Review: Acer Aspire One
September 8th, 2008 by Geri Druckman in
Geri Druckman reviews the Acer Aspire One ultra-portable laptop.
For more information, see:
http://us.acer.com/aspireone/
__________________________
Geri Druckman is a technology evangelist, you can follow him on twitter at www.twitter.com/gdruckman or just google him - gdruckman
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December 2009, #188
If last month's Infrastrucuture issue was too "big" for you then try on this month's Embedded issue. Find out how to use Player for programming mobile robots, build a humidity controller for your root cellar, find out how to reduce the boot time of your embedded system, and if you're new to embedded systems find out the basics that go into one. You can also read about the Beagle Board, the Mesh Potato and a spate of other interestingly named items. And along with our regular columns don't miss our new monthly column: Economy Size Geek.
MY WIRELESS CONECTION
On October 27th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
Please help me ASAP my acer aspire one is reallly annoying me the wireless connection button at the bottom on the taskbar is grey and you cant click on it therefore i cannot connect to the internet !! Please help as none of my wireless connections will show up :(
Taskbar Dissapeared
On October 15th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
Hey I Need Urgent Help I Have An Aspire One Netbook On The Linux Operation System And Now My Taskbar Has Dissapeared And Has Been Replaced With A Pop-up Saying 'New Item; new item has not yet been configured' What Do I Do To Get It Back? Thanks
skype and webcam
On September 24th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
how do you make a skype video webcam call on acer one notebook
Dial up modem for Acer Aspire One with Linux
On September 2nd, 2009 larry b (not verified) says:
Is there a way to add dial up capabilities to my Acer Aspire One that has the Linux operating system installed?
Help! Linpus Linux Lite acer aspire one
On August 30th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
Hi,
I was given an acer aspire one notebook with linpus linux lite OS, now I cannot find any compatible software in which I can download music e.g. Limewire etc. I tried to download Limewire for Linux but this did not work. Does anyone know of a FREE compatible programme that will provide a decent soloution? :)
Thanks
Im also having trouble with
On August 22nd, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
Im also having trouble with the acer aspire one .I downloaded Limewire for linux and it says LimeWireOther.zip and when I open it , it just shows me alot of files. :S someone please help
New item not yet configured
On August 20th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
i have this on my main page with like a star/sun shape in a box it has made the bar across the bottom of my screen dissapear and it will not let me connect to the internet the advise that people have given about deleteing the panel doesnt work and i dont have my boot disk doea anyone have any suggestions please i really depend on my computer
Hi, I have exactly the same
On September 2nd, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
Hi,
I have exactly the same issue. The box with the star shape, and no internet.
Any ideas?
Thanks
does anyone have an answer
On September 3rd, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
does anyone have an answer to thiis problem???
yes its a software problem
On October 1st, 2009 farker87 (not verified) says:
yes its a software problem with the aspire one..... u need to contact acer via email and explain to them what the issue is..... unfortunately i had to send mine away to acer to be fixed due to this.
How do i make DOWNLOADS ????
On August 9th, 2009 Ana (not verified) says:
Hi there everyone! Can anyone explain me how to make a download on this Acer Aspire Netbook?? It is really frustrating i try to download files like e-mule or lime wire etc... but the same thing appears for every download i try to make it asks me (WHAT SHOULD FIREFOX DO WITH THIS FILE? OPEN WITH FIREFOX WEB BROWSER (DEFAULT) OR SAVE TO DISK) I HAVE TRIED BOTH OPTIONS BUT IF I CHOOSE THE FIRST ONE IT JUST OPENS A NEW FIREFOX WINDOW WITH NOTHING ON IT THE SECOND ONE JUST SAVES IT BUT IT DOESNT ACTUALLY RUN! AND THE SAME THING HAPPENS IF I TRY TO INSTALL A GAME SUCH AS THE SIMS 3! I REALLY LIKE THIS NETBOOK BUT ITS STARTING TO STRESS ME OUT BECAUSE THE ONLY THING THAT I CAN ACTUALLY DO IS THE INTERNET BIT! MAYBE ITS JUST ME WHO'S STUPID LOOL BUT MAYBE BECAUSE I WAS USED TO A VISTA ONE I DONT KNOW!
Save To Disk
On August 9th, 2009 Mitch Frazier says:
Save the file to disk. If Firefox's download list is not open go to the Tools menu in Firefox and select Downloads. Once you have the list of files that you've downloaded, right click on the one you want and select "Open". That should run it if it's a program or open it if it's a Document.
I'm not a SIMS3 user, but I believe that it requires a Windows or a Mac, so it's not gonna work on Linux. Anything that's an .exe file is not likely to work on Linux.
__________________________Mitch Frazier is an Associate Editor for Linux Journal and the Web Editor for linuxjournal.com.
