Best Distro

If you haven't tried yet give a try to elive

http://www.elivecd.org/

the latest unstable is very, very, impressive
After the live I installed it on my AA1 D150 ( 10'' ) and on my desktop too
I had just to upgrade kernel for sound to works ( like every other distribution with a kernel < 2.6.27 and D150 )
now all hw works
The elive team did a very, very good job

 

Hi tiggerman, is there any special reason why you are wanting KDE? I would suggest that you try Mandriva 2009.1 Spring Gnome. I am running it on both my AA1's the 8.9" with the SSD, an 16Gb SDHC for storage in the left side slot and my 10.1" 160Gb hard drive. Both work about the same and I didn't have to make any changes or modifications to get wireless working or anything else. It should be noted that the volume and sound (through the speakers but the headset sounds good) is not good but then neither is it in Windows so it must just be the Acer equipment.

 

Hi tiggerman, is there any special reason why you are wanting KDE? Only that this topic is about use of Sidux and the KDE lite version seems most suited to a netbook running modest RAM and SSD. I am just trying to follow the instructions to try Sidux given on page 2 of this topic.

 

Elive ran great as a live disk, but failed to complete the boot sequence when installed on the an 8GB SSD version.

 

Ha, so not only me having problems with Elive : If I have a fat32 formatted 2 GB SDcard in the left or right hand slot, booting stops right after populating the udev structure.
If I remove the SD card, boot finishes, keymap and resolution prompts appear, and subsequently the E17 desktop appears. For about 1-2 minutes, then the AAO A110 switches off. I'm guessing its because they load the acer-wmi extras AND ath_pci, which are known not to play nice with each other. Unfortunately I can't dig further into it, since I don't have time to check logs and edit blacklist files, before elive shuts the AAO off.
So much for their "Acer Aspire One: Perfectly supported" claim in the news blurb for development version 1.9.31.
They get an A for the attempt, and an F- for the implementation.

 

Hi all.

So, after reading such enthusiastic comments, I decided to switch Ubuntu to Sidux in my small AAO (1,5Gb RAM, 8Gb SSD).

I must say it was HARD to start the installation...
I burned a DVD in my wife's laptop (regular size laptopn), then tried to boot from it in the same laptop (to create the so-desired USB-boot). No goal, Sidux won't even go to init, immediatelly aborts to some command line.
So, tried the same DVD on a desktop. That went fine, and I finally got to see the live-Sidux.
USB stick in its place and there we go! No... It just says something like "finished" but won't even touch the USB stick. Reboot, retry, etc and finally I see it doing something on the USB stick.
End of the process, USB stick on my small AAO, F12 and up we go! No, not yet. Grub error, just a command line from Grub itself... AAARRRGH!

Somewhere I found a page that explains how to make a USB-boot disk directly from Linux (I will put it here when I get to my AAO). Download of the kde-light version, follow the instructions and again tried to boot the AAO.
edit: and here are the instructions: http://lnx2.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/bo ... -blank-cd/
Yeah, now we see some results Booted Sidux no problems, installed to SSD in 13m06s and up we go!

So, now I have Sidux installed!!! What a difference from UNR9.04... This much "colder" look got me thinking. But hey, let's give it a chance!

Wireless setup was flawless, and I could surf the web without the usual laggy behaviour of FF3 in Ubuntu.

After updating the sources with the links provided here, apt-get update and apt-get dis-upgrade I could apt-get install umtsmon and my 3G stick is working with very little effort. I installed openoffice.org and it also runs OK.

So, what is missing?
1 - Create a shortcut on desktop to umtsmon. Or, better yet, how to copy shortcuts from menu to desktop?
2 - How to autologin my user? I am not used to login in my home computers

Other than that, I am happy with the little machine behaviour, not so happy with the "cold" look and behaviour of KDE. But it's maybe just a matter of habit...

Thanks you for a very detailed thread, everything is pretty much here

 

I am running an AA1 w/ 8Gb SSD. Installed fresh sidux. Ran ceni, it shows the atheros card but finds no wireless when I run a scan. I know the wireless is working b/c another laptop (toshiba) is on the network now and surfing. What's up? all directions followed, using the KDE lite version, everything else seems to function as it should. did i miss something like a noob?

 

Hi
When you run ceni did it list both eth0 and wlan0 ? along the top of the screen? I presume it does as you say it shows the atheros card, so all you do is put the mouse cursor on it and click the line that says wlan0 and all the atheros info then it will bring a dialogue up to enter your wpa password into and just keep following the steps to connect let me know how you do but it definately works well as I did it all many times with the 8gig ssd aa1 and also with the 120 gig version no problem whatsoever. good luck

 

Is Sidux the best distro for AAO?

djtilko and others have sold me on trying Sidux, except for one thing: has anyone tried it with a SSD Acer?

