Kubuntu GNU/Linux (8.04 Hardy Heron LTS, 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon...) on ACER Aspire 9814 WKMi and other 9800 laptop series

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Kubuntu GNU/Linux (8.04 Hardy Heron LTS, 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon...) on ACER Aspire 9814 WKMi and other 9800 laptop series

Please note that this page is no longer being updated. It is still provided for archive purpose, because its contents, although becoming more and more outdated, may prove useful to anyone using GNU/Linux on Acer 9800 series.

General description

ACER Aspire 9800 series are laptops featuring a 20" widescreen LCD display. 9810 series are the newest ones at the time of the writing of this webpage (update: 9920 series have been released, but they're only an update to 9810 series - newest technological refinements are useless at the moment). ACER 9814 WKMi is a full-featured, multimedia laptop, that's actually more a desktop computer you can occasionally carry from one place to another, rather than a real, nomad laptop. It comes with a TV tuner (that doesn't work on linux yet), built-in webcam and microphone, WiFi, bluetooth, and basically everything you can expect from a high-end laptop.
The 20" widescreen display is simply amazing, i.e clear, bright, and accurate. Maximum resolution is sufficient for daily use, though it could have been a little higher.
Performances are quite good, thanks to a Intel Core 2 Duo dual-core processor, 2 Gb of RAM, and decent NVIDIA graphic card. Some versions (9814WKMI_TCGF2024, like mine) come with 2 120 GB SATA hard drives, which make the computer a real desktop replacement.
Quality is correct, though some parts seem to be a bit fragile: this machine weights 7.8 kg, and care should be taken when it's moved (it's about 3 times as heavy as a "normal" laptop !). Fortunately, one can now find 20" laptop bags.
Best things of all, it's not so expensive: it is usually sold below 2'000 € (as of late 2006).

Installation

This laptop came with Badvista campaign Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) pre-installed (I believe newest ones now come with Windows Vista).
I tried Kubuntu live CD to check that it would work properly with most hardware detected. Then I backed up existing partitions and installed Kubuntu Edgy Eft 6.10 (32-bit edition). Installation was quite straightforward. But a few things do need tuning to be fully operational. Hopefully you'll find some guidance here.
Later on (April 2007) (K)Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn was released. I updated to Feisty. See how it went, and it was a bit of a hassle because I played with unofficial repositories.
6 months later, Gutsy Gibbon was released. I then upgrade to this version, but it hasn't been trouble-free either. Then I gave up playing with unofficial repositories, as most programs I need are available and current enough to suit my needs. But KDE 4.0 release was approaching, and I thought I'd give it a shot.

I also gave a try to Kubuntu 64-bit edition, but even though I find it to be a little bit faster and snappier, I don't find sufficient advantages to make a permanent switch. So far, 64-bit provides a more responsive system but is a hassle to configure, fix, and make simple things functional. Therefore I do not recommend it at the moment.

This is not true anymore, I recently switched to 64-bit with the latest 8.10 Intreprid Ibex beta release. I first installed the beta version. I found it usable, but generally slow. NVIDIA drivers are very troublesome lately. Also, a kernel bug prevents me from booting any kernel newer than 2.6.27-5. This means the final 8.10 Ubuntu wouldn't work for me. This showstopper hasn't been resolved yet.

I must say 8.10 really is a bad release to me and my computer. I'm looking forward to installing ArchLinux instead. The latter is not really easy to setup (it's not an "out-of-the-box" distro), but i like its philosophy.

So I'm about to permanently get rid of Ubuntu. Not sure it'll be for the best, but IMHO it's worth trying.

So you can expect than this webpage will no longer be updated in the future, unless, I change my mind.

