How to install Ubuntu 9.10 and the Boxee Beta on an Acer Aspire Revo (including 64 bit option)

Acer Revo Ubuntu install desperate help needed.

Due to a number of reasons I've been trying to get xubuntu, kubuntu and now ubuntu installed on my Acer Revo R3600. I've found a resolution to every single barrier so far (and there have been many!) and I've rebooted and clean installed this at least 20 times now and I've bumped into a real deal breaker for me, my Acer and linux. There seem to be no answers out on the web so here goes.

After trying at least 10 separate (and different) set up instructions for Ubuntu on the Revo I tried yours and I get the same fail. After the restart the mouse and keyboard freeze and fail. It is not clear what is causing the problem as this fail essentially means I can't find out what is causing the problem as there is no response from the keyboard or the mouse. It is a frozen system.

If I run the system off the USB stick the freeze didn't happen. When installed to the HD it freezes on restart.

Following your guide it has frozen again. I see that a number of people have had a similar problem and bailed out to Windows 7 as nobody in the usually brilliant Linux community has solved it.

I am now clueless. I've tried everything and Windows is once again looking like the way forward as this Acer Revo Ubuntu combination has wasted a good 3 days of my life so far. I'm becoming bitterly obsessed with solving the never ending bugs.

Thanks in advance.

Same here guys. Got it for Christmas as a replacement to XBMX-Xbox. Have tried what seems like dozens of combinations of software and operating systems and it seems like there's a dealbreaker every time. HDMI audio won't work. Or there's tearing on video playback. Or it just doesn't load at all. I've had computers since before the BBS days and I've never had more difficulty with a machine.

I'm with the three guys below. Never has something failed so completely. No sound, no HD video, no install to HDD... problem after problem after problem.
Simple with 9.10? Utter bollocks mate. Sorry, but that's the truth. This Acer Revo is going back to the trash can from which it crawled and the overblown arrogant Linux crowd can keep their poorly derived, poorly conceived and frankly crap software to geek out to. I actually want something that works. Not necessarily out of the box but after three days of reload after reload you'd expect more that a screaming headache and bullshit articles like this that say, "...you should find that they now work." Really, I should find that it works? No, it doesn't. It never has and never did and the help I've had from the self-proclaimed uber helpful Linux crowd has been nada, nothing, no responses to my requests for help because there are no solutions to the most bug-ridden piece of tripe I've ever had the displeasure of working with. It even beats the de-bugging exercises from university for annoying wastes of human life.
Get Ubuntu 9.10 sorted and stop writing how lovely the world is. No wonder Microsoft ruled the world when the best the rest could come up with is this tosh. 2010 a Linux year? BS! Utter BS.

To the naysayers: I followed this guide to a T and it works beautifully. I have full 1080p video on any of my 1000 video files. Flash and boxee work great. I even installed deluge torrent so that I have a perfect seedbox. It even works out of the box with my logitech dinovo edge keyboard.
Nigel: have you tested your RAM? Sounds to me like it could be a bad chipset, you should RMA.
THANKS FOR THE GUIDE.

Sorry, I meant Mr. Husk, not nigel.

I followed this guide last night to install Ubuntu 9.10/Boxee on my Revo 1600 (w/2gb ram) after trying and failing with the lifehacker guide for 9.04 a couple of times. This guide lead me through in half the time with half the steps and all the video (1080p,720p,mkv's, and SD content) and audio (Dts, ac3, and others downconverted over hdmi) I've tried so far works great. And the Boxee iPhone app is cool too (although not as robust as the xbmc remote app I have for iPhone). Boxee seems a little unstable as I've had it crash a couple of times but it is a beta so I guess that's expected. The real problem I'm having is that my MCE remote that worked out of the box with XBMCLive on my Revo won't work with Ubuntu/Boxee on my Revo. Any ideas?

I'm writing this comment from my recently ubuntized Revo, and it rocks!

Thanks a lot for the guide.

I think the Acer Revo is a great piece of kit, it's a shame the Linux stuff craps out. I've got years of experience with all different Linux flavours and I have been unable to get hdmi audio working after wasting all day with reboot, alsa configuration options and bouncing all over the internet try to find out how to get the audio to work. I have done the audio bit from this article 40 times over with all different settings, systematically stepping through all different models for this chipset on the latest version of Ubuntu, alsamixer unmuting, trying every hdmi output option, playing sound, goto step 1.... repeat... repeat...repeat... 40 times over with no luck. I am totally p*ssed off that I'm wasting my life on this. Am seriously tempted to just load xp and be done with it.

I installed Ubuntu 9.10 on an Acer Revo 3610 (Dual Atom 330 processors) and found that installing Nvidia video drivers at the same time as the Ubuntu install (when asked) was a disaster. And yes, I too, had repeated crashes.

