Category: Mobile

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Acer Aspire One running Windows Vista

The Acer Aspire One is a fun little netbook, but it’s just not fast enough to run Windows Vista. That’s why Windows XP was included instead of Vista. Right? Well, I put that to the test and found that by modifying Vista as I described earlier, Vista runs great on the Aspire One.

It actually ran more fluidly than Windows XP did. I attribute that mainly to Vista’s support of:

  1. the Atom chipset’s hyperthreading. XP Home does not take full advantage of the chipset.
  2. ReadyBoost, a Vista feature that uses a flash drive to cache and speed up random reads that would otherwise go to the hard drive.

See this video of my Aspire One showing the speed of opening several applications:

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WiFi Search from an iPhone or iPod Touch

Keeping with the recent WiFi stumbling posts, I ran across this software for finding WiFi access points from an iPhone or iPod Touch:

WiFinder

It’s a simple and convenient way to analyze wireless networks. It shows you if there is wireless encryption, what kind of wireless encryption is used, the name, signal strength and network channel of the wireless networks. It can be set to automatically rescan and beep when a new network SSID (wireless network name) is found. If you see an open network, you can even connect to it from the WiFinder app. It’s a useful tool for network admins or “wardrivers” who want to see what networks are around.

Currently the WiFinder app is free in the App Store.

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WiFi Finder Software for Windows

inSSIDer: Wi-Fi network scanner is free open source software for finding WiFi networks from a Windows XP or Vista computer. It is great for testing wireless network signal strengths, doing WiFi security checks for open access points, and determining what might be a good free channel to choose for your WiFi to have less interference.

Typically people have used software called NetStumbler. Unfortunately NetStumbler hasn’t been updated lately. Thankfully the folks at MetaGeek decided to make and give us inSSIDer for free.

The term inSSIDer is a play on words, with “SSID” being the term for the name of a WiFi network. If you need to find or analyze WiFi signals, inSIDDer is a great free tool.

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Aspire One BIOS Update Version 3304

The Aspire One currently ships with BIOS 3301 even though there is a later version.  Unfortunately, they do not provide very good instructions on how to upgrade or exactly what the new BIOS fixes.  The rumor is improved fan control.  To install the update, perform the following steps.

Create a FreeDOS bootable USB flash drive

Once you have your USB flash drive, be sure it is formatted FAT32.  Then download the program UNetbootin.  Start up UNetbootin and select the Distribution FreeDOS.  Then towards the bottom select your USB drive letter and click OK.  The drive should now be bootable.

Acquire BIOS 3304

You can download the 3304 BIOS here.  Extract the contents of the zip file and copy them to the USB flash drive.

Boot off the USB drive and install

Start up the Aspire One and hit F12 until the boot screen appears.  Choose to boot off of your USB drive and you will see a UNetbootin screen where you can select default.  You will then see 5 boot options.  Select #5 FreeDOS Live CD only.  Once booted, you’ll be at a DOS prompt on drive A:\.  Change to C:\ by simply typing “C:\”.  You should then be able to see the contents of your usb drive by typing “dir”.  Then type “cd ZG5_3304” if that is the directory where you put your BIOS files.  Then the last step is to type “3304.BAT” to run the install script.  A progress screen will appear.  The install should take less than a minute.

Verify

Once the flashing of the new BIOS is complete you can reboot.  You can remove your USB flash drive.  Press F2 at boot to get into the BIOS and confirm that System BIOS Version says v0.3304.

Problems

If you encounter any problems, the most likely cause is your usb drive.  You can try to reformat your drive or use a different usb flash drive.