Semi-n00b questions

I've got a few questions and rather than make a lot of seperate posts throughout the forum, I'd like to make just one big post. Mods, if you think I should break this up into seperate parts, just let me know and I can create threads in the appropriate forums and you can delete this one.

I do not yet have an Aspire One but I'm planning on buying one within the next few weeks. I would like to install Ubuntu onto it. I am a fairly new Ubuntu user and have had it and Vista dualbooted on my current laptop but I've only really used it for playing around with. I'm planning on buying the AA1 for school b/c my current laptop, weighing in at 8.9lbs is a bit of a pain to take around wherever I go.

Anyways, on to the questions. Currently, I have a dualboot Ubuntu and Vista on a Dell 1720. From startup, I see the Dell screen with the option to go into the BIOS. After that, I see the GRUB Bootloader which allows me to select Vista or Ubuntu.

I'm still unsure which exact model of the AA1 I want to get but regardless, I would like to wipe everything and have JUST Ubuntu. From startup, what would I see? Would it load straight into Ubuntu? or will I see an Acer screen with BIOS option and then a GRUB screen and have to select Ubuntu?

Which would be better for Ubuntu, SSD or HDD? Obviously, the HDD has a much higher capacity but as this will be mostly used for taking notes and surfing the web, capacity isn't a real big deal. From what I gather, SSD allows for much faster read and write times so the computer should start up faster. I think SSD is supposed to be stronger. As in, it can take bumps and shakes (like in a college kids bag) better than an HDD can.

Last question. This doesn't really involve Ubuntu but it confused me. Lets say I end up getting an XP model (the only store I've found around here that has one only carries the XP model) If I screw something up and want to restore it back to factory specs. How would I go about doing that? With my Vista PC, I had to reinstall window once (due to user malfunction, not windows ) Since these computers don't have CD/DVD drive, how can you reinstall windows or restore it to factory settings?

I thank you for taking the time to read this and hope that someone out there can answer some of these questions.

Thanks!
-Future AA1 Owner, Matt

 

It sounds as if you're not quite clear on what the BIOS is. When a computer boots, first one sees that BIOS screen (Basic Input/Output System). So, you'll see a bit of Acer stuff, which is actually handy--you'll be able to hit F2 for setup, F12 for boot order and the like.

Next, you will see (once it's installed) the typical Ubuntu boot screen. I don't remember if you see an Acer blue screen first or not, but if so, not to worry, it's only there momentarily.

The default Ubuntu installation installs GRUB (Grand Unified Boot Loader I think.) You will see a Grub screen with a few options, but they'll all be Ubuntu ones. One will be the default, and that will be your normal boot, but there will be other options, such as a failsafe boot, sometimes useful for troubleshooting. You can edit that menu, I'm sure there's plenty of posts about it on Ubuntu forums.

The SSD may start faster. However, Acer put a particularly poor quality one in there, with very slow write speed. This, combined with the relatively low memory of the Linpus version, will be a disadvantage as soon as you upgrade. The Windows version (at present--the 6 cell seems to be quite elusive) has 1 GB of RAM, and upgrading the 512MB of RAM of the Linpus version is non-trivial--it involves disassembling the entire machine, including taking off the rubber feet, which seems as if it might be a first. So, for about $40-$50 USD more you get the hard drive, which will probably be faster (save, perhaps for boot, I really don't know) and the extra RAM. During installation, let Ubuntu use the whole drive, that option is offered during installation.

With the Linpus version, upgrading, which might take 10-15 minutes on, for example, my core2 Duo laptop with a gig of RAM, can literally take hours. My uneducated guess is that this was due more to the poor write speed of the Acer provided SSD.

Now, as for reinstalling XP. This is one where I can only guess. I suspect that Acer has provided one of two methods. With the Linpus version, they included a DVD. One takes a second computer with a DVD drive (or, of course, one could purchase an external DVD drive for this one, but if you already have the heavier laptop, use that) puts in a user supplied USB stick, 2 gigs or more, and lets the second machine create a restore USB stick. Then, if you want to restore, you boot from the USB stick and it will return it to the factory settings.

If they don't do it that way, another common thing these days is to have a recovery partition. There will probably be some sort of instructions in the box when you buy it about using that. There's probably a key combo you push on boot to bring up the recovery dialog, which will restore from this recovery partition. If that's the case, then when installing Ubuntu, leave that partition alone. That should be simple to do. (I've never done that, so I'm not exactly sure of the procedure, but usually, the recovery partition is going to be small, only a gig or so in size, leaving you the rest of the hard drive. I would use manual partitioning, but if you're not really familiar with the installation procedure, this might be confusing. It may even be a completely hidden partition that the Ubuntu installation might not see, but that's simply a guess. (I always wipe Windows out completely, so I don't really remember the details.)

At any rate, it should be doable, and probably not too difficult. Once again, I think I'd recommend searching the Ubuntu forums, using terms like install leave recovery partition or the like.

Anyway, hope this helps.

So, short answers in summary
Yes, you'll see an Acer screen but then it will go to Grub and Ubuntu.
Get the hard drive version. (wonders how much more expensive it would have made the SSD version had Acer put in a half decent one rather than this really slow one.)

Preserving recovery partition (assuming that's the method they use), not sure, but probably easy to do.

 

Thank you very much for your quick reply scottro,

I understand what the BIOS is. I was mostly wondering if I would see the GRUB at all or if it would skip right past it and straight into Ubuntu. With my current one, I commented out the extra options (placing a # at the beginning of the line) so I only have Vista and Ubuntu and I set it to a 5sec delay instead of the default 10 sec.

I have Ubuntu and Kubuntu on two seperate LiveUSBs so installing Ubuntu should be easy enough.

I guess I will most likely get the WinXP version. At the Fry's around here, they had the blue XP 120GB HDD 1GB ram for $349 which seems like a good deal. I'm gonna keep searching on the restore thing.

Also one last question. Are the batteries on these notebooks the same color as the shell or are they all one standard color? I found some no name brands on ebay but some appeared to be black. Are there separate batteries for the white, black, blue and pink notebooks?

Thank you again,
-Matt