THANKS but ANOTHER QUESTION
On August 12th, 2009 ana rodrigues (not verified) says:
so that means i cant download e-mule or limewire to make some music downloads because those files are exe. so what kinds of programs can i download does anyone know any good programs? Thanks that worked out i downloaded VLC MEDIA PLAYER!
Linux Programs
On August 12th, 2009 Mitch Frazier says:
You should look for programs designed to run on Linux.
There is a Linux version of LimeWire.
__________________________Mitch Frazier is an Associate Editor for Linux Journal and the Web Editor for linuxjournal.com.
skype
On August 7th, 2009 sheree (not verified) says:
guys please please help i got the acer aspire one notebook so that i can get skype and chat with my uncle in the uk but it wint let me open it. it's a linux. please help
skype install
On August 14th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
But did you install it already on your aspire?
Aspire One - Taskbar gone
On July 5th, 2009 Kilroy_ZA (not verified) says:
Taskbar is gone on my Linpus AAO - replaced by a grey pop-up, saying 'New Item; new item has not yet been configured'. Tried the 'xfce-setting-show' solution, but there is only a Panel 1 option visible. Nothing else to delete. What could this be?
Some photo's disappered when being transferred from card
On June 29th, 2009 Becky (not verified) says:
Hi
Today I was transferring photo's from the datacard to a folder, 4 of the 45 transferred . . .the rest have just disappeared.
They are no longer on the data card, they are not in the folder and they are not in trash.
Aargh!!!
Can someone please advise what I should do . ..
is it possible to change the
On June 12th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
is it possible to change the 8 gb hard drive to 120 gb hard drive so that i can use the win xp OS.. and Also how can i change the os of my acer aspire one 110 from Linux to Windows XP... Any Help is much Appreciated.. Thanks!
installing additional program
On June 5th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
Hello, appriciate your review. I am trying to install a scrabble program on aaspire one from a usb store n go, but no success. Any suggestions would be welcome.
Thank you
Acer Aspire One AOA150 - 6 cell battery
On June 2nd, 2009 Sheri (not verified) says:
I bought this mini laptop for portability to use Microsoft Word to type documents to print. I have a wireless printer (HP Deskjet 6988), but realized I do not have a CD-Rom to install the printer software. Is there a resolution to this problem?
Also, I use Microsoft Outlook for my calendar, but noticed the software is not installed. How do I remedy that?
Thank you!
Sheri
I bought a usb cd rom from
On August 29th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
I bought a usb cd rom from e-bay. Cost 8 uk pounds. Works ok with aspire one.
You can get an external
On August 16th, 2009 Moggy (not verified) says:
You can get an external drive cheaply on E-Bay for about £20-£30.
Network
On May 1st, 2009 Sarah (not verified) says:
Hi the icon for connecting to the internet has gone from the bottom rigt corner it just seems like it has disappeared. When i click on setting and try to click on network centre it just doesn't load!It is like it has lost it all together!
Please help
Lost network access
On September 2nd, 2009 larry b (not verified) says:
When the battery power on the Aspire One runs out there is a file that gets corrupted with the total power loss.
I found this answer at aspireoneuser.com and it worked.
The Fix is to delete the ~/.gconf/system/networking directory. This resets the networking config files forcing the NetworkManager to recreate them.
It does work and I have these instructions saved on a document on the computer - just in case it happens again.
Found this on another site
On May 10th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
Found this on another site after trawling through all the same questions. Just done it and it works. Dont know anything about Linux so dont know why it worked but it did. Just in case, rather than deleting the folder I renamed it!
"Follow this then restart and everything should come back to normal. It took me 3 minutes and worked fine.
This is to find and delete the networking folder (which is causing the problem):
1. From the regular Aspire One options page, go to the Files panel
2. Click on the triangle to see more icons
3. Click on MyFiles, which opens a file manager window.
4. In the menu bar, select View->Hidden files, to show a tick in the box. You should be in the "My Disk:///" directory.
5. Scroll down until you find folder "gconf" and then click on that
6. Find folder "system" and click on that
7. You should now see folder "networking" listed as one of the folders.
8. DELETE IT! (Right click on the networking folder, and select option delete.)
I just restarted from here and the icon re appeared in bottom right the menu bar, I just clicked on it to set it up with my wifi signal and it did the rest itself."
Good luck and don't panic.
Thank You !!!!!!
On September 7th, 2009 hugh jass (not verified) says:
Worked like a charm.
I am so grateful you took the time to post this message.
delete network
On June 12th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
thank you it worked great !!!
OMG!!! that was such a
On July 30th, 2009 Mark Mac (not verified) says:
OMG!!! that was such a simple fix. I can't believe how such an annoyance could be fixed so easily.