However, the installation of Nvidia after the Ubuntu install worked flawlessly and I recommend it for those still having trouble here. Go to the Nvidia site and look for installation instructions. ..'seasy!

For all the nay-sayers out there, particularly the ones who gave up after the keyboard/mouse freeze, there is hope. I ran into the issue where everything worked fine when booting into the live version on the USB drive, then after install hit the frozen keyboard/mouse issue (actually, the screen just flickered at the commandline login prompt). I'd boot back into the USB drive and everything worked just fine. Perplexed, I tried numerous variations, like others that have posted comments here. After sleeping on it, I found the root of the problem. I was installing from the live drive where I had made config changes, updated drivers, etc. It appears that the install took some of these configs and/or drivers (I'm speculating here, but this is the hunch that led me to a solution), so a 'fresh' install, was actually contaminated.

So, the solution: Create a new USB start-up disk, but this time, don't allow it to keep documents and settings after shutting down (if using the ubuntu tool for creating a boot drive, select "Discard on shutdown..." at the bottom of the dialog). Also, don't boot into live mode, just go straight to "install ubuntu" on the boot menu. Problem solved.

@Liam, you might want to update your article with this info so that other cautious folks that test things out on the USB drive before installing don't run into the same issues that I and others did. BTW, great write-up! Thanks for sharing this and thanks also for the 9.10 update!

For the record, I have a Revo 1600, stock out of the box with revoboot option disabled in the BIOS. Also, I used Ubuntu 9.10 desktop i386 (32-bit) version.

I stumbled upon this guide after purchasing a Aspire Revo 1600 on closeout (total impulse buy). Not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with it, but knowing I wanted it to be a basic HTPC, I searched to see what options were out there. Initially, I was going to go with XBMC with no OS. Then I came to this site. Having never used Ubuntu even once, I was intrigued. I knew it would be a "snappier" OS on a fairly underpowered machine than the installed Windows XP, but having never used it, I wasn't sure what I was getting into.

Anyway, last night I followed the instructions on this site to a "t", and...Success! I was actually surprised how easily the whole installation went after reading about the issues some others were having. In all, it took about 30 minutes from start to finish. Most of that time involved installing the 89 Ubuntu updates.

For less than $200, I have a system that rivals the pre-release specs of the Boxee Box, and I have storage space, which the BB does not. Using the free iPhone app Boxee put out is a bonus, though not as slick as the remote that will ship with the Boxee Box.

Today, I'm going to pick up more ram, as the video was slightly choppy at times, but not unbearable. Other than that, I'm very pleased with my little creation. Thanks for the guide!

I, like others, have had one hell of a time trying to get this combo up and running. For me, the sticking point is the Nvidia drivers. Once loaded and the machine is rebooted, all hope is lost. The machine appears to be booting into Ubuntu and then the screen goes blank and no video is detected by my television. I have tried this four times today. Twice, I tried to load the Nvidia drivers directly through the detected proprietary drivers option in Ubuntu. Once, I used the terminal to load the envy package (envyng -core) and when I try to download the drivers from Nvidia, gedit throws an error stating that they are in binary format and no good. I am very new to Linux and thus, don't know what to do with the downloaded driver from Nvidia but, the long and the short of it is that I cannot get my Revo loaded with Ubuntu and XBMC. I don't want to return to Windows but, I may have to unless someone has an answer as to why the video drivers render this machine incapable of, you guessed it, rendering video...

I couldn't get audio out of the HDMI. I found you with Google. Thanks for your article.

Thanks Liam.

Worked like a dream. I followed the instructions to the letter, apart from I used and external USB DVD drive and a CD of Ubuntu 9.10 instead of a USB stick with Ubutnu on it.

I got Kubuntu 64 installed and working on a Revo 1600 with no probs. I used a 2gb SD card as the boot device and installed the nvidia drivers after updating Kubuntu with everything else.

Boxee plays locally stored movies and youtube perfectly on a 21" hdtv (1369xsomething via vga). IThe revo plus boxee combo is sweet and simple--just what the fam wants in the living room. The only problem is watching "tv shows" streaming through boxee. Streaming flash at full screen either does not play at all or is so choppy and disjointed as to be horrible. I have flash 10.0.something.

I understand that Adobe is updating flash but it has not released a 64 bit linux version of 10.1 as far as I can tell.

Anything I can do to help this improve? There's only 1 gb of ram in the thing and I imagine that might not be enough.

Thanks for any input.

I'm new to linux and bought the linux version of the Acer Aspire R3600 Desktop PC. The wireless connection to my broadband router worked first time. Then I installed Ubuntu 9.10 using the iso image on USB stick method with UNetbootin and going for complete install over the whole hard drive. This worked perfectly except I now I have no wireless connection. What did I do wrong? If it's to do with reinstalling the nvidia drivers, how to you do this without an internet connection? Or are the nvidia drivers a red herring?

