Ubuntu Wiki

• Contact: Festuc / FredericLespez

• Make: Acer

• Brand : TravelMate

• Model: 6292

• Website: Acer TravelMate 6292

Note : If you cannot bear the space bar behavior anymore (it only works if you hit it right in the middle), you could fix it like this.

Current Issues

Gutsy

Sound doesn't work out of the box.
Hardware: INTEL HD audio - Realtek ALC268 Codec
You need to:

• Install the following package:

sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-generic

• Replace the following line in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base:

options snd-hda-intel

with:

options snd-hda-intel model=acer

• Reboot

Everything should work after that except for mics (internal and external).

See this page for more information:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Gutsy_Intel_HD_Audio_Controller

Some TM6292 laptops ship with a hard drive manufactured by Hitachi (HTS541616J9SA00). The implementation of SATA NCQ is not perfect with the Hitachi drive. See #137470.

Till this is fixed, NCQ can disabled:
Just add the the following line to /etc/rc.local:
sh -c "echo 1 > /sys/block/sda/device/queue_depth"
See libATA FAQ. Thanks Enrico for the tip

Hardy

Since Hardy Alpha 5, sound work out of the box !

Mics (internal and external) doesn't seem to work.

No SATA NCQ problem under Hardy.

Intrepid

Mics (internal and external) doesn't seem to work.

There is some regression in hotkeys handling.

Jaunty

Mics (internal and external) doesn't seem to work. Alsa 1.0.18a contain a fix for that:
ALSA: hda - Split ALC268 acer model
The bad news is that Alsa 1.0.18a won't make it into in Jaunty: #304068
The last hope is that this fixes alone is backported : #332506

There is some regression in hotkeys handling.
Some useful informations:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=911184

Wifi and Bluetooth are automatically enabled during boot. See bug #306739. You workaround this (see comment #17) by adding these 2 lines in /etc/rc.local before the exit 0:

echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/acer-wmi/rfkill/rfkill0/state
echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/acer-wmi/rfkill/rfkill1/state

Karmic

Internal mics works !
But not out of the box...
You need to:

• Replace the following line in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base:

options snd-hda-intel power_save=10

with:

options snd-hda-intel power_save=10 model=acer-dmic

• Reboot

Internal mics now works but the record level is a bit low...

System Info

bios-version:v1.3601
system-manufacturer:Acer, inc.
system-product-name:TravelMate 6292
system-version:Not Applicable

Hardware details

Notes

Behavior with external monitors

From Acer Support: The DVI port (found on the dock for this notebook) is not a primary port. So BIOS, grub and usplash won't be displayed on the monitor connected to the DVI port.

Under Gutsy

If an external screen is plugged after boot (docked or not), nothing happens (screen is not used), even if the command "xrandr -q" shows that screen is "seen" by the system. The display toggle hotkey doesn't work.

• Laptop plugged into docking station, lid closed and external DVI monitor switched on:
  BIOS, GRUB and usplash are displayed on the notebook panel (LVDS). See note above on DVI port.
  GDM is displayed on the external monitor (TMDS-1) but with a wrong resolution : 1152x864 instead of 1280x1024 (the preferred resolution of my monitor).
  In Gnome, I can choose the right resolution with the RANDR applet.
  The notebook panel is turned off. That's fine !
  

• Laptop plugged into docking station, lid opened and external DVI monitor plugged in:
  BIOS, GRUB and usplash are displayed on the notebook panel (LVDS). See note above on DVI port.
  GDM is displayed on external monitor (TMDS-1) but with wrong resolution 1152x864 instead of 1280x1024 (preferred resolution of my monitor). In Gnome, i can choose the right resolution with the RANDR applet.
  The notebook panel clones the external display. That's bad because you cannot clone a 1280x1024 screen on a 1280x800 one :-(
  

• Laptop plugged into docking station, lid closed or opened and external VGA monitor plugged in:
  BIOS, GRUB and usplash are displayed on the external monitor (VGA).
  GDM is displayed on the notebook panel (LVDS) but with a wrong resolution (1280x1024).
  The notebook panel (LVDS) clones the external monitor (VGA) even when the lid is closed. That's bad because you cannot clone a 1280x1024 screen on a 1280x800 one :-(
  What is more, the external monitor (VGA) stay black...
  

• Laptop not plugged into docking station, lid closed or opened and external VGA monitor plugged in:
  BIOS, GRUB and usplash are displayed on the external monitor (VGA).
  GDM is displayed on the external monitor (VGA) with the right resolution (1280x1024).
  The notebook panel (LVDS) clones the external monitor (VGA) even when the lid is closed. That's bad because you cannot clone a 1280x1024 screen on a 1280x800 one :-(
  

Here is an xorg.conf allowing all kind of setup (extended desktop for example) using xrandr commands. You must adapt the Virtual directive according to your monitor's resolution.

# xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver          "kbd"
        Option          "CoreKeyboard"
        Option          "XkbRules"      "xorg"
        Option          "XkbModel"      "pc105"
        Option          "XkbLayout"     "fr"
        Option          "XkbVariant"    "oss"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Configured Mouse"
        Driver          "mouse"
        Option          "CorePointer"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/input/mice"
        Option          "Protocol"              "ImPS/2"
        Option          "ZAxisMapping"          "4 5"
        Option          "Emulate3Buttons"       "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Synaptics Touchpad"
        Driver          "synaptics"
        Option          "SendCoreEvents"        "true"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/psaux"
        Option          "Protocol"              "auto-dev"
        Option          "HorizEdgeScroll"       "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Driver          "wacom"
        Identifier      "stylus"
        Option          "Device"        "/dev/input/wacom"
        Option          "Type"          "stylus"
        Option          "ForceDevice"   "ISDV4"         # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Driver          "wacom"
        Identifier      "eraser"
        Option          "Device"        "/dev/input/wacom"
        Option          "Type"          "eraser"
        Option          "ForceDevice"   "ISDV4"         # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Driver          "wacom"
        Identifier      "cursor"
        Option          "Device"        "/dev/input/wacom"
        Option          "Type"          "cursor"
        Option          "ForceDevice"   "ISDV4"         # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller"
        Driver          "intel"
        BusID           "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Écran générique"
        Option          "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Device          "Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller"
        Monitor         "Écran générique"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                # Computed for an external monitor with a resolution of 1280x1024
                # This screen could be above/below the notebook panel: 1024+800=1864
                # or it could be on the right/left of the notebook panel: 1280+1280 =2560
                Virtual         2560    1864
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "Default Layout"
        Screen          "Default Screen"
        InputDevice     "Generic Keyboard"
        InputDevice     "Configured Mouse"

# Uncomment if you have a wacom tablet
#       InputDevice     "stylus"        "SendCoreEvents"
#       InputDevice     "cursor"        "SendCoreEvents"
#       InputDevice     "eraser"        "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice     "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

After restarting X, you could setup an extended desktop on a DVI monitor using this command:
xrandr --output TMDS-1 --auto --left-of LVDS
Then you could go back using only the notebook panel with:
xrandr --output TMDS-1 --off
Or only use the external monitor with:
xrandr --output LVDS --off

You can also use the following Gnome tool: URandR - a GUI to RandR 1.2

Under Hardy

If an external screen is plugged after boot (docked or not), nothing happens (screen is not used), even if the command "xrandr -q" shows that screen is "seen" by the system. The display toggle hotkey doesn't work.

• Laptop plugged into docking station, lid closed or opened and external DVI monitor plugged in:
  BIOS, GRUB and usplash are displayed on the notebook panel (LVDS). See the note above on DVI port behavior from Acer Support.
  GDM is displayed on the external monitor (TMDS-1) but with a wrong resolution : 1152x864 75Hz instead of 1280x1024 60Hz (the preferred resolution of my monitor).
  The right resolution can be set after logging into Gnome with the RANDR applet.
  The notebook panel tries badly to clones the external display. But nothing works has expected:
  

  • The Gnome panel is fine on the DVI monitor. But on the notebook panel, the Gnome Panel thinks the resolution is 1152x864 whereas the LVDS resolution is set to 1280x800 : So the upper panel is not as wide as the notebook panel and the bottom one is not visible.
  • If you maximize a window, it maximize as if the screen resolution was 1280x800 !! So on the DVI monitor, the windows is truncated on the right and doesn't use all available spaces on the bottom...

• Laptop plugged or not into docking station, lid closed or opened and external VGA monitor plugged in:
  BIOS, GRUB and usplash and GDM are displayed on the external monitor (VGA).
  GDM is displayed with a right resolution (1280x1024 60Hz).
  The notebook panel (LVDS) is turned off. But Gnome turns it on during session starts :-(
  So it's almost perfect !
  But :
  

  • Sometimes the external monitor (VGA) stay black... You need to restart GDM to fix it up.

  • Maximizing a windows doesn't work like expected when compiz is activated (See bug #123205) : it maximizes as if the resolution was set to 1280x800 (the resolution of the notebook panel). To fix that, you need to turn off the notebook panel (xrandr --output LVDS --off), and disable then enable compiz effects.

Under Intrepid

If an external screen is plugged after boot (docked or not), nothing happens (screen is not used), even if the command "xrandr -q" shows that screen is "seen" by the system. The display toggle hotkey doesn't work.

Behavior is lot more coherent under Intrepid... but not perfect yet !

• Laptop plugged or not into docking station, lid closed or opened and external VGA or DVI monitor plugged in:
  BIOS, GRUB and usplash and GDM are displayed:
  

  • on the external monitor if it is plugged into the VGA connector.
    

  • on the notebook panel (LVDS) if it is plugged into the DVI connector. See the note above on DVI port behavior from Acer Support.
    

  GDM (and Gnome) is displayed on both monitors, notebook panel and external monitor (VGA or DVI), in clone mode with a resolution of 1024x768 at 60Hz. This behavior is not optimal since both monitors have a different preferred resolution :-(
  The notebook panel (LVDS) is not turned off when the lid is closed.
  Bug reported : #272669

Another issue: sometimes GDM screen doesn't show up on external monitor. See bug #283723

Under Jaunty

See Intrepid's behavior : Nothing changed except that bug #283723 has been fixed : GDM alway shows up on external screen now !
Note that if you want to use an extended desktop you still need to modify /etc/X11/xorg.conf to add a Virtual directive into the Screen section. See details in Gutsy's behavior description.

Under Karmic

Same behavior as Jaunty, except that :

• if you want to use an extended desktop, you no longer need to modify /etc/X11/xorg.conf to add a Virtual directive into the Screen section. It works out the box !

CategoryLaptop