restore to out of the box

I've had my AA1 ( linpus) for a few months, and am now passing it on - upgrading! Obviously I need to restore it to the "out of the box" condition.
I've got the recovery disk, but am nervous, after reading some of the posts, about making a recovery USB stick (I have another computer with a DVD drive) and about using it.

Is it really simple? Do I just put in the disk and a USB stick, put the contents of the disk on the stick and then put it in the Acer and boot it up? Will it crash both the computers? Please can someone tell me step by step how to do it simply, easily and reliably!

 

There's a guide on how to do it here: http://macles.blogspot.com/2008/12/acer ... y-dvd.html

You can even do it from linux if you are worried about screwing up your windows system

 

Sorry, but I'm a total novice when it comes to these things. The guide you referred me to made me panic! Just tell me I can put in the recovery disk (to my other computer's CD drive), copy the contents to a USB stick, insert that into my AA1, and all will be well!

Or is that too much to ask? I'm a little miffed - I originally bought the AA1 because I was given to understand that Linux was a simple process, but I've been wrestling with it for months and I guess my mind just doesn't work that way. I'm quite good with computers generally, but I suppose you're either a Windows person or you aren't!

So, in very simple terms, please tell me how to restore the machine to its original state. It has occurred to me to simply delete everything I've put on it (e-mail accounts, wireless connections, etc.), but then there is the problem of the password, and I don't know how to get through that.

 

I have now wasted hours trying to make a bootable USB stick. I've followed different instructions, including the ones that came with the original DVD. I've now given up. Nothing seems to work, files cannot be opened or extracted (using my other computer), and I think it's all a waste of time. Surely making a recovery stick should be basic and easy.

So I have deleted everything I can - can't work out how to delete my browsing history. Does anyone know? I shall change the password to "Acer" or something, and sell the darn thing. Sorry, you dedicated Linux folks, I've grown to absolutely hate the system. Yes, it's quick, yes it has its attractions, but I really have better things to do with my time.

 

To delete your browsing history (and everything else your browser did):
1. Press <Alt>-F2 to open a terminal window
2. Type (without quotes): rm -rf .mozilla

 

Thanks, I've done that. Now I find that I have one more thing to delete - I downloaded Skype, and can't seem to uninstall it - it still has my details, such as my username and the names of my contacts. I went to Downloads, and deleted it from there but the icon is still on the desktop and when I click on it my details come up.

I suppose I have to open a terminal and put something in there. Anyone help me?

 

I don't use Skype, but it is likely to have a similar directory within your home directory. Open a terminal again, and type

Code:

ls -al | grep -i skype

If yoou see a directory with the name .Skype or .skype, then do what you did for .mozilla, i.e.,

Code:

rm -rf .skype

or

Code:

rm -rf .Skype

as appropriate. Linux treats 's' and 'S' as different letters

 

Joy

- To use the recovery DVD. Boot from it on another computer. Yes, BOOT from it. No "extraction" needed. Put in a 2GB (or more) USB stick, follow the screen prompts.

- When finished, reboot the other computer (after removing the DVD). Put the USB stick into the Acer, and when the BIOS screen comes up, press F12, select the USB and boot from that.

- Initializing to factory is then automatic from there.

If you want to manually erase the Acer, make sure to erase /home/user/.ACS/* (your Acer Email info), also, some information in /home/user/.AME. But I recommend the recovery approach -- it really isn't difficult.

 

Believe me, I've tried. My computer (Toshiba Satellite laptop) does not want to boot from the DVD drive. So I think I've deleted everything, to the best of my ability. I would have preferred to use the recovery disk but just cannot do so.

 

In most distros, a new user's home directory starts out with just those files in /etc/skel. I'm not sure about Linpus. In a normal distro, you could delete everything but these files from a user's home directory.