Hardware specifications of ACER Aspire 9814 WKMi

Hardware Linux compatibility
Hardware Components Status under Linux Notes
INTEL Centrino 64-bit Core 2 Duo T5600 CPU (1.83 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 cache) Works No special procedure required during installation. I had to manually load speedstep_centrino modules to get dynamic frequency scaling (i.e. CPU speed-stepping). Check out my /etc/modules. Manual frequency scaling is available in Kpowersave (speedstep_centrino module was used in Edgy but its support has been dropped in Feisty: acpi_cpufreq module is used instead, and needs to be manually loaded - check my /etc/modules).
20.1" WSXGA+ CrystalBrite widescreen LCD Display (16/10, 300 nit/16 ms response time, 1680x1050@60 Hz max) Works Use NVIDIA proprietary drivers for better results. Tuning of xorg.conf was needed to achieve maximum resolution. Some NVIDIA drivers may report incorrect refresh rates, but do work. Check out my xorg.conf. I do not know of any software that's able to adjust brightness automatically (for battery saving), but ACER keyboard shortcuts do work, so manual adjusting is possible. NVIDIA's proprietary driver also provides a utility called nvidia-settings, which can be used to adjust brightness (amongst many other features).
HARDY update: screen brightness adjustment is now supported in Hardy, as a mean to save power. It can be set up with kpowersave.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: latest nvidia drivers generates random small artefacts and short-to-medium freezes. Sometimes even hardlocks. Back in the past NVIDIA video cards were good things to me. Their recent drivers just made them become rubbish.
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 PCI Express (256 MB DDR2 dedicated VRAM) Works Install NVIDIA prioprietary drivers available through official Ubuntu repositories to get working 3D acceleration. Later on I had to use the envy script (since kernel 2.6.17-11-generic actually). I need to run this script everytime kernel and/or linux-restricted-modules packages are updated. Otherwise nvidia module won't load and X can't start. Have a look at my xorg.conf as well.
This video card features a DV-I and a VGA outputs, so you should be able to connect up to 2 external monitors. nvidia-settings, a utility that comes with NVIDIA's driver, provides an easy way to set up multi-monitor configuration.
Later on I switched back to official Feisty NVIDIA package. Should you encounter an error message mentionning a dpkg-divert file diversion, check this forums thread to get this fixed.
No issue in Gutsy nor Hardy.
INTREPID update: NVIDIA drivers are real crap lately, they don't seem to like my hardware, nor latest Linux kernels. To get rid of all annoying things, I switched back to nv drivers, which do not provide 3D. This is a mjor regression!! At first I chose NVIDIA hardware because Linux support was good. Now all I can say is "avoid NVIDIA" : their Linux support has become very bad lately, especially since KDE 4 hit the masses. By using advanced X functions, KDE 4 has shown how poor NVIDIA drivers are when it comes to performance and stability. Most of my other computers fitted with NVIDIA video cards have similar issues, even though they do not always appear as showstoppers. I'm very disappointed.
2GB DDR2 RAM (supports dual-channel) Works No special procedure required during installation.
2x120GB Sata 150 Samsung HM120JI HDD (5400 rpm) Works No special procedure required during installation, though I'm not sure UDMA is set to maximum performance (hdparm -I reports UDMA mode 6 whereas mode 7 seems to be available).
Allows very special partitions schemes, such as software RAID using LVM2 (not tested). You may want to use one disk for system data (/), one disk for personal data (/home).
HD are originally FAT32 formatted, you may want to alter MS Windows partitions and NOT the first hidden partitions (unlike I did...). Read this to understand why ACER chose FAT32 over NTFS.
In terms of performance, 7200 rpm hard drives would have been a wiser choice…
Modular Floppy Drive N/A No floppy drive. A good USB stick is much better anyway.
Integrated PCI-Express Gigabit Network Card Works No special procedure required during installation. Everything seems functional. KNetworkManager is an application of choice to manage your network interfaces (see below).
INTEL PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Works No special procedure required during installation. KDE wireless utilities come in handy. KNetworkManager is the one to use to manage your network interfaces. It should work fine as long as your /etc/network/interfaces is minimal. For instance, mine reads:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
address 127.0.0.1
netmask 255.0.0.0
Should it read anything else, KNetworkManager will assume it is manually configured and won't update network configuration automagically. Should it happen to you, clean up you /etc/network/interface and reboot.
Internal 56k Modem Not tested N/A.
MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-85JS (2MB buffer, 24X max for CDs, 8X max for DVD-R/DVD+R, 4x max for dual-layer DVD, slot-in Works No special procedure required during installation. Usually works fine with K3B and other programs it relies on.
INTEL/REALTEK High Definition Audio (INTEL ICH7 HDA) Works
(used to be buggy)
Sometimes sound settings are not saved. Sometimes soundcard is not detected during boot process. Sometimes soundcard is muted, and won't unmute till switching to another (proprietary) OS. Works 95% of time, but it's very annoying to have to briefly reboot in Microsoft Windows just to (re-)enable the sound card. 2 Acer 3DSonic (1.5W) speakers with Acer BasSonic built-in subwoofer and 2 built-in stereo microphones.
In Feisty, new adjustments such as "Mic boost" appeared (this must be part of newer ALSA driver). Don't set your microphone volume to high, or fear the lARSEn !! This neweest driver has fixed the issues I mentioned above (confirmed after a few weeks testing).
GUTSY update: in Gutsy, no real problems were encountered, except for some programs which require to set funny mixer settings (SuperTuxKart is one of those).
HARDY update: Hardy messed up with my sound card. The culprit was /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base not reading the following line:
options snd-hda-intel model=6stack-dig
or
options snd-hda-intel model=3stack-dig
Note that ACER 9815 owners should read
options snd-hda-intel model=acer-aspire
instead.
AVERMEDIA H/W Hybrid M115 TV Card (digital/analog) May work (Edgy)
