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Acer C720 - The Perfect Little Linux PC

Posted by Jeff91 on · 28 comments
Thoughts on Technology; By Jeff Hoogland
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I've used dozens of different netbooks over the last few years and I must say the performance of this new Haswell based Intel chip is phenomenal. A dozen browser tabs open, Netflix streaming all while writing an article or two and the little guy doesn't skip a beat.

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Comments (28)

8 earlier comments in the full thread.

I rather like Pulse Audio. At least on Debian/Buntus it works well. I haven't had any audio drama in a long time- HDMI, multiple audio interfaces (headset, external speakers, front and rear audio ports), it all works. Pulse remembers my settings. Phonon, on the other hand, is another one of those un-removable KDE bits that drives me nuts. It's supposed to be a "framework", whatever that is means, that works with any audio drivers and routers, and it's supposed to be an audio router like Pulse. But it doesn't work worth beans. Like when I select a device and click the test button it doesn't test that device, and none of the playback device settings do anything.
I need to test my HDMI output. I've been avoiding it ...
To clarify - when I note HDMI audio didn't work - I mean that I simply plugged in an HDMI screen and audio didn't automatically switch over. Haven't played with manually telling it to switch as of yet.

On my TODO list.
Jeff, yes, that is exactly what my friend complained about, too.
Well, the last time I tried using HDMI audio out I had to go into PulseAudio settings and turn it on. It didn't just start using it automatically. I think that some might not want it to switch automatically. It's possible that you'd be running your video to a television and your audio to a stereo or amplifier.

I've been seriously considering picking up one of these myself. I think it would totally outclass the netbook I currently own except for storage space (the netbook has 325 GB), which I don't tend to make full use of on the netbook anyway. I think it would have a lot more CPU power, a lot better video, and a lot better battery life. The only thing I might be concerned about is the screen, since my netbook has only a crummy TN panel, but it has an unusually good crummy TN panel :-). The real problem, though, is that I haven't had my netbook for all that long, so a part of me hates to make it so obsolete. I know; I know: it's just as obsolete whether I get one of these or not.

It would be nice if at least the touch screen version of this had an IPS display (I would gladly pay a little extra for touch, which I don't really care about, to get an IPS display, which I would like very much), but, unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case. It kind of irks me that these companies put IPS panels (high resolution ones!) in cheap tablets but continue to put TN panels in laptops so that they can charge a premium for laptops with nice screens. Come on, guys; stop pretending! At this point we all know that you don't have to charge five hundred dollars extra for a 1920x1080 IPS screen.

OK. I'm starting to ramble.
On my Xfce system, I have the PulseAudio Volume Control in the panel. I need it that often.
Jeff91 Story submitter ·
Quoting: I have the PulseAudio Volume Control in the panel


What tool/package do you use for this? Is it built into pulse audio or is it a GTK tool I can install?
Quoting:What tool/package do you use for this? Is it built into pulse audio or is it a GTK tool I can install?


The package is pavucontrol in Debian and Fedora.
Audio over HDMI works! And after a bit of sleuthing I even have it switching between hdmi output and the speakers automagically.

~Jeff
> Audio over HDMI works!

Do I detect another LXer writeup in the offing?
Jeff91 Story submitter ·
I plan to update my C720 disc image to have this working by default, but I'm not sure it warrants another article.
Jeff, that's great. I'd also love to get the details on what you did to make HDMI work.
Yes, I would also like to see the details. Please document what you did Jeff.

My Acer C7 Chromebook is set up with Fedora 19 and is suffering from the same "no audio over hdmi" problem. My solution has been an analog cable from the C7 to my 5-channel surround sound system, but a digital audio feed over hdmi would be much superior.
Jeff, that's three people explicitly asking for a white-up, even if it's just two paragraphs and three screen captures!

Let me add my own voice to the chorus.
Jeff91 Story submitter ·
Will get something written up on the blog and shared on Lxer this weekend then.
Thanks in advance, Jeff.
Thanks, Jeff.

Since there's nothing else to complain about (lol), I wish that skinny bar of text area was more than 1/3 of my screen width. It makes the shell code hard to read on the page. But then, at least it wraps unlike other places I've been to.
@telanoc: save the page to disk, then read it in a text browser like links; that's what I do. None of the code is cut off then.

Thanks, Jeff, I've squirreled that page away in case the issue comes up here.

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