[SOLVED] Netbook Acer aspire one

matto80 · 01-25-2013, 09:37 AM

Hi.

Have an netbook Acer aspire one, Intel atom n270 (1.6 GHz), 1 GB RAM, 260 HDD. Used to run nice with WinXP, but decided to switch to Linux for several reasons.

The problem is performance: so far I`ve tried Ubuntu 12, Xubuntu 12, Pinguy OS and XPud... all of them by recommendations I`ve found on-line.

XPud works fine, but I don´t quite like it. All the others mentioned are just... slow... I can tweak some basic options to make it run faster, but still all applications seem to take ages to open. Specially web browsers.

I´ve just installed LinuxMint 14 Nadia (MATE desktop)and it´s a little bit better... but still not as fast as WinXP.

Do you think this problem is due to the distro I`ve chosen? I`ve read reviews and commentaries all around the web, and many users have that same distros i`ve mentioned running nicely in that netbook model.

Any suggestions, recommendations, hints, etc. will be appreciated. Thanks for your time.

schneidz · 01-25-2013, 09:40 AM

maybe try one with lxde (light weight desktop environment).

snowpine · 01-25-2013, 09:49 AM

Windows XP was released in 2001 and has very low hardware requirements compared to most 2013 Linux distributions. If XP works fine for your needs, then I recommend you continue to use it.

The biggest improvement to performance would come from upgrading your hardware, as the Atom 270 is simply a very low-performance processor no matter how you slice it. I use a distro called Fuduntu on my Asus EEE 900ha, and it is fine for basic tasks, but a high-performance multimedia powerhouse the EEE is not.

jkirchner · 01-25-2013, 10:22 AM

I had an Aspire One D55 and ran Salix on it as well as running a full Slackware install and it ran great.

In the 'buntu range I had great success with Lubuntu which uses the LXDE desktop. I'd give that a try if the Slackware variants are not desired.

DavidMcCann · 01-25-2013, 11:20 AM

I've got a Thinkpad with a Pentium M underclocked to 600MHZ and that runs Salix. You could make and drink a cup of coffee while it boots up, but the applications are fine, although I don't use it on-line. That's using the standard version with Xfce. If your demands are greater, you could switch to Icewm from the Salix repository, which is as light as you can get.

crosstalk · 01-26-2013, 04:24 PM

Mint 14 with the Xfce desktop should be lighter than most of what you've tried (except possibly Pinguy OS and XPud, which I've never tried).

Also, going with LXDE isn't a bad choice, either -- but Xfce should be light enough (except for Xubuntu, which is heavier than most Xfce-based distros).

rokytnji · 01-26-2013, 08:26 PM

My Acer

Code:

System:    Host: biker-laptop Kernel: 3.7.1-antix.3-486-smp i686 (32 bit)
           Desktop: IceWM 1.3.7 Distro: antiX-12.5-full-alpha2- Edelweißpiraten 09 November 2012
Machine:   System: Acer (portable) product: AOA150 version: 1
           Mobo: Acer model: N/A Bios: Acer version: v0.3305 date: 05/09/2008
CPU:       Single core Intel Atom CPU N270 (-HT-) cache: 512 KB flags: (pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3) bmips: 3192.23 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 800.00 MHz 2: 800.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0 
           X.Org: 1.7.6 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1024x600@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 945GME GEM 20091221 2009Q4 x86/MMX/SSE2 GLX Version: 1.4 Mesa 7.7.1 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card: Intel N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller driver: HDA Intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: 1.0.24
Network:   Card-1: Atheros AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath5k bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller 
           driver: r8169 ver: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 3000 bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 160.0GB (4.4% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD1600BEVT size: 160.0GB temp: 39C 
Partition: ID: / size: 7.1G used: 3.0G (44%) fs: ext4 ID: /home size: 25G used: 3.6G (16%) fs: ext4 
           ID: swap-1 size: 2.11GB used: 0.01GB (0%) fs: swap 
RAID:      No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 52.0C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 135 Uptime: 1:30 Memory: 179.2/989.7MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: N/A Client: Shell (bash 4.1.5) inxi: 1.8.32 
$ glxgears
2753 frames in 5.0 seconds
2719 frames in 5.0 seconds
2727 frames in 5.0 seconds
2971 frames in 5.0 seconds

http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

Runs cool, Runs fast, No improvements needed. This is the older 9" ZG5 Model with the N270 Atom processor and 1 gig of ram.

I am on my other Computer posting this info though.

matto80 · 01-27-2013, 08:31 PM

Thank you all for the suggestions.

I'm running Linux Mint 14 on that netbook now, and works OK so far, but I'll keep in mind the versions you suggested.

FredGSanford · 01-28-2013, 05:21 PM

I had an AAO similar to yours I bought in '09 and put Mandriva, then Mageia 2 on it with Gnome 2 and it ran much faster then XP. I had it setup with dual boot.

Just a thought!

jv2112 · 01-28-2013, 07:06 PM

Arch --- > Open box runs great on my Acer One and a Asus 1000PE.

I would not expect any heavy lifting but runs nice and stable on web browsing , word processing , playing media files. Even Supertux when I want to kill time

fbobraga · 02-11-2013, 03:09 PM

I have a Aspire One 110L (with 1GB RAM), running Fedora 17 LXDE: it runs very well - e17 is very fast either, and uses few resources: try run a live http://www.bodhilinux.com/ and see how it goes (it's Ubuntu based)