It seems that those with an SSD have more problems than those with a HD. Am I right?

I am also considering Kuki, Moblin, Crunchbang, and Fedora 11. If you have tried those too, I would love to hear how they compare to Sidux to see if it really is the best ditro!

 

Can't install OpenOffice in Sidux

The install went fine, but when I tried this:

Code:

root@siduxbox:/home/ftapon# apt-get install openoffice
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package openoffice
root@siduxbox:/home/ftapon#

I tried installing OpenOffice before and after updating the OS. Neither worked.

Ideas?

Thank you!

 

To install open office and many other items and also update and dist-upgrade use the smxi package by typing in this line

cd /usr/local/bin; wget smxi.org/smxi.zip;unzip smxi.zip;smxi

Just cut and paste that line into a terminal and follow all the prompts its so easy to do and sidux is a true rolling release so that if you run the smxi script after you have installed it on a weekly/fortnightly basis it will keep your installation bang up to date including the kernels too!

Once you have installed smxi after the first use next time you want to use it just change to root by typing the following in a terminal

sux

then enter your password

then go to level 3 i.e out of x windows by typing

init 3

then login at the prompt again as root

sux

then password again

then type

smxi

and the script will run again

hope this helps, with smxi there is options to install open office flash player tt fonts other desktop environments virtual box etc.

when you have finished using smxi just exit at the end of the sript but stay in init 3 then add any further applications like this as an example

apt-get install iceweasel evolution amarok deluge

this will install all the packages you list at the same time instead of doing one at a time!

Dont bother messing around adding non-free sources to your sidux installation the script will ask you if you want to install non-free sources and do so if you let it, smxi does it all for you.

 

Thank you so much, djtilko!!! You are a Sidux god! You're the best evagelist out there for the OS! Your advice, as usual, was perfect and solve the problem about getting OpenOffice and other software. :mrgreen:

I still have one major problem: no wifi.

You (and others) mentioned that wifi works out of the box in Sidux. I wasn't so lucky. The good news is that the wired (LAN) connection worked perfectly out of the box. It had an etho0 profile and it just worked.

However, the wifi doesn't. I created a wlan0 profile, hoping that would help, but it doesn't seem. I suspect that I don't ahve the correct driver. I read this article about getting the Atheros Driver, but before trying that, I wanted to get advice before proceeding.

I look forward to your (or any one else's) ideas on how to get the wifi working again.

Thank you!

 

WIfi is definately working out of the box just run ceni from the network menu and it should be listed along with eth0 underneath that it should read wlan0 or something like that just click on the wlan0 line and follow the dialogue to connect i.e enter your wpa password.

Gotta go to work now so let me know now you get on but there is no need to load any drivers for wifi as the ath5k driver is already included in kernel 2.6.30 not only that but the wifi light works as well with no further to do.

 

Ceni, Wifi, and Skype in Sidux

Excellent! I'm not sure how I missed Ceni before. I was re-reading earlier posts and it was mentioned a couple of times. Sorry for that and I appreciate your patience!

I downloaded Wicd, but I think I can safely remove it without affecting my wifi, right?

Although I'm now connected with Wifi, it's not easy as Linpus, where you just clicked on the Wifi icon and see the various Wifi hotspots, Right now, I use the clumsy, DOS-like interface of Ceni to connect. It's not even clear which networks are secure. So I'd like to get to the point where it was in Linpus: just click on the wifi icon, see the various networks, click on the appropriate one, enter network key (if necessary), and connect!

Right now I'm not there.

One last problem: I don't have Skype. Searching with the Synaptic Package Manager, I downloaded "python-skype", but I don't see the icon of where to launch Skype.

I also tried typing:

Code:

apt-get install skype

But that didn't work either. Got this error:

Code:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package skype is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package skype has no installation candidate

Given this, how do you recommend installing Skype? I hope the mic works!

Thank you for helping the AAO and Sidux community! We all appreciate it!

 

Re: Can't install OpenOffice in Sidux

Not sure what the actual package name is - maybe openoffice.org?

 

To install skype you need to add this line your sources.list.d the debian one

deb http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/ stable non-free


So bring up a terminal
type
sux
then enter your root password

then type

dbus-launch kwrite

when kwrite opens up click file open and click on root folder then etc then apt then sources.list.d then debian.list

then cut and paste this line into the file debian.list

deb http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/ stable non-free

save and exit the file

then still as root type
#apt-get update
then apt-get install skype

that should do it for ya Im off to bed now

 

Just some hints when installing new applications dont use synaptic package manager always use apt-get udate then apt-get install followed by the package you need.

Always do this in run level 3 by becoming root like this in a terminal type
sux
then password
then init 3

then run apt-get update followed by apt-get install
to remove packages run apt-get remove
It is always much safer to do this when you are not running the desktop.

