Acer Aspire 5024WLMi is a new notebook from Acer with 64-bit
processor from AMD (actually it's a Turion ML-34 1.8 Ghz).
Full details on configuration can be found by
google.
Unfortunately I couldn't find the official product homepage (but there is actually
some info on Acer site).
The other product code is: LX.A4605.069.
Apart from the hardware you get the MS Windows XP Home Edition on the board (how sweet :]).
WinXP on this machine is sort of self-installing. Firstly - you get a bunch of CDs (no generic XP HE install CD) and an almost running system on the hard drive.
Three partitions (sizes just from my memory):
Once it was powered it ran some kind of installer (using Norton Ghost, Acer Recovery and others). About 15-20 minutes and there was a running XP system (Without any questions about partitioning!).
The "hidden" partition is intended to be a rescue copy of the system installing CD. And actually is. Some say it's necessary to recover the system. But it's not. I deleted the whole partition table and booted the System CD, then the system asked me for the Recovery CD. And after about 40 minutes the WinXP was recovered (with one big FAT32 partition 95gb :O).
NOTE: when trying to run the Recover (and System) CD thing with only the ~2gb hidden partition existing, it didn't work. The Norton Ghost kept saying "not enough room on target partition". Even creating some 10gb (or 40gb) FAT32 partitions (with fs on it) didn't help.
I decided to have:
To do it I ran an Ubuntu AMD64 (5.04) installer. And during the installation switched to second console and used parted for resizing the Win partition.
I don't know why but using the parted's interactive mode didn't work. After:
$ parted
[... some parted info]
(parted) resize 1 0 10000
it was working ("moving data") for about 50 minutes. But afterwards the partition had still ~100gb. A few more tries didn't change anything.
But running parted in command-line mode did actually the job:
parted resize 1 0 10000
And as it occurred the previous efforts were not forgotten (hurray!) - it didn't spend 50 minutes
any more on moving the data (but actually 2 or 3 mins).
For more information on parted use its docs.
I chose the "Ubuntu 5.04 AMD64" for the primary distro - "everyone" says it's the best distro for laptops. Let's check it. I am Mandrake fan (I use it on my desktop, and installed a few copies of it), with little experience with Debian-based distros, nor Gnome.
Each distro installation is reported in a separate section.
After solving the keyboard thing it actually works. Even the touchpad works out of the box. [the system discovered the "Synapstics TouchPad" or something]. That is quite strange, because on fresh installed Ubuntu the touchpad doesn't work.
Works. The touchpad doesn't work in X-windows mode, but keyboards does. It's enough.
Couldn't force the on-board Ethernet controller to work. Module (r8169) was installed, but getting up the interface failed:
$ ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.1 up
SSIOCSIFFLAGS: Device or resource busy
SSIOCSIFFLAGS: Device or resource busy
$ ifconfig
[showed only the lo interface]
Any idea?
Damn! It has the no-keyboard feature (or a bug?) too! The keyboard issue.
The Ubuntu installer is quite nice (I chose the expert mode - for sure I'm not an expert,
but like to have an influence on my future system). Some adventures about the installer:
it keeps trying to insert a floppy module (this notebook has no floppy drive), no OK buttons
(only "Back") - for a few times I clicked those and was surprised "How is that? I think I know
this dialog... Aaah, i chose "back" by mistake."
After about 2 hours play with the installer the welcome screen appears.
The touchpad doesn't work (on Ubuntu Live it works anyhow), but the keyboard does
(I didn't suppose that some day [AD 2005] a working keyboard would be such a big deal).
Network (LAN) works (no "device busy" problem) OOTB. dhclient works.
The touchpad doesn't work (but on LiveCD it works anyhow). To force it to work you have to:
rmmod psmouse
modprobe psmouse
Don't ask why is that. Afterwards `dmesg | tail` shows the desired info (see the touchpad section).
Hey! The installer boots with keyboard on and touchpad on! Seems to be better that the famous
laptop-distro Ubuntu.
