Note: There is also a new page, AspireOne110L, targeted at the Aspire One 110L (the version with an 8GB SSD) and Intrepid Ibex, using much of the information below.
Note Kernel 2.6.27-11 breaks the wired ethernet interface. Bug 313866 has been verified: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/313866 Add to the information to help. Revert to an earlier kernel to fix the wired interface for now.
Note Reports have been made that after returning from suspend WiFi quits working as does Gnome-Power Manager. If you are having a problem with either of these, please start a discussion and looks for fixes. [Seems to be fixed by workaround, see below]
Status: Currently installing ( 1.6Ghz, 120GB harddrive )
Install Ubuntu
As the Acer Aspire One doesn't have a CD drive you must install with an USB drive or an external CD-ROM drive.
Shut down your Aspire One and insert the external USB CD-ROM or the USB stick that we just used. Turn it on and tap F12 to bring up the boot menu.
With a CD-ROM, choose the USB CD-ROM option. With the bootable USB stick created, choose the USB HDD option. This will boot you to the USB CD-ROM/LiveUSB stick, and allow you to install Ubuntu. Install it like normal if you have the hard disk Aspire One. If you have the SDD Aspire One, for good performance and to increase the life of the SSD use a non-journaled filesystem like EXT2.
*
Note: If you have already installed with EXT3 then follow this post: http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=164&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=10#p1177 to convert to EXT2.
Installation (file copy) will take a LONG time (hour +). If you are not currently connected to the internet on a wired connection, you may get an error about setting up a mirror. You can safely ignore that error - it's non-fatal.
Fully functional:
* Suspend / Resume [ works out of box ]
* Video (with desktop effects)[ works out of box ]
* Wireless Networking [ ath_pci loads by default instead of ath5k, but the fix is easy (see below)]
* wifi power saving [ works out of box ]
* Wired Networking [ works out of box ]
* Webcam [ works out of box ]
* USB [ works out of box ]
* Silent Fan [ fan works, silent?? needs scripts ]
* Audio [ semi-working (output only), internal mic DOES NOT WORK on 2.6.27*; mic can be fixed by updating alsa; audio output over speakers broken since kernel 2.6.27.7; ]
* Card Reader power saving [ not tested ]
Partial Function:
* wifi kill switch [ working, but no notification ]
* Card Readers, Bios 3109 [ Work out of the box, but write errors after suspend and on SDHC cards]
* Card Readers, Bios 3305 [ Pre 2.6.27.7: Only right card reader works after setpci described above; no SDHC support]
* Card Readers, Bios 3305 [ 2.6.27.7: Both card readers work again after setpci described above; no SDHC support, but at least the insertion of cards is automatically detected.]
Not Functional:
* Hibernate on A110L [ Seems to work for for some if there is a swap partition that is big enough so we can suspend to it. Test carefully before using!. ]
Wireless module
*
There has been some confusion as to which wireless driver provides the best performance and reliability. I have found the following:
o madwifi from kernel (ath_pci) - does not attach to hardware.
o ath5k from intrepid backports (ath5k) - connects to hardware, but experiences disconnects on medium to heavy wireless activity, and can not communicate with some AP's using WPA2 PSK.
o
madwifi-hal from http://snapshots.madwifi-project.org/ (ath_pci) - Everything works.
I recommend using the most recent snapshot of madwifi-hal from http://snapshots.madwifi-project.org/
wget http://snapshots.madwifi-project.org/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)
tar -xzf madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6*/
make
sudo make install
modprobe ath_pci
*
You may have to append ath_pci to /etc/modules:
# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.
fuse
lp
ath_pci
*
This driver should work under all conditions. I have tested the driver under heavy load (3MB/s sustained for 2 hours, no hangup), tested for correct suspend/resume functionality, and verified it communicates correctly with WEP, WPA, WPA2, against recent Linksys, Dlink, and Cisco hardware.
Now you should create a script to restart the interface on awake from suspend mode, as it will otherwise hang. As root, create /etc/pm/sleep.d/00wireless:
#
# Restart WiFi interface after suspension
#
case "$1" in
resume|thaw)
/sbin/ifconfig wifi0 down
/sbin/ifconfig wifi0 up
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit $?
Don't forget to make it executable:
sudo chmod u+x /etc/pm/sleep.d/00wireless
Wireless LEDs
* the wireless leds need an entry in /proc
* with wireless on/off works, but there is no notification in Gui
"To get your wireless led to blink for you based on traffic, put these lines at the end of /etc/sysctl.conf."
dev.wifi0.ledpin=3
dev.wifi0.softled=1
Then either reboot or do sysctl -p
The led on the front will now do the association blink, as well as blink based on wireless traffic.
