[nzlug] Acer + Ubuntu: initial impressions.

[Simon Bridge]

I have now one of these Acer/Ubuntu machines.
For the curious - here's a brief rundown of the story so far.

Obtained from DSE Manukau
The seal was broken on the box, I was informed that they had installed
an additional 512MiB RAM for a total of 1GiB. Well... good news.
I asked if there was anything I needed to know before I started using
the machine. Nope - nothing... righty ho.

In the box were:
1. Computer + PSU
... check
2. "just for starters" card
... how to assemble the computer. But wait: it's already assembled!
3. "international travellers passport" (limited warranty)
... yeah all right.
4. "User Manual"
... pretty useless as it deals with Windows.
5. 2x photocopied sheets of Acer letterhead telling me how to set up the
computer.
... these sheets include a list of missing or disabled features, blamed
on "limitations of linux". The missing functions are:

a. e-key (disabled)
b. wireless key (disabled - but wireless works)
c. modem (disabled)
d. microphone (disabled)

It would have been nice to be told this before I parted with any money.
till DSE has a 30-day return policy so I should be safe.

Perhaps my imagination is limited, but: Why not just supply hardware
that works?

There are also instructions for "installation of automatix & dvd
playback codecs".

Automatix is not needed to install proprietary codecs or for DVD
playback. Dispite this the user is instructed to use this program and
agree to whatever license terms are presented.

There is a note that installation may fail with a "fatal error" notice.
The "fix" is 

sudo apt-get install -f (answer yes to everything).

Is this a good idea?

I don't know about automatix, it's supposed to be better these days. But
it used to hose systems. Any opinions?



So - first boot:
Notice - keyboard loose in one corner. It clicks in place easily enough
though. Let me guess, the RAM slots are under the keyboard?

PXE ("pre-execution environment") stalls on "DHCP" - this step is not
needed so it should have been disabled.

Then I got the GDM login - wha?! I haven't created a user yet!

It appears the DSE staff have also created a user account, but not told
me about it. Is this needed to install RAM?

So - the initial impression from a newbie would be that linux has
limited functionality and I cannot get to use the machine without a
service call to DSE.

Not good.



In my case - I can attempt to hack into the system.
More later.