It installed correctly. The installer is just the one I know from Mandriva 2005 i586 edition. But it doesn't boot up :D It ends up with:
mount: error 6 mounting ext3 flags defaults
well, retrying without the option flags
mount: error 6 mounting ext3
well, retrying read-only without an flag
mount: error 6 mounting ext3
pivotroot: pivot_root(/sysroot,/sysroot/initrd) failed: 2
umount /initrd/sys failed: 2
umount /initrd/proc failed: 2
Initrd finished
Freeing unused kernel memory: 296k freed
Kernel panic - not syncing: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel.
Solution for this is to upgrade the system using the internet Mandriva installation media
(taken from easyurpmi) - boot from the install CD,
choose "upgrade" (not "install"), pass the media URLs.
The same, I think, could
be done during the primary installation - the installer had asked about some extra media we had.
However the upgrade took about 1.5h - I didn't actually investigate which packages it upgraded. But
the kernel version has changed from 2.6.11-6mdk (from iso install) to 2.6.11-12mdk (from upgrade
source). Maybe that was the solution?
After those operations the system works and does in a pretty fine way.
One may have a problem to force the graphics
card to work in a 16:10 (1280x800) mode. I found out that
it is supported by new (>=6.9.0) xorg-x11. That's why I
downloaded it from cooker branch (ver. 6.9-0.cvs20050810.5mdk).
That's the list of files needed (to rpm -Uvh *)
3033408 lib64xorg-x11-6.9-0.cvs20050810.5mdk.x86_64.rpm 15285021 xorg-x11-6.9-0.cvs20050810.5mdk.x86_64.rpm 7731748 xorg-x11-75dpi-fonts-6.9-0.cvs20050810.5mdk.x86_64.rpm 9944210 xorg-x11-server-6.9-0.cvs20050810.5mdk.x86_64.rpm 719348 xorg-x11-xfs-6.9-0.cvs20050810.5mdk.x86_64.rpm
Due to some compability reasons you have to remove ImageMagick & lib64Magick (and some other print-related packages) first:
# urpme ImageMagick To satisfy dependencies, the following 6 packages will be removed (30 MB): ImageMagick-6.2.0.3-8.1.102mdk.x86_64 a2ps-4.13b-6.1.102mdk.x86_64 (due to missing ImageMagick) foomatic-db-3.0.2-1.20050404.1mdk.noarch (due to missing printer-filters) foomatic-db-hpijs-2.1-1.20050330.1mdk.noarch (due to missing foomatic-db) gimpprint-foomatic-4.2.7-12mdk.x86_64 (due to missing foomatic-db) printer-filters-10.2-0.11mdk.x86_64 (due to missing ImageMagick) Is this OK? (y/N)
Then install pkdsh:
urpmi pkdsh
And now you can install all the previously listed xorg*rpm
(rpm -Uvh *rpm). Then I took a xorg.conf from Ubuntu
(only the display part, not the fs part)
and with this config tried to run. After one strange startup,
the next time I boot it I ran OK.
I didn't managed to get in common with XFdrake to turn on the
1200x800 config properly.
The complete xorg.conf is a compilation
of MDK original and Ubuntu1280x800.
Unfortunately - the new xorg causes the power button not to work any more. It works in second runlevel (no Xs), but in X environment doesn't (but I had worked). Maybe the newer (stable) xorg won't have this bug.
After using MDK for couple of months (previously I've used it on my desktop machine) I switched to Ubuntu, the developer branch
(currently Dapper Drake).
All in all = it's usable and works fine for me.
It still has some shortcommings:
On some distros (Ubuntu - both live and installed, Knoppix [only 3.9]) the keyboard didn't actually work after booting. That was quite a shock for me. It worked on the lilo/grub screen (when choosing the image), but not after.
