Netbook Experience

A big thanks to Herman who has sent in the following great article to me to publish on the site.

Thanks Herman….

Some people may not like the fact that neither their Aspire One netbook nor the linux operating system will allow them to play modern games.

So, why not play some old favourites on the Aspire one? I am a fan of the FPS genre and Doom and Quake are classics that made FPS what it is today. Both are DOS based games and will therefore only run under a DOS emulator.

So first we need to install DOSEMU which happens to be part of the Mint Linux Synaptic Package Manager. Open the Package Manager (in Mint’s “Adminstration” menu folder) and do a “quick search” for “dosemu” and it finds version 1.4. This is quickly installed and can be found back in the System Tools menu as DOS emulator.

In Mint Linux two drives are recognised C: and D:. The D: drive is where you can access data, files etc. So let’s install Quake. Go to http://www.idsoftware.com/games/quake. Select Quake from the submenu and download the demo “Quake106.zip”.

Doubleclicking the file will open it in the file archiver. Extract it in a place where you can easily find it from within your Dos emulator. In the Dos emulator navigate to the drive and directory where the unzipped files reside. You can use the “cd” command to change the directory.

Run the install.bat file, indicate you want the files to be installed on the D: drive and let the program make a directory called “quake_sw”. The rest is easy. Use a video size of 800×600 for best results and press Ctrl+Alt+F to maximise the Dos screen.

Doom is installed very much in the same way although you will not find a Doom (1st episode) demo on the idsoftware page. Instead go to http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/doom/.

Is FPS not your cup of tea and you prefer the curves of Lara Croft (aka Tomb Raider)? I installed Tomb Raider effortlessly in the same way.

Have fun!

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Picasa is a great free application for storing, sorting and editing pictures.

I’ve used it before on a PC but I didn’t now that there was a Linux version until now.

To Install Picasa:

• Download the Linux version of Picasa which will work on the Acer Aspire One by Clicking here.
• Choose to open the file with the software installer application, you will need to enter your Admin Password.
• The software installation process will now begin, however no icon will be installed into the Advanced Menu.

To add a Menu Item for Picasa in the Advanced Menu.

• Right Click on the desktop to display the menu
• Select Settings and the Menu Editor
• Click on Add Entry
• Enter Picasa 3 in the Name
• Enter picasa in the command box (make sure it’s all lowercase)
• Choose an icon.
• Click on OK

You will now be able to run Picasa from the Advanced Menu

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So new articles a have been a bit thin on the ground recently and here why.

Firstly I’ve been trying the new Meego OS and just taking time to test it. Secondly Fatherhood takes up 150% of my time. Finally Google used to send over 100 visitors to my site a day most of which were looking for help with Netbook related issues.

Recently Google updated their search algorithms and overnight my traffic all but stopped, I’m still trying to work out why and how I can resolve the issue. It’s come as a bit of a blow and it feels like a lot of hard work is wasted.

Perhaps a little breather is needed. Watch this space

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I’ve recently been looking at Travel cases for Netbooks to see whats out on the market, in previous articles I’ve looked at  The Mobilis Sleeve, and The Mobilis Netbag, both are aimed at different markets, the Sleeve provides a light weight method to protect your Netbook from scratches whilst you are traveling, the Netbag proivdes a stylish way to carry your netbook and also any documents you may have whilst providing protection against bumps and knocks.

How about if you want an option that offers more protection then the Sleeve, but that isn’t as bulky as the Netbag? How about the Mobilis Netcase.

With enough space to carry your Netbook, the Netcase presents a briefcase style option for carrying your Netbook with you. The case provides high density foam pads on the inside of the case which provide enough protection for your Netbook to protect it against most drops and bangs. There are also protective “bumper” bars that run around the outside of the case to add extra support whilst on the move 

Included with the case are Velcro tabs which can be used to securely lock your Netbook into place  whilst out on the road

Like the Netbag the Netcase looks stylish and executive and provides a lightweight option to provide protection to your Netbook whilst travelling.

To Purchase the Mobilis Netcase click here 

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In this post I looked at an executive style case designed for Netbooks from Mobilis, but if you want something a bitlighter to protect your Netbook whilst in your rucksack or under your arm then a sleeve may be more appropriate for you.

I’ve recently been looking at a number of different cases and I’ve come across the Mobilis Sleeve, Which has been designed to be a lightweight and fashionable 2nd skin for your Netbook. Made from Neoprene the Sleeve provides a comfortable fit around your netbook and the Skin is reversible to provide a choice of colours.

