CrunchBang - Code, Design & GNU/Linux

11 Responses to “Debian & Ubuntu on my Acer Aspire One D150”

1. Mark wrote, Saturday, February 20th, 2010

   Please contribute to this:

   http://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn

2. Philip wrote, Saturday, February 20th, 2010

   @Mark, thank you for the link and suggestion. I will try and get around to creating a new wiki page in the near future. :)

3. Andy Fletcher wrote, Saturday, February 20th, 2010

   Hi Philip,

   I too have a D150 running Ubuntu Jaunty, having upgraded a few months ago from the slow MKI SSD model. So far no problems and I agree it's a great little machine, however I have problems with the power management:

   1. When lid closed the machine does not behave as detailed in the Gnome Power Management settings (i.e. if set to sleep it won't do this).
   2. If the power supply is pulled out during normal use the machine will sleep.
   3. If the lid is closed and left for more than a half an hour or so the machine will crash (black screen).

   I've tried the Suspend On Lid Fix (http://wiki.debian.org/DebianAcerOne) and cant remember the exact outcome but it made matters significantly worse I remember - think it crashed the machine when the power was plugged in/out or the lid closed.

   Believe that this can be fixed with a BIOS update if you are experiencing the same issue, but personally I dont really want to go down this road unless I can help it.

   Any problems relating to this with your AAO? Enjoy lilliputing!

4. Philip wrote, Saturday, February 20th, 2010

   Hi Andy :)

   To be honest, I never really bother messing about with power management, I normally just switch my machines off when I am finished with them, or leave them running 24/7. If I get chance, I will look into it, but I am not sure my results will be of much use as I am running Xfce and not GNOME.

   At this moment, I can however confirm that when I pull the mains power from my machine, it does not go into sleep mode. Would this be related to the difference between Xfce's and GNOME's power management software, or is it as you suspect a BIOS thing?

5. Andy Fletcher wrote, Saturday, February 20th, 2010

   Hi!

   I'm no expert but I was reading a forum post and as I understand it its to do with the way that GNOME puts the machine to sleep that means that a BIOS update is required. I also have KDE installed and had neglected to try any of this under that environment so it would be interesting to see the results. Win7 sleeps and manages the power just fine which is a little annoying ;) but credit where credits due.

   Thanks for your feedback, will endeavour to try KDE ASAP and report back. One other thing I'd like to do is upgrade the battery; tons for very cheap on eBay but I'm concerned about the quality and overload protection etc.

6. Philip wrote, Sunday, February 21st, 2010

   @Andy, I have now tested both suspend and hibernate options, as provided by Xfce's logout menu. Suspend works perfectly and is very quick. Hibernate does not work, the machines seems to enter hibernation with success, but fails to wake. :/

   One other thing I'd like to do is upgrade the battery; tons for very cheap on eBay but I'm concerned about the quality and overload protection etc.

   I would also worry about the quality, the battery is a critical component and I do not think I would risk purchasing and using a cheap unbranded replacement.

7. Barista Uno wrote, Sunday, February 21st, 2010

   I have Mandriva LDXE 2010 and Crunchbang 9.04.1 on my MSI Wind. Both are fast, stable and power-efficient. Mandriva especially has great hardware support for netbooks and it is my main OS.

8. Andy Fletcher wrote, Sunday, February 28th, 2010

   Can confirm that the latest BIOS update from the Acer website indeed fixed all power management issues. It also fixes a CPU frequency issue if running Windows 7, which I did not know about.

9. Philip wrote, Sunday, February 28th, 2010

   @Andy, good stuff! Thank you for reporting back with your findings, it is appreciated! :)

10. Andy Fletcher wrote, Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

    No problemo Philip, thanks for the interesting blog! :D

11. Will wrote, Sunday, May 16th, 2010

    I have an Acer Aspire One and have successfully put Crunch Bang Linux on as a dual boot. It goes a bit faster than the Windows XP, but it seems that Skype sounds better on XP than on Crunch Bang. Skype still works, but it has more fuzz outs at regular intervals. I had a similar problem with XP, but found it ended when I reinstalled an updated sound card driver. For most sound purposes, Crunch Bang does OK, but not for Skype. I like the dual boot, because I have the best of both worlds.