Soon I discovered that hitting (gently, but still hitting :D) some keys during the kernel loading sometimes helps. And the system doesn't play the "I'm deaf" game anymore. But only sometimes. What occurred? That touching Shift+F1 helps. I don't know why. I found on google (some guy with a Satellite notebook had the same problem). Shift+F1 = Magic?
RED sent me a hint with keyboard issue in Kubuntu (I never tried Kubuntu, but maybe it helps someone):
"I wanted to say you that when Kubuntu asks to choose the language, in the first installation step, the keyboard
doesn't response, but to activate the keyboard you must press PrtSc SysRq (print screen button on the right of F12)."
Thank you, RED.
It's the Synaptics Touchpad. The driver can be found. Most of the distros have it on board.
dmesg should show the info:
Synaptics Touchpad, model: 1
Firmware: 6.2
Sensor: 18
new absolute packet format
Touchpad has extended capability bits
-> 4 multi-buttons, i.e. besides standard buttons
-> multifinger detection
-> palm detection
input: SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad on isa0060/serio4
ts: Compaq touchscreen protocol output
It's based on an ATI Mobility Radeon X700 chip. And it's supported by Xs since about xorg-x11-6.9.0 or with some patches.
With usual driver (e.g. "vesa") it shows a 1024x768 screen scaled to 16:10 proportions. It looks little weird, but you can get used to.
The old xorg (like that one from MDK 2005LE x86_64) shows errors like this (only two lines):
(II) ATI: Candidate "Device" section "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon Mobility X700 (RV410)". (EE) No devices detected.
The best solution is to get a new xorg. For MDK I took a xorg from the cooker branch.
I had a lot of problems with it.
Definitely it's the ndiswrapper-only NIC. You have to download the M$ drivers for it (remember you need 64-bit drivers, not the 32- ones, so one is interested in the XP64 drivers), get the ndiswrapper and run it. The links are:
And as it's described in many FAQs and tutorials:
# ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf [...] # ndiswrapper -l Installed ndis drivers: bcmwl5 driver present, hardware present
# modprobe ndiswrapper # dmesg | tail -n 6 ndiswrapper version 1.2 loaded (preempt=no,smp=no) ndiswrapper: driver bcmwl5 (Broadcom,02/11/2005, 3.100.64.0) loaded ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:06:05.0[A] -> GSI 21 (level, low) -> IRQ 169 ndiswrapper: using irq 169 wlan0: ndiswrapper ethernet device xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx using driver bcmwl5, configuration file 14E4:4318.5.conf wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP, WPA with TKIP, WPA with AES/CCMP
If you think the WLAN is working already - it's not. iwlist wlan0 scan keeps getting "no scan results".
And it's no way to change the ESSID of the interface (like many tutorial suggest).
It's the point where the acer_acpi module comes into the
action (and it saves the day - thank you, Mark!!!). I downloaded the fresh kernel source (2.6.12-11mdkcustom), compiled and
installed it. Then did the same with the acer_acpi module - as the author asks to do:
# make; make install [...] # modprobe acer_acpi # echo "enabled: 1" >/proc/acpi/acer/wireless
And it works!!! iwlist wlan0 scan shows some non-trivial output.
That's the power of free open-source community. The Broadcom sucks and once again some geek prooved the strength of the community. THANK YOU, MARK (Thank you, Linus :D).
I didn't manage to use either WPA or WPA2 key with wpa_supplicant.
WEP-128 encoding works. I use that script to connect to my router:
killall dhclient
echo "enabled: 1" >/proc/acpi/acer/wireless
iwconfig $INTERFACE mode managed
iwconfig $INTERFACE ap $AP
iwconfig $INTERFACE key open $KEY [1]
iwconfig $INTERFACE essid $ESSID
dhclient $INTERFACE
The "open" (vs "restricted") key option is crutial. I didn't have time to discover what's the difference and what it means, but it does work.
Sometimes it works :D.
You should use ATI drivers - there are to be found
somewhere on the ATI site.