The Mobilis Sleeve provides a cost effective way to provide protection for your Netbook, especially if you don’t need to carry any accessories (e.g. power adapter), it’s not going to protect your device against large  impacts but the case will provide adequate protection to stop scratches when being carried in a bag.

If you are looking for a Netbook Sleeve then check them out 

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With the App you can complete Sponsored Checkin’s by  making  purchases at local businesses such as restaurants, movie theaters, attractions and national retail chains, and simply by taking a picture of the experience and logging the experience through the app, you earn points! 
Each point is worth a cent and when you earn 1,000 points ($10.00), you can cash out your points through PayPal.

There are over 15,000,000 businesses in WeReward, it’s worth checking whats availble in your area as there may be plenty of oppotunities nearby to earn points

In addition to points by sharing experiences you can Unlock badges and  the App  lets you share your experience through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare.

More information can be found at WeReward.com or Download the App to give it a try. You may even discover something new in your area.
Check out the video below.

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TweetDeck is a popular social networking tool, originally designed for use with Twitter but now supporting several Social Networking sites.  It’s popular because it allows the managment of and interaction with multiple accounts from one application and view.

TweetDeckruns on Adobe Air so is easily accessable across dfferent platforms and operating systems, and it runs well on the Acer Aspire One running Jolicloud Linux.

Before you can install TweetDeck you need to install Adobe Air, this is easy to do in Jolicloud, you can search for Adobe Air in the Jolicloud App directory and it can be installed by clicking on the install button . 

Installing the TweetDeck application isn’t as straight forward, on some OS’s you can just click on the install button on the TweetDeck website, but this doesn’t seem to work on Jolicloud, and instead you need to download the install file from:  http://bit.ly/thedec. When the file has downloaded double click on it and it will run and install in Adobe Air.

After installation TweetDeck wil be available from the accessories Menu, Happy Tweeting.

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I’ve been very happy running Mint Linux Fluxbox on my Acer Aspire One but after a recommendation  from Charlie Callow on a comment on this site, I’ve been looking at Jolicloud Linux on my AA1.

Jolicloud linux is based on Ubuntu but has been optimised for Netbook use, with optimised disk and memory access, and compatability appears to be great, without any additional work all the correct drivers for the Acer Aspire One appear to be installed and working correctly.

Jolicloud has it’s own App Market called the App Directory (shown below) which provides a nice and friendly method of installing new applications. Jolicloud appears to be heavily focused on Cloud Computing, and even has it’s own integrated Social network,  but traditional locally installed apps eg OpenOffice, can be installed from the App Directory 

Although on first impressions Jolicloud appears to be slightly slower then Mint Linux Fluxbox, operation is quick and certainly the web browsing I’ve tried has been speedy.   

Its still early days for my experience with Jolicloud but watch this space, and I’ll report back here on my findings.

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There are many different types of case available for  Netbooks, to meet all your needs and requirements, so I thought I would look at a few.

The first case I looked at was the Netbag from Mobilis

Aimed at the executive market the Netbag provides a way of transporting both your netbook and documents in one small stylish case. The Netcase has 2 seperate compartments to allow the safe transportation of both 10″ and 13″ netbooks.

The compartment on top of the case can be used to transport a 10 ” Netbook and allows you to use the netbook without removing it from the case with  a support band keeping your netbook secure.

Mobilis specialise in creating ruggedised casing to protect your PC’s and gadgets and the Netbag is no exception with a high density form backing supporting your Netbook and providing protection against bumps and bangs.

If carrying a 10″ netbook then the main compartment provides ample space to carry paper hardcopies of your notes and your gadgets safely and securely.

The Netbag is a stylish way to carry your Netbook with you, especially if you use it for work and need to carry a small office around with you as well. The quality of the bag is is very high and wouldn’t look out a place in any business meeting or along side any commuter on the train.

To purchase the Netbag click here

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One of the most popular games is the classic Tetris which is available across many formats, and there’s a really good version called Gnometris available for Mint Linux and it works really well on the Acer Aspire One.

To install Gnometris on the Acer Aspire One running Mint Linux Fluxbox.

• Right click on the Fluxbox desktop.
• Click on Synaptic
• Enter your admin password if required
• Type Gnometris into the quick search box
• Click in the box next to Gnometris and click on Mark for Installation
• Click on Apply and Gnometris will install.
• Gnometris will now be available in the Games Menu

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Over at Techplay-Experience there’s an Interesting Article on how to add broadband internet in your car by using the 3 MiFi.

