Gaming on Acer Aspire Revo
The Aspire Revo is a well 'spec-ed' machine; decent Atom CPU, plenty of RAM and the brilliant nVidia ION chip. So you would think I should be able to play some modern-day games, so I did.
First up is a Diablo-like RPG called Torchlight. The game is designed to run on low spec computers (it has a 'Netbook Mode'), but can be up-scaled to very good graphics for more powerful computers. The game ran very well on the Revo, with the high graphics option.
Next, I wanted to push the Revo to its limits, and try an RTS. Company of Heroes was the candidate, a modern RTS which can push even the high-end computers to their limits. The game automatically selected medium to high graphics, thanks to the powerful ION chip. Frames per seconds (FPS) varied from 25 down to 5. Even when I lowered the graphic settings down, it was still same story. The game was very dependent of the CPU, and the Atom not up to the job of running a RTS.
My next games were both Source games. Counter Strike Source selected my graphic settings to high, and the game performed well, with fps between 30 to 60. Left 4 Dead was more of a challenge, its more modern game with alot of action on screen. It selected low graphics, and my fps ranged from 35 to 20. First Person Shooters are more suited on the Revo, since the CPU is required less.
I wasn't expecting it to work, but I gave BioShock ago. To my amazement, it played fine on high graphics, though I did turn the settings down to medium to get a better FPS. Again, a First-Person shooter which doesn't require alot from the CPU.
Fallout 3 is a demanding game, and did cause problems on the revo. It ran very well, with graphics at medium settings. However, the game was unstable on the revo, and crashed ofter. Likely to be the Atom slow things down.
QuakeLive was my final test, obviously it was no trouble on the Revo. Its just Quake 3, full graphics running at over 100fps!
There was no point testing out old games, since they will run after testing these demanding modern games. The Revo performed well, mainly thanks to ION chip. The Atom CPU is a let down in these tests, since it is not powerful enough to cope with these games, especially RTS. It does appear that if you have 'Net Top' with an ION chip, avoid RTS games.
nVidia ION is Brilliant!
Have been playing around with the capabilities of my Acer Aspire Revo. I have tried out some 1080p HD videos and 3D games, and it has coped with the issues what so ever!
1080p videos have played perfectly, no shutter at all! The CPU usage sits at 7%, while playing these videos. 3D games have played fine, still keen to try out a few source games and company of heroes! All this is possible, thanks to the nVidia ION, you have to remember that all the ION is a GeForce 9400 card, so it is very powerful.
To show you how brilliant the ION is, this video shows you the ION playing a 1080p video and Call of Duty 4 at 30-40fps!
Got a Acer Aspire Revo!
Not going to be a review, more about my Revo. It is a brilliant computer! It does have a Intel Atom cpu, but combined with the nVidia ION graphics chip, it is
The Acer Aspire Revo! (click to enlarge)
blazing quick. Its pretty amazing, the ION is very small and designed for low cost/low power computers, but deliveries full HD 1080p playback and DX10 gaming! The computer is very good looking, very "Mac-Mini look-a-like", so small.
It cost me £140 for the Revo R3600 from Ebuyer.com. Intel Atom 230 (1.6Ghz), 1GB DDR2 RAM, nVidia ION, 160GB HDD. Comes with Linux, but was quickly removed for Ubuntu and Windows XP (only installed to use Access for my course). Dual boot worked fine, only issues was getting the Windows XP to install. Had a struggle with putting XP on a flash drive, I used a piece of software called WinToFlash. Next I had an issue, trying to get it to boot of the flash drive, I had to set the SATA controller to use IDE emulation. Final hurdle was finding the drivers for XP, they can all be found here. As always, Ubuntu had no trouble installing and setting up, 'It Just Worked!'
The Revo R3600 is brilliant piece of kit, very fast, thanks to nVidia's ION chip and so cheap to buy!
Clean up Ubuntu!
As you all may know, I love tweaking and clean up my computers. I have already told you about a tool for Ubuntu, Bleachbit, which removes old files. Now its time to remove unnecessary packages from Ubuntu.
First, install two packages; localepurge and deborphan, both can be found in the Ubuntu repos.
Now we are ready to begin!
Getting rid of Residual Config packages
In Synaptic, on the far left hand side, you may see a category called "Residual config". Click on it, remove all the packages in that section. These are all the old packages which you had installed, which have left parts of the old package behind, this will now clean it up.
Getting rid of partial packages
In the terminal type:
sudo apt-get autoclean
This will remove partially completed packages, which I not needed.
