April 26, 2009 at 20:05Acer AOA-110 HOWTO. Part 1: review and upgrade netbook
The article consists of several parts: it is so convenient to write and read.
To begin with, the need is ripe for me to buy a netbook. I needed him primarily in connection with the upcoming trip to Europe. The selection criteria were as follows:
Actually, after studying the assortment of one of 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 pretty nice.
Around the Aspire One Series, a certain community of users and modders has already formed, one of the most powerful is aspire1.ru : when solving many hardware issues, I was guided by this particular site (or rather, the forum).
Let's get acquainted with the device.
The device is a small subnotebook with a screen size of 8.9 inches. Built on the basis of 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 can dynamically reduce the clock frequency when working offline when powered by batteries, it also has a low TDP. Atom is built with an eye on the Intel NetBurst microarchitecture, that is, the one that was used during the Pentium 4 (with the next command execution). Also, the processor supports Hyper-Threading technology, so in the operating system we will see two virtual cores. Not to say that the processor breaks records for performance, but at the same time, it is not particularly weak (say, VIA Eden merges here completely).
The chipset in it is quite famous: Intel 945GSE with integrated Intel GMA950 graphics. According to information from the Internet, the chipset supports up to 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, and the clock speed of the integrated graphics is significantly reduced (they say, to 133 MHz, although the chipset is designed for 400 MHz). But, we do not take for games, but for standard needs this is more than enough. Again, energy saving ...
On board this model is already 512 MB of RAM. This volume is soldered to the system board. 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 coveted 2 GB supported by the chipset cannot be obtained without major alterations. According to information from the forums, there were attempts to install 2 gig sticks in the slot, but the netbook did not start in this case. Although, one hard modder, in the presence of soldering equipment, got a 2 GB memory module, for this he soldered the memory modules soldered on MB and the SPD chip. But, in my opinion, this is very tough, so I limited myself to adding a 1 GB bracket. Here you need to take a large stone and throw it towards 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,HowTo . By the way, I had a great start up bar SO-DIMM DDR2 Kingston PC2-5300 CL5 with a capacity of 1 GB.
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, I would not have anything against such a volume, if not a depressing read / write time of the drive. This drive has nothing to do with normal modern SSDs, in appearance it is a bare scarf with several chips and an ATA interface (in the form of a ZIF connector). In general, people who are not happy with this drive are changing it to something more nimble and capacious. There are two main areas of action (we do not consider external drives): Either unsolder the built-in SATA and bridge 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 requires serious intervention (soldering a connector on 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 "mutilating." I chose the second: ordered at auction30 GB Toshiba MK3008GAL eBay drive . HowTo integration can be found on the above forum.
Ethernet card - a regular Realtek RTL-8102E (the system defines it as 8169-compatible) on the PCI-express interface, wound up without problems. The WLAN module is the well-known Atheros AR5007EG. Ath5k refused to work normally with the standard driver, I did not understand for a long time and compiled Madwifi modules in a quick way (I will write below how to do it right).
The webcam started immediately, no efforts were made to do this. There is one more capricious thing - slots for flash-cards, I didn’t understand them (because, while this is not needed), there are tutorials on this subject on the net. The screen has an effective resolution of 1024x600 (widescreen). With this vertical resolution, not all windows normally fit on the screen (especially the dialog boxes for setting various applications), 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 fade in the sun.
The complete battery has a capacity of 2200mAh, it lasts for about two hours of operation - not much. Therefore, I ordered an extended battery at the same auction, with a capacity of 7800mAh (feel the difference), which fully covers my battery life requirements (almost eight hours). The design of the power circuit of the netbook allows you to seamlessly change the battery without turning off the device, provided that the connected network charger.
The kit included a network charger, a standard laptop look, various pieces of paper and a recovery disk with bundled Linux (Linpus Linux Lite). It was preinstalled on a netbook. After two hours of picking, it was successfully demolished from the built-in drive.
A few words about miniPCIe connectors on a netbook. There are two of them. One on the front side of the system board, 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 side of the system board and is designed to install a 3G modem. In my case, it is not soldered, although it does not represent much difficulty. However, according to the specifics of mobile 3G modems, only the USB bus is routed to this slot, so inserting a card that uses the PCIe bus into it will work, but it won’t work.