Can work (Feisty)
This TV tuner is based on Philips SAA chips, but several drivers seem to be needed: saa7134, mt352, and xc3028. Drivers developers don't seem to be able to determine how all these 3 drivers should interact.
Some interesting info here (don't pay attention to this FM tuner thing...).
Oddly (and badly) enough, ACER provides a closed-source, GPL-violating module in InstantOn Arcade. This module seems to be provided to other GNU/Linux distributions, such as SUSE Linux.
Edgy: it now seems to work. Please follow this tutorial to install Avermedia M115 drivers on Ubuntu forums and report any success/failure.
Feisty: users now report succes using the latest V4L drivers. I haven't tried on Feisty.
GUTSY update: it now seems to work using the latest V4L drivers, although I cannot really confirm as we have trouble getting hertzian TV here in my flat.
Untested in Hardy.
ACER / LOGITECH CMOS 1.3 megapixel integrated Orbicam webcam Works buggily Requires latest GSPCA driver. See "interesting links" section and check out my /etc/modules. My webcam image freezes after some time (a few seconds to several minutes) - I thought driver was probably buggy, but Michel Xhaard, developer of the GSPCA webcam driver module, seems to believe it's a EHCI kernel USB layer. Several users having the same computer reported having similar troubles. Check out this tutorial on Ubuntu forums to install GSPCA driver. This bug still exists in Feisty, even using the very latest drivers.
GUTSY update: newest kernels (from the one shipped with Gutsy) seem to fix this issue. I no longer encounter this bug, my webcam is now functional. But in camorama I can only get a medium-sized picture. Same thing happens in Hardy.
Bluetooth 2.0 Should work It probably depends on the bluetooth device used... see below for instance.
ACER Bluetooth phone Works Requires snd_bt_sco module. Check out my /etc/modules and this support thread on Ubuntu forums. Note that btsco seems to be available through official repositories. PIN code is 4444 (required to connect to device). Works fine with Skype, although sound is much better using laptop built-in speakers and microphones. kbluetoothd is really useful when it comes to Bluetooth devices. I haven't tried it lately, so I don't know if this works in Gutsy nor in Hardy.
Multimedia keyboard buttons Mostly work Usual buttons (volume, play/pause, stop, prev/next track, ...) usually work in KDE (Amarok). Most shortcut buttons are correctly detected and configurable through KDE control center module. I haven't tried to get non-working buttons functional. I also noticed that some buttons (audio volume) do need to have KMilo running in order to be properly detected. KMilo is KDE special keys notifier, it can be enabled/disabled via KDE Control Center > KDE Components > Service Manager.
A regression appeared in Gutsy: volume control keys no longer adjust volume (it seems to be a know bug). A workaround is to use KDE hotkey manager to handle those keys (user-wide setting).
TEXAS INSTRUMENT 5-in-1 memory card reader (supports SD, MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD memory cards) Works (tested with SD cards only) Manually loading proper modules was needed (tifm_sd, tifm_7xx1). Check out my /etc/modules and this forums thread which basically helped me to get it working.
Feisty: there seems to be a problem with the needed modules that come with Feisty: card reader no longer works. Fortunately, macogw wrote a little fix script (get it in this forums thread). An update must have fixed it, so it should work without no other action but updating your system.
Works fine in Gutsy and Hardy.
Infrared remote control Mostly works LIRC is needed. Use mce2. I shall publish more details in the future…
SYNAPTICS touchpad Works xorg.conf needs slight adjustments to use all touchpad features available through Ksynaptics. Check out my xorg.conf.
USB 2.0 ports (x4) Work No special procedure required during installation. USB keys and mice work at once.
IEEE 1494 Firewire Not tested N/A. I don't own such peripherals.
Parallel port (LPT) Works Tested with HP black & white printers (All-in-one printer-fax-scanner LaserJet 3015, and an old LaserJet 4L) using HPLIP. I originally had to manually create the device node, though (this seems to be a known - corrected ? - bug). Check out my /etc/modules.
VGA output Mostly works Depends on connected display device. Multi-screen usually works with nvidia drivers and nvidia-settings.
DV-I-D output Mostly works Depends on connected display device. Multi-screen usually works with nvidia drivers and nvidia-settings. Supports HDCP.
TV output Not tested N/A. I don't have TV at home.
PCMCIA slot Not tested I only use it to charge ACER Bluetooth phone.
Suspend to disk/RAM Not thoroughly tested Suspend to disk seems to be a nonsense with 2GB RAM: it takes longer to resume from suspended state than doing a clean boot. Resuming from suspend to disk usually generates artefacts on virtual consoles, but i haven't further investigated this issue. I don't use suspend to RAM. Some of the info here may be valuable. I haven't tested this functionality for a long time, I don't know if this apply to Gutsy and/or Hardy.
8-cell lithium-ion battery with ACER QuicCharge (1 hour to charge battery at 80%) Works It can operate about 1.5 hours. Still a good performance for such a computer. Energy management works fine using Kpowersave.
UPDATE: beware as newest computers seems to embed buggy BIOSes, which screw batteries after a while, even if they're barely used (it looks like even a fully charged battery can still be charging). Mine has been fucked up after one year, even though I almost never used it. This has nothing to do with Linux, the issue is hardware-based.
ACER abuse their customers : on the 20th of May 2008, I got an email from their tech/commercial support suggesting me to buy new batteries (119 € each !!). I've never been in touch with them, except to activate my warranty (18 months ago). To me, this sounds like a proof of their guiltiness : batteries are slowly damaged so that they can sell us some more. I must say I'm disgusted…
Size: 475 (L) x 352 (W) x 61.8 (H) mm
Weight: 7.8 kg
N/A Quite big and heavy, but hey, you've got a big screen and plenty of hardware. Don't expect to get something light and small.
Other ports: S-video/ TV-out (NTSC/PAL) , TV tuner aerial Not tested, should work No tested yet but I see no reason why these wouldn't work. Editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf could be needed but I guess nvidia-settings should just take care about that..