Getting rid of unnecessary locale data
You have justed installed localepurge, this will run everytime you install or remove packages from Ubuntu. It will make sure there are no unused locale files or man pages left on your computer after the package was removed. You dont need to worry about this tool, it will work all by itself.
Getting rid of orphaned packages
In the terminal run this command:
sudo deborphan | xargs sudo apt-get -y remove --purge
When you remove an application from your computer, it may leave behind alot of unnecessary libs and other tools for that application to run. These are not needed now, this command will make sure there are no unused packages.
Thats it! Your computer should have more space free now! A more cleaner and slim-lined computer. Make sure you run these commands every so often, so your computer is always clean!
My Thoughts on Synergy
Synergy is a great tool if you have/use more than one computer. It allows you to use your keyboard and mouse on one computer, on many other computers.
One set of keyboard and mouse across a unlimited amount of computers!
It is especially good, if you don't have dual monitors, but you can create that sort of setup with two computers. However, in away it is better to use Synergy than dual monitor, because you can be sharing the computing power across two computers. You can even copy and paste text between computers. Its cross platform, so you can use the tool between Windows, Mac and Linux computers.
Its a great tool if you need to use of different computers at the same time,I found it very useful for IRC client on my eee pc and my general work on my desktop. You can download it here for FREE!
Finally got myself a router…
...well, its one I am borrowing from a friend. Its a Netgear WNR2000 (WiFi N). Need it for accessing my PSP & laptop with wireless, and for me to be able to use Synergy (review of it tomorrow! review here!)
My "borrowed" N Router
Full Circle Mangazine Issue 33
FCM Issue 33 is now out, with a ton of great Ubuntu articles and news. My section, Ubuntu Games, is in again this month. This issue, I have reviewed the Linux version of Bejeweled called Gweled! Download it now for Free!
My Thoughts on Apple Jan 2010 Event
It was a big day for the tech industry, Apple Event! As expected, the Apple tablet was confirmed!
Called the iPad, it is just an oversized iPod/iPhone! 10 inch screen, WiFi N, iPhone OS, 3G (on some models). It is a nice thin looking design, with 10 hours of battery life. However, I am not that impressed with a larger iPod Touch, cause thats all it is. It does have nice exclusive apps, such as iBooks (Apple's eReader/Book Store), iWorks for iPad (which is very nice and slick, $9.99 per iWork app). All the apps work with the iPad, and can be up-scaled to the screen size. It has some accessories as well, one which stood out for me, was the keyboard dock. It could be a cheap desktop???
Its a nice new product, but I do not see the point of it. Its too big to carry around, and if you want a excellent Internet device on-the-go, you buy a iPod Touch/iPhone. Jobs seemed to sell it as a home device, but why would you spend at least $499 on a iPad to use at home, when you could just use your computer. I see no point to it, I wont be buying one, I believe it will be a flop!
The pricing, it not as expensive as I thought but still pricey!
- 16GB - $499
- 32GB - $599
- 64GB - $699
- 16GB 3G - $629
- 32GB 3G - $729
- 64GB 3G - $829
You can also buy a prepay plan (not a contract), its with AT&T. $14.99 for 250mb per month OR $29.99 for unlimited. What is surprising is that it is unlocked!
That was it, 90mins about the iPad! No new iPod/iPhone, no iPhone OS 4, no new Mac Updates, Not even iLife/iWorks 2010 (I was expecting that!)
The new iPad (click to enlarge)
Install all your apps at once with Ninite!
Got a new computer? Installed Windows 7 for the first time? Reinstalled Windows? Need all your apps downloaded and installed easily and quickly? All you need is Ninite!
Select the applications you want to install from the list (such as Firefox, iTunes, Pidgin, AntiVir, OpenOffice, Flash, etc), download the Ninite tool and Ninite will download and install the latest version of the software you want!
Get Your Apps Fast!
Speed up OpenOffice!
OpenOffice is brilliant, a fully featured office suite, which is like Microsoft Office, but free!
My only issue with Open Office is that it is slow to start up. Here are a few quick tips to speed up Open Office.
In OpenOffice, click Tools > Options > Memory. Change the following:
- Number of Steps - 20
- Use for OpenOffice.org - 128
- Memory per object - 20
- Number of Objects - 2
- Check OpenOffice.org Quickstarter
Then under Java:
- uncheck Use a Java runtime environment
Click OK, and your done! OpenOffice should startup alot quicker!
Me!
Ed Hewitt, 19, Studying @ - Brilliant match, no way I was expecting a 4 - 0 result. Nice to see Neville.
- Nice to see the older players back in the united side.
- Playing Doom 3 on Linux, will have to review this for FCM36!