Audio
* Output works, Volume Ok. Audio switches from speakers to headphone
Internal microphone not working, http://git.alsa-project.org/?p=alsa-kernel.git;a=commitdiff;h=8ef355da64ff087b6f26c4c28a14753861e83e4b hopefully fixed this (available in 2.6.28-rc2); probably need to try to get this as a 2.6.27 -stable backport, into 8.10 already (or some ubuntu module backports package).
* Microphone worked for me out of the box on Acer Aspire One 150. I installed Skype and it worked fine!
*
There appears to be a mono/stereo incompatibility, see http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/11/22/155
* Maybe sound stops working after suspending and then resuming if this happens to you, add the following to the end of /etc/modprobe.d/options
# enable sound after suspend on Aspire One LP#249961
options snd-hda-intel model=acer
*
After installation of Intrepid on Aspire One Model NO:ZG5 (chip 82801G, from lspci) audio worked fine, but microphone did not. There were an input device, however gnome-sound-recorder hanged on recording and pacat produced noise, that had no relation to real sounds. Upgrading alsa to 1.0.18a fixed all microphone issues: gnome-sound-recorder started to produce quite a clear record of sounds. External mic has also been tested, results are positive. To upgrade alsa, download alsa-driver-1.0.18a.tar.bz2 (or later, 1.0.18a tested on 19 Jan 2009) from http://alsa-project.org/, unpack the archive, open terminal, cd into a newely-created folder and run the following commands:
sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)
./configure --with-cards=all
make
sudo make install
These commands will build new alsa drivers and copy them to a proper location. After rebooting, adjust microphone volume, that is set to zero by default and test microphone with gnome-sound-recorder.
Add the following to the end of /etc/modprobe.d/options after installing alsa this way:
options snd-hda-intel model=acer-aspire
Not simply "model=acer"!
External Video
* external video connector works with external monitor
Set Correct Font Size
(copied from Debian Acer Aspire One Help) When running under X, the native/optimum resolution is 1024x600 (standard widescreen ratio). The default X11 configuration will give you fonts that are too large for this resolution - You can add the following line to the "Monitor" section of your "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" file:
*
DisplaySize 195 113
And add the line:
* Option "NoDDC"
to the "Device" section.
That sets the resolution to the correct 96 DPI.
Note: This worked fine for me in kubuntu as the fonts were big. ubuntu seems to have better font sizes.
Setup fan controll as described above
rc.local may not be executable so
sudo chmod a+x /etc/rc.local
comment out the line /usr/sbin/set-usb-persist 0951 1606 on
Install NetBook Remix
*
1: Disable Visual effects
o
System-Preferences->appearance->:VisualEffects=none
2: Set WorkSpaces to 1x1
o
( right click workspaces --> preferences )
3: add the Repo for netbook-remix
System-->administration->SoftwareSources
Add source:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/netbook-remix-team/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/netbook-remix-team/ubuntu intrepid main
Or In a terminal type:
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
This will bring up your source list. then add these two lines to the end of your source list:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/netbook-remix-team/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/netbook-remix-team/ubuntu intrepid main
In a terminal type:
sudo apt-get update
To update your source lists.
1. Install the Netbook remix packages
In a terminal type:
sudo apt-get install go-home-applet human-netbook-theme maximus netbook-launcher window-picker-applet
You also need to set maximus and ume-launcher startup programs
System->preferences->Sessions
add /usr/bin/netbook-launcher
add /usr/bin/maximus
logout/login, or restart if that doesn't work
Note: VLC does not play well with maximus. If you are going to use VLC I suggest you disable maximus
1. Maximize your work area
To maximize your workspace area, you might want to remove the bottom pane, by right clicking the bottom panel and selecting the "Delete this Panel" option.
logout/login, or restart if that doesn't work
1. Configure the Top Panel
To get the most from your top panel you will want to add functions to your top panel. Right click the top panel and select the "Add to the Panel" option.Some suggestions include: GoHomeApplet, WindowPickerApplet, NotificationArea, and VolumeControl.
Install Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04.1) on the Acer Aspire One
Fully functional:
* Suspend / Resume
* Video (with desktop effects)
* Wireless Networking
* Wired Networking
* Webcam
* USB
* Silent FanSIG
* Card Readers
Partial Function:
* Audio - there is sound, issues detailed below
Not Functional:
* Hibernate on A110L
* Card Reader power saving
* wifi power saving
* wifi kill switch
Step 1: Install Ubuntu
As the Acer Aspire One doesn't have a CD drive you must install with an USB drive or an external CD-ROM drive.
(NOTE: It is also possible to install directly from network, which makes USB devices unneeded. You will still need a network cable and another computer. See: Installation/Netboot or Netinstall via Windows)
Shut down your Aspire One and insert the external USB CD-ROM or the USB stick that we just used. Turn it on and tap F12 to bring up the boot menu.