This laptop is currently operating under Kernel version 2.6.24-19-generic.

lspci -v

$ sudo lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS/940GML and 945GT Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 00002000-00002fff
	Memory behind bridge: d0000000-d1ffffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000b0000000-00000000bfffffff
	Capabilities: [88] Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [90] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
	Capabilities: [a0] Express Root Port (Slot+) IRQ 0

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
	Memory at d2300000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [60] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
	Capabilities: [70] Express Unknown type IRQ 0

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 00003000-00003fff
	Memory behind bridge: cc000000-cdffffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000c4000000-00000000c5ffffff
	Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+) IRQ 0
	Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
	Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2

00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=04, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 00004000-00004fff
	Memory behind bridge: c8000000-c9ffffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000c0000000-00000000c1ffffff
	Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+) IRQ 0
	Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
	Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2

00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=05, subordinate=06, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 00005000-00005fff
	Memory behind bridge: ca000000-cbffffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000c2000000-00000000c3ffffff
	Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+) IRQ 0
	Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
	Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2

00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=07, subordinate=08, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 00006000-00006fff
	Memory behind bridge: ce000000-cfffffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000c6000000-00000000c7ffffff
	Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+) IRQ 0
	Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
	Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
	I/O ports at 1800 [size=32]

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
	I/O ports at 1820 [size=32]

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
	I/O ports at 1840 [size=32]

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
	I/O ports at 1860 [size=32]

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
	Memory at d2304000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
	Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [58] Debug port

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode])
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=09, subordinate=0d, sec-latency=32
	I/O behind bridge: 00007000-00007fff
	Memory behind bridge: d2000000-d20fffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 0000000088000000-000000008bffffff
	Capabilities: [50] Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GHM (ICH7-M DH) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
	Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller IDE (rev 02) (prog-if 80 [Master])
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
	I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
	I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
	I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
	I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
	I/O ports at 18b0 [size=16]
	Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 10
	I/O ports at 18c0 [size=32]

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G70 [GeForce Go 7600] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
	Memory at d1000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Memory at b0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	I/O ports at 2000 [size=128]
	Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [68] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
	Capabilities: [78] Express Endpoint IRQ 0

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8055 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 12)
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
	Memory at cc000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	I/O ports at 3000 [size=256]
	[virtual] Expansion ROM at c4000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
	Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 3
	Capabilities: [50] Vital Product Data
	Capabilities: [5c] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
	Capabilities: [e0] Express Legacy Endpoint IRQ 0

07:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 1001
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
	Memory at ce000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: [c8] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [d0] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
	Capabilities: [e0] Express Legacy Endpoint IRQ 0

09:04.0 Multimedia controller: Philips Semiconductors SAA7133/SAA7135 Video Broadcast Decoder (rev d1)
	Subsystem: Avermedia Technologies Inc Unknown device a836
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 16
	Memory at d2005000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
	Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2

09:06.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 20
	Memory at d2007000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Bus: primary=09, secondary=0a, subordinate=0d, sec-latency=176
	Memory window 0: 88000000-8bfff000 (prefetchable)
	Memory window 1: 8c000000-8ffff000
	I/O window 0: 00007000-000070ff
	I/O window 1: 00007400-000074ff
	16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001

09:06.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 22
	Memory at d2005800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
	Memory at d2000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

09:06.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 20
	Memory at d2004000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