I've set up my revo with Ubuntu Lucid (will be release 10.04) alpha 2 and it works like a charm. Just install the proprietary Nvidia drivers, select HDMI audio output, install Boxee and you're done!!

I recommend installing "Super OS" (aka Super Ubuntu) instead of normal Ubuntu. Here's why: "Super OS" is exactly precisely the same thing as Ubuntu. - It IS Ubuntu, with all the media codecs preinstalled. Simple. Get it here: http://hacktolive.org/wiki/Super_OS

Followed all of the instruction above everything seems to work fine but when I go to iPlayer in Boxee and play something I get a black screen and no sound.

Youtube works fine it's just iPlayer and BBC live that do not.

iPlayer works through Firefox though.

Anyone else having these issues or does anyone have any ideas please!!!!!

havent used ubuntu in almost 2 years and with this guide ive got hdmi through audio running perfect! Fallowed directions step by step! thank you very much. With out the alsamixer part id be stuck forever.

Thanks Liam. Brilliant guide. After hunting down various forum threads etc. which lead nowhere I found your page, and just followed your notes - and hey presto I have Ubuntu. I still have things to do, but the OS is up and running with no real problems.
You're the man :)
John

Liam,

Thanks for the site. I used your information to load a Revo with Ubuntu 64 bit and Boxee. First time user of Ubuntu and was impressed.

I'm using a Refurb. Acer Aspire R1600-U910H : 1.6GHz Atom 2GB RAM 160GB hard drive

Unfortunately, I had a couple problems. The 720 and 1080 mkv files do not run well. I made sure to change the GPU buffer to 512 however it runs really choppy.

Also, I didn't realize that Netflix content can't play on Linux. That was a major blow. (Not sure if the UK has Netflix but it's pretty big here in the US and it you get some great streaming content.)

I'm not sure it's because my TV is older but I had to change my audio hardware options to analog on Boxee and then it worked.

Anyhow, thanks again and if you have any suggestions that would great!

Frank

Many thanks Liam for the guidance.

At the start, I suffered serious problems just getting the PC to boot from the USB stick. I tried different distros, and different programs to write the USB, but experienced a variety of boot problems. In the end I bought a new USB stick (8Gb Cruzer) and the boot worked first time. So if anyone else has problems with the USB stick, try a new one.

After that, it was plain sailing. I installed XBMC and Boxee with no trouble and the sound works fine over HDMI.

The only remaining problem is the overscan on my HDTV (Hitachi 32LD7200) which means I lose some of the pixels around the edge of the display, and therefore cant see the Ubuntu menu!. There are lots of reports of these problems on the net, but no universal solution. I've tried tweaking the Nvidia driver, but with no joy. I'm about to try the very latest drivers (195.36.15) to see if this helps.

I'll report back with any progress.

Great tutorial. I know absolutely nothing about Linux and Ubuntu, but followed this guide step by step and now have a dedicated Boxee box in my bedroom with minimal time invested. With the Iphone remote, I'm good to go.

I had overscan issures with Ubuntu after installing the Nvidia drivers, but could adjust it in Boxee. I haven't backed out of Boxee yet to see if Ubuntu is still overscanning though. Don't really care, as all I wanted was Boxee.

Great guide, it finally got me to a workable solution!

One problem I'm having now is Boxee won't play through the HDMI, even through it works through the Sound preferences. I'm running the new early release of Boxee (because that's the only one that will support MLB.tv for this year).

Analog sound works (having enabled both in the Sound preferences).

Anyone have any thoughts?

Great guide, it finally got me to a workable solution!

One problem I'm having now is Boxee won't play through the HDMI, even through it works through the Sound preferences. I'm running the new early release of Boxee (because that's the only one that will support MLB.tv for this year).

Analog sound works (having enabled both in the Sound preferences).

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks for documenting your setup. I was having trouble getting sound to work on my Acer Aspire Revo after installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix, until I read your post. Now I have Boxee running too and it's all working great.

I haven't gotten to the step of hooking the Revo up to my TV, etc. yet but I was looking at the part about Alsamixer, and when hitting right arrow, I don't seem to have a “IEC958 1” option. Do you think that's going to be an issue?

brilliant guide thanks - am buying one of these today and wanted to stick the wonderful 10.04 on it and you have put my mind at ease good sir!

Hi, I'm completely new to linux so really appreciate stumbling across such clear instructions. I think I have a slightly different version... (Acer Aspire Revo R3600) in which there is no revoboot... when I enter advanced settings all I have are quick boot, quiet boot and then a series of 1st,2nd,3rd, and 4th boot devices. I've tried switching from SATA to the USB (on which I have Ubuntu) for the 1st device. However, the option of installing Ubuntu never comes up after it restarts. Could you suggest anything? thanks