With a CD-ROM, choose the USB CD-ROM option. With the bootable USB stick created, choose the USB HDD option. This will boot you to the USB CD-ROM/LiveUSB stick, and allow you to install Ubuntu. Install it like normal if you have the hard disk Aspire One. If you have the SDD Aspire One, for good performance and to increase the life of the SSD use a non-journaled filesystem like EXT2.
*
Note: If you have already installed with EXT3 then follow this post: http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=164&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=10#p1177 to convert to EXT2. Installation (file copy) will take a LONG time (hour +). If you are not currently connected to the internet on a wired connection, you may get an error about setting up a mirror. You can safely ignore that error - it's non-fatal.
Step 2: Tweak / Fix
So now we should have an installed Ubuntu system. At this point, if you have not already done, so connect your Aspire One to the internet using a wired connection. First and immediate task is to update, since the wireless driver needs to be reinstalled after every kernel update. Open a terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal). Perform the updates:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
WIRELESS:
There are two different ways of configuring the wifi hardware, using either madwifi drivers, or wrapping Windows drivers with ndiswrapper. If you have troubles with one method, try the other.
madwifi
Now we need to disable the hardware drivers that Ubuntu tries to use before the ones we make will function. So go to System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers and uncheck everything. It should prompt us to reboot, so lets do it now.
We need to grab the wireless driver, and the things we need to build it, from a terminal:
mkdir source
cd source
wget http://snapshots.madwifi-project.org/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
tar -xzvf madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3879-20081204
sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)
And we build and install:
make
sudo make install
sudo modprobe ath_pci
In order to have the wireless work after reboot, add the following line to /etc/modules ("sudo gedit /etc/modules") to automatically load the module when booting:
ath_pci
You should now have working wireless. However you may want to do the following to prevent problems (the symbol mismatch) when the module is loaded:
Add ath_hal to the DISABLED_MODULES= stanza in /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common
(i.e. 'DISABLED_MODULES="ath_hal"')
Every time there is a kernel update you will need to perform the following steps to make the wireless work. Go to the directory (madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3835-20080801) and run:
make clean
make
sudo make install
ndiswrapper
If the above madwifi instructions didn't work for you, using ndiswrapper is an alternative that is known to work, but uses Windows drivers.
Download drivers for your wireless card from: http://download2.dvd-driver.cz/atheros/drivers/ar5008/xp32-6.0.3.85.zip
Unzip those drivers.
Install ndiswrapper, and launch the installer:
sudo aptitude install ndisgtk
sudo ndisgtk
Find the net5416.inf file, and install it.
If you have tried madwifi, unload it with:
madwifi-unload
Restart your AA1, and everything should work.
WIRELESS LED:
To get your awesome wireless led to blink for you based on traffic, put these lines in /etc/rc.local, just above the string exit 0 (below doesn't work).
* Note: The 2.6.27 kernel does not appear to have these options anymore (earlier kernels do).
sysctl -w dev.wifi0.ledpin=3
sysctl -w dev.wifi0.softled=1
The led on the front will now do the association blink, as well as blink based on wireless traffic.
rc.local may not be executable so
sudo chmod a+x /etc/rc.local
The wifi kill switch uses these keycodes (also to use in rc.local):
/usr/bin/setkeycodes e055 159
/usr/bin/setkeycodes e056 158
WEBCAM
Install luvcview - USB Video Class grabber
apt-get install luvcview
You may confirm it is recognized
dmesg |grep -i "uvc"
And this is the repply
[ 29.601485] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device USB 2.0 Camera (0c45:62c0)
[ 29.617301] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
Say hello to yourself with this command ;)
luvcview -f yuv
CARD READER:
Note: there are problems with the card readers: DO NOT SUSPEND your Aspire One with an SD Card inserted. I lost all my data on it!
If you want the card readers to be hot-pluggable, you'll need to work through the following modified instructions from http://wiki.debian.org/DebianAcerOne.
Create a file /etc/modprobe.d/aspireone with the following content:
####################################################################
# Module options for the Acer AspireOne
#
# Enable USB card reader
options pciehp pciehp_force=1
install sdhci for i in 2381 2382 2383 2384; do /usr/bin/setpci -d 197b:$i AE=47; done; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install sdhci
Add the following line to the end of you existing /etc/modules file:
pciehp
You need to reboot to the get the files /etc/modules and /etc/modprobe.d/aspireone read properly. Inserting a SD card should then result in HAL finding the card and placing icon on the desktop automagically.
Note there are still a few problems with this setup:
* If you first insert a card in the left card reader, both card readers will be hot pluggable. However, if you first insert a card in the right card reader, the left card reader will not be available until reboot.
*
MemorySticks wouldn't work for me in the right multi-card reader. I think this is a kernel module limitation.
A script to poll the card reader for power events (AC unplugged, etc.) is included on the recovery DVD shipped with the machine within the "hdc1._.tar.bz2" archive as /usr/sbin/jmb38x_d3e.sh. This script runs once every 5 minutes and adjusts the power level depending on the system power state.
