Confirmed: Ubuntu Netbook Remix Caused Aspire One Netbook Battery Issue
Back in December 2009, I noted that my Acer Aspire One netbook could not work on battery power after updating to Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) 9.10.
I can confirm this is the case now. Here's what happened.
I decided to take a look at the recent MeeGo release. MeeGo is the project that resulted from the merger of Intel's Moblin and Nokia's Maemo projects. Unfortunately, I discovered that MeeGo is nowhere near ready for production use on a netbook (no GUI). So, I decided to take a look at the soon to be defunct Mobile 2.1 instead. I installed it on the Acer Aspire One and discovered that it saw its battery as completed drained. UNR reported the battery as fully charged. With Moblin installed, the Aspire One charged up in less than 2 hours. I'm using it right now on battery power to post this blog entry.
So, it looks like UNR was completely unable to deal with the Aspire One's battery subsystem.
Moblin doesn't solve my desire for a netbook running Linux though. Moblin seems to have a lot of problems with the Aspire One's trackpad. It is very difficult to do something as selecting a checkbox on a web form.
That said, it is good to have a netbook running a Linux variant that can be used on battery power.