Getting Root Terminal with Acer One Netbook?
 

Hi guys,

I've just bought a new netbook, the Acer One (512MB/8GB/1.6Ghz), which runs Linux (no idea what flavor, though as there's no info whatsoever in the documentation and no obvious way to bring up a terminal window, either). Furthermore, I've tried the key combinations of ctr+alt+F1,F2.....F10 and still not a whisker of recognition from whichever kernel it is. The GUI is dedicated Acer, if that's any clue.

So... how can I get CLI root access??

Thanks,

CC.

I'm pretty sure that those Acer One laptops are running Linpus Lite. I've never used that, just heard the name a few times. Google seems to confirm this..

No idea how to open a terminal in one of those, that OS seems to be heavily modified. But a few results from Google seem to be suggesting some simple right-clicking on the desktop. Maybe someone else has had any experience with this.

Yeo Linpus Lite. You probably need to first enable the advanced menus

Check page 2 of this AspireOne tweaks page..
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/09...ips/page2.html


More AspireOne links in my sig..

Yes, it's some 'lite' version of Linux for sure. The rescue DVD that comes with this netbook describes itself as "Linux V1.0.9" which doesn't make much sense to me, I'm afraid.

And right-clicking on the desktop don't do nuthin', I'm sorry to say. I'd prefer to run some other distro, anyway, but I guess this OS is written specifically for the hardware devices of this netbook, and I'd just be getting myself into more grief by trying to install anything else! :-(

Oh yes! Thanks, Farslayer. This gets a terminal emulator up on the desktop! Remind me to mark up your "thanks" ranking for the tip!

CC.

To give thanks, just click the Thumbs up button in the lower right corner of the post that helped.

Glad you found what you needed..

I would suggest reading my blog post (just links basically) and checking the other links for all sorts of goodies for the Acer Aspire One.

Thanks duly added.
I'm just wondering if anyone has put together a better distro for this machine? I mean, this Linpus Lite is fine for newbies, but rather limited for anyone who wants to customise their system. I'd prefer something with Debian roots, ideally, but shrink from the idea of having to mess around getting all the drivers working. If someone's already done it, I'd sure like to grab a copy myself...

I installed Debian Lenny on my Aspire One, because quite frankly using Linpus Lite felt like wearing a straight jacket while attempting to play an intense FPS game like Quake or UT.. Nope I just couldn't take it.. :)

The links in my sig include install guides for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Slackware, and many more distros on the AAO..

I must say EVERYTHING in my netbook is working in Debian, the install guide was very straight forward and hit each item i needed to fix, from the size of the fonts in the console, down to to the Indicator light for the wireless card. Creating the bootable USB flash disk was probably the part I was least familiar with, but the directions were concise.

http://wiki.debian.org/DebianAcerOne

Thanks for the info as I obviously need it. Before I read your last remark, I tried installing the very latest Debian version 5.00 on this netbook, confident in the notion that if all didn't go well, I could always re-install Linpus Lite from the Acer installation CD provided.

The Debian install took over TWO HOURS for some bizzare reason (with a 1Gb swap partition, which one assumes the installer uses)- remember this was only the *CD* install, not the full DVD, so the expanded, installed files only took up 1.4Gb on the 8Gb flash drive. Further, several of the usual Debian packages were not present post-install. Under "Graphics" for example, there was only "Cheese" installed and no "Gimp" as one would typically expect. Several other key packages were missing, too. And that perenial Linux problem: no WLAN detected; not even a network manager to scan for nearby publicly-accessible internet access. At least Linpus Lite has one of those.

So then I decided to go back to Linpus for simplicity's sake. After all, this is only my No. 4 computer, so I can live with the restrictions, under the circumstances. But guess what? The re-installation locks up early on in the process! Multiple re-tries get me nowhere, so I'm downloading another copy off the Web and will hope for better luck with that!

Try this too. Worked with the hard disk version. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne I was completely disappointed with Linpus. Those guys in acer, thought that EVERYONE that buys their netbook is a linux noob. FALSE FALSE FALSE. But anyway, couldnt they just install a more familiar linux distro? such as ubuntu with netbook remix, fedora or something like that? They surely could. The user guide? Is that called a user guide? I would call it "Introduction to Linpus" or "Learning to use Linpus" or something like that. We are waiting April now, Ubuntu 9.04 will turn stable, and rumors say that it will run better on the AAO. ath5k works there too, no need to change to ath_pci.

I think there are several reasons Acer went with Lipus lite.

1. It is lightweight so it runs very well on the low spec machine.
2. The interface is task based, making the unit more appliance like so anyone should be able to use it easily.

Those two reasons pop into my head without thinking about it too hard.. I don't believe the intention ever was to satisfy the Linux power user. The Linux power user can easily install the distro of their choice.

Shrink partition, dump config modules, xorg, etc.. Install prefered distro and try to make them match. That's how i did from preinstalled suse to debian sid :) knoppix gives also good starting config usually

Yes, well if you run Sid you obviously enjoy living life on the edge. Personally, I have enough grief in my computer life as it is, thanks!

I've looked at the info others have posted about installing Lenny or Jaunty but it just looks like way too big a deal for me at this time. I'm not a Linux power user as yet and it would take me a month of sundays to get those systems up and running.

So right now I'd settle for going back to Linpus, but for some reason the install DVD simply locks up, which is just dandy. If I had known this was going to fail I could have made a backup of the installed system on day one. But I didn't; I trusted the media would function and it hasn't. Plus the DVD image I downloaded from the web has a kernel corruption in it, too. So right now I'm in the s**t, basically. >:-(

Any suggestions, anyone??

True :)

Well, you can read the release notes on installing debian (from their webserver), try it and then go in debian subforum on LQ asking for help.
If you get bored or get no answers in the next days, you go back to linpus.

Install dvd hangs. Hum, I wonder how much they charged you for this non working dvd.

Another idea, try ubuntu.

my 2cents..

Ubuntu is what I typically recommend to others, although it's not my own first choice of distro. :-)

Well I have since discovered why the image I downloaded and burned to DVD was corrupted: only 28% of the file had been copied over! So it's hardly surprising it didn't install. :-D

I think, on reflection I'll handle it this way...
I'll first of all get Linpus lite up and running again and updated, then make a proper back-up. Once that's safely done, I fancy I might then have the luxury of trying Farslayer's tips on installing Debian Lenny on the AAO, just for the hell of it, knowing I can always revert at any time. I sort of like a challenge and although it'll be a nightmare (given previous experience of this kind of thing), I'll blog about my endeavours here and maybe others can get some sadistic enjoyment out of seeing me struggle hopelessly to achieve the damn-near impossible (by MY standards).