The script is also available from the petaramesh site. Download it, make it executable and copy it to /usr/local/sbin with:
wget http://petaramesh.org/public/arc/projects/AcerOne_Ubuntu/jmb38x_d3e.sh
sudo chmod 754 jmb38x_d3e.sh
sudo mv jmb38x_d3e.sh /usr/local/sbin/
To use the script add a line like:
/usr/local/sbin/jmb38x_d3e.sh &>/var/log/jmb38x_d3e.log &
to rc.local before exit 0. Next time you reboot this script will be running (or you can execute it in a terminal now as root).
The script generates lots of harmless warning messages, so we send the output messages to a log file.
The card readers are identified as /dev/mmcblk0 and /dev/mmcblk1. Partitions on them are labeled, for example /dev/mmcblk0p1.
USB MOUNT:
(Do this step only if you get an error inserting a USB stick)
If you insert a memory key, you may notice an error and that it cannot be mounted. This is due to the CD-ROM entry in the fstab. Since we don't have an optical drive on the One we will comment that out. From a terminal again:
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
You should see a line that looks like:
/dev/sdb /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec 0 0
add a hash in front:
#/dev/sdb /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec 0 0
Reboot, and automount should work.
NOISE (FAN CONTROL)
Aspire One by default commonly doesn't manage Fan speed correctly, resulting in a very noisy AA0.
Note: On A150X with a 160gb hd and 6 cell battery the perl script returns 0ºC every time, because the thermal control is not working. This causes the fan to shutdown. It could DAMAGE your system severely. Please check that the script is returning the correct values manually before applying the daemon.
Solution:
* Ensure you have dmidecode installed, so acerfand can detect which bios version you have. It's probably installed by default already. If not, execute:
sudo aptitude install dmidecode
*
Download the acer_ec.pl script (Direct download).
*
Download the acerfand daemon script (Direct download). (New version (2008-12-20) adding support for BIOS 3309 which is also now selected as default so should work with new bioses until the registers actually change again.)
* (You can check whether the scripts shows a reasonable cpu temperature (in hex) as follows:)
perl acer_ec.pl ?= 58
* Execute these lines in a terminal in the directory you downloaded the above scripts:
chmod a+x acerfand
sudo cp acer_ec.pl acerfand /usr/local/bin/
* To run it straight away:
sudo acerfand
* Note, you need the correct bios for this to work correctly. To see if the acerfand script is working, you can check the system log after you have run the *sudo acerfand* command:
#sudo tail -f /var/log/syslog
Oct 9 02:04:36 lilput acerfand: acerfand 0.03 starting
Oct 9 02:04:36 lilput acerfand: Detected bios version v0.3301
Oct 9 02:04:36 lilput acerfand: Unsupported bios version v0.3301 found. Aborting.
*
There is information about updating your bios here: http://macles.blogspot.com/2008/08/acer-aspire-one-bios-v3304.html
* To run it at boot:
sudo gedit /etc/rc.local
Insert the following line above the exit 0 at the bottom:
/usr/local/bin/acerfand
The fan is not completely disabled. When the FANAUTO temperature is reached (70ºC), fan works again. According to Intel, the Atom chip could work until 99ºC.
Optional: Above instructions will work fine, but if you want to define another temperature:
* Create an /etc/acerfand.conf file. The file is just a shell script that sets up to three values. eg:
INTERVAL=5
FANOFF=60
FANAUTO=70
Those are the default values, if the /etc/acerfand.conf file isn't found.
INTERVAL is the polling interval in seconds
FANOFF is the temperature (in Celsius Degrees) at or below which to turn the fan off, if it's currently on auto
FANAUTO is the temperature (in Celsius Degrees) at or above which to turn the fan to auto, if it's currently off
More information from the original source, AspireOne Wiki.
OPTIMIZING SSD PERFORMANCE:
*
Note: (Skip this step if you have the hard disk Acer Aspire One)
The performance of the SSD drive can be significantly improved by a few tweaks described in an article by Jason Perlow (But ignore Tweak #1, which does not apply.). The most important of these are described here.
Change the file system mount options on SSDs to “noatime”
Edit /etc/fstab (sudo gedit /etc/fstab) and change the the option “relatime” to “noatime”. The line for the root partition should then be something like:
UUID=f0ae2c59-83d2-42e7-81c4-2e870b6b255d / ext2 noatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
Use the “noop” I/O scheduler
Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst using your favorite editor, and add "elevator=noop" as an option. The default kernel configuration, found in the last part of the file should be something like:
title Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=f0ae2c59-83d2-42e7-81c4-2e870b6b255d ro quiet splash elevator=noop
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic
quiet
In order for the changes to remain when updating the kernel, also in menu.lst, find the line
# defoptions=quiet splash
and add "elevator=noop" as an option:
# defoptions=elevator=noop quiet splash
REDUCING SSD WEAR:
*
Note: (Skip this step if you have the hard disk Acer Aspire One)
Frequent writes to the SSD will cause failure eventually. We can reduce the number of writes to the SSD by moving our logs to a temporary filesystem in RAM that gets destroyed at ever reboot. Now this means your logs will not be persistent across reboots making debugging difficult in some cases. This step is optional of course, so if you need the logs for an extended period of time do not follow these steps.