09:06.3 Generic system peripheral [0805]: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller (prog-if 01)
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Unknown device 006c
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 20
	Memory at d2006000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
	Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

lsmod

$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
appletalk              38188  2
ax25                   56272  2
ipx                    30116  2
p8023                   3072  1 ipx
arc4                    2944  2
ecb                     4480  2
blkcipher               6784  1 ecb
ieee80211_crypt_wep     6144  1
usbhid                 26592  0
hid                    27392  1 usbhid
binfmt_misc            12680  1
ipv6                  268704  16
tc1100_wmi              8068  0
sony_acpi               6284  0
dev_acpi               12292  0
pcc_acpi               13184  0
video                  16388  0
sbs                    15652  0
i2c_ec                  5888  1 sbs
container               5248  0
dock                   10268  0
asus_acpi              17308  0
ac                      6020  0
button                  8720  0
backlight               7040  1 asus_acpi
battery                10756  0
nls_utf8                3072  1
ntfs                  107764  1
snd_bt_sco             17036  2
snd_hwdep               9988  1 snd_bt_sco
acpi_cpufreq           10056  0
cpufreq_userspace       5408  0
cpufreq_stats           7360  0
cpufreq_powersave       2688  0
cpufreq_ondemand        9228  2
freq_table              5792  3 acpi_cpufreq,cpufreq_stats,cpufreq_ondemand
cpufreq_conservative     8200  0
af_packet              23816  6
tifm_sd                12168  0
sbp2                   23812  0
ppdev                  10116  0
lp                     12452  0
snd_hda_intel          21912  2
snd_hda_codec         205440  1 snd_hda_intel
joydev                 10816  0
snd_seq_dummy           4740  0
saa7134_alsa           15392  2
snd_seq_oss            32896  0
pcmcia                 39212  0
snd_pcm_oss            44544  0
snd_mixer_oss          17408  1 snd_pcm_oss
irda                  201276  0
snd_seq_midi            9600  0
snd_rawmidi            25472  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event      8448  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_pcm                79876  5 snd_bt_sco,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,saa7134_alsa,snd_pcm_oss
nvidia               6837140  22
ipw3945               118816  1
gspca                 607824  0
snd_seq                52592  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              23684  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device          9100  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
crc_ccitt               3072  1 irda
sky2                   43528  0
ieee80211              34760  1 ipw3945
ieee80211_crypt         7040  2 ieee80211_crypt_wep,ieee80211
parport_pc             36388  1
parport                36936  3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
tifm_7xx1              10240  0
tifm_core               9856  2 tifm_sd,tifm_7xx1
yenta_socket           27532  1
rsrc_nonstatic         14080  1 yenta_socket
saa7134               122080  1 saa7134_alsa
sdhci                  18700  0
iTCO_wdt               11812  0
pcmcia_core            40852  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
video_buf              26116  2 saa7134_alsa,saa7134
compat_ioctl32          2304  1 saa7134
ir_kbd_i2c              9872  1 saa7134
i2c_core               22784  4 i2c_ec,nvidia,saa7134,ir_kbd_i2c
ir_common              31236  2 saa7134,ir_kbd_i2c
videodev               28160  2 gspca,saa7134
v4l2_common            25216  2 saa7134,videodev
v4l1_compat            15236  2 saa7134,videodev
mmc_core               26756  2 tifm_sd,sdhci
iTCO_vendor_support     4868  1 iTCO_wdt
psmouse                38920  0
snd                    54020  25 snd_bt_sco,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,saa7134_alsa,snd_seq_oss,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore               8672  1 snd
snd_page_alloc         10888  3 snd_bt_sco,snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
serio_raw               7940  0
intel_agp              25116  1
agpgart                35400  2 nvidia,intel_agp
shpchp                 34324  0
pci_hotplug            32576  1 shpchp
tsdev                   8768  0
evdev                  11008  6
ext3                  133128  3
jbd                    59816  1 ext3
mbcache                 9604  1 ext3
sg                     36252  0
sr_mod                 17060  0
cdrom                  37664  1 sr_mod
sd_mod                 23428  7
ata_generic             9092  0
ata_piix               15492  5
libata                125720  2 ata_generic,ata_piix
scsi_mod              142348  5 sbp2,sg,sr_mod,sd_mod,libata
ohci1394               36528  0
ieee1394              299448  2 sbp2,ohci1394
ehci_hcd               34188  0
generic                 5124  0 [permanent]
uhci_hcd               25360  0
usbcore               134280  5 usbhid,gspca,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
thermal                14856  0
processor              31048  2 acpi_cpufreq,thermal
fan                     5636  0
fbcon                  42656  0
tileblit                3584  1 fbcon
font                    9216  1 fbcon
bitblit                 6912  1 fbcon
softcursor              3200  1 bitblit
vesafb                  9220  0
capability              5896  0
commoncap               8192  1 capability

