Acer AOA-110 HOWTO. Part 1: Netbook Review and Upgrade
The article consists of several parts: it is so convenient to write and read.
Let's start with the fact that I have a need to buy a netbook. He needed me first of all in connection with the upcoming trip to Europe. The selection criteria were as follows:
Actually, after studying the assortment of one of the Moscow computer retailers, the choice fell on the Acer Aspire One AOA 110-Aw netbook. Why? This device is the cheapest, from what I found with acceptable characteristics, and at the same time quite nice.
A certain community of users and modders has already taken shape around the Aspire One series, one of the most powerful - aspire1.ru : when solving many hardware issues, I was guided by this site (or rather, the forum).
Let's take a closer look at the device.
')
The device is a small subnotebook, with a screen diagonal of 8.9 inches. Built on the basis of a relatively fresh mobile processor Intel Atom N270 with a clock frequency of 1.6 GHz. Naturally, the processor supports the whole bunch of energy-saving technologies from Intel, it is able to dynamically reduce the clock frequency when operating in autonomous mode when powered by batteries, also has a low TDP. Atom is built with an eye to the Intel NetBurst micro-architecture, that is, the one that was used during the Pentium 4 (with the next execution of commands). Also, the processor supports Hyper-Threading technology, so that in the operating system we will see two virtual cores. Not to say that the processor beats performance records, but at the same time, it is not particularly weak (for example, VIA Eden merges cleanly here). I was pleasantly surprised by the performance at this price.
The chipset in it is quite famous: Intel 945GSE with integrated graphics Intel GMA950. According to information from the Internet, the chipset supports up to 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, and the clock frequency of the integrated graphics is significantly reduced (they say, to 133 MHz, although the chipset is rated at 400 MHz). But, we do not take for games, but for standard needs it is more than enough. Again, energy saving ...
On board this model is already 512 MB of RAM. This volume is soldered on the motherboard. Nearby there is an empty SODIMM DDR2 connector, in which you can install a memory bar with a capacity of up to 1 GB. That is, the cherished 2 GB supported by the chipset without major alterations will not work. According to information from the forums, there were attempts to install 2-gig slats in the slot, but the netbook did not start in this case. Although, one hard modder with soldering equipment, started up a 2 GB memory module, for this he soldered memory modules and an SPD chip soldered to MB. But, in my opinion, this is very tough, so I limited myself to adding a 1 GB bar. Here you need to take a big stone and throw it in the direction of the developers of the case of this laptop: in order to add a module, you need to remove the motherboard from the case almost completely. Fortunately, this is not difficult, and there are relevant HowTo . By the way, the SO-DIMM DDR2 Kingston PC2-5300 CL5 1 GB volume started up perfectly.
The drive is the so-called NAND SSD-module with a capacity of 8 GB (16 GB in the older model of the 110th series). In general, nothing against such a volume, I would not have, if not depressing time reading / writing drive. This drive has nothing to do with normal modern SSDs, it looks like a bare handkerchief with several chips and an ATA interface (in the form of a ZIF connector). In general, people who are not satisfied with this drive change it to something more nimble and capacious. There are two main areas of action here (we don’t consider external drives): Either unplug the built-in SATA and pave a 2.5-inch hard drive, or buy a 1.8-inch HDD with ZIF ATA interface (which are used in iPod Video). The first way is more budgetary, but it requires serious intervention (soldering the connector to the mother and demolishing half of the racks in the case). The second is more expensive (in terms of “cost per gigabyte”), but more accurate and less “self-inflicting”. I chose the second: I ordered a 30 GB Toshiba MK3008GAL drive at eBay auction. HowTo on integration can be read on the above forum.
The Ethernet card — the usual Realtek RTL-8102E (the system defines it as 8169-compatible) on the PCI-express interface, started up without problems. WLAN module - widely known Atheros AR5007EG. It refused to work normally with the standard ath5k driver, I did not understand for a long time and compiled Madwifi-modules in a quick way (as it is correct to do, I will write below).
Web-camera started up immediately, no effort was made to do this. There is one more capricious thing - the slots for flash-cards, I did not understand them (for as long as it is not needed), but there are tutorials on this issue in the network. The screen has an effective resolution of 1024x600 (widescreen). With this vertical resolution, not all windows normally fit on the screen (especially the various application settings dialog boxes), which sometimes freezes when working in the graphical interface. To be honest, not particularly pleased with the viewing angles. However, the picture is bright, the screen does not blind in the sun.
The complete battery has a capacity of 2200 mAh, it lasts about two hours of work - not much. Therefore, I ordered an expanded battery of 7800 mAh (feel the difference) at the same auction, which fully meets my requirements for battery life (almost eight hours). The design of the power supply netbook allows you to seamlessly change the battery without turning off the device, provided the connected network charger.
The set included a network charger, a standard notebook, various pieces of paper and a recovery disk with a complete Linux (Linpus Linux Lite). He was pre-installed on a netbook. Two hours later, picking was successfully demolished from the built-in drive.
I must say a few words about miniPCIe-connectors on a netbook. There are two of them. One on the front side of the motherboard, a regular wlan module is inserted into it. According to information from the network, only the PCIe bus is divorced into it. The second is located on the bottom of the motherboard and is designed to install a 3G modem. In my case, it is not decoupled, although it is not difficult. However, according to the specifics of mobile 3G-modems, only the USB bus is divorced into this slot, so insert a scarf that uses the PCIe bus, although it works, but it will not work.