Open your fstab again, and add the following lines:
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
tmpfs /var/log tmpfs defaults 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0
tmpfs /var/tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0
There is currently a bug in sysklogd where it cannot handle booting with an empty /var/log directory (bug #290127). This can be fixed by modifying /etc/init.d/sysklogd:
Find this function:
fix_log_ownership()
for l in `syslogd-listfiles -a`
do
chown ${USER}:adm $l
done
}
..and replace it with this:
fix_log_ownership()
{
for l in `syslogd-listfiles -a --news`
do
# Create directory for logfile if required
ldir=$(echo ${l} | sed 's/[^\/]*$//g')
if [ ! -e $ldir ] ; then
mkdir -p $ldir
fi
# Touch logfile and chown
touch $l && chown ${USER}:adm $l
done
}
Warning: this will cause some packages to fail mysteriously when they cannot access the log directories that were installed with the packages and then disappeared at reboot.
To rebuild the rest of the directory structure inside /var/log on each reboot, add these lines to /etc/rc.local above the 'exit 0' line:
for dir in apparmor apt cups dist-upgrade fsck gdm installer samba unattended-upgrades ; do
if [ ! -e /var/log/$dir ] ; then
mkdir /var/log/$dir
fi
done
Note: discovered ATA 40-wire cable misdetection after resume (currently 2.6.27), causing hdparm down from 40MB/s to 25MB/s: filed http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11879 for this issue -AndiM
DISABLE SCROLLKEEPER:
(Skip this step if you have the hard disk Acer Aspire One)
ScrollKeeper is a cataloging system for documentation on open systems. Hardly anyone ever uses it and on the AAO's slow SSD it takes ages every time you install anything. Disable it and your installs will fly! Finally add a diversion to stop dpkg from overwriting your changes.
sudo mv /usr/bin/scrollkeeper-update /usr/bin/scrollkeeper-update.real
sudo ln -s /bin/true /usr/bin/scrollkeeper-update
sudo find /var/lib/scrollkeeper/ -name \*.xml -type f -exec rm -f '{}' \;
sudo dpkg-divert --local --divert /usr/bin/scrollkeeper-update.real --add /usr/bin/scrollkeeper-update
VIDEO AND 3D PERFORMANCE: (Optional)
Out of the box, the graphic card Intel GMA 950, is well detected, however you can tweak /etc/X11/xorg.conf to achieve better graphic card performance:
Section "Device"
(...)
Option "MonitorLayout" "LVDS,VGA"
Option "Clone" "true"
Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"
Option "MigrationHeuristic" "greedy"
VideoRam 229376
Option "CacheLines" "1980"
EndSection
The Option Clone is especially usefull, if you want to capture video or photos. Without it you will get a black screen on applications like cheese.
Also add this to your /etc/profile:
export INTEL_BATCH=1
Note: 'export INTEL_BATCH=1' appears to causes graphics faults (artifacts) within 'ume-launcher' (even with Compiz fully disabled).
Reboot and you will have a more responsive system, with better 3D FPS, and improved video performance.
AUDIO:
Out of the box there are various issues with the sound. These range from headphone detection not functioning correctly, to the internal MIC not working. There are solutions to these problems. Currently, however, there is no known way to get everything working at once. All of the steps begin the same way, rebuilding ALSA:
sudo apt-get install module-assistant
sudo m-a update
sudo m-a prepare
sudo m-a a-i alsa
sudo alsa force-unload
sudo depmod -ae
sudo modprobe snd-hda-intel
Add the following line to the end of /etc/modules in order to ensure that the module is loaded during bootup:
snd-hda-intel
Now we need to make a choice. To have the internal MIC non-functional (external works), but sound working after suspend and resume, we edit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base (sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base) and add the following line to the bottom:
options snd-hda-intel model=toshiba
Reboot for that to take effect.
To have the internal MIC function correctly, but no sound after suspending and resuming the computer add or change the following to the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base as before:
options snd-hda-intel model=auto
Again, reboot for this to take effect.
