Live update problems in Linpus Linux
 

Hi, I just received my new Acer Aspire One with a Linpus Linux OS on Thursday. I've never had anything with Linux on it before so please bear with me.

Anyway, after some effort I was able to get it online and was informed by Live Update that there are 19 updates available. I have run Live Update on numerous occasions and just keep getting an error message which states..."incorrect information file", then in smaller letters .."rerun Live Update again to fix the problem"...

Keeping in mind I only have experience with Windows, can anybody give me an inkling as to what is going on? And are these so called updates of any importance, can I live without them? BTW, I've been to the Aspire One forum and have gotten no relief. Thank you in advance and I apologize for my naivete.

Warning: I have never used an Acer Netbook.
I got the impression from Linpus homepage that it's not that high quality, (no contact information for example)
so it may be so at the product also. What I'm trying to say is don't spend too much time on trying to get it to work in case their stuff are buggy.
Any support plan or something from Acer?
Maybe contact Acer.

I'm currently downloading the actual ISO, so what I have to say is a little preliminary, but anyway: This doesn't sound like a bad problem. The tip that's given ("rerun Live Update ...") is the correct one. The catch is that most distributions keep track of their system state and compare it to an online repository of applications - that's how the application's able to tell you if and which updates are available. But before downloading and installing any updates, the system's got to make sure that the updates will fit in and all dependencies are met. So, if the list(s) aren't verifiable, the system throws an error - that's to keep your system intact. Rerunning the application should enable the system to verify its list(s); after that, the update should work without issue ("should" meaning: if the maintainers of the repository in question do a good job, it will).

M.

Thank you for your response. I reran Live Update immediately after getting the error message.."incorrect information file'..."rerun Live Update again to fix the problem". Unfortunately, it didn't fix the problem, I just keep getting the same message, though it does occasionally change to.."information download failed"

As these updates aren't security patches and I just use the AA1 for web browsing..how important are they, do I really need them? I'm really in the dark here, any suggestions would be appreciated.

The second error message ("information download failed") tells you where the real problem lies; unfortunately, there's no easy fix for that: The vendor's (Linpus') repositories fail to respond in a correct way - either they've got it wrong (I don't hope so) or the server's not working properly and they can fix it soon.

The good thing is that while it is recommendable to do all updates, as long as your systems not unsafe, you don't need to bother too much. But most bugfixes are worth having... Mostly, they fix functional problems. I've had a look at LinpusLite, it looks a bit unpolished, but worked pretty well, so I guess they're (for the moment) just patching things up.

If you get fed up with that problem, you can always move on - there are ways of getting fully blown distributions (like Ubuntu) to work on the Acer Aspire One, and I can assure you that those updates work.

Curiously, I had very similar problems with the original Xandros installation on my Asus Eee 701 - updates stopped working and the system became (after some unfinished ones) unstable and slow. After moving to Ubuntu, I don't experience that kind of problems any more. But beware: Even if they've made good headway, the hardware's still not fully supported. There are more dedicated projects that should work for the One as well - google Linux Eee, most stuff that works on the newer Eee models will probably work on the One as well.

M.