Ubuntu Wiki

• Contact: Xamusk Kevinlange

• Brand: Acer
• Model: Acer Aspire 5610

• Website: http://global.acer.com/PRODUCTS/notebook/as5610.htm

For notes specific to the 5610Z model, see LaptopTestingTeam/AcerAspire5610z

Current Issues

• The internal microphone performs badly.
• No direct rendering. I believe that's the cause for some problems of 3D apps running in Compiz.
• Card reader only reads SD and still is a little unstable.

System Info

bios-version:V3.00
system-manufacturer:Acer
system-product-name:Aspire 5610
system-version:V3.00

Features

• Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2050 (2MB L2 cache, 1.6GHz, 533MHz FSB)
• 1GB (512/512) DDR2 SDRAM (Support dual-channel)
• 120GB HDD 5400rpm (this model also has a 160 GB Hard Drive variant)
• integrated Super-Multi drive (DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RAM)

• 15.4" WXGA (1280 x 800) TFT display, Acer® CrystalBrite Technology

• Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• 802.11a/b/g WLAN, 10/100 LAN, V.92 modem
• DVD-Super Multi double layer (support DVD+R Double Layer/DVD±RW)

• ENE Technologies Secure Digital / MultiMedia / xD / MemoryStick Pro card reader

Hardware details

Notes

Video

The video, by default starts set as 1024x768, even though Ubuntu recognizes the correct resolution (1280x800) and sets it in the xorg.conf file. To make it work, one has to install the 915-resolution package.

aptitude install 915resolution

Apparently just installing it makes Gnome's resolution changing app recognize the 1280x800 resolution so that the user can change it. The only supported resolutions now become 1280x800 and 1024x768, independent of the settings in xorg.conf (*update: in Feisty and up 800x600 and 640x480 also become available). Adding other resolutions to the xorg.conf file do not enable other "real" resolutions, even though 915resolution -l already shows all resolutions that should be available. Maybe some fiddling with it may enable other resolutions. I didn't try to disable the 1024x768 using it as it is needed so I can use the TV-Out with my TV. Just connecting the cable and using the Fn+F5 does the trick, although I couldn't make both screens show the screen at once. I could only enable one at each time. The step that should display both just doesn't seem to work. On Gutsy the TV-Out feature doesn't work as described above. To make it work, one has to restart X with the S-VHS cable already plugged in. This happens with BIOS set to display both "auto" and "both". This is no longer required in Hardy, which automatically uses the intel driver rather than the i810 driver. The intel driver has built-in modeswitching and will properly handle resolutions. You can then use the new Screen Resolution tool in Hardy to configure it further (note that this is not the same tool as was included with 915resolution)

Multiple Monitors

This method has only been tested on Hardy. Please make sure you back up your Xorg.conf before attempting this!

To get multiple monitors working with DRI you will need to use a single 'Screen' and make considerable (manual) changes to your Xorg.conf. Start by editing your device section and adding the following:

Option  "monitor-VGA" "External Monitor" 

Now, create a new Monitor section for the external display:

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "External Monitor"
        Vendorname      "External LCD Display"
        Option          "Below"  "Generic Monitor"
        Modelname       "LCD Panel 1680x1050"
        Option "PreferredMode"  "1680x1050"
        Gamma   1.0
EndSection 

Replace the resolutions accordingly. We put the monitor below our built-in display so that we can map to the 2560x2560 texture size properly. Next, under your Device subsection for your screen, add your monitor's operating modes to the Modes line. Here's what mine looks like:

Modes   "1680x1050@60"  "1280x800@60"   "1280x720@60"   "1280x768@60"   "800x600@60"    "800x600@56" 

Finally, to ensure that X reads the layout properly, set the Virtual mode to 2560x2560 in the same subsection:

Virtual 2048    2048 

Save your Xorg.conf and restart X. If you have problems with Compiz, ensure that "Detect Displays" is enabled in CCSM (General Options > Display Settings). If you wish to disable the monitor (which you probably will with a laptop), simply comment out the "monitor-VGA" line in your Device section. I also replace my Virtual line with one for the internal monitor only to ensure that I'm not forcing X to map to the full 2560x2560.

Touchpad

The touchpad works great out-of-the-box, but it's position is slightly to the left, causing wrong clicks/taps very often. To make the touchpad disable itself while typing, one has to edit xorg.conf so that the Input Device section for the touchpad has the line:

        Option          "SHMConfig"             "on"

Note: users of multi-user systems should be aware of the problems this option may imply, which shouldn't be much of a problem for a laptop. Then, one must go to System -> Preferences -> Sessions to set the following command to start when logging in:

syndaemon -t -d

I also used the -i 1 option, which sets the timeout after the last key was pressed to one second, but that's personal taste. For other options see syndaemon's manpage.

Wireless

The IPW3945 chipset is recognized by the kernel, but isn't initiated correctly (probably due to firmware stuff). To make it work, you have to install the ipw3945 daemon, available in the linux-restricted-modules-generic package: sudo aptitude install linux-restricted-modules-generic  This driver is installed by default in Feisty, through the Restricted Drivers Manager. Hardy has the 2.6.24 kernel, which includes the iwlwifi driver (which includes iwl3945) and so it needs no restricted drivers.