For some unknown reason some people don't hear any sound with either option. If you experience this problem you might want to use the option in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base as before to the following to resolve this problem:
options snd-hda-intel model=acer
For A150L, model=basic seems to work fine with alsa 1.018rc3 (internal mic and sound work after suspend; plugging headphone in does turn the speakers off)
options snd-hda-intel model=basic
According to the ArchWiki alsa version 1.018 and up contains a new dedicated audio model option for the Acer aspire one that can be used instead:
options snd-hda-intel model=acer-aspire
If you experience crackling sound after rebooting, insert the following line in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist:
blacklist snd_pcsp
Optional: The default sound level is low. Open a terminal and type alsamixer to adjust volume.
Alsa needs to be version 1.0.17.
Alternative Method for upgrading ALSA and settings
There is a script available at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=962695 This will currently upgrade ALSA to 1.0.17 or 1.0.18final (IBEX comes with version 1.0.17 by default) Tweak the configuration as suggested above
options snd-hda-intel model=acer
Why do it this way? because it works it fetches the required tools and source builds and installs it all in one step leaving you with just the configuration steps needed specifically for the Aspire One. Why not do it this way? It can overwrite system settings and files without giving you any choice in the matter. See the link for details and this is not recommended practice. Your Aspire One, your choice.
Note The script at the beginning of the thread given by the Link appears to be broken, on page 2 is another version for 1.0.18 by the same author which may work, however also on that page is a link for a script which will install 1.0.18r3 http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6090951&postcount=16 That does work fine.
Retaining Mixer Settings
There is an issue with retaining the audio settings in Hardy You configure the mixer so sound input is internal mic, on reboot it is reset to mic. The desktop applet doesn't have a save settings option. so use it to configure your audio then open a terminal and type
sudo alsactl store
however on reboot you will find your settings are gone again
sudo alsactl restore
will retrieve your settings. (this section is incomplete and needs details for restoring the alsa settings automatically on boot) http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=962695 is currently at version 1.15 and can be downloaded here
http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=96599&d=1229445232 there are a couple of options how to use the script with intrepid running with the options -di should work, for older kernel versions 2.6.24.x there is a compilation error but snapshots work so sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.x-rev-1.15.sh -d sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.x-rev-1.15.sh -snap (2.6.24.x kernels e.g hardy) sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.x-rev-1.15.sh -i
using model=acer-aspire seems to give good results and use of the above script ensures mixer settings are restored after a reboot.
Screen Tweaks
TWEAKS TO MAKE BETTER USE OF THE ASPIRE ONE'S SMALL SCREEN:
There are various methods that will help you make better use of the Aspire One's small screen. One of the most important is being able to move windows that are too large to fit on the screen at once. To move a hidden part of the window into view, click and drag with the left mouse button on any part of the window while holding down the ALT key. However, you won't be able to drag windows so the top of the window is above the top of the screen. To fix that, enter the following in a terminal window:
gconftool-2 --set /apps/compiz/plugins/move/allscreens/options/constrain_y --type bool 0
Since the Aspire One's screen has almost twice as much resolution horizontally as vertically, having panels on both the top and bottom is not ideal. You may want to remove the top or bottom panels, make them smaller, or move them so that they are vertical, on the left and right side, instead of horizontal on top and bottom.
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 Preferences and select "Sessions". 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.
Start/Resume
HIBERNATE:
In some set-ups, using hibernate has been reported to cause file corruption.
TWEAK FOR BOOTUP SPEED (Optional):
To decrease boot time, activate concurrency bootup: sudo gedit /etc/init.d/rc and replace the line:
* CONCURRENCY=none
with
* CONCURRENCY=shell
TWEAKS FOR POWERSAVING (Optional):
Add the following to the /etc/rc.local file:
# Economize the SSD
sysctl -w vm.swappiness=1 # Strongly discourage swapping
sysctl -w vm.vfs_cache_pressure=50 # Don't shrink the inode cache aggressively
# As in the rc.last.ctrl of Linpus
echo ondemand > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
echo ondemand > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_governor
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/ondemand/sampling_rate_max > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/ondemand/sampling_rate
echo 1500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs
echo 20 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio
echo 10 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_ratio
echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/sched_smt_power_savings
echo 10 > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save
echo 5 > /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode
#Decrease power usage of USB while idle
[ -w /sys/bus/usb/devices/1-5/power/level ] && echo auto > /sys/bus/usb/devices/1-5/power/level
[ -w /sys/bus/usb/devices/5-5/power/level ] && echo auto > /sys/bus/usb/devices/5-5/power/level
NETBOOK REMIX (Optional):
UPDATE: An Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) installer image with the LPIA kernel is now available. Such image can be installed as-is on an Aspire One and most of the steps described are not necessary. Of particular interest, wifi, suspend/resume, webcam and fan control (once BIOS has been upgraded) work out-of-the-box. Card readers have the same issues.
WARNING ABOUT UNR: The UNR installer image currently wants to format your entire hard disk. If you want to dual boot XP Home and Ubuntu your best bet is to use GPARTD from a live linux such as systemrescuecd to resize the windows partition and create partitions for your Ubuntu install. Recommended one main partition labeled / and formatted and a 1-2 gb swap partition.
