Ubuntu Wiki

• Contact: MichaelDoube or ElEs

• Make: Acer
• Brand: Aspire
• Model: 3023WLMi

System Info

Acer Aspire 3020 -1

Hardware details

[1] In Gutsy, bootsplash needed to be instructed of correct resolution : On Gutsy, the livecd did display the bootsplash screen, after install it did not. To fix, do according to this http://www.mail-archive.com/ubuntu-bd@lists.ubuntu.com/msg00339.html :

sudo gedit /etc/usplash.conf

Modify the xres to 1280 and yres to 800 like this

xres=1280
yres=800

this is this laptop's native resolution;

Then do

$ sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

in console and reboot.

[2]On Gutsy, compiz is keen to work only after package xserver-xgl is installed. On Hardy and fglrx, you don't need the xserver-xgl any more.

[3] My hardware broke in a funny way : the monitor only claims it can to 1024x768, but the content is not stretched to the screen, but only displayed on a part of it. Means, there is 256 pixels left to the left of the screen area, and 32 pixels "south" of it, repeating the state of the last column and row of the display area. It is NOT because of the Ubuntu OS, because Windows has got it the same, and even the BIOS Setup as well.

[4] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver is a good place to read. After update, I removed the xorg.conf completely, letting the X to autodetect as much as they can, and then instructed it to use the radeon driver, and DRI extension; also recommending man radeon

[1] Screen turns black and system hangs.

[1] http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4928900 : how to fix PulseAudio for Hardy. I have also uninstalled the repository-supplied Flash 9 plugin, changed it for a direct download from Adobe.

[2] For Intrepid, I still keep the repository for PA fixes as in [1].

[1] Requires acer-acpi. [2] I have made it work by adding a file: /etc/modprobe.d/acer_acpi containing

options acer-acpi wireless=1

This will enable the wireless (b43 reports this as 'turning wireless hardware physically 'ON') Wireless button has no effect (may as well file a bug on this, no time yet)

[3] Tested with IRCP Tray program https://launchpad.net/ircp-tray, can transfer files to and from a IRDA compatible telephone.

[1] Years of using a traditional mice have caused that I find dobletap and tap to click really annoying, so I disable it whenever I can.

Originally, there was a "untested" entry here - but this laptop doesn't even have anything that looks like a replicator port.

Notes

Most recent findings/remarks will be noted at the top; Outdated information will be marked

09/07/2009: Upgraded to Intrepid successfully a few weeks ago. It was rather surprising how much space it required (can be found on Ubuntu Questions) but it worked and was worth it. Needed total reconfiguration of the X, to start with, let it autodetect what it can, then modify the xorg.conf according to the man radeon and https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver . Also just before the update, I did this : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4928900 and after update just checked that everything is still in order. Yeah, you guessed, PulseAudio is a [+] from me. Also started refactoring this page hoping it would be more readable, being more edit-friendly as well. This involves transposing the hardware support tables and moving some content from the notes to under the tables and reviewing some of the original comments. Will be continued.

3/08/2008: For some time now, my laptop seems to have its screen malfunctioned... I doubt there is any fault in Ubuntu itself (as the same shows under Windows - hell, even the laptop's own BIOS setup... Here it is what happened : The LCD's native resolution is 1280x800. It appears however, like the monitor has lost its resolution information - the resolution is reported to be max of 1024x768. The screen is however NOT stretched to the whole of panel... it is displayed aligned to the left-top corner - the remaining 256(coincidence???) pixels to the 'east' and 32 pixels to the 'south' of the displayed 1024x768 screen, are repeated from the last column and row of it. It can be seen, while moving the mouse to the right edge or to the bottom edge. The tools that show screen resolution (xdpyinfo, Ubuntu's Monitor Resolution Settings) only show the 1024x768 as maximum. The XOrg.0.log is here : http://el_es.pastebin.com/m3afae516 . My xorg.conf is here: http://el_es.pastebin.com/m3c45308d .

Other than that, everything is fine. I got good enough 3D for Nexuiz with open-sourced Radeon drivers : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver (compiz however doesn't start...) . I don't think the closed-source drivers would help here anyhow (other than enabling me to run Compiz...) because the same shows under Windows, usplash (yes, I remember having to set the native resolution in the usplash.conf, that setting is still there), and the BIOS's boot-up screen... So the fault seems to be in hardware somewhere. Oh well.

