Acer Aspire One boot from SDHC

[onely_ck]

Recently installed the latest version of ubuntu on SDCARD and managed to boot from SDCARD expansion slot with the use of USB key as followed in the instructions above.
A snag came when Ubuntu was using grub2. Found out that if you keep the grub.cfg file simple it works the same. e.g.:

set timeout=10
set default=0

menuentry 'Ubuntu_on_SDCARD' --class Ubuntu*os --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
echo 'Loading Kernel'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-xxxxxxx root=UUID=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx ro quiet splash
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-xxxxxxxx
}

That's it. I know that alot of manuals and guides say do not manually edit the grub.cfg, but this is such a small change it shouldn't matter.

Hope this helps anyone trying to achieve this a couple of years on from the start of this post.

[Neva]

Nice entries for fixing the SD card reader for different versions of Ubuntu here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne/AOA150

[squashpup]

Keep in mind, it doesn't technically boot from the SD card, but that's where most of the operating system is.

First, I made a live USB key of Lubuntu 11.04.

Booted it in my Aspire, and opened Gparted.

Zapped the internal SSD, and partitioned it 1 GB EXT2 (sda1) / 15 GB EXT2 (sda2). Set the 1GB partition with a bootable flag.

Stuck an SD card in the left drive and formatted it EXT2.

Started the installer. When I got to the part where it offered to erase the disk and install Ubuntu, I chose Something Else.

Opened the manual partitioner.

Clicked on the 1GB partition (sda1). Selected "Use as /boot"

Clicked on the 15 GB partition (sda2). Selected "Use as /home"

Clicked on the SD Card (mmcblk0). Selected "Use as /"

At the bottom, chose to install the bootloader to sda(1)

No swap. It will complain about this, but just click continue.

Let the installation finish.

Reboot without the USB key. Mine throws an error message about a partition not being found, but it boots just fine.

Runs MUCH faster and smoother. Even Firefox, which was horrible on the old SSD, is finally usable.

BIOS screen to login takes 17 seconds. After you log in, the desktop comes up instantly (remember, this is with Lubuntu).

Firefox opens in about 3 seconds. Chrome opens nearly instantly. Both run very smoothly. Occasionally, you get a very slight delay in Firefox, but nothing that's really even annoying.

For the loss of one SD card slot and about $20 (the price of an 8 GB card...more than enough space for the operating system), you get a total of 24 GB of space, a 15 GB home partition, reduced SSD wear, increased speed, and the ability to replace or upgrade your OS drive in a few seconds without tearing the Aspire apart. In the years that I've owned it, there was never one occasion where I used both SD slots anyway.

Popped the card out and checked it in my laptop...barely used up 2 GB of space.

If I don't run into problems, this is a pretty cheap and easy way to improve the performance of the Aspire 110. It would probably work on other computers, too.

[squashpup]

This setup breaks suspend.

I left the netbook on overnight, and when I got up this morning, it was at what I call "the gibberish screen", where it says.

Starting NTP server....
Starting Bluetooth...

And it was unresponsive.

I shut it off and rebooted and everything still works as it should. So, I tried to manually suspend with the same result.

I'm going to have to disable suspend in the power management.

Which means, lots of booting and shutting down.

Oh well. It boots and shuts down quicker anyway. If it becomes annoying, I can always go back to putting the OS on the SSD...

The Aspire has always been about tradeoffs, anyway!

[t.h.w.]

Hi all,

I have a Acer Aspire One (AAO for short) too, a D250 (...DK I think)

It was shipped with Windows Home Edition, so with booting from a Ubuntu-on-a-stick and using Gparted I have resized the partions to fit Ubuntu 10.04LTS Netbook remix next to it, dual-boot.

I now want it to use it as a XBMC-station also. So I did the next:
- Made with my other Ubuntu-laptop a XBMCbuntu-stick from the CD-iso, and booted the AAO with that. Works fine. Shut down.
- Next I inserted a 8GB SD-card in the cardreader on the right and booted from the XBMCbuntu-stick again.
- Installed XBMCbuntu on the SD-card, it suggested to put a bootloader on it, yes please. After install shutdown and remove the XBMCbuntu-stick.
- Boot into bios: Make the SD-card primary bootdisc and presto! Booting from SD-card into XBMC!

I have now the following system:
- On SD: XBMCbuntu
After shutdown I only have to remove the SD-card before booting to get the old grub with the dual-boot from the HDD:
- On HDD: Dual boot Windows XP and Ubuntu

The bios installed on my AAO is from 'Insyde H2O' and sees the SD-card as a usb-drive.
I think it depends on your type of AAO if it is internally connected as usb or pci (see earlier posts and http://www.overclockers.com/forums/s...d.php?t=592546)

Cheers!

[oldos2er]

Old thread closed.