The benefit of this for netbook users is great, email, social networking, traffic updates, Skype etc, all from the comfort of your car.

Suddenly car journeys may become more fun and productive.

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Here all.

Just a quick note to explain the lack of recent posts on Netbook-Experience.com.

I’ve just become a Dad for the first time and at the moment that’s taking 100% of my time.

Hopefully over the next couple of weeks, articles will start flowing again.

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If your Acer Aspire One is no longer working properly, then you might want to re-install Linux and reset the AA1 to it’s factory default settings.

To do this you will need to create  recovery disk on a USB data stick.

To create a recover disk for the Acer Aspire One:

You will need a computer with a cd drive, the recovery cd that came with your AA1 and a usb  data stick (at least 2 gb).

1) Turn on the computer and enter the bios setup of the computer.

2) Change the boot sequence of your computer to boot from the cd drive first.

3) Save the Bios settings.

4) Place the cd into the drive and put the usb stick into the computers usb port and reboot the computer.

5) When the menu appears quickly choose the option to create a recovery usb drive drive.

6) After a short while a menu screen will appear – click on go ahead.

7) Select your usb data stick, and click on ok.

8 ) After a while the process will complete and you will now have a recovery usb data stick for the Acer Aspire One.

Now you can install Linpus Linux onto your Acer Aspire One.

9) Plug the usb data stick into Acer Aspire One .

10) Turn the AA1 on, and press F12 to enter the boot selection screen.

11) Select your  usb data stick from the list of drives to boot from.

12) Follow on screen instructions to install Linpus on to the internal disk drive, and the installation will now begin. When the install has completed your Acer Aspire One will have been restored to factory settings.

The Acer Guy has produced a fantastic video showing the entire process.  The video can be seen below.

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As standard when you boot into Mint Linux running Fluxbox you need to enter a user name and password every time the computer starts.

There is a software utility included with Mint Linux to automatically log in a user account of your choice.

To automatically log on to Mint Linux running Fluxbox:

1) Right click on the Mint Linux Fluxbox Desktop to open the applications menu.

2) Go to the system section and select preferences

3) Launch the SLim Autologin Application

4) Enter you admin password

5) Enter the name of the user account that you want to automatically login when the computer starts.

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Are you looking for a new Netbook or perhaps you are looking for something a little more portable then your average laptop.

The netbook market has come a long way in recent months,  and I’ve found a great site for netbook reviews.

For example have a look at their Asus 1001P  review if you are looking for a netbook with great battery life, or if you are looking for a light 10″ netbook have a look at their Toshiba Mini NB305 review

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Techplay-Experience.com have recently written an article on a web based golf game called WGT, and given the lack of good golf games (see this article on how to run Links golf on the Acer Aspire One) and with WGT being free to play I thought I would give it a go on my humble Acer Aspire One.

One the AA1 running Mint Linux Fluxbox and on the Opera Internet Browser the game runs reasonably well, occasionally after you hit a shot there is a short pause whilst the game works out where the ball will land, but this won’t spoil your enjoyment of the game to much.

The game graphics are fantastic with computer generated players super imposed over real photographs of the courses.

If you are looking for a good golf game for your Acer Aspire One then check out this article over at Techplay Experience.

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One of the elements missing as standard in the Fluxbox version of Mint Linux is the ability to capture a screen shot. This is an important function for some users including yours truly.

There is a utility available in the package manager called screenshooter which will capture the current screen.

The install Screenshooter:

1) Open the Synaptic package manager from the Program Menu ( accessed by right clicking on the desktop). Enter your Admin password if required.

2) Type screenshooter in the quick search box

3) Click in the box next to the 2nd screenshooter box and choose mark for installation.

4) Click on Apply and Screen Shooter will now install and will be available in the  Accessories section of the program menu called Screenshot.

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Google Chrome is a popular web browser based on the open source Chromium browser.

It’s possible to install Chromium on the Acer Aspire One on several OS’s

To install Chromium on the Acer Aspire One running Linpus read this post

To install Chromium on the Acer Aspire One running Mint Linux follow this procedure:

1) Open a Terminal Window and type: sudo apt-get install gedit

Input your admin password if required, this will install the gedit text editor

2) In the Terminal Window type sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list    and again enter your admin password if required, this will open redit.

