I recently bought an Acer Aspire One but have found that the included distro is very unhelpful in the way it handles itself. I'd like to install kubuntu or one of the later versions of Fedora but I'm not sure how smooth that would be.

The distro I have now is Linpus Linux Lite which is very, very basic, it doesn't have most of the features of the other more major distros.

Also I think the package manager just stopped functioning next to me, right this very moment.

So could I install another distro or would it be better to just build on the one I already have?

Just to add to that, the reason I'm worried about using LInpus is that it seems to be having stability issues. Sometimes programs just disappear off the toolbar, but are still active processes and it sometimes just won't start up, without any error messages. It will just refuse to function.

The better way would be to first check with the live version of the distro to see if the hardware is supported. Aspire One seems to be a netbook low on resources.
So it would be a good decision to look around for a smaller distro than full blown fedora or kubuntu. Puppy would be a good choice.
Lately there have been a lot of issues with acer aspire one with this linpus lite. They should probably ship with some other distro I think.

If you're interested, I know that Mandriva made it so that their distribution can be used on such hardware, from version 2009.0 on.

Yves.

I hacked my EeePC default install quite a lot, adding in the extra repositories and adding new software, but it was always difficult to do (because it wasn't designed with that in mind), so I eventually gave in, backed up the default installation, and installed eeebuntu or Ubuntu eee (now called Easy Peasy Linux) on it - I can't remember exactly which I opted for in the end.

All the major components worked out of the box (wireless, sound, display! etc.), I just had a few niggling issues with hotkeys and stuff like that, although I understand these have mostly been fixed in newer releases of the customised distros I mentioned above.

From reading around, I think Easy Peasy should work Out of the Box (TM) on the Aspire One, so you should be good to go. There are also guides for getting a Debian installation customised for these netbooks, and I'm sure the same applies for Fedora. If you're planning on using an Ubuntu derivative, then use one of the ones specifically designed for netbooks (as opposed to straight Kubuntu, for example).

Thanks guys, I took a look at Easy Peasy and it does look spectacular compared to the rather drab look of Linpus, much more usable too.

Could I use a memory stick to install from, as opposed to a cd? I don't have an external disc drive but I do have a fully functioning flash pen.

And one last, VERY important question. Can I keep Super Tux?

Yeah it is possible to install from a pen drive if your bios supports booting form a usb. Super tux can still be installed from the repos.

I'm pretty certain you can install from USB - take a look at their Wiki, it's the most likely place to have that information. Otherwise, find a guide somewhere on the web for installing any distro from USB, the process is likely to be the same. For example: http://www.ubuntu-eee.com/wiki/index...on_a_USB_stick and http://lubi.sourceforge.net/unetbootin.html.

Ace, I'll have to get on this when I get home, for now I have to get some work done. Thanks for all your help guys.

Anytime. Just come back if you have any more issues. And if you succeed tell others about it so that everyone can get help out of it.

Here is a list of HOW-TO install various Distros on the Acer Aspire One.
I installed Debian from a USB Flash drive onto mine and am very happy with it.


http://wiki.debian.org/DebianAcerOne
slackware 12.1
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Acer_Aspire_One
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Acer_Aspire_One_A110L
http://en.opensuse.org/OpenSUSE_on_the_Aspire_One
http://www.foresightlinux.org/mobile.html
Mandriva 2009
Mandriva Mini

The trick is the newer hardware in the netbooks. you have to have a recent kernel to support most of the hardware.

Just an update.

I installed easy peasy but somethings gone wrong, it won't connect to the internet through ethernet, the webcam doesn't work, updates don't work, it can't find any hardware drivers...

Whoops.

Anyone know if there's some sort of fix for this?

Weird, EasyPeasy is based on Ubuntu 8.10, so I would think it should work out of the box.. I mean if I can get Debian (testing) to identify ALL the a hardware in my AcerAspireOne, then Ubuntu should certainly be able to do it.

What version of kernel is running in EP ? uname -a

If I recall the AAO required the 2.6.26 kernel in order for the network and several other items to be detected and functional.

well since E-P is based on Ubuntu 8.10 you could follow the Ubuntu link in my previous post and see what options you have for getting things working. according to that page Almost everything works out of the box..

I've got the one up, 2.6.27.

Another weird thing is that it asks me to install everytime I start up.

Are you sure your install completed ?

I have the same issue too: on boot up into Ubuntu, the system will ask me for the administrative password and proceed to restart the installation process (even though I have already installed it). If I ignore the request for the admin password, the issue will go away (until the next reboot).

Some lingering start-up script somewhere?

Why?