Thoughts on linpus updates and distros

First things, I like the Linpus Aspire One distro because of it's simplicity and because it is fast. I have a long experience of linux and I have tailored this distro to suit myself. Secondly, Fedora has dropped support for Fedora 8, which the Acer One Linpus is based on. This means that repositories for additonal packages and updates will be disapperaing and no more updates will be made. I have used Fedora repositories and other (for instance atrpms.net) to install additional packages.

So, how to move on? I will not install Fedora 10, because it is too bulky and slow and requires a lot of tailoring (apart from that, for instance the Fedora XFCE Live is working quite good). I might consider Fedora 11 when it is out. There is also Moblin, but it will take a long time before it is ready.

I have already made my own local mirrors of Fedora 8 updates and some contrib repositories as a precaution. This is maybe fine for now.

The downside of the whole thing is that I have to compile stuff myself if I want new versions of some specific software. Not a problem, but it means more maintenance work. Time is expensive these days. One software that I am especially thinking about is MythTV. At the time when I also had Fedora 8 on another, faster computer, compiling MythTV would not have been a problem, but now I have upgraded to Fedora 10 on all of my other computers. I would not imagine compiling MythTV on the Acer One (I've compiled MythTV a lot in the past). Compiling in a Fedora 8 virtual machine is the only option. For now I am running the last version from the atrpms repo, but this repo is also gone now.

I really don't have a point here, just rambling. The right thing to do is probably to switch to another distro, but there is no need to hurry yet.

Any thoughts on the matter?

 

Hi Jukk

Yes I too have noticed that the repositories for Fedora 8 are no longer available What exactly would be the best alternative Linux distro?
Any thoughts would be appreciated

THANKS

 

I think the best distro out there is Mandriva 2009, they claim that they fully support Netbooks such as AA1, but I think this is limited to with HDD, win XP one. I tried Mandriva 2009.0 GNOME on the aa1 with SSD, not really good, wifi switch not working, wifi working, microphone not working, SD card reader not working. I think all these can be solved by doing mods. but they are really troublesome. I you just want to have fun, go ahead, if you want to have a usable system, don't try it! That's what I think, that's why I am still keeping my Linpus. I love linpus but I hated it. It is fast, small, and it boots quickly, however, it expandability is really horrible. I am waiting to see if acer is going to release something new as the new 10.1" uses Linpus too. Also, Acer has not been publishing any updates via live update, I am wondering if they are going to abandon Linux and use Windows on their machine later>?

 

i think linpus (remember that linpus is not owned by acer) will adapt their software to be based on F9 or F10 soon because they know as well as anyone that fedora no longer supports F8, you will just have to wait for linpus to update their distro, then hope that acer modifies it for the one or just install it as is and modify it to suit.

another option is to install a newer fedora xfce spin as then at least the underlying system will be recognisable to you, or try one of the myriad of other distro's out there

phil

 

I've currently got a couple of Fedora 10 installs on my AA1; one weighs in at 2.2 GB (LXDE desktop with a bunch off GNOME stuff kept on disk); the other at 2.4GB (a straight GNOME desktop). A stripped-down LXDE desktop system without any of the development packages and minus most of the docs comes in at about 1.9GB for me. Wifi works. Card readers work (but require a little tweaking). Haven't tried a straight F10 XFCE install, but can't believe it would be much heavier than 2 GB. My big complaint about Linpus is that their customized packages break too many standard Fedora packages. On the other hand, Linpus has the only kernel that enables the xD card reading capabilities if the right card slot; the modules compile, but do not work with kernels newer than 2.6.23.

One of my pet peeves is the card slot situation. I'm content to limit myself to the use of SD cards, but I expect both slots to work whether or not the slots are occupied when I boot the computer. For this to happen, it appears (I have not conclusively verified it) to be necessary that pciehp be loaded as a module with the pciehp_force=1 option. This condition is not sufficient, however; When I do this with Puppy Linux 4.2rc4 (which uses kernel 2.6.25-16), the system locks up when I insert a card in the right slot after having inserted a card successfully in the left slot.

 

...... wifi switch not working,
wifi working,
microphone not working,
SD card reader not working.
I think all these can be solved by doing mods.
but they are really troublesome.


__________________________________________


I have many years of frustration , installing Linux on PC's .

99% of those involved in Linux are Luddites , looking for Fame .
I once wrote Linus Torvalds , telling him how easy it is to
modernise multi tasking to a priority based switching scheme .
No reply ...
He gets a lot of milage from "fixing" Linux !!




But ACER needed to sell a PC with fewer Linux problems , so
buyers would not make long lines at customer service window !

Linpus is crash proof . Now all it needs is wild mods on kernel
to nix the waste , then mod the modules , to nix the waste ...

When i have time i'll reduce Linpus and nix the silly stuff like
multi tasking ...

Totally integrated ( no OpenOffice nor FireFox ) ...




There is only one way to work , alone , no committes , no books ,
no refernces ...
You must put Linpus in a single step mode and study the effects
of your wild mods ..

The Original RTLinux is a single step mode ,
The Luddites , today , deny this .

 

Well yep you are right about the single step mode I feel like putting it under my foot and stepping on it

 

I've done some research. You're exaggerating. It's only 97.56%

 

Kuki Linux, http://www.kuki.me is a distro based on Ubuntu with XFCE (Xubuntu?), and is
tailored specifically for the Acer Aspire One. The idea is that when it is released, it will be a
plug and play substitute for the Limpus distro.

The Release Candidate, based on Ubuntu Alpha 6 was released yesterday, 3/24. They have
a number of bugs, but none are show stoppers. They expect another RC "real soon now."

The final Kuki will come out when Ubuntu comes out with the official 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope,
so for now it will be a series of Release Candidates. At this point, I would only recommend Kuki
for those familiar with Ubuntu and Linux, as this is still a bit raw.

Those that are familiar with the Sickboy kernel will recognize Sickboy as being one of main
developers of Kuki, and his kernel (or an updated one) is a core part of Kuki. When Kuki comes
out in its final form, expect to load it on a boot USB stick for instant install.

Macles has an incredibly useful "backup and restore" for the SSD AO. You put in a 4 to 8 GB
usb stick, run his program and back it up. Now the entire SSD image is on your stick. You can
boot off it, are restore to the identical configuration you had when you did the backup. It can
even back up a Windows running AO. I believe the hard drive version will work provided you
can use a big usb stick, but I am not sure. It does *not* backup the SD cards.

I mention this because you ought to back up your AAO *before* you start experimenting with
Kuki's, Ubuntu's, Puppies' and the like. If things go awry, you can go back to the way you
were. I love his backup program, its all there ... my Firefox bookmarks, my love letters, you
name it. Check it out in Macles' site at http://macles.blogspot.com/ Look for it and you will
see it.

-- argee
Nome, Alaska, USA

 

this is no longer the case as of bios 3309, both card readers are shown at boot and setup properly for hotplugging without having to force load the phiehp module or using the setpci -d 197b:2381 AE=47 line either

phil

 

It's more than the BIOS. I upgraded to BIOS 3309. With Moblin alpha2, you don't get a usable right card slot unless you have a card inserted at boot time - it's a kernel thing and the Moblin devs working on tweaking their kernel closed my bug as WONTFIX.

 

well then my and my partners aao150's must be different to yours, i have fully working hotplug in both left and right slots with sd cards with F10 since kernel 2.6.27.19-170 and bios3309. i'll have a look about the net and see if i can turn something up as to why it's working for me

[edit]
i just found some confirming data that shows the same findings as me on the debian aspire one wiki, http://wiki.debian.org/DebianAcerOne#Cardreader
[/edit]

phil