Nathan Blythe

Working on the Acer Aspire One page...


This page provides information on installing, configuring, and running Debian GNU/Linux on the Acer Aspire One line of netbooks.

http://www.tommasovitale.it/images/AcerAspireOne.jpg

Aspire One versions

There are several versions of the Aspire One on the market. All of these devices are based on the same design and the information presented here should apply to all. Version specific information can be found at the end of this page by clicking on the links below. Each version may have several editions with slightly different specifications.

Wikipedia has a good summary of the various versions.

Installation

The Aspire One does not have an optical drive, so installing Debian requires some creativity. There are three methods.

Install with an external memory device

Have you used this installation method? You can expand this section!

Install via the "network boot" method

Have you used this installation method? You can expand this section!

Post-installation configuration

While the user is free to configure Debian in any way desired, the following sections provide information on some important considerations.

Configuring the wired network device

The wired network card is a Realtek 10/100 device.

# lspci | grep Ethernet
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

All modern kernels should include support for this device. The interface appears as eth0.

Configuring the wireless network device

The wireless network card is an Atheros 802.11 A, B, and G device based on the AR242 chipset.

# lspci | grep Ethernet
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

Linux kernel < 2.4.26

Are you using this kernel? You can expand this section!

Linux kernel >= 2.4.26

Linux kernels 2.4.26 and newer include support for this device. The interface appears as wlan0. (Another interface, wmaster0, also appears but is not used. Do you know what wmaster0 is for? You can provide a brief explanation!)

The "kill switch" beneath the wireless indicator LEDs is supported.

As of Linux 2.4.29-1, the wireless indicator LEDs on the Aspire One are not enabled. To enable them, edit /etc/rc.local and insert the following lines anywhere above the line exit 0.

sysctl -w dev.wifi0.ledpin=3
sysctl -w dev.wifi0.softled=1

Configuring the webcam

The webcam is a Microdia Pavilion device with a native resolution of 640x480 and frame rate of 30 fps. It is UVC compliant, meaning that it will work with Skype, aMSN, and many similar programs.

# lsusb | grep Webcam
Bus 001 Device 002: IE 0c45:62c0 Microdia Pavilion Webcam

Linux kernel < 2.4.26

Linux kernels prior to 2.4.26 do not support this device because they do not support UVC in general. You can install UVC support manually by compiling the uvcvideo module from source.

The source code is stored in a Subversion repository at svn://svn.berlios.de/linux-uvc/linux-uvc/trunk. Have you compiled and used the uvcvideo module from source? You can provide instructions here!

Linux kernel >= 2.4.26

Linux kernels 2.4.26 and newer include support for this device.

Configuring audio

The audio card is an Intel HDA device.

# lspci | grep Audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)

Linux kernel < 2.4.26

Are you using this kernel? You can expand this section!

Linux kernel >= 2.4.26

Linux kernels 2.4.26 and newer include support for this device.

Some users report that they must add the following line to /etc/rc.local to ensure that the audio device is recognized by Linux.

options snd-hda-intel model=auto position_fix=1

Configuring the card readers

You can expand this section!

Configuring ACPI

CPU frequency scaling

You can expand this section!

Temperature monitoring

You can expand this section!

Battery monitoring

You can expand this section!

Suspend

You can expand this section!

Hibernation

You can expand this section!

Configuring X

Xorg.conf

You can expand this section!

Graphics

You can expand this section!

Touchpad

You can expand this section!

Version-specific information

Version: A110

Notes

Do you own this device? You can expand this section!

Where to buy

Did you buy this device? You can expand this section!

Version: A150

Notes

Do you own this device? You can expand this section!

Where to buy

Did you buy this device? You can expand this section!

Version: ZG5

Notes

Do you own this device? You can expand this section!

Where to buy

Did you buy this device? You can expand this section!

Version: D150

Notes

Do you own this device? You can expand this section!

Where to buy

Did you buy this device? You can expand this section!


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