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

# /etc/X11/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 /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/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"
	FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
	#FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
	#FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
	#FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
	#FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
	#FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
	#FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
	FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
	#path to defoma fonts
	#FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load "i2c"
	Load "bitmap"
	Load "ddc"
	Load "extmod"
	Load "freetype"
	Load "int10"
	Load "type1"
	Load "vbe"
	Load "glx"
	load "v4l"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
	Driver "kbd"
	Option "CoreKeyboard"
	Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
	Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
	Option "XkbLayout" "fr"
        Option  "XkbVariant" "oss"
	Option "XkbOptions" "lv3:ralt_switch"
EndSection

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

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier "Configured Mouse"
	Driver "evdev"
	Option "Name" "Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse"
	Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
	#Option "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier "Wireless Mouse"
	Driver "mouse"
	Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
	Option "Protocol" "auto"
	Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
	Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
	Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
	#Option "Name" "062a:0000"
	#Option "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier "NVIDIA Corporation NVIDIA Default Card"
	Boardname "NVIDIA GeForce 7 Series"
	Busid "PCI:1:0:0"
	Driver "nvidia"
	Screen 0
	Vendorname "NVIDIA"
	Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
	Option "NoLogo" "true"
	#Option "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP-0,CRT-0"
	#Option "MetaModes" "DFP-0: 1024x768, CRT-0: 1024x768 +0+0; DFP-0:1024x768; CRT-0:1024x768;"
	#Option "Clone" "true"
	Option "TripleBuffer" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier "Generic Monitor"
	Vendorname "Generic"
	Modelname "Flat Panel 1680x1050"
	HorizSync 31.5-90
	VertRefresh 60
	modeline  "800x600@60" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
	modeline  "1280x768@60" 80.14 1280 1344 1480 1680 768 769 772 795 -hsync +vsync
	modeline  "1600x1024@60" 136.36 1600 1704 1872 2144 1024 1025 1028 1060 -hsync +vsync
	modeline  "1680x1050@60" 147.14 1680 1784 1968 2256 1050 1051 1054 1087 -hsync +vsync
	gamma 1.0
	Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Default Screen"
	Device "NVIDIA Corporation NVIDIA Default Card"
	Monitor "Generic Monitor"
	DefaultDepth 24
	SubSection "Display"
		depth 24
		modes "1680x1050@60" "1600x1024@60" "1280x768@60" "800x600@60"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier "Default Layout"
	Screen 0 "Default Screen" 0 0
	InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
	InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
	InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
	InputDevice "Wireless Mouse"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
	Mode 0666
EndSection

Section "device"# 
	Identifier "device1"
	Boardname "NVIDIA GeForce 7 Series"
	Busid "PCI:1:0:0"
	Driver "nvidia"
	Screen 1
	Vendorname "NVIDIA"
EndSection

Section "screen"# 
	Identifier "screen1"
	Device "device1"
	Defaultdepth 24
	Monitor "monitor1"
EndSection

Section "monitor"# 
	Identifier "monitor1"
	Gamma 1.0
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
EndSection

/etc/modules (updated for Feisty Gutsy Hardy)

Some modules may not be useful anymore, they may be remains of previous versions (prior upgrades).

# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.

# parallel port
lp
parport
parport_pc
ppdev

sbp2

# memory card reader
tifm_core
tifm_7xx1
tifm_sd

# webcam
gspca

#mouse
evdev

# ir remote control
lirc_mceusb2

# sound card
snd-hda-intel model=6stack-dig

# powersaving
cpufreq_conservative
cpufreq_ondemand
cpufreq_powersave
cpufreq_stats
cpufreq_userspace
# needed since Feisty
acpi_cpufreq

# bluetooth acer phone
#btsco
snd_bt_sco

Upgrading from Kubuntu Edgy Eft (6.10) to Feisty Fawn (7.04)

Foreword about unofficial repositories

I expect people who use only official repositories should not run into problems when upgrading. I, as a geek, enabled and used extra unofficial repositories, as provided by 3v1ñ0's sources.list. This sources.list allows to get extra, cutting-edge software from personal repositories: this is dangerous, not supported in any way by Ubuntu, as this is a potential security flaw (a malicious developper may compromise your computer.

I already broke several other Linux distributions in the past (Mandrake - now known as Mandriva, Yoper, Gentoo, ArchLinux - which I still use on my desktop computer...) so I took the risk as I like to live dangerously. That doesn't mean you should do the same, and in any case I shall not be considered as responsible for any damage you cause to you machine using this list.

Because I installed several of these unofficial packages, I expected to run into problems. I was kind of right about that.

Not really a smooth upgrade

First things first, I backed up my root partition on another ext3 partition. The latter already existed and contained a previous backup, so basically here what I did:

From this step on, I backed up my 3v1ñ0's sources.list (which I did NOT installed via 3v1ñ0 repositories). I then commented out any reference to extra, unofficial repositories. I followed the official Kubuntu upgrading guide. I also downloaded the very latest (Alpha) Envy. Upgrade could now begin. So did the troubles.