To install Ubuntu Netbook remix -
In Intrepid, the netbook remix packages are already in the universe repository. For Hardy, you'll need to add the netbook remix PPA to your sources.list.
* Insert the following into /etc/apt/sources.list (not required for Intrepid):
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/netbook-remix-team/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/netbook-remix-team/ubuntu hardy main
* then execute
In Hardy:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install go-home-applet human-netbook-theme maximus ume-launcher window-picker-applet
In Intrepid (ume-launcher has been renamed to netbook-launcher):
sudo apt-get install go-home-applet human-netbook-theme maximus netbook-launcher window-picker-applet
*
Add maximus as startup program (system > preferences > sessions > startup programs)
*
Change the desktop theme to Human-Netbook (system > preferences > appearance > theme)
* Delete the bottom panel
* Reconfigure the top panel to contain the following items -
o Go Home Applet
o Window Picker Applet
o Notification Area
o Mixer Applet
o Clock
* There is a bug in the ume-launcher after resuming from suspend. To work around this place the following in /etc/pm/sleep.d/01UMELauncher -
#
# Copyright 2008 Matteo Collina
#
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public License as
# published by the Free Software Foundation.
export DISPLAY=:0.0
TMPFILE=/tmp/.launcher/resume-event
case "$1" in
suspend|hibernate)
rm -rf $TMPFILE
echo "Removed resume-notify file"
;;
resume|thaw)
touch $TMPFILE
echo "Created resume-notify file"
;;
esac
exit $?
* Make the above file executable -
sudo chmod +x /etc/pm/sleep.d/01UMELauncher
You should also disable desktop effects as these cause issues with netbook remix.
Maximizing screen real estate in Firefox:
To take your screen saving netbook remix to the next level, you can do the following to maximise screen real estate in everyone's most used app - Firefox -
* Install the following addons
o Stop or Reload Button
o Personal Menu
o
AutoHideStatusBar (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1530)
* Install the following theme -
o Classic Compact
* Configure Personal Menu to include all the standard menus except History and Bookmarks (they get their own buttons)
* Disable the menu toolbar. You can always get it back by pressing Alt
*
Use the top-bar icon tabs instead of firefox tabs. (options are in edit > preferences > tabs )
Drastically speed up Firefox
Make firefox store its cache in the /tmp directory --- which when we we have moved it to a tmpfs according to this wiki is *fast*.
* Firefox 3.x uses a sqlite db that creates many write accesses, so this can reduce it:
1. In Firefox go to (type as url) "about:config", right click, add new string „browser.cache.disk.parent_directory“ with value "/tmp/firefox"
2. In Firefox change options/security/ and disable phishing if you dare. - Your firefox will run even faster then but won't warn you about phishing any more so take care!
Alternatively, to speed up Firefox further, enter "about:config" (without the quotes) as an url in Firefox, then change the following settings:
// disable disk and offline cache
set browser.cache.disk.enabled: false
set browser.cache.disk.capacity: 0
set browser.cache.offline.enable: false
set browser.cache.offline.capacity: 0
// just as a precaution
add browser.cache.disk.parent_directory: /tmp
// apparently safebrowsing slows things down - disable at your own risk!
set browser.safebrowsing.malware.enabled: false
set browser.safebrowsing.enabled: false
set network.prefetch-next: false
// don't show suggestions in the search bar
browser.search.suggest.enabled: false
// don't spellcheck as I type
layout.spellcheckDefault: 0
Flash 10 RC or upper (Optional, recommended for 512M of RAM):
Ubuntu Hardy installs flash version 9.0.115, this version needs a lot of memory to work and makes 'AspireOne' slower than it is. A good option is to download the latest Flash player plugin 10, which delivers improved performance and less memory requirements. This package is the flashplugin-nonfree, which is available on hardy-backports repository, or by download in the following link:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy-backports/flashplugin-nonfree
Verifying Flash player 10 installed correctly
Once you've installed Flash 10, verify that it installed correctly by visiting here. In the version information box, verify it says version "10,0,12,36" or newer installed.
If version 9 is still installed in Firefox then you will need to do it manually by following these directions.
Uninstalling the Flash 9 plugin from Firefox
Open a terminal window (Applications>Accessories>Terminal) and type:
cd ~/.mozilla
rm flashplayer.xpt libflashplayer.so
exit
Installing the Flash 10 RC plugin into Firefox
Visit the Adobe website and select from "Select version to download..." drop down menu the "tar.gz for Linux" option. Save the file to your Desktop.
Close all open Firefox windows before proceeding.
Open a terminal window (Applications>Accessories>Terminal) and type:
cd Desktop
tar -zxvf install_flash_player_10_linux.tar.gz
cd install_flash_player_10_linux
./flashplayer-installer
Press ENTER to install. Answer y to proceed. Answer n to not perform another installation.
