I published a step-by-step guide on how to install Debian Sarge on an Acer Aspire 2012 WLMi. It is listed on Linux-on-laptops.com as well as on Tuxmobil.org.
Last Update: 19/06/2005 (This page will not be upated anymore. I am now using Ubuntu.)
What’s new?
19/06/2005
- New version of the ATI-driver
07/05/2005
- New procedure to install the ATI-driver
- Updated configuration files (kernel-config and XF86-Config-4)
- Updated the LAN section
- Detailed instruction on how to get the special keys (Volume Up/Down, Mute, Email- and Internet-Hotkeys) to work
Introduction
I decided to put together all the bits and pieces of information that I found useful while installing debian sarge on my Acer Aspire. I hope you’ll find them useful too. The page will be updated regularly.
I strongly suggest using the new debian installer (NetInst-CD) that you can download here: Debian-Installer
$ lspci 0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82852/855GM Host Bridge (rev 02) 0000:00:00.1 System peripheral: Intel Corp. 855GM/GME GMCH Memory I/O Control Registers (rev 02) 0000:00:00.3 System peripheral: Intel Corp. 855GM/GME GMCH Configuration Process Registers (rev 02) 0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 855GME GMCH Host-to-AGP Bridge (Virtual PCI-to-PCI) (rev 02) 0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03) 0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03) 0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03) 0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB 2.0 EHCI Controller (rev 03) 0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 83) 0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801DBM LPC Interface Controller (rev 03) 0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801DBM (ICH4) Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 03) 0000:00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller (rev 03) 0000:00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03) 0000:00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03) 0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV350 [Mobility Radeon 9600 M10] 0000:02:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB21 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link) 0000:02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02) 0000:02:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corp. PRO/Wireless 2200BG (rev 05) 0000:02:04.0 CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc CB1410 Cardbus Controller (rev 01)
Partitioning
The installer ships with a partitioning-tool that guides you through the entire process, but beware: Playing around with partitioning tools is pretty dangerous! Always backup your files!
Kernel
I installed the system with the Net-Installer-CD using a 2.6 Kernel (Boot-Option: linux26 vga=771).
After the installation was done, I built a custom kernel version 2.6.11 (vanilla version from kernel.org). Here’s what I did:
$ cd /usr/src $ wget http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-2.6.11.tar.bz2 $ tar xvjf linux-2.6.11.tar.bz2 $ ln -sfn linux-2.6.11 linux $ cd linux $ make menuconfig (*)
[I suggest reading the next paragraph (“Suspend-to-Disk”) before continuing.]
$ make $ make modules_install $ cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.11 $ cp System.map /boot/System.map-2.6.11 $ cp .config /boot/config-2.6.11 $ ln -sfn /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.11 /vmlinuz $ update-modules $ update-grub
(*) If you don’t want to waste your valuable time setting up your kernel-configuration, you can use my “.config”-file: Download. Just copy it to /usr/src/linux
Beware: I cannot guarantee that it will work on your system!
Suspend-to-Disk
To make suspend-to-disk work, I patched my kernel using the SoftwareSuspend2 – Patch from http://www.suspend2.net/
Here’s what I did:
$ wget http://www.suspend2.net/downloads/all/software-suspend-2.1.8-for-2.6.11.tar.bz2 $ tar xvjf software-suspend-2.1.8-for-2.6.11.tar.bz2 $ cd software-suspend-2.1.8-for-2.6.11 $ ./apply
Please read here to get more information: http://www.suspend2.net/HOWTO
After patching the kernel, you have to (re)build it.
Remember: You also have to update your grub-configuration. See the SoftwareSuspend2-HowTo for more information
The hibernate-script can be installed via apt-get:
$ apt-get install hibernate
Don’t forget to configure the hibernate-script:
$ nano /etc/hibernate/hibernate.conf
Graphic Card
There are debian packages for the proprietary ATI-Driver available here: http://www.stanchina.net/~flavio/debian/fglrx-installer.html
As the installation procedure is pretty well documented, I suggest you just read it. If you’r too lazy to read everything, here’s a recap of what you have to do:
1. Install required packages
apt-get install debhelper kernel-package libqt3-mt-dev xlibs-dev libxtst-dev fakeroot rpm wget libncurses5-dev
2. (Re-)Compile your Kernel with the following options:
CONFIG_MODULES=y CONFIG_MODULE_UNLOAD=y CONFIG_KMOD=y CONFIG_MTRR=y CONFIG_AGP=m CONFIG_AGP_ATI=m CONFIG_TMPFS=y
3. Download the scripts that package the drivers, run them and install the drivers:
Beware: There might be new versions available by the time you read this.
$ cd /usr/src $ wget http://www.stanchina.net/~flavio/debian/fglrx-installer_8.14.13-2.dsc $ wget http://www.stanchina.net/~flavio/debian/fglrx-installer_8.14.13-2.tar.gz $ dpkg-source -x fglrx-installer_8.14.13-2.dsc $ cd fglrx-installer-8.14.13 $ dpkg-buildpackage -b -rfakeroot -tc -uc -D $ cd .. $ dpkg -i fglrx-driver_8.14.13-2_i386.deb $ dpkg -i fglrx-kernel-src_8.14.13-2_i386.deb $ tar xjvf fglrx.tar.bz2 $ m-a -t update $ m-a -t build fglrx-kernel-src $ m-a -t install fglrx-kernel-src
To load the driver, type
$ modprobe fglrx
Update your /etc/X11/XF86-Config-4 accordingly. Here’s my XF86-Config if you want to use it: Download
To properly install the touchpad, you can download the driver using apt-get:
# apt-get install xfree86-driver-synaptics
It does however also seem to work without that driver.
If you use my kernel-config, you can switch to powersave-mode using this command (as root):
$ echo powersave > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
If you want to use automatic frequency scaling, use this command:
$ echo ondemand > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
You do not need any additional tools!
If you do not use my kernel-config, you should have something like this in your configuration-file:
# # CPU Frequency scaling # CONFIG_CPU_FREQ=y # CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEBUG is not set CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT=y # CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT_DETAILS is not set # CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_PERFORMANCE is not set CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_USERSPACE=y CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_PERFORMANCE=m CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_POWERSAVE=m CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_USERSPACE=y CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_ONDEMAND=m CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_TABLE=y
LAN
Should work out-of-the-box. However, If you have problems, try compiling the b44-module into the kernel (not as a module).
Wireless-LAN
Setting up wireless-LAN is easy:
1. The driver can be installed using module-assistant:
$ apt-get update $ apt-get install module-assistant $ m-a -t update $ m-a -t -f get ipw2200 $ m-a -t build ipw2200 $ m-a -t install ipw2200
2. Download the Firmware from here: http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/firmware.php and see README.ipw2200
for more information.
3. Load the driver:
$ modprobe ipw2200
To connect to a network, you can do something like:
$ iwconfig eth1 ESSID <MyESSID> (*) $ iwconfig eth1 key s:<MyKey> $ dhclient eth1
(*) Your wireless adapter may also be called “wlan0” or “eth2” instead of “eth1”.
Keyboard
If you want to use special keys like Volume Up/Down, Mute, Email- and Internet-Hotkeys, etc, you can install the acerhk-driver (http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~tauber/acerhk/) and the hotkeys-application.
Here’s how I did it:
1. Download, compile, install and load the acerhk-driver
cd /usr/src wget http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~tauber/acerhk/archives/acerhk-0.5.23.tgz tar -xzvf acerhk-0.5.23.tgz cd acerhk-0.5.23 make make install modprobe acerhk
2. Install and configure hotkeys
apt-get install hotkeys