Try to do a dist-upgrade on a weekly/fortnightly basis using smxi to keep sidux cutting edge, and login at sidux.com to keep an eye out for any problems in sid smxi will also bring any messages up regarding any problems that may have arisen regarding dist-upgrade so just ensure you take notice of any messages.

 

I've played around with Sidux for a week now and these are my first impressions.

PROS:
- Working out of the box
- Feels about as fast as Linpus (although Sidux takes twice as long to boot up)
- Has the latest, blending edge software

CONS:
- Requires upgrading system 2-4 times per month. These updates take a while to download and install. However, if you don't do them, you risk conflicts. They say 2-3 months is the max you should wait.
- Seems to be a space hog. I have an SSD 8GB drive and now it's only got 750MB free. Seems like a few more updates and I'll be full.
- Some believe that you begin to wear out the life of your SSD if you write on it often. These constant updates and creating heavy wear and tear on an SSD (it doesn't matter if you have an HD). However, for SSD users, if you believe those who say SSD have a limited life, might prefer a more static OS.
- Downloading new software is not user-friendly at all. You may have to insert a line of code in an obsure file (e.g., debian.list), you're discouraged from using package managers because they're sometimes not up to date (scroll down a page from this point in the manual to see why). As a result, you're forced to search and install software via the terminal. Geeks might love terminals, but newbies hate them. Geeks may never understand why, but terminals are not user friendly.

CONCLUSION: I'm going to stick with Sidux until it breaks (or fills up my 8GB SSD), because I HATE installing a new OS. It wastes at least a day to install an OS. It's a fine OS, but I doubt I would reinstall it if it broke. Power users will love it, but newbies (especially those with a small SSD) might want to consider OSes.

I welcome your comments and corrections about what I wrote.

A wanna-be geek,

 

sidux is not for everyone just like Ubuntu Fedora Mandriva etc isnt either in fact plain Linux is not for everyone! every distro needs some configuration and tailoring to meet your exact needs believe it or not Microsoft has to be configured somewhat too.

No matter which distro you choose you are going to have to add certain repositories to download certain software. Once you have a full list of your repositories then software install could not be easier, far easier in fact than Microsoft sometimes! apt-get install does all the work for you!

Your comments re package managers are true, but remember sidux is based on Debian Sid and is constantly changing by all the latest software that comes into sid, package managers included in these.

If you really prefer to use these package managers then I would suggest using Ubuntu or some other distro but is it really that hard to simply type apt-get install followed by the package name? Takes longer to open up synaptic and follow their procedure!

Finally sidux is a true rolling release distro and uses the latest kernel that is in Debian Sid, other distros will allways be trying to catch up with sidux this is inevitable, for the times once or twice a month you need to dist-upgrade, this is a small price to pay to have the latest that Linux has to offer

 

Newbies are hard to understand. They strangely prefer to click the mouse 10 times through a GUI to install a software, when they could easily type something in their terminal and get the same result. A newbie thinks a GUI is easier. Foolish, I know, but unfortuantely, I'm one of those newbies!

I agree that one of the advantages of Sidux is that it's cutting edge. Unfortunately, newbies bleed on the cutting edge. :lol:

For example, I just got sliced.

I ran smxi to do a disti-upgrade and my system is now broken.

I'm running Debian GNU/Linux kernel 2.6.30.4slh.sidux-686 if that matters.

Upon boot up I see a message that "LIRC is not configured."

When I try to do a disti-upgrade I get "Error is 100". According to my research "the 100 error is for any apt error at all, so it's totally meaningless."

It tells me to do a dist-upgrade/install -f

I do it, but it also fails. Seems like it can't get libuniconf.4.6 and can't modify uniconf.conf

I try to use smxi to install rcconf, but it can't install it. In fact, now it can't install any program (opera, java, tt fonts).

After logging in, the desktop doesn't pop up. The only thing that shows is mouse cursor. No keys seem to do anything. It's a black screen with a mouse cursor. I power off and reboot.

I wonder if it's related to this problem: http://manual.sidux.com/en/wm-kde-en.htm#kde-login

About 90% of my 8GB is filled thanks to Sidux, so perhaps that is the reason it is not performing correctly.....

The only way to login (and write this message) is to use fluxbox (which sucks). I have no idea if my wifi is working, but I'm on a wired connection.

AM I HAVING FUN OR WHAT!?! :lol:

My system was working fine before I tried this disti-upgrade via smxi. It seems this is my punishment for trying to stay up to date.

I figure two potential solutions: wait for the next update and hope that fixes everything OR try to restore the previous working setup.

I'd love to hear any suggestions including how to shoot oneself. :lol:

Thank you!