Open the Firefox browser and type about:plugins in the address bar and hit ENTER.
You should see:
Filename libflashplayer.so
Shockwaveflash 10.0 b218
Or a newer version listed.
Under MIME Type the following should be listed:
application/x-shockwave-flash Shockwave Flash
application/futuresplash Futuresplash player
Upgrade from Hardy Heron (8.04.1) to Intrepid Ibex (8.10)
(Originally written by khaeru. Last updated 24 November 2008: Made the wlan work again.
Use:
$ update-manager -d
after following the first section of this guide. Following the above notes and some trial and error, the following configuration files work.
Note that shell commands preceded by "#" should be run as root (i.e. using sudo); commands preceded by "$ " should be run as a normal user.
/boot/grub/menu.lst
Changing the default options:
...
## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=elevator=noop quiet splash
...
Rather than editing the boot lines directly and risking an unbootable system, run the following to automagically update all boot lines:
# update-grub
/etc/modules
add the following line:
ath5k
Seems not to be necessary for all, this line, but does never harm; snd_hda_intel driver is loaded automatically.
Since the ath5k driver is not installed by default (see below)
* Enable the backports repositories in /etc/apt/sources.list (remove the # signs in front of them)
* Install "linux-backports-modules-intrepid" e.G. using synaptics
/etc/modprobe.d/aspireone
Rather than modify the other files in this directory, create a new file just for Aspire One settings. It will be processed along with the rest on boot.
####################################################################
# Module options for the Acer AspireOne
#
# Enable USB card reader
options pciehp pciehp_force=1
Notes
*
ath_hal and ath_pci don't need to be blacklisted if they are disabled if they are disabled using system/administration/hardware drivers
*
2008-10-20 00:19:20
*
pciehp added per jsgoncalves
*
This file may no longer be needed as of 19 October 2008 -- khaeru 2008-10-20 00:19:20
o See above note about ath_hal and ath_pci
o
options snd-hda-intel model=toshiba is no longer necessary; sound works
+
recording does not work in a default install as of 26 October 2008 (attempting recording produces nothing but fuzz in output file, no matter alsa volume levels) (dsm-iv-tr)
o
options usbcore autosuspend=1 has been the default in Ubuntu for some time (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/powertop/+bug/136549)
/etc/sysctl.d/60-aspireone.conf
The file /etc/sysctl.d/README states, "End-users can use 60-*.conf and above," so we do this instead of fiddling with sysctl.conf itself or calling "sysctl -w" from rc.local:
###################################################################
# Settings for the Acer Aspire One
#
# No swapping whatsoever
vm.swappiness = 0
# As suggested by PowerTOP
vm.dirty_writeback_centisecs = 1500
# Suggested by https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne
vm.vfs_cache_pressure = 0
vm.dirty_ratio = 20
vm.dirty_background_ratio = 10
vm.laptop_mode = 5
Note: Swappiness may be set to zero for an Aspire One with 1.5 GiB of RAM and no swap partition. You may wish to use another value (e.g. 10 as suggested above).
/etc/rc.local
Here we include only settings that cannot be placed in the above files.
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.
# https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne
# Wireless disable/enable key
/usr/bin/setkeycodes e055 159
/usr/bin/setkeycodes e056 158
# Decrease power usage of USB while idle
[ -x /sys/bus/usb/devices/1-5/power/level ] && echo auto > /sys/bus/usb/devices/1-5/power/level
[ -x /sys/bus/usb/devices/5-5/power/level ] && echo auto > /sys/bus/usb/devices/5-5/power/level
# Disable Wake-On-LAN feature of Ethernet port
ethtool -s eth0 wol d
# As in the rc.last.ctrl of Linpus
echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/sched_smt_power_savings
# Fan control
/usr/local/bin/acerfand
exit 0
Notes
*
As noted elsewhere, the wireless kill switch on the front of the case works, but there is no visual notification. Search around the Network Manager project and notice references to "rfkill" and "KillSwitch", neither of which is implement in NM yet.
* The wireless LEDs don't work; the "dev.wifi0" settings aren't included because they only generate errors.
* ethtool is not installed by default in Intrepid (as of RC1). This will cause rc.local to fail unless it is installed.
/etc/init.d/rc
To improve boot speed, as noted above.
...
CONCURRENCY=shell # https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne
...
/etc/profile
In Intrepid, the following no longer causes the artifacts mentioned above for Hardy.
...
umask 022
# https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne
export INTEL_BATCH=1
/etc/X11/xorg.conf
As noted above.
...
Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
# https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne
Option "MonitorLayout" "LVDS,VGA"
Option "Clone" "True"
Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"
Option "MigrationHeuristic" "greedy"
VideoRam 229376
Option "CacheLines" "1980"
EndSection
...
References