Running Live Update

When you start up the AA1 for the first time, you'll be taken through a basic set-up Wizard, after which the mini laptop will restart. When it's back up and running you'll find yourself facing Acer's desktop GUI.

It's best to set up wireless networking in the Network Centre preference panel, but don't do this yet - just log in using the networking icon in the task bar. Next, click on the Preferences label then on the Live Update icon. The AA1 will present a list of updates that you should apply.

When it's done, Live Centre will restart the Acer Aspire One.  It'll also zap your wireless details, which is why there's no point setting this up at the start. Once the AA1 is back up and running, now you can use the Network Centre wizard to set your AA1 to always log onto your WLAN.

USB Recovery Disk

While Live Centre's doing its work, start up another PC with the AA1's Recovery Disk CD.  This will load and run a utility allowing you to restore your AA1's Linux installation.   Fine, if you have an external optical drive - if not, the utility will create a USB Recovery Drive on any USB Flash drive that's at least 2GB in size. Tweaking the AA1 can sometimes lead to unplanned consequences, so it's good to have the recovery stick handy, just in case.