Continued: Acer AOA-110 HOWTO. Part 2: Setup and Commissioning under GNU / Debian Linux
Let's start with the fact that I have a need to buy a netbook. He needed me first of all in connection with the upcoming trip to Europe. The selection criteria were as follows:
- I need a small and lightweight laptop with i386 architecture
- Desirable as long as possible battery life
- You must have basic communications (Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB)
- That all this is relatively fast spinning under Linux with KDE3
- Must be inexpensive because of the possibility of losing it on a trip
Actually, after studying the assortment of one of the Moscow computer retailers, the choice fell on the Acer Aspire One AOA 110-Aw netbook. Why? This device is the cheapest, from what I found with acceptable characteristics, and at the same time quite nice.
A certain community of users and modders has already taken shape around the Aspire One series, one of the most powerful - aspire1.ru : when solving many hardware issues, I was guided by this site (or rather, the forum).
Let's take a closer look at the device.
')
The device is a small subnotebook, with a screen diagonal of 8.9 inches. Built on the basis of a relatively fresh mobile processor Intel Atom N270 with a clock frequency of 1.6 GHz. Naturally, the processor supports the whole bunch of energy-saving technologies from Intel, it is able to dynamically reduce the clock frequency when operating in autonomous mode when powered by batteries, also has a low TDP. Atom is built with an eye to the Intel NetBurst micro-architecture, that is, the one that was used during the Pentium 4 (with the next execution of commands). Also, the processor supports Hyper-Threading technology, so that in the operating system we will see two virtual cores. Not to say that the processor beats performance records, but at the same time, it is not particularly weak (for example, VIA Eden merges cleanly here). I was pleasantly surprised by the performance at this price.
The chipset in it is quite famous: Intel 945GSE with integrated graphics Intel GMA950. According to information from the Internet, the chipset supports up to 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, and the clock frequency of the integrated graphics is significantly reduced (they say, to 133 MHz, although the chipset is rated at 400 MHz). But, we do not take for games, but for standard needs it is more than enough. Again, energy saving ...
On board this model is already 512 MB of RAM. This volume is soldered on the motherboard. Nearby there is an empty SODIMM DDR2 connector, in which you can install a memory bar with a capacity of up to 1 GB. That is, the cherished 2 GB supported by the chipset without major alterations will not work. According to information from the forums, there were attempts to install 2-gig slats in the slot, but the netbook did not start in this case. Although, one hard modder with soldering equipment, started up a 2 GB memory module, for this he soldered memory modules and an SPD chip soldered to MB. But, in my opinion, this is very tough, so I limited myself to adding a 1 GB bar. Here you need to take a big stone and throw it in the direction of the developers of the case of this laptop: in order to add a module, you need to remove the motherboard from the case almost completely. Fortunately, this is not difficult, and there are relevant HowTo . By the way, the SO-DIMM DDR2 Kingston PC2-5300 CL5 1 GB volume started up perfectly.
The drive is the so-called NAND SSD-module with a capacity of 8 GB (16 GB in the older model of the 110th series). In general, nothing against such a volume, I would not have, if not depressing time reading / writing drive. This drive has nothing to do with normal modern SSDs, it looks like a bare handkerchief with several chips and an ATA interface (in the form of a ZIF connector). In general, people who are not satisfied with this drive change it to something more nimble and capacious. There are two main areas of action here (we don’t consider external drives): Either unplug the built-in SATA and pave a 2.5-inch hard drive, or buy a 1.8-inch HDD with ZIF ATA interface (which are used in iPod Video). The first way is more budgetary, but it requires serious intervention (soldering the connector to the mother and demolishing half of the racks in the case). The second is more expensive (in terms of “cost per gigabyte”), but more accurate and less “self-inflicting”. I chose the second: I ordered a 30 GB Toshiba MK3008GAL drive at eBay auction. HowTo on integration can be read on the above forum.
The Ethernet card — the usual Realtek RTL-8102E (the system defines it as 8169-compatible) on the PCI-express interface, started up without problems. WLAN module - widely known Atheros AR5007EG. It refused to work normally with the standard ath5k driver, I did not understand for a long time and compiled Madwifi-modules in a quick way (as it is correct to do, I will write below).
Web-camera started up immediately, no effort was made to do this. There is one more capricious thing - the slots for flash-cards, I did not understand them (for as long as it is not needed), but there are tutorials on this issue in the network. The screen has an effective resolution of 1024x600 (widescreen). With this vertical resolution, not all windows normally fit on the screen (especially the various application settings dialog boxes), which sometimes freezes when working in the graphical interface. To be honest, not particularly pleased with the viewing angles. However, the picture is bright, the screen does not blind in the sun.
The complete battery has a capacity of 2200 mAh, it lasts about two hours of work - not much. Therefore, I ordered an expanded battery of 7800 mAh (feel the difference) at the same auction, which fully meets my requirements for battery life (almost eight hours). The design of the power supply netbook allows you to seamlessly change the battery without turning off the device, provided the connected network charger.
The set included a network charger, a standard notebook, various pieces of paper and a recovery disk with a complete Linux (Linpus Linux Lite). He was pre-installed on a netbook. Two hours later, picking was successfully demolished from the built-in drive.
I must say a few words about miniPCIe-connectors on a netbook. There are two of them. One on the front side of the motherboard, a regular wlan module is inserted into it. According to information from the network, only the PCIe bus is divorced into it. The second is located on the bottom of the motherboard and is designed to install a 3G modem. In my case, it is not decoupled, although it is not difficult. However, according to the specifics of mobile 3G-modems, only the USB bus is divorced into this slot, so insert a scarf that uses the PCIe bus, although it works, but it will not work.
Continued: Acer AOA-110 HOWTO. Part 2: Setup and Commissioning under GNU / Debian Linux
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/56797/
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