the Fukarwi."
This series is designed to address that cri de coeur.
Let's plunge straight into the practicalities by taking a look at Acer's Aspire One - the AA1, as its fans call it. This is a typical Small, Cheap Computer (SCC), in that it runs a simplified version of Linux - unattractively called Linpus - that has been locked down to turn the machine into an appliance. Even a seasoned Linux hacker - and I've been writing about and using Linux since 1995 - has to scratch his head and do some serious Web research before finding the way in. The two chief problems are: a completely unfamiliar simplified appliance-style interface; and the lack of any password to get into the root.
Acer's Aspire One: the appliance of Linux
These two hurdles turn out to be largely illusory. The interface is an old Linux standby called XFCE, tailored to Acer's requirements. And although Acer doesn't tell you the root password, it's left a perhaps deliberate security hole that allows you to change it to the password of your own choice. More about that next time.
(Excerpt) Read more at reghardware.co.uk ...
Didn’t you get one of these netbooks?
Bump to find later
My buddy bought Acer Aspire One models A110L for use on his bible study presentation he called me to tweak after encountering problem can't render PowerPoint presentation. Actually, there are two look-alike Acer Aspire One models: A110L and A150L look a lot alike on the outside. But inside, the A150L packs a 120GB hard drive common Windows laptop while the A110L has an 8GB solid state disk. There's not much you can do with 8GB flash disk...
I'd prefer to buy the Acer Aspire One A150L with 120GB hard drive versus A110L with only 8GB disk. With A150L I can replace Windows XP Home to XP Professional edition, partition the drive and dual boot with Fedora or Ubuntu. My señiorita said she's buying a Acer Aspire One A150L for Christmas... :-)
Well, I didn't want to flog the issue yet again by posting pix...
...but since you insist...
< |:)~
Just found this:
Netbook showdown: The top 10 mini laptops rated
By Rory Reid on 31 October 2008, 10:06am
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This may be out of Date....
Looks good.
It really is pretty slick. Runs Xandros Linux.
My only complaints are: 1) only 4GB system memory, 2) Weird screen size, and 3) tiny keyboard.
But it’s been money well-spent.
Interesting. I saw one of these a week ago. Looked like it could be really useful in airplane steerage class.
ping
Piss be upon the head of the trackpad designer, and a pox upon his house.
I really like mine too. I have an additional 8GB SD card that I leave in. I only use it to web surf, write email, Skype, so I never run into memory/storage problems. I have been looking into the EEE PC 1000 40G, however.
You have a big ring.
***********************EXCERPT**********************
Black Friday is this, which means great deals on notebooks from retailers like Best Buy, Wal-mart, Circuit City, Staples, Office Depot, Office Max and others.
Last year we saw laptops as cheap as $200 range, but there’s no telling how low retailers will go this year to get people in the doors for the kickoff of the holiday shopping season.
It’s very important that you examine each Black Friday notebook deal closely and to make sure it meets your needs and that it’s really worth the waiting in line for. We’ve put together a list of 15 Things to Consider Before Buying a Black Friday Notebook. There are extremely limited quantities of Black Friday notebooks at each store, making it very challenging to get the notebook you’re after.
This year the Black Friday deals are dominated by the Toshiba Satellite lines and the HP Pavilion series notebooks. The Pavilion G50 is especially prominent, with nearly every retailer selling some variation of it.
The Pavilion G50 is an entry-level 15.4 inch notebook that is not normally sold directly from HP.
Bookmarked for later.
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