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Project Acer Aspire One
Purpose
The purpose of this tutorial is to demonstrate how I changed my Acer Aspire One Netbook (a mere $250USD when I purchased it) to push it beyond the factory defaults such as expanding the integrated graphics card memory from 8MB to 224MB and expanding drive storage from the default 16GB (8GB SSD + 8GB SDHC card) to 40GB. You can go as high as 72GB not including what you may plug into one of the three USB 2.0 slots. 72GB is the limit because the SDHC standard only supports 32GB for a single SDHC module (SDXC, a new standard coming out in 2010, will support up to 2 Terabytes). Then I'll cover a set of applications and games that actually run on the Acer Aspire One Netbook as well as a few that don't will be shown. The applications and games are not an exhaustive list by any means but can give you an idea of what the Acer Aspire One Netbook can handle. And to wrap up, I'll go into setting up a limited account (for surfing), securing the Guest Account and changing mobile power settings.

NOTE: A review of the Alienware M11XR2 netbook has been done and you can check it out here when you're done with this review.

If you are wondering what the power support requirements of this device (or your own device) is in a solar setting, check out the solar calculators.

ACER ASPIRE ONE NETBOOK (BEFORE)

Type: AOA 110-1137
Model: ZG5
CPU: Intel Atom N270 Processor (1.6Ghz)
RAM: 1GB DDR2
LCD: 8.9" CrystalBrite WSVGA (1024 x 600 True Color; refresh rate 60Hz)
Integrated Intel Video Card: 8MB Memory
Storage: 16GB (8GB SSD and 8GB SDHC module)
Card Reader: Multi-in-one card reader
LAN: 10/100 base T (basically an ethernet card)
Wireless: 802.11 b/g
OS: Windows XP Home, Service Pack 3
System BD/BIOS: 36/3305
System Bios Version: v0.3305
VGA Bios Version: Intel V1585
Boot Capability: IDE0 (SSD), IDE1, USB FDD, USB HDD, Network Boot, USB CDROM
Webcam: Integrated
Microphone: Integrated
Speakers: Integrated
Battery: 3-cell; roughly 2 hours of run time 		ACER ASPIRE ONE NETBOOK (AFTER)

Type: AOA 110-1137
Model: ZG5
CPU: Intel Atom N270 Processor (1.6Ghz)
RAM: 1GB DDR2
LCD: 8.9" CrystalBrite WSVGA (1024 x 600 True Color; refresh rate 60Hz)
Integrated Intel Video Card: 224MB Memory
Storage: 24GB (8GB SSD and 16GB SDHC module). Note: I replaced the 8GB SDHC module with a 16GB SDHC module; 32GB SDHC is the max
Card Reader: Multi-in-one card reader (placed 16GB SDHC module in that slot; 32GB SDHC is the max)
LAN: 10/100 base T (basically an ethernet card)
Wireless: 802.11 b/g
OS: Windows XP Home, Service Pack 3
System BD/BIOS: 36/3305
System Bios Version: v0.3305
VGA Bios Version: Intel V1585
Boot Capability: IDE0 (SSD), IDE1, USB FDD, USB HDD, Network Boot, USB CDROM
Webcam: Integrated
Microphone: Integrated
Speakers: Integrated
Battery: 6-cell; roughly 5 hours of run time


EXPANDING DRIVE SPACE

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  1. The SSD (Solid State Drive) is buried inside of the Netbook and has 8GB capacity so you may not want to try to replace it.
  2. On the left side of the Netbook is a slot labeled "Storage Expansion". This is a SDHC Class 6 slot that came with a 8GB Transcend SDHC module.
  3. Before I even turned on the Netbook, I removed the 8GB SDHC and put in my own Patriot 16GB SDHC Class 6 module that I had. You can put in a 32GB SDHC Class 6 module (the maximum supported by the SDHC standard).
  4. Once the Netbook was configured after booting up for the first time, I formatted the SDHC module using FAT32 (NTFS not supported by the Windows XP Home edition that was installed).

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  1. On the right side of the Netbook are a series of slots (two USB 2.0 slots and one multi-card reader slot).
  2. I put in my own Patriot 16GB SDHC Class 6 module that I had. You can put in a 32GB SDHC Class 6 module (the maximum supported by the SDHC standard).
  3. Then I formatted the SDHC module using FAT32 (NTFS not supported by the Windows XP Home edition that was installed).

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  1. I plugged in a 64GB Flash Voyager USB 2.0 removable thumb flash drive into the USB 2.0 slot on the left side of the Netbook.
  2. That minimal effort pushed my total drive capacity to 104GB...without worrying about slow hard disk drives (you know, the ones with magnetic platters).
  3. Also pictured is an Ethernet cable to plug into a network/Internet (if you don't want to use the built-in wireless).