Adept downloaded all the 1000+ packages and stopped during installation. I then switched to the command line interface (CLI), and started using my fellow bash shell and apt-get (I'm not very skilled about CLI, I mainly use trial-and-error.

I encountered several warnings and errors due to broken dependencies. I had to force several packages installation, as well as uninstall some other conflicting packages, such as proprietary NVIDIA drivers, which I previously installed with Envy. From this step on I switched to a console login. Forcing packages installation and dist-upgrade, I finally ended with everything properly installed, except nfs-common (which I had to explicitely install after re-enabling network connection - sudo /etc/init.d/network start - I don't know why the latter stopped working at some point) and MySQL. Having the feeling that I couldn't do much more, I installed the latest Envy, which I previously downloaded, rebooted, and crossed my fingers. The new splash screen appeared, and everything went (almost) without an hitch.

Now what ? First impressions

Well, it does work fine, and I appreciate having some of the latest package I couldn't install nor compile on Edgy. I removed my self-installed Openoffice.org 2.2 and installed the one from official Feisty repos. It's much more integrated in KDE.

Everything else seems to be functional, though I know I'll have to rebuild a few packages which I compiled from sources under Edgy (these are mostly kde-apps.org packages). No big deal.

I had to purge and re-install MySQL. Canonical dropped support for speedstep_centrino module in Feisty, so acpi_cpufreq is to be used instead. Too bad, I cannot manually change my CPU frequency with Kpowersave.

Feisty is a real improvement on my machine: it brings a little more eye-candy (Beryl works fine but I don't load it in daily use), it _feels_ a little bit faster (I guess I should write "more responsive"), and fixes my soundcard bug: i don't have to reboot into Windows XP every now and then to get it re-activated. Most applications are current. So, everything considered, Kubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn is a small step forward, but definitely a real step forward. In any case, next big step will be the inclusion of KDE 4.0, which shouldn't happen before next year (Kubuntu 8.04 ?).

From Gutsy on, I got rid of unofficial repositories, except to install latest KDE 3.5.8 and give a shot to KDE 4.0. Getting rid of most unofficial repositories helped me to somewhat easily upgrade to Hardy.

About 64-bit edition

Many GNU/Linux distribution now come in several flavour, usually x86 compatible, and x86_64 compatible. The latter is often referred to as AMD64, though it should work on any 64-bit hardware as long as it support the 64-bit instruction set (I won't go deeper into this, should you be interested, please browse Wikipedia).
Basically, main advantages of 64-bit over 32-bit, are support for more than 2 Gb of RAM (which I don't care, according to my computer's specifications), and a supposed slight speed increase for 64-bit compiled applications. Exchanging emails with a fellow spanish ACER 9814 Ubuntu user (hello Nano !), I thought I should give 64-bit a shot as it seems that most of things that used to prevent me from doing this now belong to the past: Flash player can work on 64-bit using some fake 32-bit environnement (thanks to nspluginwrapper script), and so on.
So I copied my existing 32-bit installation to another partition (using the Live CD), and then proceeded to a clean 64-bit installation.

Installation process when smoothly, I chose to share my swap and home partitions between both 32 and 64-bit installations.

AMD64 is indeed slightly faster than regular x86 (i686 kernel in my case), but there are major caveheats: OpenOffice.org office suite is still 32-bit compiled so there's no improvements, so is VMWare server, Skype (not in repos), as well as a few others (well, no big deal actually). In addition I haven't been able to play WMV video files (a proprietary video format). Most annoying thing is this bug, affecting OpenOffice on copy/pasting cells from Calc to Writer, which actually does prevent me from using this 64-bit edition on a daily basis. I reported the bug here, but I don't know if this is specific to Ubuntu, though I'm sure it is 64-bit-related.

So my advice for now is just "stay away from 64-bit, it simply isn't worth the hassle". Unless you need to do some high-demanding, ressource-hungry stuff or own a machine with more than 2 Gb of RAM, you shouldn't bother playing with 64-bit as long as it's not ready. Just my 2 cents.

Interesting links

Get a working ACER Orbicam webcam !
TI card reader on Edgy
TI card reader script for Ubuntu Feisty
Similar ACER laptop with similar hardware and similar troubles
Get a working Avermedia M115 TV card ! (Edgy)

Carrying this "laptop"

This laptop is a huge one. Its 20" screen makes it quite heavy (7.8 kg), and ACER doesn't sell any suitable bags for this computer. Fortunately, you can find a computer bag for laptops up to 20". Please search the internet for "Dicota Multigiant", and you should be able to find it at reasonable price (I bought mine for about 45 €).