Continuation: Acer AOA-110 HOWTO. Part 2: configuration and commissioning under GNU / Debian Linux
To begin with, the need is ripe for me to buy a netbook. I needed him primarily in connection with the upcoming trip to Europe. The selection criteria were as follows:
- Need a small and lightweight laptop with i386 architecture
- Longest battery life recommended
- Basic communication tools required (Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB)
- To make it all relatively fast spinning under Linux OS with KDE3
- It should be inexpensive, for reasons of the possibility of losing it on a trip
Actually, after studying the assortment of one of 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 pretty nice.
Around the Aspire One Series, a certain community of users and modders has already formed, one of the most powerful is aspire1.ru : when solving many hardware issues, I was guided by this particular site (or rather, the forum).
Let's get acquainted with the device.
The device is a small subnotebook with a screen size of 8.9 inches. Built on the basis of 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 can dynamically reduce the clock frequency when working offline when powered by batteries, it also has a low TDP. Atom is built with an eye on the Intel NetBurst microarchitecture, that is, the one that was used during the Pentium 4 (with the next command execution). Also, the processor supports Hyper-Threading technology, so in the operating system we will see two virtual cores. Not to say that the processor breaks records for performance, but at the same time, it is not particularly weak (say, VIA Eden merges here completely).
The chipset in it is quite famous: Intel 945GSE with integrated Intel GMA950 graphics. According to information from the Internet, the chipset supports up to 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, and the clock speed of the integrated graphics is significantly reduced (they say, to 133 MHz, although the chipset is designed for 400 MHz). But, we do not take for games, but for standard needs this is more than enough. Again, energy saving ...
On board this model is already 512 MB of RAM. This volume is soldered to the system board. 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 coveted 2 GB supported by the chipset cannot be obtained without major alterations. According to information from the forums, there were attempts to install 2 gig sticks in the slot, but the netbook did not start in this case. Although, one hard modder, in the presence of soldering equipment, got a 2 GB memory module, for this he soldered the memory modules soldered on MB and the SPD chip. But, in my opinion, this is very tough, so I limited myself to adding a 1 GB bracket. Here you need to take a large stone and throw it towards 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,HowTo . By the way, I had a great start up bar SO-DIMM DDR2 Kingston PC2-5300 CL5 with a capacity of 1 GB.
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, I would not have anything against such a volume, if not a depressing read / write time of the drive. This drive has nothing to do with normal modern SSDs, in appearance it is a bare scarf with several chips and an ATA interface (in the form of a ZIF connector). In general, people who are not happy with this drive are changing it to something more nimble and capacious. There are two main areas of action (we do not consider external drives): Either unsolder the built-in SATA and bridge 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 requires serious intervention (soldering a connector on 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 "mutilating." I chose the second: ordered at auction30 GB Toshiba MK3008GAL eBay drive . HowTo integration can be found on the above forum.
Ethernet card - a regular Realtek RTL-8102E (the system defines it as 8169-compatible) on the PCI-express interface, wound up without problems. The WLAN module is the well-known Atheros AR5007EG. Ath5k refused to work normally with the standard driver, I did not understand for a long time and compiled Madwifi modules in a quick way (I will write below how to do it right).
The webcam started immediately, no efforts were made to do this. There is one more capricious thing - slots for flash-cards, I didn’t understand them (because, while this is not needed), there are tutorials on this subject on the net. The screen has an effective resolution of 1024x600 (widescreen). With this vertical resolution, not all windows normally fit on the screen (especially the dialog boxes for setting various applications), 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 fade in the sun.
The complete battery has a capacity of 2200mAh, it lasts for about two hours of operation - not much. Therefore, I ordered an extended battery at the same auction, with a capacity of 7800mAh (feel the difference), which fully covers my battery life requirements (almost eight hours). The design of the power circuit of the netbook allows you to seamlessly change the battery without turning off the device, provided that the connected network charger.
The kit included a network charger, a standard laptop look, various pieces of paper and a recovery disk with bundled Linux (Linpus Linux Lite). It was preinstalled on a netbook. After two hours of picking, it was successfully demolished from the built-in drive.
A few words about miniPCIe connectors on a netbook. There are two of them. One on the front side of the system board, 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 side of the system board and is designed to install a 3G modem. In my case, it is not soldered, although it does not represent much difficulty. However, according to the specifics of mobile 3G modems, only the USB bus is routed to this slot, so inserting a card that uses the PCIe bus into it will work, but it won’t work.
Continuation: Acer AOA-110 HOWTO. Part 2: configuration and commissioning under GNU / Debian Linux