One more, with feeling:
Changes - writing cleanup, fixed wireless instructions, added tmpfs logging and phantom fstab CD-Rom correction.
Install Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04.1) on the Acer Aspire One 512mb/1GB model. Fully functional:Suspend / Resume
Video (with desktop effects)
Wireless Networking (WPA tested)
Wired Networking
Webcam
USB
Partial Function:Card Readers (only work if card in when booting, researching fix)
Audio - there is sound, but by default it will not mute speakers when
headphones connected. Upgraded ALSA allows headphone detection but
sound lost on suspend (researching fix)
Pre-Requs:Before you begin you will need the following:
A copy of 8.04.1 Hardy Heron. This is the latest version. If you downloaded the ISO a while ago, it may be 8.04.0. The original 8.04.0 release will not even boot.
A 1+ GB memory key that can be formatted.
A copy of the liveUSB DEB.
(Website:
http://klik.atekon.de/liveusb and the DEB:
http://ppa.launchpad.net/probono/ubuntu ... u1_all.deb).
A wired network connection.
Another computer, with network access.
Step One: PreperationSo the first thing we need to do is create a bootable copy of the Ubuntu LiveCD. This will be our install media for the Aspire One. Its actually pretty simmilar to creating recovery media for Linpus Lite (the included version of Linux).
Download and copy the LiveUSB .deb file from the link above to a memory key (you can use the same one we we are going to format to create the install media, we only need this file once), and remove the memory key. The LiveUSB software should only be installed when booted off the LiveCD environment, so we do that next.
Boot to the 8.04.1 Live CD on your other computer, and choose the first option off the boot menu (Try Ubuntu). When you reach the desktop insert the memory key with the LiveUSB software one it and double click. Follow the prompts to install it. Now we can create our bootable USB key. Start the LiveUSB application from System -> Administration -> Install LiveUSB. Select the target device (my two keys were listed by a human readable name, so it was easy to find) and click Execute. It will give you a warning about data loss, so double check that you selected the correct device and continue.
Step Two: Install UbuntuOnce that is done, you can shut down the other computer and remove the memory key. Shut down your Aspire One and insert the memory key that we just used. Turn it on and tap F12 to bring up the boot menu. Choose the boot the USB HDD option. This will boot you to the LiveUSB stick, and allow you to install Ubuntu. Install it like normal, except for good performance, and to increase the life of the SSD use a non-journaled (I suggest EXT2) filesystem. If you have already installed with EXT3 then follow this post by Aubrey (
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 your not currently connected to the internet on a wired connection, you may get an error about setting up a mirror (thanks lotus49). Don't worry about it if you do however, its non-fatal.
Step 3: Tweak / FixSo now we should have an installed Ubuntu system. At this point wire your One into the network. If you use DHCP it should pick up an IP address automatically. The first thing you will want to do is updates, since the wireless driver needs to be reinstalled after every kernel update. Open a terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal). Do the updates:
- Code: Select all
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
WIRELESS: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:
- Code: Select all
mkdir source
cd source
wget http://snapshots.madwifi.org/special/madwifi-ng-r3366+ar5007.tar.gz
tar xzvf madwifi-ng-r3366+ar5007.tar.gz
cd madwifi-ng-r3366+ar5007
sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)
And we build, install, and make it perminant...
- Code: Select all
make
sudo make install
sudo echo ath_pci >> /etc/modules
sudo modprobe ath_pci
You should now have working wireless. If you get a symbol mismatch when loading the driver, just reboot as that has corrected it everytime for me.
Everytime there is a kernel update you will need to perform the following steps to make the wireless work. Go to the directory (madwifi-ng-r3366+ar5007) and run:
- Code: Select all
make clean
make
sudo make install
USB MOUNT: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:
- Code: Select all
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
You should see a line that looks like:
- Code: Select all
/dev/sdb /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec 0 0
add a hash in front:
- Code: Select all
#/dev/sdb /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec 0 0
Reboot, and automount should work.
REDUCING SSD WEAR:Frequent writes to the SSD will cause failure eventually. We can reduce the number of writes to the SSD my 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 debuging 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:
- Code: Select all
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
tmpfs /var/log tmpfs defaults 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0
tmpfs /var/tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0
tmpfs /var/log/apt tmpfs defaults 0 0
AUDIO:Oddly, my issues with audio are not apparent on the LiveCD, reinstalling now - so will report back with a fix (hopefully).