FILE SYSTEM
INTERESTING
  1. By default, FAT32 is supported for the file system. While there is no NTFS, there is a big advantage to not having NTFS especially if you use the Netbook to interact on the web (I detail below).
  2. FAT32 does not support a file system feature called ADS (Alternate Data Stream). What does this mean? Basically ADS provides a "pocket" within any file, that when the file is used, can trigger whatever was placed in the "pocket".
  3. Since FAT32 does not support ADS your probability of being infected (as opposed to NTFS) by a virus, worm, etc are reduced considerably when they are packaged within otherwise legitimate files.
  4. If you are using NTFS you may want to get a forensic ADS detection tool called Crucial ADS. Another one is McAfee Enterprise Active Virus Defense Suite 7.1.0.


MOUSE

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  1. Plugging in a laser driven mini-mouse was as simple as just plugging it into one of the three USB 2.0 slots.


EXTERNAL DRIVE
IMPORTANT
  1. What I find interesting is the Netbook shipped with a recovery/system disk. For people that are not technically experienced they may find it frustrating to actually use (since the Netbook does not have an integrated disk reader). Personally I don't know why a locked 1GB SDHC card was not used instead; that would seem to be a more useful solution for most users to embrace.
  2. Regardless, it could still be useful to have a compatible external CD/DVD reader/writer (for burning disks, installing applications, and playing movies).
  3. CAUTION! Not all external CD/DVD drives will work with the Netbook...even ones you may assume would by default. I ran into this problem myself.
  4. DRIVE THAT FAILED - LG 8x Slim Portable GP08 (External USB 2.0 Super Multi DVD Rewriter) could not interface with the Netbook and software, such as drivers, came on disk. Did not have an AC/DC adapter.
  5. DRIVE THAT WORKS - LiteOn 8x External Slim DVD Writer Portable, USB 2.0 powered (eSAU208-31). Also plays CD's, Movie DVD's, and so forth. Interfaced successfully with the Netbook although Nero 7 install (on disk) fails to complete (had to end the setupx.exe process to kill it); not really a big deal as you can download burning software from the Internet. Device has lightScribe which means you can flip the media over and burn a label onto it instead of using the legacy method of printing on adhesive paper media and sticking that on the disk. Finally, comes with an AD/DC adapter when you need to use more power when the USB 2.0 ports can't supply enough power (for burning); I had no problem in using just USB 2.0 power when playing disks with the device.


GRAPHICS & VIRTUAL MEMORY PAGING
GET MORE OUT OF THE NETBOOK
  1. To start out in my search for grabbing updated drivers, I used Driver Detective. Effective in locating updates, but manual installation is usually required.
  2. Since no virtual memory paging was set up for the SDD (or the two SDHC modules I added), I set up virtual memory paging on the SDD and each SDHC module to a custom range of 756MB - 1024MB.
  3. I was not impressed with the 8MB integrated graphics card memory size. That proved to be a short-lived problem...after I installed the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator Driver for Mobile (Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset Family) - driver version 6.14.10.4926 - the available graphics memory went from 8MB to 224MB! That is what I like to see.


APPLICATIONS/GAMES THAT WORK
CD/DVD
  • Cyberlink DVD Suite
  • Microsoft Office Suite (MS-Word, etc)
  • Microsoft Outlook

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  • Adobe Photoshop

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  • Battle of Endor

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  • Battle of Yavin

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  • Black & White (Lionhead). Requirements: Windows 95/98/2000/ME, 350MHz CPU, 64MB RAM, 500MB Drive Space, 8MB Direct3D video card with DirectX 7 driver.

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  • Company of Heros (Relic). Requirements: Windows XP/Vista, 2GHz+ CPU, 512MB RAM, 6.5GB Drive Space, 64MB Video card with pixel shader support. Although this game was developed for a slightly higher resolution than what the Netbook supports as its maximum (by 100 vertical pixels) you can play the game repeatedly by simply going to "My Documents > My Games > Company of Heros" and removing the file "configuration.lua". Don't worry, the file is created when the game is run.

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  • Fable: The Lost Chapters (Windows Game Studios/Lionhead). Requirements: Windows XP, 256MB RAM, 3GB Drive Space, 64MB Shader Capable 3D Card, DirectX 9.0c.

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  • Grand Master Challenge II: Chess

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  • Sacrifice (Interplay). Requirements: Windows 95/98/2000, 128MB RAM, 650MB Drive Space, 16MB D3D DirectX capable video card.

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  • Sins of a Solar Empire (Ironclad Games, Incorporated). Requirements: Windows XP/Vista, 1.8 GHz CPU, 512 MB RAM, 1.5GB Drive Space, 128 MB 3D Video Card, DirectX 9.0c. NOTE: Can't change resolution settings in-game.
  • However, under Stardock Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\AppData\ you can edit a series of files to move different menu content items (such as starting a game, etc) manually. Those files are: GalaxySetup.window, InfoCard.window, LoadScreen.window, NPCScreen.window, OptionsScreen.window, PlayerScreen.window, PlayerThemePickerDialog.window, ResearchScreen.window, SinglePlayerGameLobbyScreen.window, SinglePlayerSetupScreen.window, StatsScreen.window.
  • You can see what I changed in the files, to move various items, by clicking on the following link. You should make backup copies of all the files mentioned before you try to do your own mods so you can undo changes. View the files!