(end of 3/08/2008 entry)

More info on the noapic option : before adding, I used to have a message (cannot remember it correctly, it was something about 8042 not connected to IO-APIC) - I don't remember already, if there were some problems related [oh, yeah, I don't have the log on hand already, but there were messages of the clock source unstable and so on... and maybe the problems with suspend to ram/disk were related ? hard to guess now...] This option is applied by putting

# kopt=root=UUID=[my_root_uid] ro noapic

into /boot/grub/menu.lst, where the default kernel options are described.

This should be noted too : I do recommend acer-acpi ! For now, I have made it work by adding a file: /etc/modprobe.d/acer_acpi containing

options acer-acpi wireless=1

This will enable the wireless (b43 reports this as 'turning wireless hardware physically 'ON') Wireless button has no effect (may as well file a bug on this, no time yet)

To my admiration, both hibernate (suspend to disk) and suspend (suspend to ram) WORK and the system even resumes playing (totem playing mp3s ) like noting ever happened

To enable IDE CD DMA, you need to things described here : http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4615284&postcount=2 - in short :

sudo echo pata_atiixp >> /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
sudo echo "blacklist ata_generic" >> /etc/initramfs-tools/modules

sudo update-initramfs -u

Recently, on Hardy only, I found that the recent 2.6.24-16 kernel must be booted with noapic kernel parameter.

On Hardy, after a recent update, I finally got the open-sourced Radeon driver working for me. (though could not start Compiz after the X config was re-created, only glxgears reported ~1200 FPS)(will try it shortly)

On Hardy and fglrx, you don't need the xserver-xgl any more.

On Gutsy, compiz is keen to work only after package xserver-xgl is installed.

On Gutsy, the livecd did display the bootsplash screen, after install it did not. To fix, do according to this http://www.mail-archive.com/ubuntu-bd@lists.ubuntu.com/msg00339.html :

sudo gedit /etc/usplash.conf

Modify the xres to 1280 and yres to 800 like this

xres=1280
yres=800

this is this laptop's native resolution;

Then do

$ sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

in console and reboot. This worked for me.

Broadcom 4318 WLAN card (driver bcm43xx) worked after I add to /etc/modules:

bcm43xx bad_frames_preempt=1
acerhk wlan_state=1 autowlan=1

(ElEs) Michael suggests acer-acpi, which I didn't try yet; the above works for me. EDIT : I tried acer-acpi - but need to experiment more; for now I recommend acerhk.

The WLAN LED blinks when data is being transmitted - this is normal.

Apparently bcm43xx authors suggest to drop bcm43xx and entire softmac stack in favor of b43 with mac80211 wireless stack for these cards. (Which is why (ElEs) has migrated to Hardy in the first place)

Programmable button is the P - well at least this is its purpose shown in Windows Acer's HotKeys program.

Dual boot with WinXP - hangs on reboot from Ubuntu to WinXP, a hard reset and reboot into WinXP is required, sometimes a reboot in safe mode with networking is required. EDIT : This was an issue of the broken WinXP broadcom driver, disappeared after I reinstalled it.

CategoryLaptop Further information on getting Ubuntu to go on the Aspire 3023WLMi can be found here:

http://doube.org/ubuntu3023.html http://doube.org/bcm4318.html

Dual boot with WinXP - hangs on reboot from Ubuntu to WinXP, a hard reset and reboot into WinXP is required, sometimes a reboot in safe mode with networking is required.

May be connected with the wireless card control or driver.

Found some interesting info on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/AcerAspire5610#head-c32b7f7a26c28c9c6d0106485f8c4d6b2433e390 - will research these

:~$lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 Host Bridge (rev 01)
00:02.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI-X Root Port
00:06.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:07.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 11)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge
00:14.5 Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:14.6 Modem: ATI Technologies Inc SB400 AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 02)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility X700 (PCIE)
06:05.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
06:06.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller
06:06.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
06:06.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx21 Integrated FlashMedia Controller
06:06.4 Generic system peripheral [0805]: Texas Instruments PCI6411/6421/6611/6621/7411/7421/7611/7621 Secure Digital Controller
06:07.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8169 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10)

CategoryAccessibility CategoryAccessibility