3) Enter the following 2 lines at the bottom of the document

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu karmic main

Save the file.

4) In the terminal window copy and paste the following line: sudo apt-key adv –recv-keys –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 0xfbef0d696de1c72ba5a835fe5a9bf3bb4e5e17b5

5) In the terminal window type sudo apt-get update

6) In the terminal window type sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

Chromium will now install, and should be available in the Internet program section.

or you can run the application by typing chromium-browser in a terminal window.

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If you are looking for a cheap Netbook, then Acer are selling refurbished Linux Acer Aspire One’s for the low price of £122.97 for the 8GB SSD version or £129.97 for the 16GB SSD version.

These are bargin prices and ideal if you are looking for a netbook, and don’t mind a scratch on the case.

To see Acer’s offers check out this page.

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In this post I mentioned how well the fluxbox version of Mint Linux runs on the Acer Aspire One, and I strongly recommend that users of the Acer Aspire One switch to this OS if they are struggling or are frustrated with the default Linpus Operating system.

Here’s the procedure for installing Mint Linux with the Fluxbox desktop on the Acer Aspire One.

On a Windows PC with a USB .

1) Download the ISO file for Mint Linux Fluxbox by clicking here.

2) Download  Linux Live USB Creator by clicking here and then run the application.

3) Select your USB Pen Drive in Step 1

4) Click on the ISO option is Step 2 and point the application to the ISO file you downloaded. You may get a warning that the program doesn’t recognise the distribution, and it’s going to use the settings for Mint 8 Helena – this is fine

5) Set the Persistence to 0MB

6) Tick the box that allows the application to format your USB Drive – you will loose everything on your Drive.

7) Click on the Lightning icon to start the installation

When the install has completed:

1) Reboot your AA1 with the USB stick will plugged in.

2) Press F12 when the Acer Flash screen appears to choose the boot device

3) Select your  USB Drive.

4) A Mint Linux boot menu will appear – select install and Mint Linux Fluxbox will now install on your Acer Aspire One.

One of the first things you will notice is that there is no Start or Menu button in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. To access your applications click the right mouse button on the desktop

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As standard the Acer Aspire One comes with 512 meg RAM which as standard is fine for most Netbook Activities, however some of you may require a bit more memory, especially if you want to multitask applications under windows XP.

Upgrading the RAM on the Acer Aspire One is possible but tricky, the video below explains how to do it, I would advise that you only do the upgrade if you are completly comfortable taking laptops apart.

This is a process that I’ve had no need to do myself, but it may help a number of you.

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In this previous post I described how to install Mobile Internet on the Acer Aspire One running Linpus

This article explains how to install a Mobile Internet 3g Dongle on the Acer Aspire One running Mint Linux Fluxbox,

The process is simple and is tested on the 3g dongle released by 3UK.

To install the dongle on Fluxbox:

1. Right click on the network icon in the bottom right hand corner of the Screen
2. Click on Edit Connections
3. Click on  Mobile Broadband
4. Click on Add
5. This will launch a Wizard
6. Click on Forward
7. Choose your country and click on Forward
8. Choose your provider and click on Forward
9. Choose the right plan and click on Forward
10. Click on apply

Restart your Acer Aspire One with your dongle in the USB port, and after you have logged on, left click on the network icon,  and your broadband connection will be available in the list of available connections.

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For those of you who have installed Skype on the Acer Aspire one running the Fluxbox version of Mint Linux you may be experiencing some difficulties with the audio quality through the Internal mic.

To resolve this issue:

1) Open the Mint Menu and load Terminal

2) Type cd / and press return

3) Type cd etc and press return

4) type sudo rm asound.conf and press return

5) Enter your admin password if prompted

6) Reboot your computer

Your audio quality in Skype will now be greatly improved.

If you are having problems with Skype when running Mint Linux 8 Helena – check out this post

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Recently the source code for the original Simcity has been donated by EA to the One Laptop One Child project under GNU License.

The results are Micropolis and it’s available to play on the Acer Aspire One running Mint Linux through the package manager.

To install Micropolis on the Acer Aspire One running Mint Linux:

1) Activate the Mint Menu

2) Load the Synaptic Package Manager

3) Enter your Admin Password

4) Enter micropolis into the Quick search box

5) Click into the box next to Micropolis and mark for installation.

6) Click on install

Micropolis will now install and be available in the Games Menu.

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Once again there’s a high profile news story where a young child has lost their life after meeting their killer on a social networking site.

It’s the responsibility of every parent to make sure that their children are using the Internet in a safe way, otherwise you won’t know what they are doing or who they are talking to.

Fortunately there are products on the market that can help you, there are plenty of  Internet Safety Software out there which can help.

Software like Spector Pro which takes frequent screenshots of the Internet activity as well as recording chat sessions, Social networking activity emails and web searches, really help you to monitor and look after your loved ones.

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In this article I described how to install Mint Linux8 (Helena) on the Acer Aspire One.

As standard Mint Linux comes supplied with the Gnome Desktop which provides a stylish, easy to use and configurable user Interface, and one which puts the Windows XP experience to shame.

However on the humble Acer Aspire One sometimes Mint Linux 8 is a bit laggy, although using the Opera Browser rather the Firefox assists the web browsing experience.

There are other versions of Mint Linux available which use different desktop environments and one of them is the Fluxbox desktop.

Fluxbox is a lite desktop environment, which means that it’s less complex then heavier desktops and may be missing some of the more advanced functionality, eg you cant grab screen shots with a button press, but it makes up for it with speed, and the Fluxbox version of Mint Linux flies, it’s even quicker to use then Linpus.
It is a little less stylish to use then Mint with Gnome, eg there isn’t a menu button to access applications, the program menu is access through a right click on desktop, but both versions of mint run the same applications.

The table below shows a comparison of the usability and functionality of the 3 types of Linux I’ve tested recently with my scoring:

If you are looking with a really quick operating system for your Netbook and are looking for more flexibility then the original linpus then checkout the Fluxbox version of Mint Linux

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In this post I described how to play FreeCiv in a Web Browser

In this post I described how to install FreeCiv on the Linpus version of the Acer Aspire One, and also how unfortunately it stopped working when a software repository was taken off line.

FreeCiv is an open source version of the PC classic game Civilization, and previously I’ve had difficulty getting it to work on the Acer Aspire One but on Mint Linux it works really well.

To install FreeCiv on the Acer Aspire One running Mint Linux.

1) Click on the Mint Menu Bar

2) Click on Package Menu

3) Enter your admin password

4)Search fro FreeCiv

5) Click on the box next to freeciv-client-gtk and click on mark for installation

6) Click on Apply

7) Freeciv will now install and will be available in the Games section of the Mint Menu.

Before Playing FreeCiv right click on the program bar at the bottom of the screen.

9) Click on Properties

10) Enable Auto Hide. This will slide the program bar off the screen when it’s not needed and will give you the extra space needed to play FreeCiv.

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Most Internet users use some form of instant messaging (eg MSN messenger) to talk to their friends and colleagues and Netbooks cope with Instant Messaging applications very well.

Both Linpus and Mint Linux come with good instant messaging clients:

• On Linpus the Messenger application can be accessed through the Connect Section, and provides access to MSN Messenger
• On Mint Linux a great instant messaging application called Pidgin can be found in the Internet section of the Mint Menu Bar.

Pidgin supports many different messenger systems including MSN, Google, Facebook and many more.

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In this post I described how to install Skype on the Acer Aspire One running Mint Linux.

If you follow this procedure then you will find that the microphone doesn’t appear to work in Skype. If you shout in the microphone during the test call you will be able to hear your voice very quietly during playback.

To resolve this issue:

1) Click on the Mint Menu Button

2) Click on Sound and Video

3) Click on PulseAudio Volume Control

4)Click on the Input Devices Tab and Click on the Lock Channels together button (to Unlock the channels).

5) Slide the Front Right slider down to Zero and the right Left Slider upto 3/4.

6) Close the Volume Control Application

This solves the problem however as default Skype  breaks it again, by setting the volume to 0

To resolve this

1) Launch Skype

2) Go to the Options menu and click on the Sound Devices Tab.

3) Make sure that the option to allow Skype to automatically adjust mixer levels is turned off.

Apply and then close the options window, and make a test call to make sure that everything is working ok.

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In  this Post I described how to install Skype on the Acer Aspire One running Linpus

This process below describes how to Install Skype on the Acer Aspire  running Mint Linux.

1) Click here to download the install file from the Skype site.

2)  Choose to Open the file with the Gnome installer.

3) When the Package installer loads click on Install Package.

Skype will now install and will be available in the Internet Section of the Menu bar.

There will be a problem with the microphone but this follow up post will show how to resolve this.

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