Taking care of this laptop

It is much easier to carry this laptop using a bag such as the one I mention above. But care should be taken if you want it to last long. I let the plastic film on the lid, so that it's slightly protected from bad manœuvres.
First of all, beware the buggy BIOS which will slowly destroy your battery. I suspect any 9800 owner don't use this laptop for nomad purpose, but believe me it's a bad surprise to realize that your battery although it's barely used.

Cleaning the machine

Body

Dust is an issue affecting every computer. Clean your computer every now and the using a dry, soft cloth.

Monitor

Take care of your flat screen : I recommend using a soft microfiber cloth, moistured with demineralized water. It just does wonders and is harmless.

Inner dust

CPU fan beneath the computer gets dusty, because of ambient air being sucked in. After one year I realized my CPU temperatures could rise up to 88°C (I use BOINC, which means my CPU is usually under full load). I used my vacuum cleaner to suck (probably most, but not all) the dust out, through the grid. It lowered CPU temps by 20°C and made my machine silent again.

General advices

Generally speaking, keep your machine not too dirty, but don't become one of those Mr Proper maniacs : by over-cleaning your computer you'll do more harm than good. I usually kindly sweep the screen every 1 to 2 months or so.

Other stuff

Latest Ubuntu release : Kubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron LTS and KDE 4 remix

Hardy Heron (8.04), the current Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) has been released on April 2008, 24th. Although I first intended to make a clean install, I finally chose to make a classical version upgrade : my laptop is now solely used for personal matters, and I didn't really care about breaking my Kubuntu installation.

Upgrade once again has not been trouble-free, but it went much more smoothly than previous upgrade and was easily fixed. Upgrade manager disables 3rd-party repositories, updates sources.lst, downloads latest packages, installs them and cleans up the system.

I encountered troubles (dependency issues) when it came to install latest xorg packages and NVidia drivers (at this moment I felt I would have to reinstall and reconfigure X after upgrade). Because of those many errors, the upgrade manager gave up. I had to use command line instead, that is, using yakuake. And I merely followed on-screen instructions :

$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
to be able to continue installation after it's been interrupted.
$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
to launch the upgrade process again. It helped me to list packages that face dependency conflicts, and suggested to run
$ sudo apt-get -f install
which I did. And everything got installed. A notification window popped up telling me upgrade is completed and I should reboot my computer. I also ran
$ sudo apt-get autoremove
as suggested by apt-get's output. This removes unused packages.

I then restarted my system to check if it would propely boot. I did. It was quite late in the night so I went to bed and didn't take time to check if everything was functional, but I don't think there should be much troubles. I still think about doing a clean install. I'll let you know by then. And will update this page accordingly if needed.

Sound issues

I noticed sound now only comes out the left side of my computer. ALSA changed in Hardy, I have much fewer controls in alsamixer and Kmix, and I can't find a way to get sound from all my speakers. This is a regression. I actually found out I needed to add:

options snd-hda-intel model=6stack-dig

to my /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base in order to get everything back to normal.

Artwork

You may want to take a look at my personal contents on kde-look.org. You will especially find a Kubuntu KDM theme that may be use with other stuff (wallpaper, splashscreen, etc.) to get a consistent KDE 3.5.x visual look. Please remember that I'm no artist. My personal stuff is available under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license, other works are adapted from existing third party works (with artists' authorization) and usually published under GPL license.

In need of something new

As time passes, my Kubuntu installation became a mess (because of me, not because of Kubuntu…). It's been almost 2 years since I installed it, and because of many tweaks and dirty things I did to it, I felt the need of proceeding to a major cleanup. In the meantime, my CPU fan became noisy, ACER customer service replaced it (it's still under warranty) and flashed the BIOS. I've already flashed some BIOS before, but I didn't intend to do it on my ACER, simply because such an operation usually voids the warranty. the bad news : I got disk errors when I got my repaired computer. I had to fix them, but I didn't notice any data loss. The good news : my updated BIOS now supports Intel Matrix fake RAID. So a big cleanup could allow me to re-install a Linux, with the added value of a faster system thanks to RAID.

I went on and chose Opensuse. And KDE 4. And 64-bit edition. OpenSUSE was a good choice because its installer support fake RAID (even though it's not really straightforward, I needed to understand how to set my RAID partitions). This was a major change to me. But I ran into issues. 2 weeks later, I gave up and quit. Check out my OpenSUSE GNU/Linux on ACER Aspire 9814 WKMi page for further details.

Now I'm on my way to ArchLinux. First I'm getting it reinstalled on all my other legacy desktop computers. When I'll feel confortable enough, I'll get it installed on my laptop. Stay tuned.

Contact

Should you have any comments, suggestions, questions, ... regarding this webpage, please use this form to send me an email. Your feedback is welcome !

Linux on Laptops TuxMobil - Linux on Laptops, Notebooks, PDAs and Mobile Phones
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