I use the "xorg-driver-fglrx" package from Ubuntu. Now (6.9.0-8.23.7+2.6.15.7-1 with 2.6.15.* kernels) it doesn't work, but it has
worked some time ago. With this version the Xorg.0.log ends with:
(EE) fglrx(0): === [R200DALSetControllerConfigForRemap] === CWDDC ControllerSetConfig failed: 6 - 0
It seems to be the same or something connected to the bug #32474 in Ubuntu's launchpad.
Powering off worked in previously tested distros (MDK 2005/Ubuntu 5.04/SLAMD64 10.1/etc.), but doesn't work in Ubuntu 6.04. After
"will now halt" message it doesn't halt actually, the screen goes blank and the fan works on full speed. The same case is with system-rebooting.
It occurres only, when working in X-window system. See
this bug filed in Ubuntu launchpad (bug management system).
As far as I remember I have been having problems with the power button - which works in console-mode, but doesn't work in x-window system. Is it something connected to ACPI?
It's a superb feature of the notebook, which I haven't known until now. On this notebook the frequency scales from 1.8Ghz, to 1.6Ghz and .8Ghz. For me it's a very useful feature - ksysguard shows that I use .8Ghz nearly all the time - and it switches to 1.6/1.8Ghz only for some short moments.
In Ubuntu the only thing needed was the powernow-k8. I always enabled the laptop mode also when connected to AC (ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE_ON_AC line in /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf).
All outputs come from the Ubuntu 6.04 Dapper Drake system running on 2.6.15.18 kernel
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 Host Bridge (rev 01) 0000:00:02.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI-X Root Port 0000:00:06.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5a38 0000:00:07.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5a39 0000:00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller 0000:00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller 0000:00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller 0000:00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 11) 0000:00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller ATI 0000:00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge 0000:00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge 0000:00:14.5 Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02) 0000:00:14.6 Modem: ATI Technologies Inc ATI SB400 - AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 02) 0000:00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration 0000:00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map 0000:00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller 0000:00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control 0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility X700 (PCIE) 0000:06:05.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02) 0000:06:06.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller 0000:06:06.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller 0000:06:06.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx21 Integrated FlashMedia Controller 0000:06:06.4 0805: Texas Instruments PCI6411, PCI6421, PCI6611, PCI6621, PCI7411, PCI7421, PCI7611, PCI7621 Secure Digital (SD) Controller 0000:06:07.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8169 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10)
Verbose version of previous output.
| Live CDs | Installable distributions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 5.04 AMD64 Live | Knoppix 3.3 | Knoppix 3.9 | Ubuntu 5.04 AMD64 | MDK 2005LE x86_64 | Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.04 | |
| Kernel | 2.6.???, 64bit | 2.??, 32bit | 2.??, 32bit | 2.6.10-5-amd64-generic, 64bit | 2.6.11-6mdk / 2.6.11-12mdk, 64bit | 2.6.15.18 |
| Installs (or boots) | yes | yes | yes | yes | after some effort | yes |
| Keyboard | after... | yes | ... the Shift+F1 trick | yes | yes | |
| Touchpad | yes | ??? | ??? | after the rmmode, modprobe trick | yes | yes |
| LAN | ??? | no | ??? | yes | yes | yes |
| X@1280x800 | ??? | ??? | ??? | yes | with xorg 6.9.0 | yes |
| WLAN | ??? | with 3rd party module | ||||
| 3d acceleration | ??? | sometimes | ||||
| frequency scaling | ??? | yes | ||||
Sites about linux on laptops:
I wrote this document to help anyone else installing a linux system on an Aspire machine. Hope it helps somebody.
Author: Grzegorz Oledzki, Poland.
Email (feel free to send any comments/doubts/solutions/etc.).
- please put "5024" in the subject - it helps me to find this letters among spam.
Sorry for my English. I'm not a native speaker, but did my best to write the document in English not in Mynglish.
(Polish only) Pozdrowienia dla wszystkich z Polski!
Document history:
