Ubuntu Forums.

Arg. I know the Ubuntu Forum is probably the best Linux forum, but some of the moderators and staff are so closed minded. I've been trying to get an Acer Forum started for about a month now. I thought at first, as good as this forum is, I can get an Acer forum started or at least figure out why there isn't one already. All I have to say is wow. Some of the people that have replied to my thread are straight up smart-asses. I was trying to start a serious thread, since there are so many unsolved questions about Acer computers, and since most Acer questions go ignored. Dell and Apple users have their forum, so why can't we? I've been told that Dell sells laptops with Ubuntu pre-installed. Where? After I was told that, I actually searched the electronic stores here, and never found one with Ubuntu already on it. Just because, correct me if I'm wrong, they made a model or two with Ubuntu, doesn't mean they need a seperate forum for just that reason. Now to Apple computers. Why should they have a forum to themselves? With the newer Apples coming with Intel chipsets, and Ubuntu no longer supporting the PowerPC, there is no need for an Apple forum either. If you are an Acer owner, and have had any unsolved or unanswered threads on Ubuntu forums before, go here and tell them we need a forum. It looks like the only way toget a forum started is for us to unite and tell the staff and moderators we need a forum. I say this because I personally love helping out other Acer owners. But the problem is I know I miss a lot of questions. Searching doesn't help since 3/4 of the search results for Acer will bring up threads where people are bashing Acer or saying another brand is better, or that they once owned an Acer. What good does that do? Before someone thinks I just trying to bash the forums for not getting my way, I'm not. I've started a lot of threads there, but most of my knowledge has come from trial and error, and a lot of time with no computer because of problems noone would even bother to answer. A friend had an HP laptop, and that's the EXACT reason why he went to Apple. He had paid someone to do the basic install, and when he needed help, the forums did no good. I know HP isn't the topic right now, but it is a good example of the problem plaguing the forums right now, Most manufacturers have very nice support. Acer, unfortunately, does not.

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.

The new Acer Aspire One

Well, theres word out of the new Acer Aspire One. It comes with a 10.1 inch screen, now with a max expansion of 2 gigs of ram, optional Bluetooth and 3G, and a different finish on and around the keyboard. From what I've read, no real word about the touchpad yet. So far, the new One sounds pretty good. I would have asked for a little bit smaler of a screen, since netbooks are supposedly for portability. I just hope Acer does betterwith their warranty than with the A150 about memory upgrades. I guess we will see about that one. So far, so good Acer.