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  • Ghost Recon (Ubisoft). Requirements: Windows 2000/XP, 450Mhz Pentium 2 Processor, 128MB RAM, 1GB Drive Space, 16MB DirectX capable video card.

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  • Splinter Cell (Ubisoft). Requirements: Windows 2000/XP, 1Ghz Pentium 3 Processor, 128MB RAM, 1GB Drive Space, 64MB DirectX capable video card.

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  • MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries (Xplosiv). Requirements: Windows 98/2000/Me/XP, 700Mhz CPU, 128MB RAM, 1GB Drive Space, 16MB DirectX capable video card.

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  • Aliens versus Predator 2 (Sierra). Requirements: Windows 95/98/2000/Me/XP, 300Mhz CPU, 64MB RAM, 500MB Drive Space, SVGA capable video card.

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  • Return to Castle Wolfenstein with Enemy Territory (id). Requirements: Windows 95/98/2000/Me/XP, 400Mhz CPU, 128MB RAM, 800MB Drive Space, DirectX8.0a capable video card.

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  • Wizardry 8 (id). Requirements: Windows 95/98/2000/XP, 233Mhz CPU, 64MB RAM, 1.2GB Drive Space, 8Mb video capable video card.


APPLICATIONS/GAMES THAT FAIL
...
  • War Front Turning Point (Digital Reality, Ltd). Requirements: Windows 2000/XP, Pentium 4 2GHz, 512MB RAM, 4GB Drive Space, 128MB GeForce 4 video card (MX series not supported)/ATI Radeon 800XT 256MB, DirectX 9.0c. Note: Error generated at start-up, but cannot be viewed (including using Task Manager to force error window to front) and is not recorded to a file.
...
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda). Requirements: Windows XP, Pentium 4 2GHz, 512MB RAM, 4.6GB Drive Space, 128MB Direct3D compatible video card, DirectX 9.0, DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card.
...
  • Earth 2160 (Midway). Requirements: Windows 2000/XP, Pentium 4 1.5GHz, 512MB RAM, 1.5GB Drive Space, Video card with Pixel Shader 1.3 support, DirectX 9.0c.
...
  • Mass Effect (BioWare). Requirements: Windows XP/Vista, 2GHz+ CPU, 1GB RAM XP/2GB RAM Vista, 10GB Drive Space, NVIDIA GeForce 6+/ATI 1300XT+. Failure was due to a unnamed file the application was looking for could not be found at startup after the game tried to connect to the Internet to validate software.
...
  • Moscow to Berlin Red Siege (Monte Cristo). Requirements: Windows 98/2000/ME/XP, 1GHz CPU, 256 MB RAM, 1.2GB Drive Space, 64MB Video card T&L enabled NVDIDIA GeForce 3+/ATI Radeon 8500+, DirectX 9.0c.
...
  • Wizard Chess (PC Treasures, Incorporated). Requirements: Windows 98/ME/XP.
...
  • Might and Magic: Heroes 5 (Ubisoft). Requirements: Windows 2000/XP, 1.5Ghz CPU, 512 MB RAM, 2GB Drive Space, 64MB DirectX 9.0c compliant video card.


LIMITED ACCOUNT, SECURING THE GUEST ACCOUNT & CHANGING POWER SETTINGS
Securing The Guest Account
  1. By default, like the administrator account, no password was set. So, I set the password of the administrative account (this is done by going to Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts and selecting the administrative account and setting the password). If you have not done this already, you should.
  2. Anyway, back to the guest account. While I was logged in to the computer as the administrator I went to Start -> Run -> cmd which opens the command window. After the window opened I entered "net user guest ****" (without quotes) where **** is the password that I wanted to bind to the Guest User account (it is almost impossible to actually disable the Guest User account in XP Home). After I attached a huge password to the Guest Account, I typed in "exit" at the prompt to close the command window.
Limited Account Creation
  1. It really is a good idea to create a limited account that you use for most things, especially when you are connected to the Internet (to help reduce the number of viruses, trojans and so forth that are much easier to get if you are logged in with your administrative account).
  2. While logged into the computer as an administrator I went to Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts and set up a limited account that would actually be used when surfing the web and things of that nature. That was pretty straight forward and I gave that account a crazy username and password.
Changing Mobile Power Settings
  1. The purpose here was to allow the netbook to be "on" all the time instead of largely shutting down after a handful of minutes.
  2. I was annoyed that you could not change the power settings for all users on the computer while in administrator mode (so the hard drives - SSD & SDHC's would not shut off after a few minutes of inactivity). Given my love of the Windows Registry I logged in as the new user (limited account), went to Start -> Run -> regedit. This launches the Registry editor (doing something wrong here can really mess up your computer). I went to HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Control Panel -> PowerCfg. I then right-clicked on "CurrentPowerPolicy" so I could change its value to 3 (always on). After that I exhaled and closed the window.
  3. Note: If settings like that have to be changed, it must be changed by logging in as each user that has a limited account. I've not found an easy way that actually works for changing everyone's settings at once.
About Joe