Puppy Linux on the Aspire One

I finally got Puppy Linux on the One. The wireless is kinda quirky, to be honest. But, I am used to the ease of Ubuntus Network Manager too. So far, it's made my little A150 feel like it has a 4 Ghz processor in it, which is awesome. The version I installed has the Cairo Dock preinstalled and set up, so there's not much to do besides just use it really. It comes with most of the applications that need to be installed in most other distros. It's preinstalle web browser is Seamonkey, chat is Pidgin, several torrent programs, no OpenOffice though. To add applications is relatively easy and simple using Puppy package manager. Well, I'm gonna play with it some more and I'll let you kn ow when I learn more.

Remastersys

I'm trying out Remastersys right now. It is a program to create a disc image of your complete system for backup or for creating a distributable copy. I installed it earlier this morning, and am creating a backup iso of my Ubuntu filesystem, since I cannot figure out at the moment how to use my cell phone as a modem. After it is finished, I will reinstall the factory XP and then dual boot it with Ubuntu. So far it is at 2% after running for about 5 minutes. Seems like it won't take too long. If you would like t try out Remastersys, you need to add a software source to your lists. 

Add    deb http://www.remastersys.klikit-linux.com/repository

After doing that, open up terminal, and enter

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get install remastersys

That will make sure you are updated completely, and install Remastersys. Newt, when you are ready to run the application, go  to System>Administration>Remastersys Backup. When the application opens, select OK in te first window. The next window gives you a list of what you can do. I selected Backup, which backs up all data. Let it run through everything, and you are done.

Burn the finished file to a disc, and now you have a complete backup of your system. I found this application before in hopes I wouldn't need to re-do all the codecs, extra applications, and my madwifi drivers for my Atheros wireless card. I've not yet tried using it for a dual boot setup yet, but I will post with how it works in that situation when I finish. 

Wireless cards.

I just finished swapping wireless cards between my Compaq laptop, and my two Acer laptops. I realized there are major differences between Atheros and Broadcom cards. Both my Acer Aspire One and Acer Aspire 4720Z came with Atheros AR242x WiFi cards. Same model in both. The Compaq F500 laptop came with a Broadcom 4311 WiFi card. I decided to see what was the better card. I started by swapping the Broadcom card into my Acer Aspire 4720Z. Booted up 8.10, and it was jumpy between 90% and 100% signal. Awesome. All I had to do to get it working was select the Broadcom STA wireless driver. I was gonna leave it in that laptop, but I take my Aspire One with me more now, so out of the 4720Z it came. Well, about 10 minutes later is when the One was apart and I realized the two cards were identical. Then out came the Atheros card, and in went the Broadcom card. About 10 minutes later, I booted up 8.10 on the One, selected the STA driver, restarted, and awesome signal. As I write this, I'm sitting on my front porch, where I used to get about 20% to 40% signal. Right now, I have 100% signal. After this mod to my One, I plan on trying to find another Broadcom card for my 4720Z. Oh, and the best part about this card? No more Madwifi drivers to compile. They aren't hard to compile, but it's really unnecessary work. It was well worth the effort.

OS X themed Ubuntu

I just installed Mac4Lin and the Cairo-Dock on my One. Turned out pretty nice. I have the OSX icons, windows, and a nearly identical OSX looking dock. The only thing about this setup is that the wireless applet only shows wireless signal, and won't let you select a network. It's very nice, since now I don't need my bottom bar. If it weren't for needing to select different networks, I would remove my top bar also. Well, not much else to say, so heres a screenshot.

Different Distros on the A150

I've decided to possibly try a different distro on my A150. As of right now, I'm still unsure which I want right now. So far, I've run the Factory Installed XP, Vista Black, Ubuntu 8.04.1, Ubuntu 8.10, Ubuntu 8.10 Netbook Remix, Linpus Lite, and openSUSE. From the beggining. XP. It's Windows. Honestly, I just don't like the look or feel of Windows. Next, Vista Black. Pretty much the same as Xp, just a slightly different look for its GUI. Ubuntu 8.04.1 has probably been my favorite so far. Nice to look at, easy to use, and no problems. 8.10 was a bit of a different experience for me. After install, wifi was easy to setup with Madwifi drivers, everything was nice. Except the clicking. I couldn't pinpoint the cause, but it caused the hard drives to fail on my second and third A150. I know that was the problem because the first had Bios problems, and my final A150 is just fine. Anyway, 8.10 Netbook Remix was the same. Linpus Lite was actually very nice once you unlock its desktop and install a couple different applications. A little bright for me, but still a very user friendly OS. openSuse was a complete failure. The openSuse Wiki is a waste of server space, since none of the commands actually do anything.