Webcam

The webcam is an Acer Orbicam. There's no support for this model in linux yet, though some great work is being done in the gspca driver. The last version is already capable of recognizing the camera and opening it (the led turns on), though only a blank screen appears now. I expect it to improve soon. UPDATE: Just now I have seen a new version of the gspca driver, installed it and wow! it does work now. So just go to http://mxhaard.free.fr/download.html and grab the newest version, go through the usual make, make install and get your camera running! Webcam works by default in Feisty. Note: The model of this laptop that is sold in the United States does not have the Orbicam. This is the only difference between the two models.

In Gutsy, the Acer OrbiCam works at least for ffmpeg, spcaview, kopete, but not for ekiga, but I don't know why. Works by default without problems in Hardy and up.

Sound

The soundcard is recognized as an HDA Intel one. When I was first testing, the sound volume was pretty low, even when the mixer controls were at maximum (including in alsamixer). To fix this, I noticed that totem controlled some other (hidden) sound control. So I played something in totem and maxed the control, reducing after in the "normal" volume control. This seemed at least to get the volume to an acceptable level, though the quality sounds low. Also, the microphone is incredibly low, so low that only speaking very near it one can record (verly low) sound. This looks like some alsa driver problem, according to some forums. In Feisty it works almost as expected. There's just some problems with the microphone capture. To make it work (at least in audacity, one has to go to gnome-volume-control and enable the options, then select "Mic" for both input sources, then adjust the mic volumes accordingly. In Gutsy the mic is still very low. Setting it to a high volume produces microphony. The same happens in Hardy.

Keyboard

Multimedia keys can be enabled by compiling the (acerhk module) (no need to compile in Hardy and up). After compiling the module, it should be started with the following command:

sudo modprobe acerhk force_series=2020 poll=0

The module should also be added to /etc/modules with the same options:

acerhk force_series=2020 poll=0

Note that the P and ePower buttons do not have a default effect set, but they will be recognized with the acerhk module. Neither are the Fn+F2 or Fn+F3 keys.

€ and $ Keys

To enable the Euro and Dollar keys above the arrows you will need to edit both the hardware keyboard map and the X.org keyboard map. This tutorial will use the keycodes 120=€ and 121=$ (hardware) which translate to 0x8B and 0x86 (X). You first need to make a dump of your current key map (ensure that the file keys.map exists):

sudo dumpkeys > keys.map

Then you need to find the following lines (in keys.map):

keycode 120 =          
keycode 121 =

Replace them with

keycode 120 = F20
keycode 121 = dollar

New strings can not be defined, so instead we replace an existing one. Since our keyboard is far from having an F20 key, it's the best option. Then find the line

string F20 = "\033[34~"

and replace it with

string F20 = "€"

Save the file and return to the terminal and run these commands:

sudo setkeycodes e033 120 # Euro
sudo setkeycodes e034 121 # Dollar
sudo loadkeys keys.map

This will set the keycodes for the keys so that they match our newly defined values. Now we need to edit the key map for X11 so that our keypresses are actually used properly. We'll first need to get the key map into a file. We will be using xkeycaps to save our map:

sudo apt-get install xkeycaps
sudo xkeycaps

Once the program has started, click 'Ok' then 'Write Output'. When prompted, select to write all keys. Open the saved file and find the last keycode (it should be 0x5B). Add the following lines:

keycode 0x8B =  EuroSign
keycode 0x86 =  dollar

Save the file and run the following command:

sudo xmodmap <file name>

Delete any extra hidden files (specifically temporary files) that may have been created from this. Rename the file '.Xmodmap' and save it in your home folder. Our final step is to get our changes to loadkey to be permanent, which requires running a short sh script as root upon start up:

setkeycodes e033 120
setkeycodes e034 121
loadkeys <path>

(where <path> is the path to your keymap, IE /home/klange/keys.map.) Save the file as /etc/rcS.d/S91keymaps.sh (or, if you wish to follow the readme for RC.d, save it has keymaps.sh in /etc/init.d and create a symlink by the name /etc/rcS.d/S91keymaps.sh) This will force the script to run at start up, enabling our new keymap. Then, when we start our X session, our X key map is loaded and we can use our $ and € keys. On your next login, you will be prompted to load the keymap. Select it from the list on the right of the dialog and press "load", then press "ok". Your € and $ keys should now work. Notice: You may notice that Compiz and other applications will stop responding to the Super key. If this happens, open up the Keyboard preferences and enable "Super is mapped to the Win-keys (Default)" under "Alt/Win-key behavior" in the "Layout Options" tab.

In Intrepid this probably doesn't work due to X.org's new keyboard handling using evdev, which bypasses xmodmap. Actually, using Xmodmap may break some keys.

Card Reader

The Gutsy kernel (2.6.22-X) and later releases have built-in support for the ENE-based memory card reader and no modifications are required to make use of it. The reader will not accept xD nor Memory Stick cards. Even with SD, it's still a little unstable sometimes and won't always mount the card automatically. It will create the /dev/mmcblk0 device though. So in these cases you can remove and reinsert the card to see if it mounts, or you can execute:

pmount /dev/mmcblk0

in which case the card will be mounted in /media/mmcblk0 and it won't be available directly in the GUI.

Diagnostic Output

lsusb:

Bus 005 Device 002: ID 046d:0896 Logitech, Inc. 
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
05:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
06:01.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
06:04.0 CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc CB-712/4 Cardbus Controller (rev 10)
06:04.1 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc ENE PCI Memory Stick Card Reader Controller (rev 01)
06:04.2 SD Host controller: ENE Technology Inc ENE PCI Secure Digital Card Reader Controller (rev 01)
06:04.3 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc: (rev 01)
06:04.4 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc SD/MMC Card Reader Controller (rev 01)

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