Thankyou ever so much.
I am having the exact same
On June 10th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
I am having the exact same problem with mine, and this remedy didn't work. :( Any other suggestions?
root password acer one linux
On April 22nd, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
to get root password use alt+f2 key
then type xterm
then type sudo passwd
and insert a root password for 2 or three times.
Good luck
Using external drives
On April 10th, 2009 William Silvert (not verified) says:
Most external drives come formatted NSFT for Windows. How do you reformat them for use with Linux? I tried userformat but that didn't do the job. Memory sticks seem to work fine on both Windows and Linux, but not hard drives.
odd item in middle of screen
On April 6th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
Theres an odd star like logo in a rectangular box in the middle of my screen that cannot be removed from my acer aspire one, please help?????
confused
On March 29th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
Hi there...Once something has been deleted on an acer aspire one laptop, where do you go to restore it??? Where do all the deleted items go, whether it be from the internet or desktop, is it all lost???
If you mean, "How do I get a
On June 23rd, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
If you mean, "How do I get a document back after I've deleted it by mistake?" (e.g. you've clicked on "delete" not "copy" in a drop-down menu), then click on "Go" in the file manager, and you'll then be able to select "Trash" and that's where it might be. Sorry if this is too simple-minded an answer, but it had me confused and concerned for a few minutes.
You can try and restore your
On April 28th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
You can try and restore your laptop using the recovery cd provided to you when you purchased the laptop.
You would need an external USB cd drive
How do I configure my Acer one aspire to print wireless printer
On March 25th, 2009 Action Jackson (not verified) says:
I just purchased a ACER ONE ASPIRE laptop and would like for it to print to my Dell AIO 920 printer?
Any help will be appreciated.
THANKS@
Jack
skype
On March 21st, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
i've been trying to download skype on my new acer aspire one model zg5 it has linux, i tried to download skype but its telling me to download Ubuntu 7.04-8.04 and i tried but got no where,i would appreciate step by step instructions on how to get skype.
Skype on Linpus
On April 10th, 2009 William Silvert (not verified) says:
I installed Skype using the Fedora version.
Acer aspire one Linux
On March 16th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
Recently bought Acer Aspire one Linux but now about 3 months later if I shut the lid or it runs out of battery the screen freezes and becomes coloured and pixelly. (not sure how to describe it) I then have to restart. This is really starting to annoy me.
I though maybe it had a virus but thought that linux couldn't get them....
Is anyone else having similar issues??
same same
On June 28th, 2009 geoffshing (not verified) says:
I have the same pixelly screen on startup although I do have the internet option but cannot get the homepage. I gave it to a 'computer' repair shop and the guy just looked at me all stoopid and said 'just buy another'! Yeah, thanks clown!
I've tried to figure it out because if i connect and external drive then that works and obviously the internet works........ hmmm so the hard driver here must work?
any ideas?
Thanks for review but have dumb question
On March 16th, 2009 Saran (not verified) says:
Hi there
Thanks so much for your review as I learned things I didn't know about my Aspire One but I am a bit flummoxed by one thing. I have MSffice on a CD rom, get ths cheap from my work, but have no CD Rom drive -why can't I copy Office onto a USB to install or failing that why can't I find somewhere to hire me a drive for 30 minutes,I live in Auckland NZ and am not very techno savvy as should by now be crystal clear. But would love some heeeellppp.
You can get an external usb
On May 29th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
You can get an external usb CD drive for a resonable price which might be helpful. You would then be able to do many other things which you would need a CD drice for - e.g. rip audio CDs - as well.
acer aspire
On March 15th, 2009 Al (not verified) says:
I own a acer and was told that it didnt need a anti virous program , is that true ? and is there a spell checker for the e-mail
you need virus protection
On April 6th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
you need virus protection for windows. If you are running a linux distro, you should be fine.
It's a myth. You do need
On May 10th, 2009 Eddieboy (not verified) says:
It's a myth. You do need antivirus for linux.
Try AVG free or Avast
change password root
On March 4th, 2009 farrel (not verified) says:
How to example type new password for change password root
how to download skype onto aspire one acer notebook
On February 28th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:
i have tried to download skype but it says that i need a password how do i get this password
or is there any other way to do ths
how to download the skype into acer aspire one??
On March 15th, 2009 diods (not verified) says:
how to download the skype into acer aspire one??
linux on acer aspire one dual boot
On February 21st, 2009 mikeinvabeach (not verified) says:
i have the aspire one net book. i have installed ubuntu and came to find out thats the wireless took a few steps to get working but after that was still no reliable...any help on what distro will recognize the wireless card in my acer would be lots of help..i want to dual boot with windows xp...id hate to do that but need it for work purposes
thank you so much
mike
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